Chapter 10 dangerous trip

George is forty-two years old this year. He is a salesman for a jewelry company. He is mainly responsible for selling jewelry to customers all over the country. He has worked in this company for nearly twenty years. Twenty years ago, when he first came to work in Mr. Brown's company, he just did some errands and miscellaneous things, such as delivering some small diamonds in the city, or going to the auction house to collect payment for the goods.For twenty years, he has been working diligently without any mistakes, so he has won the trust of the company boss, Mr. Brown.In a few years, Mr. Brown will retire, and George is likely to succeed Mr. Brown as the manager of the company. His future is bright.

On this day, Mr. Brown entrusted him with a mission—to go to New England with gems worth nearly two hundred thousand yuan. After George received the call from Mr Brown, he said goodbye to his wife Mary and the children before backing the car out of the garage.Mary stood by the side of the driveway as usual, her face pale, and she said worriedly: "Be careful on the road, George." "Watch out for what? Women? Don't you believe my character?" George was a little unhappy, because every time he was on a business trip, Mary always worried that he was having an affair. "No, I mean robbery. If you want to take such precious gems out, be careful!"

"Don't worry, don't I come back unscathed every time?" "Okay, then after you check into the hotel tonight, remember to call home and report that you are safe!" "Okay, I'm off then, goodbye, ma'am!" George said, waving to his wife. George came to the company by car, he parked the car outside, and then walked into Mr. Brown's office. Mr. Brown, who had been waiting here for a long time, handed him a small pocket and said, "George, all the gems are in it. The value of these gems is nearly 200,000 yuan." "In such an inconspicuous little bag?" George asked in surprise.

"The more expensive something is, the more it needs to be concealed, so good things should be packed in ordinary bags," Mr. Brown explained. "Oh, by the way, George, do you have a pistol?" "I have one in the car, but I'm not very good at handguns. Why do you ask?" "Haven't you read the papers lately? In the past two months, there have been three robberies in a row, all of them jewelry salesmen. George, you have a lot of business to do, and I don't want any accidents for you. Besides, you have a family..." "Don't worry, I'll be all right!" said George.

"It's better to be careful. Of the three robbed jewelry salesmen, one of them was killed, and the other two were seriously injured. They are still lying in the hospital." "Oh, I've heard about these things too." George has the impression of these major robberies. He even knows one of the jewelry salesmen. They are all colleagues and have dealt with several times.George had visited him in the hospital a few days ago. The robber had broken his skull and broken several ribs. Fortunately, the doctor rescued him in time and saved his life. "George, what are you thinking?" Mr. Brown interrupted George's memory.

"Oh, no, it's nothing." George recovered. "Have you got a copy of the order with you?" "It's all in the bag, of course," said George. "Then you must be careful, this trip is too dangerous." Mr. Brown said worriedly while rubbing his sweaty hands. After George said goodbye to Mr. Brown, he walked out of the company and drove north. George carefully locked the jewelry bag in the sample box next to him. Although he showed no worries in front of Mr. Brown, he was actually quite worried about the trip in his heart. After all, he carried it with him Gems worth nearly two hundred thousand yuan.But he also knows that it is common for a jewelry salesman to bring expensive jewelry to all over the world to negotiate business. Since everyone else can come back safely, he should be fine, right?

George drove all day, and at night, he found a hotel to stay.In the hotel room, he took out all the gems from the jewelry bag, including diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds... George placed these dazzling gems on the dressing table of the hotel one by one, and then admired them. Their glint in the vanity mirror.This fleeting gleam of beauty fascinated George so much that he couldn't help but think back to his childhood. One summer when George was a child, his father drove the family to Canada to see a total solar eclipse.It was a very long journey, and his mother even said disdainfully: "Is it just to see the sun go dark when I ran so far away?" Impressions of everything in childhood are stronger.

