Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-Two

The memorial service was held at KIG Park, an area of ​​the Kingsley International Group compound set aside for employee recreation.A hundred people gathered, and there were only two guarded passages to enter and exit. In the center of the venue, a high platform was erected, and five or six KIG administrative officials sat on it.At the end of the row was Richard Stevens' secretary, Betty Buckle.She was in her thirties, a well-mannered and beautiful woman. Tanner was speaking into the microphone: "...this company was built by the dedication and loyalty of its employees. We appreciate them and salute them. I always like to think of our company as one big family, all Members work together towards a common goal." Tanner said, searching the crowd with his eyes, "Here, at KIG, we solve problems and put ideas into practice to make the world a better place. There is nothing more satisfying in the world than a place to live in, except—”

Far across the park, Diana and Kelly walked in. Tanner glanced at his watch.Eleven forty.A satisfied smile appeared on his face.He continued: "...know that whatever the company achieves is due to you." Diana looked up toward the podium and nudged Kelly excitedly. "Betty Buckle's up there. I've got to find her." "Be careful." Diana looked around and said uneasily, "It's a little too easy. I have a feeling we're being—" She looked back and gasped.Harry Flint and his two assistants appeared at a gate.Diana's eyes turned to the second door.Caballo and two others stood guard there.

"Look!" Diana's throat was dry. Kelly turned around and saw six people blocking the exit: "Is there any other exit?" "I don't think so." "Sadly, misfortune has befallen several members of our extended family recently," said Tanner. "When tragedy happens to anyone in the family, it affects us all. KIG is offering a $5 million reward for anyone who To prove who or what is running this." "Five million dollars came out of one of his pockets and went in the other," Kelly whispered. Tanner looked at Kelly and Diana at the back of the crowd, his eyes were grim: "We have two bereaved members here today, Mrs. Mark Harris and Mrs. Richard Stevens. I will invite them Get to the podium."

"We can't let him get us up there," Kelly said, panicking. "We have to stay with the crowd. What do we do now?" Diana looked at Kelly in surprise. "What were you talking about? You were the one trying to get us out, remember? Start your plan." Kelly swallowed. "It doesn't work." Diana said nervously: "Then implement the second plan." "Diana..." "what?" "There is no second option." Diana's eyes widened: "You mean you—you brought us here without thinking of a way to leave?" "I thought--"

Tanner's voice boomed from the microphone: "Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Harris, please come on stage now?" Kelly turned to Diane and said pitifully, "I'm—I'm sorry." "It was my fault. I should never have let us come." The crowd turned to look at them.They are surrounded. "Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Harris..." Kelly whispered, "What do we do?" Diane said, "There's no other way. Let's go up." She took a deep breath. "Let's go." Reluctantly, the two women began to move slowly towards the podium. Diana looked up at Betty Buckle, whose eyes were fixed on her with terror.

Diana and Kelly approached the podium, their hearts pounding. Richard, dear, I tried, Diana thought.No matter what happens, I want you to know that I— There was a sudden commotion behind the park.The crowd craned their necks to see what was going on. Ben Roberts is coming in, leading a huge contingent of photographers and assistants. The two women turned around. Kelly grabbed Diana's arm and smiled: "The first set of plans has arrived! It should have been." Diana looked up and said softly, "Thank you, Richard." Kelly said, "What?" She suddenly understood what Diana meant, and said sarcastically, "That's right. Come on. Ben's waiting for us."

Tanner looked at this scene, his face turned livid.He shouted: "Excuse me. I'm sorry, Mr. Roberts. This is a private memorial service. I have to ask you and your colleagues to leave." Ben Roberts said: "Good morning Mr. Kingsley. My talk show is going to be doing a TV show with Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Stevens in the studio, but since we're here I thought you might Let's film a segment of the memorial service." Tanner shook his head: "No, I can't allow you to stay here." "Too bad. I'll just have to take Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Stevens into the studio now."

"You can't," Tanner said sharply. Ben looked at him: "I can't what?" Tanner was almost shaking with anger. "I—I mean—you—it's nothing." The women came to Ben's side. He said softly, "I'm sorry I'm late. There's a sudden murder to report, and—" "There were two more sudden murders coming up," Kelly said. "Let's get out of here." Tanner watched, helpless, as Kelly, Diane, Ben Roberts and his men pushed past Tanner's men and walked out of the park. Harry Flint watched Tanner from afar, at his disposal.

