The spy captain took out a pack of cigarettes. This was an inconspicuous residence not far from Carmen's apartment. Carmen often passed by it. It was claimed to be a material warehouse belonging to the Guards and guarded by armed guards.
.
Carmen, however, took out a cigar from the inner pocket of his coat, put it in front of his nostrils and sniffed. The spy captain smiled sarcastically, but was not angry and lighted the cigarette:
"Let me introduce myself, I am Jack Smith, the captain of the operations team of the Holy City Secret Police."
"Nice to meet you!" Carmen tried to calm down, "I don't know if there is anything I can do for Captain Smith."
"Don't be nervous. Sorry, I invited Mr. Gable here so late. I just wanted to have a frank chat with you."
Captain Smith is a bald man with a very ordinary appearance, and he looks like an ordinary citizen. He is the most inconspicuous person among the crowd.
This is completely different from Daley, the secret police chief in Carmen's hometown. Daley is gloomy, ruthless, and exudes the aura of keeping strangers away from him. He looks at everyone as if he is looking at a criminal.
"I'm just an ordinary reporter. Well, maybe I have a little fame, but I really can't think of anything in common with Mr. Captain." Carmen played dumb.
"Indeed, when two strangers sit together, they will encounter such embarrassment, such as between you and me." Smith smiled, "At this time, it is necessary to find a common topic. How about a cup of tea?
"
"Okay, thank you!" Carmen had been running all day today, and only then did she realize that smoke was coming out of her throat.
"Sorry, I only have the most common tea here, which is old tea from last year. You Genoese people sell tea too expensively." Smith personally made a cup of tea for Carmen. If it weren't for the fact that he was in this secret police stronghold, Carmen would
I thought I was visiting a friend's house.
"As far as I know, the wholesale price of tea gardens is not too high compared to the retail price, but now the market is in short supply, so the price when sold to customers is very high, basically two to three times the wholesale price. But this year's sales
The price has already halved, and it is expected to halve again next year. I heard that some people are hoarding it, which is totally a bad idea." Carmen said.
"That's good news for me. People in my line of work often stay up late, and making a pot of tea can make me feel better. You journalists also drink tea often, right? Can you afford the salary?"
Smith said.
"Normally, of course, we cannot afford this expense. Tea is still too expensive. But don't forget, I am from Poitou, and my family has a small tea garden. This small tea garden is enough for my whole family.
Having enough food and clothing is something I couldn’t imagine in the past,” Carmen said.
"Haha, can I buy some tea from you in the future? My salary is not high. Almost all bosses or industry owners always despise their subordinates for taking salary but not working." Smith said half-truthfully, holding up his hands.
He said, "Look, we found a great topic."
"If you interrogate prisoners like this every time, I'm afraid you will get a lot. Is this the so-called interrogation technique?" Carmen asked.
"No, no, Mr. Gable, I told you, I just want to have a chat with you." Smith was still talking in circles.
"Mr. Captain, if you want to ask anything, just ask me directly. If you still want to talk in circles, I'm sorry that I can't help you." Carmen said.
"We noticed that you have been frequently visiting various security stations and police stations in the past month?" Smith said seriously.
"As you can see, I am investigating a series of missing children. Are the missing cases under your control?" Carmen asked.
"No, we are not the public security police. Although we have the right to mobilize police forces, whether they are public security police, patrol police, marine police, or even tax police, we seem to be one, but our responsibilities are different, and of course they do not include finding missing children.
I'm just curious. It doesn't look like you were just reporting on the disappearance itself. What did you find?" Smith asked, "Please understand that inviting you over for tea is also part of my job."
Smith took the briefcase Carmen carried with him, found a notebook, and asked, "Do you mind if I take a look?"
No matter how boring it was, Carmen could only nod. He didn't do anything illegal.
Carmen's investigation work was carried out very meticulously, listing the names of the missing children, recording various investigation points and some suspicious points, and marking the key points with triangle symbols.
"Dental disease, dentist, dental prevention team?" Smith frowned. He read the not-so-thick notebook for two hours, and Carmen even fell asleep on the table.
"I really don't know if this guy did it intentionally or unintentionally. This is an extremely huge discovery." Smith thought to himself.
He woke up Carmen. Carmen rubbed her sleepy eyes: "Ah, is it dawn?"
"Mr. Gable, you can go back." Smith said.
"So, can you return this notebook to me?" Carmen asked.
"Mr. Gable, regarding the series of missing children, our secret police has now taken over. I hope you will terminate the relevant investigations immediately. Remember your identity, you are not a policeman. If you like this profession, I can introduce you to join our secret police.
Police force.”
"Ah? Did I violate the national law?" Carmen looked very surprised and confused.
