Chapter 10 Section IX

It wasn't until Decker had eaten up all the bread in the apartment that the key was turned in the keyhole.It was nearly 9 o'clock in the evening.McKittrick rushed in, panting, and froze at the sight of Decker. "Close the door," Decker said. "How do you—" "We have a date, remember? Close the door." McKittrick closed the door. "Didn't I tell you? Could it be that my father—" "Yes, he sent me a message, but that doesn't seem like a reason to cancel our date." Decker stood up. "Where have you been?" "You do not know?"

"what are you saying?" "Did you not follow me?" "Be clear." McKittrick rushed to the TV and turned it on. "There are three TV camera crews on set, there must be a channel still reporting from the scene—" He flicked back and forth, hands shaking. "Look." Decker couldn't understand what he was seeing at first.He stared at the noisy and chaotic images, and a sense of foreboding suddenly swept over his heart.Billows of black smoke engulfed the sky, and flames burst from windows.Amidst the ruins, firefighters held on to the faucets and sprayed them hard at a large area of ​​burning buildings.More and more firetrucks drove screaming all the way into the chaos of other emergency vehicles, police cars and ambulances.Some of the screams, Decker realized with horror, were not firetruck sirens but wounded people being loaded onto stretchers.Their charred faces were distorted and deformed by pain, and they were already beyond human appearance.There were also many bodies wrapped in blankets and motionless.The police are pushing the crowd back.

"What's going on here? For God's sake, what happened?" Before McKittrick could answer, a reporter on television started talking about terrorists, about "Mussolini's children," about the worst anti-American violence ever seen.In the explosion, 23 American tourists were killed and 43 others were injured. They were all members of a tourist group in Salt Lake City who were attending a banquet at the Tiber Club to celebrate their last night in Rome. "The Tiber Club?" Decker remembered the address he had in mind. "Renata told me that terrorists often go there." McKittrick paled. "She told me there was nothing wrong with this plan, that it would never go wrong. It never should have ended like this! Renata swore to me—"

"Shut up," Decker said, grabbing McKittrick by the shoulder. "Tell me, what did you do?" "Last night," McKittrick paused, taking a few breaths, "after the meeting, after our argument," his chest heaved, "I know, after you took away my operational command , and steal my credit, I don't have much time left." "Do you really believe the shitty things you told your father? Do you really think I'm jealous of you?" "I had to take action. I'm not sure that my phone call to my father will solve the problem. Renata and I have been working on a plan, a perfect plan. After I broke up with you, I went back to the coffee Pavilion. Renata and the others were still upstairs in the single room, and we decided to put the plan into motion."

"It's not approved." Decker was taken aback. "Shall I go to you for approval? You'll tell me no action is allowed. You'll do everything you can to get me out of here, and it's up to you to carry out the plan." "I'm running out of patience," Decker said.On the TV screen, flames spewed from the doorway of the building, another wall collapsed, and the firefighters staggered backwards.The whistle of the police siren became more and more piercing.Rescue crews shrouded in smoke loaded bodies into ambulances. "Tell me about the plan, the so-called perfect plan."

"It's a simple but brilliant plan." "Hmph, I believe that." Renata and her men would bide their time, and by the time the gang of terrorists had gathered in one place—maybe an apartment, or the Tiber Club, one of Renata's men would have put a plastic bomb full of The backpack is hidden in the necessary place for terrorists to come out.As soon as they emerged, Renata pressed a button on the remote control, which detonated the explosives.It seems that the bomb carried by the terrorists accidentally exploded due to an accident. Decker listened in amazement.The room seemed to be falling down, and his face was numb.He doubted his sanity.It couldn't happen, he said to himself.It was impossible for him to hear such a thing.

"Easy? Brilliant?" Decker rubbed his aching forehead. "Didn't it occur to you that you might blow up the wrong person?" "I'm absolutely sure, Renata and the others have found the terrorist." "Didn't it occur to you that while you were killing terrorists, you might be killing many innocents?" "I warned Renata not to act rashly. If there was even the slightest doubt that someone else was in the blast zone, she would have to bide her time." "Her?" Decker wanted to grab McKittrick and shake him a few times. "Where is your common sense? Most people would not be willing to detonate explosives. Why would she?"

"I asked her." "why?" "She loves me." "I'm definitely in a dream, it's got to be a nightmare," Decker said. "I'm going to wake up after a while, and none of this has happened." "She would do anything for me." "Including murder?" "Killing a terrorist is not murder." "Then what do you call this?" "Execution." "You're amazing," Decker said. "Last night you called it a 'final veto.' Call it whatever you want, but it's still killing, and when someone agrees You should just ask yourself what drove him to do that. In this case, I don't think it's love."

"I can't believe she did it just for the money." "Where did they get the plastic explosives they used?" "I gave it to you." Decker felt as if he had been slapped. "Is it the explosives you provided?" "I was given some Semtex explosives at the beginning of the operation. Renata's men provided the explosives to the terrorists as a token of their sincerity and thus penetrated them." "You provided...?" Decker grew more terrified, staring blankly at the screaming sirens on the television, at the smoke, fire, debris, and corpses. "It's your responsibility—"

"No, it was a mistake! Somehow, that backpack exploded at the wrong time! Somehow, the club was full of Americans! Somehow—I... Renata must have made a mistake." McKittry K was speechless. He grinned and moved his lips, but no sound came out. "The explosives in your hand are far from enough to cause such a big disaster." Decker said bluntly. McKittrick blinked at him puzzled. "You only have one sample," Decker said, "and that's enough to bait the terrorists into thinking they've got more explosives. Renata has to find more explosives to blow up the whole building." architecture."

"what are you talking about?" "Use your brains! You are not recruiting a group of college students who are willing to help you find terrorists! You idiot, you are recruiting those terrorists!" McKittrick's eyes widened in shock.He shook his head vigorously. "No, it's impossible." "They've been staring at you face-to-face! It's weird how they can't resist laughing at you in your face? Traditional trap. Renata keeps asking you questions while you're having sex with us, and you're telling us all about our plans." Told her about everything we did to catch them." McKittrick's face grew paler. "Am I wrong?" Decker asked. "You told her everything." "My God." "Last night, when you told them you might be transferred, they thought it was time to end the game and get back to work. Did you propose this plan against terrorists, or Renata?" "She..." McKittrick swallowed. "It's her." "To help you succeed in your career." "yes." "Because she loves you." "yes." "She came up with this plan first?" "yes." "Now, she has used the sample of Semtex that you gave her. I bet they have taken pictures and recorded it as proof of your involvement. She sent your sample of explosives Mixed with her own explosives, killed and maimed an American in a tourist group. Do you want your own career to succeed? Well, boy, your career is over."