Tanner shakes his head no, thinking, We're not done with you, bitches. Diana and Kelly followed Ben Roberts into the car.His staff followed in two vans. Roberts looked at Kelly: "Now, can you tell me what's going on?" "I wish I could tell you, Ben. But not yet. When I know what I'm talking about, I will. I promise you." "Kelly, I'm a reporter. I need to know—" "You came today as a friend." Roberts sighed: "Yes. Where do you want me to take you?" Diane said, "Can you take us to Forty-second Street and Times Square?"

"Can." Twenty minutes later, Kelly and Diana got out of the car. Kelly kissed Ben Roberts on the cheek: "Thanks, Ben. I won't forget today. Keep in touch." "be safe." They turned and waved goodbye as they walked. "I felt like I was naked," Kelly said. "why?" "We don't have any weapons, Diana. Nothing. We'd like to have a gun." "We have brains." "I wish there were guns. Why are we up here? What are we going to do now?" "We end the flight. From now on, we turn defense into offense."

Kelly looked at her curiously: "What do you mean?" "Meaning I'm pretty tired of being the target of myself. We're going to hunt them back, Kelly." Kelly stared at Diana: "Are we going after KIG?" "That's right." "You read too many detective novels. How do you think the two of us can bring down the biggest think tank in the world?" "We started by getting a list of their killed employees in recent years." "What made you think there was anyone else besides Mark and Richard?" "Because the notice in the newspaper says that all employees, therefore more than two people." "Oh. Who's going to give us the list?" "I'll tell you," said Diana. Yitong Internet Bar is a huge computer hall, divided into more than twelve or three rows of small rooms, equipped with 400 personal computers, almost all of which are in use.It's one of a chain that's popping up all over the world. After they went in, Diana went to the card vending machine and bought an hour's Internet access fee. When she returned, Kelly said, "Where do we start?" "Ask the computer." They found an empty booth and sat down. Kelly watches as Diana hits the internet: "Now what?" "First we did a Google search to find other KIG employees who were killed." Diana typed www.google.com, followed by the core words of her search: "dead" and "KIG." A long list of search sites appears.Diana looked specifically for news from newspapers that circulated online and found several.She clicked on those links and found a series of recent deaths and other related articles.One of them took her to the KIG in Berlin, and she went to its website. "That's very interesting... Franz Verbrugge." "Who is he?" "The question is, where is he? He seems to have disappeared. He worked for the KIG in Berlin and his wife, Sonia, died mysteriously." Diane clicks on another link.After hesitating for a moment, he looked up at Kelly: "France—Mark Harris." Kelly took a deep breath and nodded: "Go on." Diana pressed more keys. "Denver, Gary Reynolds, and Manhattan."—Diana's voice chokes—"Richard." Diana stood up. "That's it." Kelly said, "What now?" "We've got to think hard and figure out how all of this is connected. Let's go." Halfway down the block, Kelly and Diana passed a computer store. "Wait a minute," Kelly said. Diana followed Kelly into the store and made her way to the manager. "Excuse me. My name is Kelly Harris. Tanner Kingsley's assistant. We need three dozen of your best and most expensive computers this afternoon. Can you?" The manager smiled all over his face: "Ah—of course, Mrs. Harris. For Mr. Kingsley, in a word. We don't have so many here, of course, but we will go to the warehouse to pick it up. I will handle it in person. It will be in cash Or bookkeeping?" "Cash on delivery," Kelly said. After the manager hastily left, Diana said, "I didn't think of that." Kelly grinned. "You'll figure it out." "I thought you'd love to see these things, Mr. Kingsley." Kathy Ordoniz handed him some newspapers.The headline reveals what the feature is about: "Send these to Senator Van Leuven with a note: 'Dear Senator Van Leuven: I think time is running out. Best regards, Tanner Kingsley,'" Tanner said. "Yes, sir." Tanner was looking up something on his computer screen when he heard a voice tell him that he had received an alert from the Security Section of his Intelligence Technology Division. Tanner ordered his intelligence technology department to install "spiders" -- high-tech software that constantly combs the Internet for intelligence.Privately setting the spiders to seek out