Seeing Darnell in this state, Casey was slightly taken aback. “Do you know him?”
Darnell smiled, “Sooner or later, I will.”
He thought of the man in gray with his rogue demeanor. If he was truly Bailee’s father, Bailee’s days would be tough.
Apart from Pablo being extremely shameless and unreasonable, he would also ruthlessly exploit his family. Coupled with his entanglements with the underworld, Darnell could be certain that if necessary, Pablo would even sell his daughter. Darnell felt it necessary to help Bailee.
Otherwise, Bailee would surely be destroyed by Pablo.
As these thoughts ran through Darnell’s mind, Casey’s phone rang. She answered it briefly and then stuck out her tongue.
“Mr. Halford, half of the order is done. I should treat you to a meal.”
She waved her phone with a hint of regret on her pretty face. “But my aunt is coming, and I need to pick her up at the airport.”
“I’ll treat you another day for dinner.”
Then she reminded Darnell again, “By the way, don’t tell Bailee what I told you. Give her some dignity.”
Darnell laughed, “Go on. Be careful on the road. We have plenty of time.”
Casey caught the underlying meaning in Darnell’s words, poked him on the head with her finger, and then hopped like a rabbit to hail a cab to the airport.
“Mr. Halford, thank you.”
Before getting into the taxi, Casey turned back and gave Darnell a bright smile that was more radiant than the flowers by the roadside.
Darnell felt a faint sense of happiness.
As he smiled and walked past the hospital parking lot entrance, six men and women in black suddenly appeared behind him, their eyes vigilant and expressions stern.
They were pushing a wheelchair with a clear goal in mind. Not far away, a minivan had its door open.
In the wheelchair sat a haggard middle-aged man over fifty, his eyes dull and lifeless, hands wrapped in clothes, resting on his knees.
Beside him walked a very lively three-year-old girl. When the middle-aged man’s gaze met hers, it softened slightly.
Seeing Darnell blocking their path, the six instinctively tensed up. Two even reached for their waists, probably for their guns.
Darnell sensed gunpowder from them and his eyelids twitched instinctively but quickly calmed down.
He didn’t feel hostility from them and noticed the handcuffs hidden under the middle-aged man’s clothes. He guessed they were likely undercover police officers.
And the middle-aged man was an important prisoner.
Darnell smiled amicably and stepped aside to let them pass.
At that moment, something fell from the little girl’s arms and rolled towards Darnell. The girl screamed, “My ball!”
“Daddy, my ball!”
Darnell stepped forward and grabbed the bouncing object. It was a crystal ball about half the size of a fist, sparkling brightly.
Looking closely at it, one could see countless reflections of oneself inside it, like a magical mirror from fairy tales, a toy to satisfy children’s curiosity.
When Darnell held the crystal ball, the middle-aged man’s pupils contracted instantly, but he quickly regained his composure.
Although brief, Darnell noticed it and thought deeply about it.
“Little girl, here you go.”
Darnell handed over the crystal ball. The girl smiled and wanted to come forward. “Thank you, sir.”
A man pulled her back while a woman with almond-shaped eyes stepped forward to take the crystal ball from Darnell’s hand and said coldly, “Thank you!”
It was clear they were wary of Darnell.
Darnell politely replied, “You’re welcome.”
Sensing Darnell’s goodwill, they nodded lightly and let their guard down somewhat. The almond-eyed woman tilted her head slightly and led her group forward.
Darnell chuckled softly and took a few steps back to give them more space for safety.
The three-year-old girl holding the crystal ball also gave Darnell a smile. “Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome, little girl.”
Darnell responded with a smile. Then his eyelids twitched as he noticed an ambulance slowly approaching ahead.
It wasn’t flashing its lights or rushing. It leisurely moved towards the group with the middle-aged man.
Watching this ambulance made Darnell suddenly feel an inexplicable sense of alertness.
This almost sixth-sense-like danger intuition was honed by Darnell over many years in harsh environments.
He instinctively stood by a trash can and shouted subconsciously, “Watch out!”
In that instant, the ambulance stopped abruptly as its window rolled down with a swish.
Two black gun barrels protruded out.
Two American police-issue Remington shotguns fired muffled shots. Under sunlight, their muzzle flashes were still blindingly bright, shocking to behold.
These guns had an effective killing range of twenty meters, not great distance-wise but incredibly lethal within range, capable of taking down multiple people at once.
In Westergold, even slightly lethal air guns or replica firearms were strictly regulated by authorities, let alone police-issued Remington shotguns. Anyone who could obtain such weapons must be extraordinary indeed if they dared to use them too!
The distance between the ambulance and the middle-aged man was only eight meters, a range where shotgun power could reach its peak potential.
Boom!
Hundreds of iron pellets sprayed out, covering several square meters like an overwhelming force.
The gun fired quickly, but so did Darnell. Just before the trigger was pulled, he flung towards the trash can while pouncing forward like a leopard,
He instantly closed the gap before the almond-eyed woman could react and tackled the little girl onto the ground while sweeping his right leg and knocking down four men and women. The wheelchair also tipped over, and without any hesitation, Darnell, who was doing his utmost to save the child, spread out with the little girl in his arms.
He moved at an extremely fast pace to distance themselves from the danger.
The dense sound of explosions was deafening, as countless howling pellets tore through two trash cans.
The cans were as fragile as paper, disintegrating in an instant into shards of metal, wooden planks, and sawdust, scattered all over the ground.
The man in the wheelchair and two standing plainclothes officers groaned, knocked to the ground by the pellets, blood flowing out, a shocking sight.
Their conditions were unknown.
The four men and women whom Darnell had swept down escaped the worst of it. Although they looked pained, they were not as severely injured as the middle-aged man and his companions.
This outcome was already the best possible. The trash cans had blocked at least eighty percent of the fragments. Otherwise, they would all likely be lying in a pool of blood at this moment.
The next second, the almond-eyed woman swiftly flipped into the sides of the minivan, demonstrating the reaction quality she should have.
The perpetrator in the ambulance seemed to feel that one shot was almost not enough, so he kicked open the car door and jumped out.
Three men and three guns were imposing and fierce.
A one-eyed bandit’s military boot stepped on a cartridge, crushing it with a crack, and he roared to his companions, “Kill them.”
The murderous intent was fierce.