CHAPTER 624: CHAPTER 624: A BLACK FAMILY OF THREE, ARRESTED, ISSUES

Boom——

The sudden explosion startled Winslow, Chenier, and Reesi on the spot. Instinctively, they hit the ground to avoid potential injuries.

But the explosion came and went quickly without further incidents. Winslow and the others climbed up from the ground, bewildered, and saw Luo An standing by a nearby window.

"What on earth happened?"

Reesi frowned, asking as she quickly walked to the window and looked in the direction of the explosion, following Luo An’s gaze.

Then to their surprise, they realized that the explosion site was not far from their investigation team’s SUV and SWAT troop carrier. A chunk of concrete blown from the bomb had smashed a hole the size of a head in the windshield of the SUV.

"What’s going on? Where did the bomb come from?"

Winslow’s expression was serious. Chenier thought for a moment and asked:

"Could it have been thrown by Elaine Reed and Hasim Reed?"

Winslow and Reesi exchanged glances, both detecting the suspicion in each other’s eyes. Luo An, who stood beside them, did not join their discussion. Instead, he pressed the communicator by his ear and asked:

"How’s the SWAT team doing? Any casualties?"

Zzzt——

A sharp electronic noise flashed through the communicator before it returned to normal. The SWAT team leader replied:

"All clear, no one is injured!"

"Good."

Relieved by the news of no injuries, Luo An carefully observed the bomb’s location for a few seconds, then picked up his weapon, turned around and ran toward the nearby staircase, commanding loudly:

"Follow me!"

"Understood!"

Winslow, Chenier, and Reesi hurried to keep up, continuing up the stairs with Luo An.

The building wasn’t tall—only six stories—and didn’t house many residents, all of whom were black.

The explosion had also drawn their attention, and they came out to see what happened. However, seeing Luo An and his group, they exchanged glances and silently retreated back to their rooms.

Indeed, some of the black residents held various grudges against the FBI, but despite their dissatisfaction, they had no intention to harm Luo An and his team.

This was not only because Luo An and his team were fully armed, but also because they saw that, apart from them, a group of SWAT officers was present.

As the time had come to 2006, the past scenes of black groups openly confronting federal law enforcement with guns had become rare; people started to act according to "rules."

Such a massive deployment of the FBI must mean a significant case. The black residents knew this well, and there was no need to disturb the FBI, nor were they inclined to provide any clues to them.

Luo An could guess what these black people were thinking, but he didn’t care. He never intended to extract clues from them; as long as they didn’t interfere, it was fine.

Luo An and his team ran quickly from the first floor to the fifth floor. At the stairwell corner on the fifth floor, there were an unfamiliar black man and woman leading a young black girl downstairs.

Seeing Luo An and the others with their guns, the black girl’s face was filled with panic. The two strangers looked very nervous and quickly stood against the wall to let them pass.

Chenier and Winslow glanced at this black family without much thought, Reesi took a breath ready to continue upstairs, but suddenly Luo An halted, and then rapidly lifted his handgun, striking towards the head of the black man against the wall!

"Damn!"

Luo An’s move was so sudden, Reesi and Chenier didn’t have time to react. Winslow, acting swiftly and trusting Luo An completely, immediately drew his pistol and aimed at the black man, shouting:

"Don’t move!"

Bang——

The black man reacted quickly too. Seeing the move from Luo An and Winslow, he immediately shoved the black woman beside him, throwing her at Winslow to halt him.

At the same time, he fiercely lifted the little black girl from the ground, using her as a shield in front of himself to evade Luo An’s gun.

The panic-stricken black girl forced Luo An to change his course of action. Chenier and Reesi also realized the black man’s identity was suspicious, and immediately raised their pistols to attack.

Bang—

Before the two women could fully raise their pistols, the black man used the little girl as a weapon, forcefully throwing her at them.

"Fu-k!"

"Damn it!"

Chenier and Reesi’s faces changed dramatically as they quickly retracted their hands to catch the black girl. Taking advantage of the moment, the black man propped himself on the stair railings, stepped on the walls on either side, and leapt down the stairs, planning to leave the place.

"Son of a bi*ch!"

Winslow’s face looked extremely ugly when he witnessed this scene. He placed the black woman he had caught aside, getting ready to give chase. Unbeknownst to him, a cold light flashed in the eyes of the black woman behind him as she silently drew a pistol from behind her.

Bang! Bang!

The next second, three gunshots rang out. The black woman was shot in both arms, and the weapon she had just drawn fell to the ground, powerless. She looked at Luo An with disbelief, not understanding when he had spotted the problem.

Winslow, Chenier, and Reesi looked at Luo An, who had fired the shots, in shock. Luo An holstered his pistol without wasting words, leapt down the stairs, and commanded loudly:

"Chenier, keep an eye on that woman!

Winslow, Reesi, follow me!"

"Understood!"

The three responded promptly. Chenier pulled out handcuffs and pinned the black woman to the ground, handcuffing her hands together, while Winslow and Reesi rushed down the stairs following Luo An’s silhouette.

The staircase structure in this building was of the most common type, with stairs on both left and right sides and a landing between each floor for pedestrian traffic and turning.

Normally, running down the stairs with constant turning would be slow.

Therefore, the black man chose a method similar to parkour. He grabbed the staircase railing with his left hand and moved sideways along the walls beside the stairs, leaping down like he could fly, quickly descending the building.

This method was difficult, but it was very fast because it didn’t involve running on the stairs, just moving from wall to wall of the stairwells. In the blink of an eye, the black man had moved from the fifth floor to the ground floor.

Thump—

Reaching the ground floor, the black man leaped up, landed on his feet and rolled forward to dissipate his momentum, then with a smirk, got up and ran without looking back.

The black man was well-prepared. Diagonally across from the building was an off-road vehicle. If he made it there, he could easily drive away from the area, and Luo An would have no chance of catching up to him...

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Four gunshots sounded, and the smirk on the black man’s face instantly turned to a cry of agony. He uncontrollably fell forward, landing face first.

Ignoring the pain on his face, the black man looked at his most painful wounds and saw that both his calves and thighs had been shot.

"You..."

Looking in the direction of the stairwell, holding a gun, Luo An approached unhurriedly. The black man clenched his back teeth and asked:

"How did you find me?"

Luo An walked over to the black man, looked down at him without expression, and said coldly:

"I thought you would ask me how I caught up to you so quickly."

The black man snorted with laughter and repeated his earlier question:

"How did you find me?"

"I can answer your question."

Luo An slowly squatted down, looking at the black man, and said in a firm tone:

"But before that, you need to answer my questions first.

First, what’s your name? Second, who sent you to orchestrate this crime?"