The officer's order to "inform Mr. Byron" was addressed to Capa, but Capa was unwilling to do so in his heart.
He deliberately pretended to be uncertain and made the editor-in-chief's office a place where members of the International Equality League might be hiding in the eyes of the officers, just to force them to break in.
After they checked to confirm that no one was there and exited the newspaper office, they could easily enter the office to collect evidence. After dawn, the editor-in-chief Byron came to work and found that the door was open and the footprints on the ground were messy. He could also say that this was all
It was the patrol team, so all suspicions were eliminated.
But if I had obeyed the officer's order and brought the editor-in-chief Byron over at night, it would be of no use if the door was opened.
"This..." Capa quickly thought about how to deal with it.
"I will arrange for someone to escort you all the way, don't worry." The officer reassured Capa, thinking that he was worried about being attacked by members of the International Equality League on the way.
"Uh... Mainly... I don't know where he lives." Capa had only heard the editor-in-chief Byron mention it before, so it makes sense to say he had forgotten it now.
The officer glanced at Capa and then stared at the office.
"Second Lieutenant, why don't we just search them?" a soldier suggested. "It will take an hour to find this person. If there are really people from the International Equality Alliance inside, we can probably get some clues if we capture them alive earlier."
.If we delay like this, I'm afraid it will be too late to catch him."
"I feel like there is no one. Didn't the reporter say that this office was originally locked? How could someone from the International Equality Alliance sneak in without him noticing, then secretly open the lock and hide inside?"
The other soldier paid no attention to the office and didn't even bother to set up his gun.
"Think carefully again, did you hear anything in the newspaper office, especially this office." The cautious officer chose to confirm with Capa.
"It seems like..."
"You think someone from the International Equality Alliance came in, right?" The officer squinted his eyes and came to a conclusion for Capa.
"I'm not sure, I'm not sure." Capa quickly denied.
If he admits it, the officers will take action immediately before the news from Byron comes. When the door is destroyed but no one is found, the responsibility can be put on him. It is said that he was the one who said there was someone inside.
Searched.
And when he woke up and found that his office where many confidential documents were stored had been casually searched without permission, the editor-in-chief Byron might be angry, or more likely, he would be suspicious of him.
If you want to avoid these things from happening, you must let the officer make the decision and ensure that you stay out of it.
"So you think it's true that there are no people from the International Equality League in the newspaper office?" The officer still put the blame on Capa.
"I'm even less sure about this." Capa replied tremblingly.
Of course there is no one from the International Equality League in the newspaper office.
But the officer didn't know, so this move was exactly the same as the previous question. He wanted to put the responsibility on Capa, and left in a swagger. What happened to the newspaper office in the future? It was said that the newspaper reporter swore that no one was inside.
Can.
All Capa could do was to ignore any responsibility and keep talking vaguely.
"Is there someone or is there no one? You have to give me an answer, right?" The officer saw that Capa was avoiding responsibility smoothly and forced him to choose one.
"I really don't dare to say this. I seem to have heard something but it seems like I didn't." Capa was very embarrassed. "It would be great if I saw it with my own eyes, so I wouldn't bother you so much."
"Second Lieutenant, it's better to go in directly, there is no better way." said the soldier who didn't want to stand here for an hour.
"What do you know?" The officer didn't even look at his subordinates. He faced Capa completely. "You are the only one in the newspaper office. You shouldn't know whether anyone from the International Equality Alliance has come in."
Capa shifted the blame back to the officers: "It shouldn't be possible, it shouldn't be. After all, you led people outside to surround the newspaper office. If you didn't see anyone from the International Equality Alliance coming in, then the newspaper office would be absolutely safe.
of."
The officer's face was ashen.
"Second Lieutenant, it cannot be ruled out that the International Equality Alliance dug a tunnel nearby and accurately dug into the office. This just explains why the reporter heard the noise but saw no one, and the door lock of the office was not broken.
Traces." Another calm soldier analyzed.
"...Search." The officer had to order.
Of course, the safest way at the moment is to find a way to contact Byron first, obtain his consent, or wait until he comes in person before entering the office.
But the situation is just as a soldier said just now.
If there are really people from the International Equality Alliance inside, or they are authentic, then the sooner they get in, the more likely they are to catch more people.
When Byron slowly came over, the people from the International Equality Alliance slipped away from the tunnel, and the enemies at the other exit of the tunnel also got the news and ran away without a trace, leaving nothing behind for them. After waiting for a long time,
It is equivalent to missing the best opportunity to make military exploits.
"yes!"
After receiving the order, several soldiers kicked down the door violently, knocking down more than a dozen times, and the door opened with a bang.
"Turn on the lights! Don't miss any corner!"
A group of soldiers entered the office in an orderly manner, turned on the lights in the office, and conducted a rigorous inspection of the small and medium-sized office. They finally determined that there was no tunnel inside and there was no trace of any member of the International Equality Alliance.
"Is this the person you're talking about?!" The disappointed officer looked at Capa.
"I, I didn't say there was anyone, I just seemed to hear something..." Capa defended innocently.
"Second Lieutenant, what should we do now?" the soldier asked.
"Seal up the newspaper office!" The officer glared at Capa, led the people out of the newspaper office, locked the doors and windows of the newspaper office from the outside, and arranged for someone to contact Byron and explain the situation to him in advance to avoid any subsequent misunderstandings.
Seeing the door closed, Capa reached out and touched his neck and found that it was covered with sweat.
Today's series of actions are even crazier than those before.
But tonight, the madness has just begun.
After coming to the window to confirm that the government patrols had been redistributed in every corner outside, Capa took out his camera, took off his shoes and entered Byron's office.
The first thing to search is the desk drawer, which is the place closest to Byron's hands when he usually works. In theory, it is most likely to hide important documents.
