Chapter 208 Vacuum

The Pentagon, Virginia, USA, has been hailed as the world’s most secured military command center. At this point, at the ground floor of the building, a middle-aged man in uniform said to a slightly younger Lieutenant Colonel: “Have you found the whereabouts of those people?”

“I am very sorry, it seems like they have found that we use the signal transmitters to find their location. Therefore, until now, we still cannot find their whereabouts. At the same time, because this is a secret, we do not dare to carry out a blanket search, so their whereabouts could not be found.” The Lieutenant Colonel said, streaming with sweat.

The Colonel coldly said: “This is not the time to offer excuses. If they escape from the USA, then that gentleman will fly into a rage.”

“I, I understand. I will add additional manpower to trace them, please give us some time.”

“I hope you won’t disappoint me this time. ”

“Please rest assured, I will not.”

“If you find their whereabouts, remember to immediately notify me.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Colonel dryly looked at him, turned around, and walked out.

Shortly after he just went out, the adjutant of the Lieutenant Colonel suddenly took off his earphone and said to the Lieutenant Colonel: “Report, I just received some information about the Black Dragon. Many of their members, without knowing why, suddenly left their location and went to other places that were unknown to us.”

The Lieutenant Colonel eyebrows jumped, he seemed to sense a hint of an unusual movement. He said to the adjutant: “Continue to trace them. Moreover, I want you to contact our insiders and tell them to look for the reason of this.”

“Okay.” The adjutant immediately began directing the other subordinates.

However, on the third morning, the Lieutenant Colonel was called into the office.

After he went in, he was surprised to see the Intelligence Officer in charge of the North American was also in it. This usually insufferably arrogant officer was sweating profusely as he looked down at the ground. The Colonel, dressed in his uniform, was sitting away from him, looking at the TV on the wall.

If this was usual, seeing his embarrassed arch rival, the Lieutenant Colonel, after going home, would certainly open a bottle of Champagne to celebrate. However, after seeing the news video clips on the television, his face sank.

“Last night, there were a series of gang-related violence in the Latin American community in Washington D.C. At least five people were killed in the shootout in Washington D.C. central zone, three kilometers away from the White House. The Latin American gangster activity have become more active, they use violence to control the nearby Latin American community. People can see some gangsters draw their gang marks on the wall, on the pedestrian crossing street, and even some of the street signs, defining their sphere of influence, indicating their loyalties to some of the gangs.”

“At Montgomery County in northern suburbs of Washington D.C. there were 5 shootings that continuously happened in 16 hours straight, 5 people were killed. These 5 people include one white male, one African-American, one Latin-American man, one white woman, and one Latin-American woman. According to witnesses, the suspected shooter is a gang member so the local police suspect that this is a turf war between several gangs.”

“This morning in southern California, San Jose suffered their worst serial bombings in 10 years. Many areas suffered unknown explosions. The resulting fire destroyed more than 10 houses. In which, 10 people were killed and more than 100 people were injured and hospitalized. Right now, the local police have imposed martial law in the area to prevent similar incidents from happening again.”

“This morning in Queens, New York, there was a fatal shooting in one of the fast food restaurant that left 5 people dead and 2 injured. It is reported that at 11:00 PM burst into the restaurant, forcing the 7 employees who were preparing to leave to enter the basement. After tying them up, these gunmen opened fire at them. According to local police, 4 people died on the spot and 1 people died at the hospital. 2 were injured and one of them is in critical condition. The criminals fled after committing the crime. The police are  now investigating the case.”

“The Washington Post reported that, last night….”

“Click.” The Colonel turned the TV off with the remote.

The Lieutenant Colonel and the Intelligence Officer were silent. There was a deadly silent in the room.

Slowly turning his head, the Colonel coldly looked at the two of them, “It is almost a week since this kind of news starting to appear in various states, don’t the two of you have anything to say about this?”

The hearts of the Lieutenant Colonel and the Intelligence Officer grew cold. Both did not dare to make a noise.

“Now I ask the two of you, do you have anything to explain this? Answer me!” The Colonel pounded the table with his fist and thundered.

The two of them shook in fear. After a while, the Intelligence Officer slowly said: “Report, this is because those gangsters in the area are competing for territories, resulting in turf wars. I have deployed….”

“I am asking you why this is happening, I don’t want to listen to your cr*p. Lieutenant Colonel, answer my question.”

The Lieutenant Colonel was surprised and immediately said: “That, that’s because the Black Dragon suddenly withdrew from those areas, which create power vacuums in those areas. Other gangs want to seize these areas from the nearby gang, which triggered the turf wars.”

The Colonel’s face slightly changed and then continued to ask: “Did you find out why they did this?”

“According to the information that I have, the power of the Black Dragon that are distributed in Northern and Southern part of the USA is showing the sign of collapse. Moreover, besides some not so easy to sell assets like property, other assets like shares, deposits, futures, etc., the vast majority of these assets have been transferred abroad. And just a few days ago, they all suddenly left their locations. This triggered the turf wars between gangs. So I judge that they really planned to evacuate from the USA to overseas.”

The Colonel said with a sinking sound: “Although this is the case, don’t you think that their actions are too sudden? All of these happened in just a few days.”

The Lieutenant Colonel was temporarily speechless. After a moment he said: “Probably because they already know that their leader is being pursued by us. Therefore, this is their reaction to that.”