He still remembered that his family stood on the top of a hill that day, facing the sun, looking at the sun through a piece of blackened glass.Although the total solar eclipse lasted less than a minute, it was the most bizarre sight George had ever seen, especially the moment when the sun shone brightly when the uneven moon covered it.My father said it looked a lot like a diamond.Since then, George has developed a special affection for the brilliance of diamonds. Later, whenever the sun was about to set, George often stood in his backyard, hoping to see that diamond-like light again.When he grew up, George realized that the original light only appeared during a total solar eclipse.

After marrying Mary, George rarely talked to his wife about work because he didn't want her to worry about him.Despite this, Mary is still very worried about George. Every time she is away on a business trip, she asks George to call home to report his safety, otherwise she will feel nervous and even start to think wildly. A few days before, Mary had tried to dissuade George from being a jewelry salesman on the grounds that it was too dangerous.But George said to Mary: "Honey, this job can bring me a good salary, and I will have a bright future in the future, do you think I should resign?" After hearing what George said, Mary stopped talking .

When George had finished admiring the gems, he packed them back into the bag and put them carefully in the suitcase.He looked at his watch and saw that it was time to call Mary, so he dialed the home number. "Hello, Mary." "George, is today's journey going well?" "Yes, I've checked into a hotel and I'm settled." "You must be careful. It was said on the TV news just now that another jewelry salesman was robbed today. It has happened four times in a row in the past two months. You must..." "Don't worry, I'll get home safely. What are the children doing?"

