Chapter Thirty-One: One of Our Own

Chapter Thirty-One: One of Us

"Wait a moment."

Just as the soldiers raised their rifle butts, preparing to smash the door, the floor manager of the Rose Club suddenly spoke up. All the soldiers turned their attention to him.

The manager quickly explained, "Gentlemen, this is Miss Chen's room. She’s our star performer here, as you know. Many influential people court her. If she were to complain to any of her admirers about this, well..."

"So what do you suggest?" The soldiers looked at him again.

Creak.

At that moment, the door opened. Bai Ze, now dressed, stepped out, looking slightly surprised. "Is something the matter?"

"Hmph. You can’t pretend you didn’t hear us knocking for so long. Why didn’t you open up?" The soldiers, obviously annoyed, questioned him.

"My apologies. I was drinking with Miss Chen and had a bit too much, so I was slow to respond. May I ask who you are?" Bai Ze eyed the armed soldiers, his mind racing to guess their purpose.

"You’re with the Operations Bureau, right? Orders from above—you need to come with us. Please." The soldiers wasted no time, clearing a path and sandwiching Bai Ze between them.

"Alright, but may I grab my coat first?" Bai Ze pointed to the room as he spoke.

"Be quick."

Bai Ze returned to the room, erased every trace he had left, glanced at the still-slumbering Miss Chen, and then left, reminding the manager as he passed, "Miss Chen is asleep—she’s had too much to drink. See that she isn’t disturbed."

Downstairs, as Bai Ze entered the main hall, he saw that many from the Operations Bureau had already been gathered together. Sun Yanjie greeted him with a nod, and Bai Ze slipped over to his side. "Brother Sun, what’s going on?"

"I have no idea," Sun Yanjie replied, shaking his head. "I suspect it’s something internal to your group."

Bai Ze wanted to ask more, but Ye Mao, seeing that all the Operations Bureau people were now assembled in the Rose Dance Hall, apologized to Qian Yong for the disturbance and led everyone away.

Night had deepened.

The Operations Bureau building was ablaze with lights, and everyone from the internal staff had been brought back. When Bai Ze arrived, he saw many bureau members handing over their weapons before returning to their offices.

The outer guards had also been replaced—strangers all, heavily armed and alert. Taking in the scene, Bai Ze guessed at the reason: the repercussions of Mr. Li’s rescue had erupted at last.

What puzzled him was that, even if Mr. Li had been rescued, why were their own people being treated like this? Tonight, it was clear: the Operations Bureau staff were under house arrest.

With a mix of suspicion and caution, Bai Ze entered the office of the Third Action Group. Inside, he found Monkey, Tiger, and Strongman already present. Monkey immediately came over. "Bai, what on earth is happening?"

"I wish I knew—you’re the one usually in the know, aren’t you? Even you don’t know?" Bai Ze teased him.

"How would I know? But tonight’s deployment is massive. Those soldiers outside are from the Military Police under the City Defense Command—real elites. For them to be sent here in the middle of the night, something big is definitely underway," Monkey said, glancing nervously outside.

"Don’t worry. We haven’t done anything wrong. Everyone, just relax," said Bai Ze, waving them away. He himself folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, eyes half-closed, pondering the night’s events.

Meanwhile, in the conference room on the third floor of the Operations Bureau, Liu Peiru from Intelligence and Wu Zhengke from the Action Team were seated face-to-face. In the seat of authority was Chief Dai, the bureau director. Qian Yihai from General Affairs and Li Hongwei from Communications were absent, but there was an unexpected presence in the room: Ye Mao.

A heavy silence hung over the room. After about twenty minutes, the door opened, and the portly Qian Yihai arrived, late as usual. Another half hour passed before Li Hongwei appeared.

Tapping the table lightly, Chief Dai spoke up, "I have news for you all. Not long ago, Mr. Li, the head of the Red Party in Shanning, was rescued from our safe house. And the ones who rescued him—were from our own Operations Bureau. Wu Zhengke, tell them."

"Yes," Wu Zhengke nodded, then looked at Ye Mao.

Standing where he was, Ye Mao spoke plainly, "The men guarding Mr. Li were all killed. Mr. Li was rescued, but fortunately, one of our brothers, before he died, managed to pass on a message. He said that the one who took Mr. Li was one of our own."

With that, Ye Mao left. The remaining officers felt their hearts clench. Except for Wu Zhengke, they now understood why the building was under such tight security tonight, yet none dared to speak.

"What’s the matter? Cat got your tongues? None of you have anything to say?" Chief Dai’s gaze was icy as he continued, "How did the safe house’s location get leaked? Who is this so-called insider? Can any of you give me a satisfactory explanation?"

"And this time it was Mr. Li who was rescued. Next time, will it be Mr. Wang or Mr. Zhao? Just who is the viper hiding among us? Are we to let the Red Party lead us by the nose in every operation from now on?"

At the end, Chief Dai slammed the table, making everyone jump.

"Chief, I think we should proceed on two fronts," Liu Peiru ventured, bracing himself under Dai’s glare. "First, we must launch a citywide manhunt for Mr. Li, sealing all exits and coordinating with police, military, and military police. Hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies across the city should be watched. And we must find the mole—otherwise, all our future operations will be nothing but a joke."

"Hmph. You make it sound simple, Chief Liu," Wu Zhengke jumped in as soon as Liu finished, "But so long as the mole remains, none of us can sleep easy. The safe house location was top secret—no more than ten people knew, all right here. Let’s go through them one by one."

"Not so fast—I didn’t know about it," an incongruous voice suddenly broke in.