Capa, whose legs were weak due to fear, sat directly in front of his desk, opened the drawer, took out the documents and information inside and looked through them one by one.
"No, no, no..." Capa, who was so nervous that his hands were trembling, muttered every time he turned over a document.
After a few dozen seconds, he finished looking through the files in the drawer, but he didn't find what he was looking for.
There must be documents for the planning and implementation of the public opinion war. If it is not in a drawer, where else can it be?
Could it be at Byron's house?
If this is the case, all the night's gambling will be in vain.
"No, no..." Capa put the file back into the drawer as it was and searched elsewhere.
If nothing unexpected happened, Byron knew that the government troops protected the newspaper office more than just the two patrol teams on the surface, so he must know very well that the newspaper office is safer than anywhere else, and important documents are best placed here.
safe.
And if there is nothing important, then why does Byron need to lock the door of the office when he is absolutely safe in the newspaper office and only works overtime?
The more I thought about Capa, the more certain I was that the file was here, the most suitable place to put it from the perspective of Editor-in-Chief Byron.
Finally, he stopped in front of the chair he had just sat on.
The rest of the place had been searched, and it was precisely because he had such a detailed understanding of the office that he discovered the strangeness of the chair.
Everything in the office is very new, but this chair looks a bit old.
According to Byron's arrogant character, this chair should have been replaced long ago.
Capa reached out and touched the leather of the chair and found nothing strange.
But when he knelt down and looked at the bottom of the seat, a sight was revealed that made him almost scream.
I saw a small pull ring at the bottom of the seat, and there were square gaps around the pull ring!
Capa immediately pulled the tab, and a layer of wood was pulled open, revealing a hidden space.
"I knew it! I knew it!" Capa was very impressed with himself. If he hadn't firmly believed that there were 100% secrets in the office and searched to this extent, he might never have the chance to know this secret again in his life.
.
After taking out several file bags from the space inside the chair, Capa sat leaning against the wall, quickly opened them and took out the information inside.
Sure enough!
What is inside is the documents of the fake chain of this public opinion war!
There are drafts proposed by Byron and other newspapers, instructions from the president of the interim government, and meeting minutes for every link...
These things are stamped and completely record how the provisional government's frame-up of the International Equality League came about and how it was implemented.
Publish these things in the newspaper, and the negative public opinion that has lasted for a week will be easily reversed!
So excited that he punched the air several times and roared silently, Capa immediately stood up and took out his camera to take pictures.
As a reporter and a fabricator on the Provisional Government's side, he knew that simply publishing these documents would not play a decisive role, because the Provisional Government could claim that they were all forged by the International Equality Alliance.
If you want to prove that these documents are authentic, you have to take pictures of everything!
He first started taking pictures of the office area outside the newspaper office, taking pictures of the overall layout, as well as the fake films and manuscripts in front of each workstation.
As for Byron's office, he took more detailed photos, even the mechanism under Byron's chair was completely photographed.
It took three rolls of film and half an hour to complete this series of things!
After recording, Capa restored the things in Byron's office and checked them several times. After making sure that he had not left any omissions, he returned to his workstation and tried to calm himself down and forget everything that had happened in the past hour.
.
When Byron rushed over overnight, he had already sat back down and wrote the manuscript for another half an hour.
"Capa! What's going on?!" Byron, who was not very energetic, asked as he angrily walked to his office.
"Editor-in-chief!" Capa stood up and came to Byron's side, saying with lingering fear, "I don't know what happened in the early morning, but suddenly there was a gunshot outside, which scared me, and then I -
—”
"I already know what's going on outside. What I want to know now is why my office is like this?!" Byron pointed to the broken door lock and the various footprints in the office.
"Yes, it's like this. At that time, an officer came in with a large group of soldiers..." As Capa was talking, the previous officer walked into the newspaper office with two soldiers, as if to supervise him.
answer.
Editor-in-Chief Byron glanced at the officer standing behind him and didn't give him a good look: "Go on!"
"He, he asked me if there was anything unusual in the newspaper office. I seemed to hear something, but I didn't seem to hear anything, so I told him the truth. Then, just to be on the safe side, the officer opened the door to your office and went in to search.
Read it again." Capa sometimes looked at Byron, sometimes looked at the officer, and told him exactly what happened.
The officer just snorted coldly and did not raise any objection to Capa's statement.
"It seems there is, but it seems there isn't?" Byron first looked at Capa as if he were looking at trash, "You have been staying in the newspaper office, and you can't even be sure of such a thing?!"
"I...I was startled by the movement outside. The situation was too chaotic. I..."
"Sir." Byron stopped talking nonsense with Capa and began to accuse the officer again. "I want to ask you a question. If people from the International Equality Alliance were really in my office, why didn't my office door have a lock at that time?
Destroyed? If someone from the International Equality Alliance is really in my office and he is surrounded, why can't you call me before breaking down the door?"
"Mr. Byron, the situation is not as simple as you think." The officer was very polite to Byron and explained the reason patiently, "We could not rule out whether the people of the International Equality Alliance dug tunnels at that time. If they entered the office through digging tunnels,
, of course the door lock will not be damaged in any way. And it is true that during the time we are waiting for you, the other party is likely to escape first, and even if you get your permission to enter the office, it will be basically meaningless. "
Byron was not fooled by these few words: "I hope you understand that if it is true, the responsibility also lies with you! Our newspaper is only responsible for reporting and carrying out the tasks assigned by the above! It is your business to protect the safety of the newspaper!"
"Yes." The officer responded expressionlessly.
"Fortunately, nothing happened this time. If something happened, I would have to lose my head with you!" Byron walked around the office a few times symbolically, sat down on the chair, and then breathed a sigh of relief.