In the courtyard of a certain provincial government office.
Two police SUVs passed through the tree-lined road and stopped in front of a three-story old office building.
The car door opened, and tall and thin Santos got out of the back seat, looking around with sharp eyes like a falcon.
His companion Tony appeared on the other side of the car.
Compared to Santos, Tony looks much fatter, has gained weight in middle age, and already has a bit of a beer belly.
"This way, please."
A police officer walked up to the two of them, made an invitation gesture, and said in English: "Our leader is already waiting for you two upstairs."
Santos smiled and nodded, the razor-like wrinkles on his face squeezed together.
"Then I'll help you lead the way."
Accompanied by the police officer, the three of them walked towards the stairs together.
As Santos walked, his eyes wandered.
This is a new place for him.
"Officer, you speak English very well. Did you learn it in college?"
"That's right, when I was studying at the police college, among the two foreign languages I chose for the draft, one was English and the other was Spanish."
"Oh!" Santos looked like he suddenly understood, "It seems that I am ignorant. I didn't expect that your police academy has a foreign language major."
The young police officer did not answer Santos, showed a strange smile, and asked: "Is this your first time in country Z, Mr. Santos?"
"This is my first time," Santos said. "I'm familiar with Asia and Southeast Asia, but I'm very unfamiliar with this place. After all, you won't welcome people like me who are too sensitive."
"Of course you are welcome to come for sightseeing." The young police officer smiled politely.
Santos was stunned for a moment, then laughed loudly: "Yes, yes, if official business comes here, it will definitely not do anything good. It is indeed unwelcome."
As the group talked, they reached the third floor. The young police officer took the two to the door of a conference room and knocked on the door.
Soon, the door opened from the inside.
"You two, please come in." The police officer stood by the door and motioned for the two of them to go in.
Santos straightened his cheap suit, smoothed the gray patch on his head, straightened his back, and immediately felt like a professional soldier.
When we walked in, there was already a circle of people sitting around the oval conference table.
Seeing Santos and Tony come in, the director who was sitting at the head stood up and came over and said, "Welcome, we welcome the experts from Interpol to assist us."
A few people shook hands and exchanged polite greetings, which were nothing more than formal remarks.
The young police officer acted as a translator and began to introduce the people in the conference room.
"This is our Director Chang, and this is Director Liang from the Major Case Division, and Captain Chen from the Anti-Narcotics Corps."
He turned sideways and looked next to Director Chang. Next to him stood a young policewoman with the rank of third-class police inspector.
"This is Li Li, the commissioner of the Counter-Terrorism Bureau, who was specially sent by us for this case."
An Ruosu politely stretched out his hand, shook hands with Santos and Tony respectively, and said, "Nice to meet you two."
Tony's eyes shone brightly and he praised An Ruosu: "Commissioner Li is really young and beautiful. He is able to engage in counter-terrorism work at such a young age. It really complies with the old saying of your country Z, what... what comes out of a boy?"
"Since ancient times, heroes have been born out of young men." Santos corrected his partner, "Tony, you should read more books about Country Z."
"Yes, yes..." Tony nodded his round, almost bald head and smiled, but his eyes never left An Ruosu.
An Ruosu said: "Since you two have come all the way and rushed here without rest, let's not waste time and have a meeting to exchange the information we have with each other."
Director Chang also echoed: "That's right, then, please take a seat."
Everyone took their seats.
An Ruosu motioned to the young police officer to put the information on Santos and Tony's desks.
Santos and Tony opened the folder. The information inside had been translated into English, so there was no reading difficulty for them.
After browsing quickly, Santos spoke first.
"We should have cooperated long ago." He shook his gray-haired head and said: "Unfortunately, Zhang Lan was originally a very important clue, but it was broken in country Z. If you could exchange information with us earlier, maybe
This regrettable incident would never have happened."
Santos' tone was a bit condescending and a bit aggressive.
Spreading his hands proudly, he added: "We have been following Zhang Lan's line for a long time. Her husband Chaiba had close contacts with the South American drug cartel we have been tracking in the early years. We believe there is a close relationship between them.
We cooperated and sold drugs to all over the world. Later, after I led the team to capture Chaiba, Zhang Lan took over and contacted the South American drug cartel again through an international broker. Originally, we planned to plan another arrest operation, but we did not expect that she died.
What a pity it is in your hands."
Santos pursed his lips and put down the folder with a regretful expression.
"Mr. Santos." Director Chang said with a slight smile: "Zhang Lan's drug trafficking group has always been active at the border, but we have cracked down many times. She has never dared to risk entering our territory. Now that you have arrested her husband, it is even more important.
They should provide us with more information through Interpol, or they should have contacted our police to cooperate in the arrest, instead of waiting until Zhang Lan died and then asking us for information and accusing us of not doing a good job.
.”
Santos curled his lips, spread his hands again, and said no more.
An Ruosu took out a piece of information from his briefcase and handed it to Santos.
"Mr. Santos, I think since we are all sitting together today to discuss cooperation, we should admit something frankly. When you came here this time, we also provided detailed information about the entire process of Zhang Lan's death. I also hope to get some information from your Interpol organization.
Explain, according to the intelligence we have obtained, the South American drug trafficking group that Zhang Lan cooperates with is the Colombian Carlos Group, and this group was captured by your special forces ten years ago and sent to Guiguo to serve a sentence. But what is very strange is that
, during a prison transfer a few years ago, Carlos suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Can you explain the connection? "
Santos' eyes suddenly became less relaxed. He touched his chin with his hand and glanced at his partner Tony next to him.
"I don't understand what you mean by 'relationship'?" After a while, he said in a deep voice.
"There are many drug trafficking groups in South America, and there are also many families. A big drug lord from the Golden Triangle has spent so much effort to find an international broker to establish a relationship with a declining drug trafficking group. Isn't there something interesting in this?"
An Ruosu opened the briefcase and handed over another document, "Perhaps you can take a look at this for yourselves and then consider how to answer my question."
Santos' eyes fell on the first page of the information. There were several photos. One of the photos was Zhang Lan, and the other was a man. He looked like he had long wavy hair, and his facial features looked like they were of European descent. They opened their arms as if they were about to hug.
present.
Santos's face quickly darkened.
Tony also saw the photo. He also noticed the ugly expression on his partner's face. He touched the mustache on his mouth and said, "Santos, I think it's better to be honest with our colleagues."