"Jimmy and Blaney are doing their homework, Susan is watching TV, and they're all good." "Okay, then I won't talk much, goodbye." "Be careful on the road, drive slowly!" "Well, I'll call you again tomorrow." "goodbye." George hung up the phone, feeling much more relieved, and lay down in bed to sleep. The next day, George got up early, and after he had breakfast, he drove on the road again.He was speeding down Connecticut highways in his car.Just before noon, he pulled off the highway and stopped at a restaurant.He carefully locked the doors and found another window seat so he could watch his car while eating. George thought about the rest of the journey as he ate.According to the original plan, he was supposed to fly to New England, but because there was a business to discuss along the way, he had to drive all the way.It was hard work to drive in this heat, but if all went well he would be in Waterlieber in the afternoon and drive to Boston the next morning. After lunch, George drove on the road again, and the journey went very smoothly. As he headed north into Massachusetts, he noticed in the rearview mirror a green sedan following him.George was a little nervous. He didn't know the purpose of the car, so he stepped on the gas pedal and accelerated, trying to get rid of the car, but the car also accelerated.George parked the car slowly on the side of the road again, wanting to wait and see what happened, but the car also stopped far away.George took a closer look and found that there was only one person in the car. "Could he be the lone thief who robbed jewelry salesmen?" George thought secretly.He thought of the several robberies that happened in succession in recent days, and thought of the colleague who was injured and lying in the hospital. He decided that he must quickly find a hotel where he could stay. In the evening, George came to a motel in the suburbs of Boston.This hotel was booked for George long before his departure.George checked in, and in the hotel room he called Mary long distance. "Is everything going well, George?" asked Mary. "Uh...everything is going well. Honey, the weather is very nice." George didn't dare to mention the stalker to his wife for fear of worrying her. "When will you be back?" "It depends on the situation. If the business is negotiated quickly, I will go back in two or three days." "George, you must be careful. You have a pistol, don't you?" "In a car, though, I don't shoot at random unless it's absolutely necessary." "George—" "Don't worry, I'll be careful. By the way, how are the children?" "Very well, Susan and Jimmy are going to the movies, and Braney is in the room looking at the comics." "Honey, I have to hang up, I'll call you back tomorrow." "Okay, George, just be careful..." "goodbye." George hung up the phone and went to the window.He gently opened a corner of the curtain and looked outside, only to see that green car parked in the parking lot outside.The lights in the car were dark, but a faint red light could be seen flickering on and off. Someone was smoking in the car, it was the light of the cigarette butt! George couldn't help frowning, he knew that he was indeed being targeted, and he glanced at the suitcase on the bed.He opened the box, weighed the bag of gems in his hands, and at the same time looked around the room, trying to see where he could hide them, but he couldn't find a suitable place after searching for a long time. George put the jewel back in the box and locked it.Then, he went back to the window and saw the mysterious man still sitting in the green car. "Is he going to wait until midnight to attack him? Is he going to be caught here without a fight?" George thought secretly.He looked up at the western sky. The sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and the street lights were on. George grabbed the phone in the room and wanted to call the police, but he hesitated for a moment, then put the phone down again, "How can I tell the police? Could it be that he suspects that someone is following him?" George was pacing anxiously around the room like a caged beast, lighting a cigarette and considering what to do. "This hotel is only half an hour's drive from Boston. Why don't you drive to the city and find a safe hotel before it's completely dark? If the man is still chasing after you, call the police when you arrive in Boston. Wouldn't it be easier? Yes! Thirty-six strategies, walking is the best policy." Thinking of this, George took a deep breath, put on his coat, picked up his suitcase, and went straight to his car.Since the room in this hotel is pre-booked by the company, there is no need to check out.George jumped into the car and drove out of the parking lot without looking back. After he drove out a street, he secretly glanced at the rearview mirror, and sure enough, the green car followed behind him like a shadow!It seems that he has been followed again.He couldn't figure out where the car came from?Was it followed from New York? George couldn't control much anymore, he slammed on the accelerator, and the car whizzed away a long way, but the car also accelerated.However, George is not too worried now, because there is a brightly lit highway not far ahead, and it will be safe to get on the highway, and in half an hour, he will arrive in Boston. Suddenly, a row of flashing red lights appeared in front of George's vision, and then he saw a sign with the word "Detour" written on it.It turned out that this road did not lead to the highway and had to be detoured. George cursed loudly and had to turn left onto a secondary road.There were no street lights on that road, and it was dark, and the green car behind was also chasing after him. "Damn it! I took a wrong step, who knew that this road would not work!" George cursed secretly in his heart.At this time, his hand holding the steering wheel began to sweat, "This is terrible, that person is probably going to do something early on the road!" The road conditions are getting worse and worse, the car is driving on the potholed road, and the speed is also slowing down.Seeing that the car behind was getting closer and closer, George suddenly saw a small road ahead, and he subconsciously turned on it, hoping to get rid of the green car behind him.Driving up the small road for tens of meters, George's car lights hit a reflective street sign that read: "Bud's Reservoir"—it turned out to be another dead end! George wanted to reverse