Chapter 321 - 317: Coming Clear
"Two tries... Two tries are all I have," Ryder muttered as he sighed.
He kept listening to the news, trying to see any new development. He wanted to know all he could.
"Wait a minute, that spy on my trail. If she's working for Ray, that number she called would be his. If I can get in contact with Ray, I should be able to get more insider information. I still have 7-8 hours to collect information," Ryder muttered as he stood up.
He walked to the hall and dialed the unknown number. He didn't wait for Shu to confirm who the number belonged to. He didn't have enough time. He was mostly sure that it was the number of Ray from the FBI who was after him. Either way, since he was going to erase this timeline, it didn't matter who this number belonged to. There was not going to be any consequences after all.
He called the number.
The phone started ringing.
Ray and his fellow teammates were at the blast location inside one of the Seven-star hotels that suffered the attacks. They were checking the CCTV footage to see what happened before the blast.
"Fast forward it," Ray told the operator, but that's when his phone started ringing.
"Pause it right there. I'll be right back," he said as he turned back.
He looked at the number on his phone, which was showing Ryder's name. Ryder didn't know about it, but Ray had already found his number and even saved it.
" Ryder? Interesting. Let's see what you have to say," Ray muttered as he smiled. He had a feeling that Ryder could help him get to the culprits faster.
Ray picked up the call but didn't say anything.
"You're Ray from the FBI, aren't you?" Ryder asked straight away.
"Yes," Ray replied.
"Look, Ray, I'm pretty sure you know who I am by now if you send your little spies after me," Ryder muttered. "You should be glad I'm letting the little bird live despite knowing that she's spying on me."
Ray was shocked to hear Ryder's words.
"Don't harm her! She didn't mean anything bad," Ray replied instantly.
"I'm not harming her. She still doesn't realize that I already know about her," Ryder replied casually. "I'm not interested in that little bird."
"Why did you call me?" Ray asked with a frown.
" I called to tell you something. Now, I don't care if you're recording this call or whatever. It doesn't matter anymore. I'm telling you straight away. You were right. I am Ryder, and I am the guy that saved your life in Washington and in front of Jameson's house," Ryder said in a stern tone.
"I knew it. Don't worry; my calls are not being tapped. Your secret is safe with me. Did you call me regarding today's attacks? What do you want to talk about? Is this the work of the same people? Why did you leave the city just before the attacks happened? Did you know about the attacks?" Ray fired all his questions one after another.
" The reason why I called you? It's because I need your help. I don't know if it's the work of the same people and that's why I need your help. I need information. I need to know details regarding the attacks so that I can help you and save innocent lives. I'm outside the city, and I can't come back fast enough to collect the information myself, so you can be my only eyes and ears now," Ryder replied.
" It all depends on you now. If you help me, we can save thousands of lives together. If you don't help me, those lives will be as good as gone," he added.
"I'll help you. What do you need?" Ray nodded his head as he said.
"Good. All I need is the information regarding the attacks. I'm sure you'll check CCTV footage and ask the witnesses about what they saw. I want you to send me the pics of all the culprits you can find in the CCTV along with the information on where they appeared and where they placed the bombs. The faster you get me the information, the more I'll be able to help," Ryder said in a grim tone.
"It's 4 in the night. You have till 4 in the morning. I need the information I asked for. These twelve hours are the most crucial. Any delay will result in the loss of lives. Be fast," he continued. "I'll call you in 6 hours to check up on you."
Ryder disconnected the call.
Ray went back to the monitor and started looking at the footage.
****
Ryder called Esmi once again, wondering if her phone was on right now.
Fortunately, this time, the call was connected, and Esmi picked up the phone.
"Are you fine?" Ryder instantly asked.
"Ah, yeah. I'm fine. I was home at that time," Esmi replied.
"That's good. Why was your phone turned off when I was calling you before? Also, how many people did you lose in these attacks?" Ryder inquired.
"My phone? Ah, It ran out of battery. I was ignorant and forgot to charge it. As for the losses, many men died. There were over fifty of my men inside at that time," Esmi replied as she sighed.
"It could've been worse. At Least you're safe," Ryder said as he sighed in relief.
"What about you? Everyone is fine on your side, right?" Esmi asked.
"Yeah, fortunately, no one close to me was harmed," Ryder replied. "Also, outside the city, so there was no way I would have been harmed."
"That's good," Esmi said, nodding her head.
"Do you have any clue who is behind these attacks and why your place was targeted? Most of the places that were targeted had at least a few hundred people. Only your place had less than a hundred. Why does it seem like they just did it for some reason, especially with your place?" Ryder asked as he suddenly thought of something.
He was wondering if the people that attacked had some link of enmity to Esmi. That could be the reason they went out of her place to destroy her club instead of targeting more populated places like they did in other attacks.
"You mean one of my enemies could be involved in these attacks? I guess I didn't think from that point of view at all. This does make sense now that I think about it. The problem is that a person can make many enemies in this business. It's impossible to pinpoint one," Esmi replied as she sighed.