Chapter 37 Section thirty-six

As Ross drove past the building, the entrance door baffled him at first.What kind of place does this guy live in?If the windows and doors were almost below the pavement level, the apartment would look no bigger than a closet.There was little room to drown out the sound of gunfire.Fortunately, there are no porches here.He can walk in after knocking on the door, do his business well, and then walk out relatively smoothly.But now his heart was beating just as it had been when he had gone to see Carla.This is a business that has to be done, but he can't restrain his adrenaline rush. He finally parked his car across the street a block and a half from the residential building.Now, there is still a little time before the sky completely darkens.He tried to picture Rayan Badan in his mind.He must have seen him in that hospital many times, of course, but if he had, he didn't pay much attention to it.If there is any impression of him, it is only that he is a small and quiet man.If so, Rose could overpower him without difficulty, unless there was a power of surprise in him.

But what should he do with ether?Layan was a nurse, and he would be quite familiar with the smell. If Rose had opened that bottle ahead of time, poured ether on the gauze and stuffed it in his coat pocket, he would have found it as soon as he opened the door.Also, how could he be behind that man?That seems to be a crucial question. He told himself that there was no need to worry about it.He had received the call less than an hour ago, and expressed difficulty in obtaining fifty thousand dollars in such a short period of time.But Badan didn't buy it and told him to try to get the money and be at his place by nine o'clock, or he would call the police.

Rose looked at his watch again.It's still ten minutes to eight o'clock.He still has time anyway.He stretched out his hands in front of him and stared at them for a long time.No sign of trembling, did what Tim did, followed by Kara, who had been bothered by the tremors since then. He was actually looking forward to that moment.This last-minute scheming had little effect on the nature of the gamble.It's amazing how easily this man delivered himself into his hands.One phone call, followed by one decisive action, and his troubles would be over. Suddenly, as he sat there - just as he knew it would be like that, every time he really needed to - he thought of the solution.He has been trying to make things too clever for her, but instead let himself fall into the quagmire of thinking and be puzzled.It didn't surprise him that ether wasn't needed at all.Once inside, he simply brandished the gun and was in control of the situation.Sit down, Mr. Bataan.Place your palms on your temples.Please spread your fingers apart so that I can place the tip of the barrel on the hairline on my forehead.thank you for your cooperation.goodbye.

Smiling smugly, he took the bottle out of his pocket and put it back in his medicine bag along with the gauze.The gun was in his right pocket, inconspicuously concealed.He reached for the briefcase, opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. At this time, the twilight is rapidly becoming thicker and thicker.There was already a light in the window, but there was no light in the entrance door.He stopped, stood motionless for a moment, then continued up to Frederick, where the street ended.He crossed the street to the side near Bataan's house.Now, standing at this corner on the uphill, he could see both the car he had parked down the hill and Frederick, a street that criss-crossed.There are a few cars parked randomly on both sides of this street, but no pedestrians can be seen.

He passed the window and leaned his head for a quick glance inside.The window was covered with a piece of inferior cloth, through which you could see what was going on inside when you approached.He saw Badan in that room, sitting alone at a table waiting for his arrival.He remembered now that it was an insignificant man.He stood at the door for a moment longer, gathering strength. It's time to get started. More than an hour has passed.The fear and anxiety had brought Layan close to tears when he heard the knock on the door.He took a sip from his water glass so he could speak, then put the glass back on the table, wiped his hands on his trouser legs, and said, "Come in. The door is open. "

He was almost expecting Malachy Rose to look different from the man who had frequented the hospital over the past few years, but it was the same man who hadn't changed in the slightest.Tall and thin, with a restrained and commanding appearance, Rose exudes a kind of quiet and terrible control in the Portola building.As soon as he stepped through the door, Layan felt this tangible influence in that room.He felt his internal organs churning violently inside him, but then it occurred to him that this was not going to work.This used to be a mistake of his.He must not joke about it. Rose closed the door behind him and cast a contemptuous glance at the pitifully small house. "Do you live here?"

"There is one more room," Layan replied warily, pointing to the dark bedroom connected to the door, "My request is very simple." "It's obvious." Ross was still standing by the door, a briefcase in his hand.Layan's next words were directed at it. "You have already brought it." His throat seemed to be blocked, and he was speechless for a while, "The money?" "This one?" The man held up the briefcase, looking as if he was still intoxicated by his own ingenuity, the mystery of which was impossible for Layan to imagine, "How much is it this time? "

He understood that Rose was making fun of him, but he didn't know the rules of the game. "Fifty thousand dollars." "Why should I give you this money? Because you can bring back my memory?" "That doesn't matter at all. You know why. That's why you're here." "However, maybe not. Maybe not for the reason you think." Layan's eyes were fixed on the walls of the house, searching for something.He reached out to pick up the glass again, and hurriedly took a sip of water. Rose crossed to the other side of the room in two steps, reached out and pulled a chair from under the table and sat down. "You look a little nervous, Rayan. Are you nervous?"

