Mercenary's War

The police car drove on the deserted road, but after leaving the lane leading to the bay, more cars started to appear.

Prince was driving, with the windows rolled down completely, while Karl sat in the passenger seat, also with his window down, constantly looking outside as if searching for something.

The police radio continuously emitted calls, providing Karl and the others with a lot of valuable information.

"The police are still being dispatched this way."

"Since they gained nothing near the docks, they can only widen the search area. However, so far, this is not the primary search area."

After a brief conversation with Prince, Karl looked at the roadside and said in a deep voice, "Drive slowly."

"There’s a police car coming from the opposite direction."

Prince’s voice didn’t sound tense, but he was a bit nervous because what he could see, Karl could obviously see too.

"Just drive normally, don’t pay it any mind."

A police car passed by them at the same slow speed. As the two vehicles were about to pass each other, Prince flashed the headlights and then waved his arm out of the window as a sign of greeting.

Prince’s raised arm conveniently blocked his face. The driver of the approaching police car did the same gesture back to Prince in greeting.

Prince exhaled deeply and whispered, "Past it."

Ahead was a major intersection, but the traffic began to slow down. From a distance, they could see several police cars at the intersection, where every passing car had to undergo inspection, causing a traffic jam.

"The police car earlier came from the emergency lane. Let’s take the emergency lane."

Prince drove the car onto the emergency lane, and at that moment, a call came through the radio from the central station.

"Suspicious target spotted at the intersection of the No. 146 Motorway and No. 146B Motorway overpass gas station. Patrol officers nearby, please provide support!"

Karl grabbed the radio’s handset and replied in a noticeably disguised voice, "This is police car 00287, we’re nearby and heading to support immediately."

Prince hastily asked, "Where’s the siren switch? Where is it? Oh, here it is!"

Prince flipped a switch, and the police car he was driving immediately blared its sirens and accelerated rapidly down the emergency lane.

Before advancing more than one thousand meters, they could already see the police cars at the intersection. Many officers were methodically checking each vehicle, very thoroughly, but as Karl’s car quickly approached with sirens blaring, two officers quickly moved the roadblock, gesturing with hand-held lights for them to pass swiftly.

After swiftly passing the first roadblock, even Karl was somewhat excited.

The police car sped along, and Prince asked in a low voice, "Are we going to the gas station?"

Karl responded without hesitation, "Since we are the targets they’re searching for, then the people at the gas station are certainly not, so we’ll head there, and any alarm will soon be cleared. We’ll have a chance to leave there."

Mike excitedly chimed in from the back, "We have a chance, don’t we? Right?"

Karl quietly stated, "Yes, thanks to this police car, we have a chance, but keep quiet, Mike."

The police car drove directly into the gas station where the suspicious target was discovered. Five police cars were already there, and three helicopters were hovering above, with spotlights continuously shining on four surrounded people.

When Karl and the others arrived, a very fat officer gestured that the crisis was over, swinging his arms back and forth as he approached.

The three helicopters immediately turned and flew in different directions, and the gathered officers quickly returned to their police cars.

One police car after another quickly left, flashing their lights. The very fat old officer who had just waved at them shouted as he passed Karl and his companions’ car, "Return to your assigned areas, everything is fine here!"

Prince drove out of the gas station, but instead of returning, he headed towards the entrance to the highway, exclaiming excitedly, "We’re in Baytown District. Just follow the road forward for ten more miles to the No. 10 National Highway, and once we’re on the highway, we’ll surely be able to leave Houston!"

Karl said in a deep voice, "You choose the route."

Prince stopped speaking and increased the speed again slightly.

They were very close to the highway now; the sign indicated only three miles left, but suddenly Karl said, "Wait, slow down."

Prince immediately slowed down and asked urgently, "What’s wrong?"

Karl frowned and said, "We’ve been spotted."

"Spotted? No way."

Karl sighed and said, "The police radio calls were very frequent, but now, don’t you feel they’ve reduced a lot? The last call was from a woman, but now the dispatcher we’re hearing is a man, and his voice isn’t young. Most importantly, we’ve driven quite far, yet we haven’t seen a single police car, which is abnormal."

Mike from the back seat suggested in a low voice, "Maybe the dispatcher just changed shifts..."

Karl said in a deep voice, "Just look up at the sky to see if there are helicopters. No need to worry about being exposed, stick your head out to check."

After saying that, Karl immediately leaned half his body out, and Mike opened the rear window and leaned out to look up at the sky.

There were no spotlights in the sky, but there were lights flashing on and off, very high up, yet they couldn’t hide from Karl’s eyes.

Karl returned inside the car and still devoid of emotion said, "Helicopters, two of them, we’ve been followed."

Prince heavily smacked the steering wheel while Mike felt extremely frustrated and said, "How were we discovered?"

Karl closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them and said in a deep voice, "Don’t take the highway, turn onto a side road as soon as we find one!"

Prince immediately swerved the steering wheel sharply, just as Karl spoke, a side road appeared, and before they had driven two hundred meters onto it, blinding lights suddenly flashed on, rendering Prince blind for a moment.

"Spotlight!"

"We’ve been discovered!"

Karl closed one eye, shouting, "Zigzag maneuver, don’t stop!"

Just as Karl yelled, several very bright points appeared on the car roof, then Prince shuddered, slumping onto the steering wheel.

The lights on the roof shone brightly because bullet holes had been shot through it, and the spotlight shining through the small holes naturally brightened the car interior.

Prince had been shot.

Prince shuddered, slumped forward onto the steering wheel but quickly straightened up, gasping, "I’ve been shot, take over driving."

Karl grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it forcefully, then bullets flew past the car, with several hitting the hood.

Karl knew clearly, this time, it was truly over.