Chapter 124: A Tough Battle Ahead

Chapter 124: Chapter 124: A Tough Battle Ahead

The woman scanned Vivian Dunn from top to bottom with a critical eye.

’Her financial situation is unknown, but anyone who’s friends with a rich girl can’t be doing too poorly. Plus, she’s attractive, which has its uses. Bringing her in wouldn’t be a bad idea.’

"Welcome. Once you get to know us, you’ll feel lucky to have joined," the woman said, breaking into a smile.

Vivian Dunn crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow noncommittally, not taking the bait. She perfectly conveyed the air of someone who was skeptical but willing to go along for a friend’s sake.

"It’s getting late. Let’s go meet the others, and then we can all have dinner together." The woman glanced at the time, making a decisive call. At the same time, she didn’t forget to introduce herself. "I’m Anne Dawson. You can just call me Anne."

’She was in such a hurry mainly because she was afraid this sucker would go home and have her friend talk some sense into her. If that happened, her entire afternoon would have been for nothing!’

’At the very least, I have to make this sucker bleed a little tonight!’

Anne Dawson schemed. ’I have plenty of young, handsome guys at my disposal. Once I’m more familiar with this sucker, I’ll call one over to seduce her.’

Taking the cue, Zoe Sawyer and Vivian Dunn introduced themselves as well.

Without even a glance from Vivian Dunn, Zoe Sawyer cozied right up to Anne Dawson, linking her arm. "Anne, let’s exchange contact info so I can reach you later."

Vivian Dunn glanced over her shoulder with exaggerated casualness in Barry Quinn and Monkey’s direction. She saw them give her a hand signal.

’That sets my mind at ease. Looks like I won’t have to come up with an excuse; this Anne Dawson is about to leave on her own.’

Sure enough, less than a minute later, Anne Dawson received a phone call.

After hanging up, her expression turned foul. She yanked her arm out of Zoe Sawyer’s grasp and said, "Sawyer, dear, something urgent has come up. I don’t have time to take you to dinner. Let’s reschedule for tomorrow, okay?"

With that, Anne Dawson hugged Zoe Sawyer, patted her on the shoulder, and ran a hand through her hair before turning to leave.

Once Anne was out of sight, Zoe Sawyer walked over to Vivian Dunn. She had just opened her mouth to speak when Vivian clapped a hand over it.

"How can you be so gullible? What if they’re scammers? Can’t you use your head for once?" Vivian Dunn’s tone was full of exasperation, like she was chiding an underachieving child.

As Vivian Dunn led Zoe Sawyer back the way they came, she pointed at her hair.

’There’s something in it!’

Recalling Anne Dawson’s gesture, Zoe Sawyer instantly put two and two together.

’No wonder it felt like my hair was pulled just now. She must have stuck something in there!’

’If Vivian Dunn hadn’t tipped me off, I never would have realized.’

’No good. I have to be way more vigilant when dealing with such a cunning suspect. I need to internalize my training and put it into practice!’

’I can’t make this kind of rookie mistake again!’

"I won’t let you say that! What if it’s real? What if it actually works?" Zoe Sawyer shot back, pretending to be upset by her words.

The two of them talked as they walked back.

Meanwhile, Anne Dawson, who had been hiding nearby, listened as the voices on her bug grew fainter and fainter. Only then did she leave, satisfied.

’Looks like this sucker is stable for now.’

’As the first convert for our new stronghold, her quality is decent enough. It wasn’t a total waste of my time to stick around.’

’Still, I’ll need to have someone tail her just to be safe.’

Only after Anne Dawson was completely out of sight did Barry Quinn and Monkey emerge from the corner.

"Let’s head back first."

"Right!"

When they got back to the entrance of the apartment complex, Vivian Dunn gave Zoe Sawyer’s hair a playful, yet very deliberate, tug. A small object that looked like a piece of a dead twig fell out.

The next second, someone walked past, and the twig-like object stuck to the sole of their shoe, disappearing with them.

The crowd was thick with people coming and going. Within a few moments, a whole stream of pedestrians had passed by.

The man who had been lurking by the entrance to the supermarket next door scurried over. He kept his head down, scanning the ground, but couldn’t find anything.

"That’s not right... I’m sure I saw it drop right around here. Did someone kick it away?" the man muttered, looking at the ground in confusion. He searched again but still saw nothing.

’Considering the crowd that just passed through,’ he thought, ’it must have gotten kicked away.’

"Whatever. I’ll just make up an excuse," the man grumbled. Not wanting to waste any more time, he decided it was lost for good, came up with a cover story, and took off.

After the man left, Monkey emerged from another corner, pinching the very object the man had been desperately searching for between his fingers.

"That Anne Dawson is really cautious. Planting a bug on me was one thing, but she even had someone staked out at the entrance. How did she know I lived here, though?" Zoe Sawyer wondered, rubbing her chin as she looked at the photo Monkey had sent.

Vivian Dunn, who was clearing some out-of-place items from the living room, explained, "She probably had someone run your name. Don’t worry. After you joined the force, the chief had your records scrubbed."

"They’ve created a new cover story for you for this mission. You don’t have to worry about exposing anything, but make sure you study up on it later."

To make sure Zoe Sawyer could keep her story straight, they only concealed or altered key pieces of information, leaving the rest untouched.

A story that’s seventy percent truth and thirty percent lies is the most convincing.

Zoe Sawyer nodded, the explanation dawning on her. ’Ah, so that’s what happened.’

"But why did she back out so suddenly? I really thought we were going to have to eat with her," Zoe Sawyer said, a confused look on her face as she remembered.

"Their main base is in trouble," Barry Quinn explained while helping move some things. "Word from the chief is that a large group of people from The All-Supreme Sect escaped and went to the police. Now, some of the core members are heading this way with their people and resources."

The original plan was to send someone to infiltrate and gather evidence while also working to rescue the people trapped inside.

It was a two-pronged approach, meant to maximize speed and efficiency.

But before they could make their move, some of the people inside managed to find a way out and alert the police.

So, the local police took advantage of the situation and rounded up a lot of the fringe members.

But the most important group, the core leadership, still got away.

"What about our colleague who was undercover inside?" Zoe Sawyer asked. ’Did he manage to get out with the evidence during the chaos?’

At this, Barry Quinn’s expression became complicated. It should have been the perfect opportunity.

But during the routine debriefing of the escapees, they learned that our colleague, thanks to his diligent work, had been promoted just the day before. The mass escape happened while all the newly promoted members were in a meeting, so he missed his chance completely.

Things happened so fast that our colleague had no chance to leave a message; he had no choice but to go with them.

On the bright side, at least he was promoted. He’ll have access to much better intel now.

But that also means he urgently needs someone to go in as backup and bring out all the evidence he’s collected. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"There’s a tough fight ahead of us. Are you ready?"