"Yes, a little." "It's so different from when you threatened me on the phone, isn't it? You and I are here now, can we talk face to face?" Rose put the briefcase between the two of them. middle of the table.Badan wanted to answer, but his throat seemed to be stuck, but he couldn't speak.He quickly retracted his neck and lowered his head, trying to swallow his saliva.When he looked up, Ross had a gun in his right hand, pointed at his chest. "Oh, dear Virgin Mary," he whispered under his breath. Ross said in the same nonchalant tone, "You want to know what's the most ironic thing I've found about this situation? Would you be interested? I'd think you would."

In this case, the only thing Layan can do is to bite the bullet and nod.He never took his eyes off the weapon for a moment.Rose continued speaking in a tone that was almost amused. "Look, it's funny that you're afraid the police are going to come and arrest you, and they think you killed all those poor sick people in Portola. You want to run, don't you? Because other than saying you didn't do it yourself , you don't have any excuses. Imagine that. I'll be the first to admit, it doesn't look like it's doing you any good, and I don't blame you, really. But I'm going to tell you something, Do you want to know?"

"Think. What is it?" "I think you'll help the police solve this case, Lajan. In fact, I'm the only one who knows what's going on." "Why is that? I'll never tell it. Why should I?" "I bet you can guess what that means, Rayan. The answer is that you don't have to say anything. But the great irony is that after tonight, after you kill yourself, everyone will know , not only did you kill the patients, all the poor patients who were costing me thousands of dollars a day, but you killed Tim Markham and his family." "You can take that money back." Layan burst out suddenly, and his voice echoed in the small room, "Gun! There's no need to use a gun!" Rose pushed back the chair beneath him and began to rise to his feet. "Don't move! Police! Throw away the gun!" Griski came out from the shadows, and was standing at the door of the bedroom at the moment, holding his pistol with both hands facing forward, "Throw it away!" For a moment, Rose froze there, turned her head toward Griskey, and slowly lowered her hand to the table.When he put the gun on the wooden table, there was a muffled sound caused by a collision on the table. "Okay, now, put it on the floor, and do the same thing." Rose never took his eyes off the gun pointed at him in Griski's hand.His hands remained over the gun on the table.He withdrew his right hand as if he were going to yank the gun down to the floor. Seeing Ross do as he asked, Griski either misunderstood the action or let his guard down for a moment, and he angled the muzzle down about half an inch. Rose's body moved, as swiftly as a snake attacking a person.He grabbed the briefcase, lunged forward, and threw it at Grisky, who was close at hand.At that moment, Griski fired, and there was a loud bang in the small room.The briefcase opened suddenly when it hit him, knocking the gun out of his hand, and the banknotes inside fell out and scattered all over the floor.Lime shaken off the back wall of the house floats in profusion onto the plastic-lined kitchen worktop. Another shot knocked out more lime. "Don't move!" Ross had already got his own gun back and fired a round into the ground in the doorway, and Griski reached out to reach for the gun he had dropped on the ground, "Get up, kick it to the ground. Come here! Now!" Layan huddled in panic in the corner next to the refrigerator.Rose glanced at him, ordered him to stand too, and motioned Grisky away from the bedroom door and into the kitchen with his hand.Now, the medical director was gasping for breath, but his eyes were fixed on what was happening in front of him.He held a gun in each of his left and right hands, his mouth was pursed into an arc, and there was a half-smile expression on his face. "You guys lied to me," he said, "I'm really impressed. Especially you, Layan, you did a good job." But then the words became full of hatred, "But I understand that now here Something is going to happen. You! The policeman! You came here to arrest Mr. Bataan, and he decided not to give up, so there's going to be a firefight here. Sadly, none of you will survive." Hardy had no choice but to stand motionless behind the dark bedroom wall.He couldn't predict when Ross would shoot the first shot at either of them.He had to act quickly, before Rose did. The light switch was next to that door, and he was right there.He raised his hand and snapped the light switch, and the apartment was plunged into total darkness. The room seemed to be thrown into a deafening sound at once.He fell to the floor at once, and heard four gunshots in succession in an instant.Then there was one body slamming into the other, and there was that dizzying but real rattling sound of wrestling together, and it sounded like one of them was gaining the upper hand and pushing the other. There was a bang and a "hum" in the mouth when it fell on something fixed, followed by the sound of more broken things.There was another violent gunshot, and before the final charge was over, there was another more violent fight, followed by a dull bang, and Grisky's voice, which was barely recognizable as his , but undoubtedly his, yelling, "Turn on the lights, Deeds, turn on the lights!" Just as Hardy touched the front door and turned on the light, the figure of Bracco appeared in the room, the gun had been drawn, and his hands were raised forward.The lights went off and on again, which was the signal they agreed to come for reinforcements.Then Bracco rushed to this room from a distance, and Fisk followed behind him with a weapon in hand.Hardy leaned against the doorframe at the entrance to the bedroom, falling apart from the tension. Rayan Badan was still curled up in a ball, with his head hanging on his knees, weeping softly. Grisky stood up with a gun in one hand, and his body was a little shaky. Next to him were Malachy and Ross, who were lying on the floor with blood from their mouth and nose. Griski turned around and handed Bracco the gun point-down. Then he took half a step back with difficulty, and staggered, as if he was about to fall. Hardy took a step in front of him. "Abu, you—" Grisky turned to look at him, opened his mouth to speak, but before he fell to the floor again, a stream of blood dripped from his mouth along the scar on his lip.