With Smith's many years of experience in handling cases, he really couldn't tell whether Carmen was really stupid or pretending to be stupid. Of course, it was better to pretend to be stupid.
However, this reporter almost exposed the huge case that happened under his nose, which made Smith feel very lucky. Thinking of this, Smith would also like to thank this reporter, otherwise he would not only be derelict in his duty, but even...
Thinking of this, Smith's spine went cold and he couldn't imagine it.
Therefore, he planned to take Carmen back to his apartment in a carriage himself.
"This is no longer an ordinary criminal case, it is a state secret! If you don't want to be killed, just stay away from this matter." Smith said seriously, with a hint of threat in his words.
"But I took the initiative to propose this investigation to our newspaper. I have to earn the trust of the president. I will only do this one thing this month. As you said, my boss doesn't want to see his employees just getting paid.
Work." Carmen yelled.
"Your president will forgive you, and I will go see him personally." Smith's tone was very strong.
Carmen was waiting for this sentence.
The next day, Carmen came to the newspaper office again.
As expected, the president, Mr. Brown, took the initiative to mention this matter. He thought a lot about the real reason why a secret police leader came to greet Carmen in person, and he also tried to find out what happened to Carmen.
"Sorry, Mr. Brown, this is a state secret. And you know, it is impossible for me to refuse the request of a secret police leader. You often educate us about freedom of reporting, but when we really face power, we can only compromise and put safety first.
, provided it does not involve issues of principle. After all, there are only a few journalists killed every year," Carmen said.
Mr. Brown shrugged: "Well, I won't ask you any more. I always feel that you missed a big news. This is a pity."
"Don't worry, I will definitely report this big news at the appropriate time." Carmen promised.
Mr. Brown nodded: "You have no other interview assignments now. You can report on the ironclad ship. You happen to be from Poitou, so this matter is yours. Hurry up and write to your friends in your hometown to let them know.
Collecting information about Kangshi Shipbuilding Company for you, I don’t want to see any stereotyped news reports.”
After a pause, Mr. Brown asked: "You should be familiar with the Viscount, right? Can you do an exclusive interview, of course in the form of a letter. No, that would be too slow..."
Mr. Brown immediately changed his mind: "You can go back to Poitou and conduct an exclusive interview with the Viscount in person, so that you can come up with something new. By the way, you can visit relatives. This is a good job. It kills two birds with one stone!"
Detective Carmel is back to his old job.
Just as Carmen was packing his luggage and preparing to return to Poitou, Captain Smith was tremblingly reporting to his boss, Colonel Joseph Frank.
Although Frank was only a colonel, it did not prevent him from communicating with the marshals and generals on an equal footing.
Not because he comes from a noble family, but because he controls a force that is very mysterious to outsiders - even if a high-ranking marshal-level officer is suspected of treason, he will preside over the investigation, interrogation, and even secret execution.
.
Therefore, Colonel Frank is very "respectable".
"In 1831, a total of 312 children disappeared in the Holy City and Gyeonggi region. Their ages ranged from 3 months to 12 years old, including children from families who came to the Holy City and Gyeonggi region from other provinces to make a living. Last year, 1832
A total of 405 children disappeared in 2018. These are all registered, and the actual number is definitely higher. The above data does not include children trafficked from other provinces to the Holy City and Gyeonggi. Those unscrupulous factory owners like to use child labor."
"Among them, at least 30 of the missing children in 1831 were involved in dental disease and had visits to the dentist, and last year there were also 32 missing children involved in these aspects."
"To sum up, we have a bold guess..."
"Bloodthirsty?" Frank asked, "Well, the work of your action team is excellent, and the analysis is very reasonable. This is consistent with the purpose of our secret police, which is to never let go of any possible traitor.
!”
Smith felt happy and continued:
"We secretly investigated the National Dental Protection and Dental Council, a group commonly known as the 'Dental Protection Group', and identified several key targets. These people are extremely suspicious. They use the opportunity of dental work and academic seminars to communicate through dentists all over the country.
, searching for possible bloodthirsty people among the general population.”
"Very good!" Frank said, "Their secret operation may have been carried out for many years. This may be the reason why we cannot completely eliminate the bloodthirsty people, because they can always be replenished."
"So, Colonel, shall we close the net?" Smith asked.
"No, continue to monitor and try to find one or more secret bases where they send young bloodthirsty people. They will definitely adopt and train these young bloodthirsty people and turn them into tools in their hands. I hope to be able to
Catch all these dark people in one fell swoop."
"So what should someone like Marquis Walker do?"
"He has betrayed His Majesty's trust. If he wants to escape guilt, he must pay some price."