those searching for sensitive information about the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Richard Stevens and Mark Harris, Tanner watched with interest the alerts on his computer monitor. He opened the inliner: "Andrew, come here." Andrew was in his office, daydreaming, dreaming and recalling his accident.He was in the locker room to pick up a space suit sent by the army.He was about to take a suit off the shelf when Tanner appeared and handed him a suit and a gas mask.wear this.Good luck to you.Tanner is- "Andrew! Come here!" Andrew heard this order, got up, and walked slowly into Tanner's office. "sit down." "Yes, Tanner." He sat down. "Two bitches just landed on our website in Berlin. Do you know what that means?" "Yeah... I—no." Secretary Tanner's voice came from the Inliner: "The computer is here, Mr. Kingsley." "What computer?" "You ordered." Confused, Tanner got up, walked out of the office and entered the reception room.More than thirty computers are stacked on small wheeled carts.The store manager and three porters in overalls stand by the computer. Seeing Tanner approaching him, the manager beamed. "I have exactly what you want, Mr. Kingsley. Cutting-edge technology. We'd be more than happy to help you with anything else—" Tanner stared at a bunch of computers: "Who placed the order?" "Your assistant, Kelly Harris. She said you needed it urgently, so—" "Take them all back," Tanner said softly, "nowhere she goes." He turned and walked into his office. "Andrew, do you know why they landed on our website? Huh, let me tell you. They want to trace the whereabouts of the victims and find the motive behind their deaths." Tanner sat down, "In order to do that, they have to go to Europe. But they can't get there." Andrew said in a daze: “No…” "How can we stop them, Andrew?" Andrew nodded: "Stop them..." Tanner looked at his brother and said contemptuously, "I wish I could talk to someone with a brain." Andrew watched as Tanner walked to a computer and sat down at the keyboard. "We started by wiping out all their assets. We got their social security numbers," he said, tapping away at the keyboard with both hands. "Diana Stevens..." he mused, using the illegal software KIG had installed when he was hired to tame Expellian's Y2K system.The illegal software gave Tanner access that even Expellian's top management couldn't possibly have. "Look. Expellian has information on all her bank accounts, an IRA, her credit card deposits. See?" Andrew swallowed: "Yes, Tanner. Yes." Tanner went back to the computer: "We reported her credit card stolen... Now we're doing the same thing with Kelly Harris... Our next step is to go to the Diana Bank website." He logged on to the bank's website and clicked A link called "Help you manage your money." Next, Tanner keyed in Diane Stevens' account number and the four endings of her social security number to gain access.After entering, he converted all her balances into credit card deposits, and then returned to the XBilian credit card information database, and canceled her deposits under the item "receipt". "Andrew—" "Yes, Tanner?" "Did you see what I did? I converted all of Diana Stevens' assets into debts collected by their debt collection department." His tone was triumphant, "Now we have Kelly Harris does the same." After Tanner finished, he stood up and walked up to Andrew: "It's over. They have neither cash nor credit cards. They don't want to run out of this country. We caught them. What do you think of your brother?" Andrew nodded: "On TV last night, I watched a movie about—" Furious, Tanner clenched his fist and hit his brother in the face with such force that Andrew fell out of the chair and hit the wall with a loud bang. "You son of a bitch! You gotta listen when I talk to you." The door swung open, and Tanner's secretary, Kathy Ordoniz, ran in: "Is there anything wrong, Mr. Kingsley?" Tanner turned to her. "No. Poor Andrew fell." "Oh my God." The two helped Andrew up. "Did I fall?" Tanner said gently, "Yes, Andrew, but you're all right now." Kathy Ordoniz whispered, "Mr. Kingsley, do you think it would be better to send your brother to an asylum?" "Certainly better," Tanner replied, "but it would break his heart. This is his real home, and I can take care of him here." Kathy Ordoniz looked at Tanner with admiration: "You are such a good man, Mr. Kingsley." Ten minutes later, Tanner's secretary returned. "Good news, Mr. Kingsley. Here's a fax just arrived from Senator Van Leuven's office." "Let me see." Tanner snatched it from her.