the car, but he was horrified to find that the green car followed and blocked George's retreat.George had to stop the car, and the car behind him also stopped about fifty feet away and turned off its lights.George was so nervous that his hands and feet were cold. With one hand he firmly protected the suitcase containing the gems, and the other hand reached into the drawer of the car to find the pistol. The pistol was cold and hard and strange to the touch because George rarely used it.But in order to keep the jewel in his hand and his own life, he still held the pistol tremblingly in his hand.At this time, it was completely dark and there were no street lights. George was facing a life-and-death decision on this dark and secluded path. The man got out of the car and was walking towards George.George noticed that the man kept one hand in his coat pocket. "He must have a pistol in his pocket," thought George.At this moment, George was terrified. He wanted to hand over the gem directly to the man, begging him to let him live, but then he thought again, what if the man still insisted on him after getting the gem?Just as George was thinking about it, the man got closer and closer, and he was less than ten yards away from George's car! In desperation, George didn't have time to think, got out of the car, raised the gun with trembling hands, and aimed at the man. The man saw the gun in George's hand through the dim light inside the car, and he yelled, "Wait a minute!" As he spoke, he stretched out his hand from his pocket.Seeing that the man also had a gun in his hand, George pulled the trigger without hesitation. The man fell to the ground, and George stared blankly at the body on the ground, and the pistol slipped to the ground.The path was silent, and it all happened so quickly that it didn't even occur to George to shoot, but he had no choice. It took a long time for George to come to his senses.Trembling, he walked to the corpse, looked down at the dead, and then kicked the corpse into the grass beside the road.He climbed into the man's car and tried to move it aside so his own car could get out.At this moment, a bright light suddenly flashed in George's mind, like the light from a total solar eclipse when he was a child. George didn't move the man's car, but went back to his own car. He opened the suitcase, took out a handful of shining gems, and carefully admired the dazzling light. A bold idea came to his mind produced…… George first picked up the dead man's pistol from the ground, shot twice at his car window, and dropped the gun beside the man's body; then he poured out the diamond from the small pocket, carefully divided it into three parts, and wrapped it in paper. Arise; next, he took some envelopes from the box, wrote his home address, put the diamonds in the envelopes, and filled them with stamps. With some difficulty George backed his car out and drove back slowly in the dark the way he had come.Along the way, he kept looking to both sides, as if searching for something.After a while, he saw a mailbox, stopped, and dropped three letters into it. He drove for a while, and suddenly saw a telephone booth on the side of the road, hurried over to throw in a few coins, and dialed the police station. "Is it the police station? I was robbed!" George said anxiously. After hanging up the phone, George returned to the car, waiting for the police, savoring the scene that just happened.He also couldn't figure out whether he was wise or stupid in doing so.Maybe this is a chance God gave me?Like a solar eclipse, the moon's shadow keeps blocking the sun's rays, but the sun finally has a moment to shine.I have worked conscientiously and cautiously for nearly twenty years, and now it is my turn to shine! At the police station in Boston, George was received by the tall officer Duke.He sat across from George, fixed him with piercing eyes, and asked what had happened. "Mr. George, you said there were two robbers?" Officer Duke asked. George rubbed his palms nervously and said, "Yes. The two robbers were driving a green car. I reckon they've been following me since at least Waterbury. I wanted to catch up before it was completely dark." To Boston, but I accidentally drove into a cul-de-sac. They got out of the car and came right at me." "Is it at Bud's Reservoir?" "Yes. They forced me to hand over the diamond with a pistol, and then forced me to drive the car to the end of the road. When they were about to kill me, I took the opportunity to open the drawer, took out the pistol, and shot one of them. When I was about to hit the second man, he turned and fled into the woods beside the road, and it was too dark for me to catch up." "What about the diamond?" "Snatched by the fleeing robber." "You did your best to protect the gemstone." Officer Duke said while taking notes, "By the way, we have already contacted your wife. Would you like to call her to report her safety?" George nodded and said, "Yes, she was very worried about my safety before, for fear that I would become the target of robbers, but this happened to me anyway. I should call her to report that I am safe." "The phone is over there, you can use it." George called home. "Mary, honey, are you all right?" "I'm fine, and the kids are fine, how are you?" "I'm in Boston and I've got a little trouble." "Ah? What's the matter with you?" "I was targeted by two robbers who stole the gem." "How could this happen? Didn't the detective I hired secretly protect you?" "Detective? What detective?" "It's like this. Since you went out, I have been worried, so I hired a private detective to protect you secretly. He drives a green car..." George suddenly felt dizzy, and he hung up the phone.At this point, a uniformed police officer walked into the office and handed Officer Duke a piece of paper.After finishing reading, Police Officer Duke leaned back in his chair and asked, "According to our investigation, the man you shot to death just now was not a robber, but a private detective. In addition, we also found the deceased on the deceased. A contract is an employment contract signed by a lady named Mary and him. Oh, by the way, when you called your wife just now, you seemed to call her 'Mary', I wonder if it is the same person?" The room seemed to darken suddenly, the sun's rays seemed to disappear, and George felt out of breath.In a daze, he heard Officer Duke asking, "Now, can you tell us where you put those diamonds?"