Chapter 278

Luther stayed at the second precinct and did not close his eyes all

night.

He kept waiting for the kidnapper to call again, afraid he would miss it.

It was only in the early hours of the morning that he leaned back in his

chair and reluctantly closed his eyes, sleeping in a dazed, muddled

trance.

Suddenly there was a beep sound and it was a text message. It was

like the first thunder of the dawn, and he woke up with a jolt, sat up,

and found himself in a cold sweat.

Karl was lounging on his desk for a moment when the same short

ringing tone woke him up.

He sprang to his feet and ran to Luther's side.

Luther opened up the text message, and sure enough, it was the

person holding Joyce hostage who sent the latest message.

"We want five hundred million, paid in diamonds, placed in the Phoenix

Hill gas station in City A. We will come and pick it up, and you will get

your woman back once we get the money."

"There was only a text message, and no more photos of Joyce." Karl

finished reading the text message and pondered for a moment,

“Normally, when the criminals propose a ransom, they will send a photo

of the kidnapped person or an audio recording of the kidnapped person

asking for help. To show that the person is indeed still within their

grasp.”

"You mean that the thugs only sent one text message and nothing else.

In all likelihood, Joyce is out of their grasp?" Luther's heart was vaguely

excited, and a glimmer of hope ignited.

He knew she had a gun with her, she was a sharpshooter, so hopefully,

she could save herself.

"This is just my guess." Karl opened the map of City A on the big

screen and pointed out the location of Phoenix Mountain, “Look,

Phoenix Mountain is here, Phoenix Mountain gas station is here. But I

suspect that Phoenix Hill is just a trick, and the ransom demanded by

the criminals is also just a trick, they are trying to create the illusion that

this is an ordinary kidnapping case. Their ultimate goal is still to Kill

Joyce."

Luther looked grave and said without hesitation, “I will order my men to

prepare 500 million worth of diamonds and send them to the Phoenix

Hill gas station. Whether the criminals really want it or not, I couldn't

take any chances.”

"Hmm. Around Phoenix Mountain, I will send someone up secretly.”

Karl nodded his head.

After Luther finished, he called Aaron and carefully explained all the

details before hanging up.

"The immediate priority is to find out where Joyce is." Karl walked to the

inquiry room, which was filled with officers who had been working

overtime all night to check the surveillance footage.

He stepped forward and asked, "Well, do you have a clue?"

Luther followed Karl to the inquiry room, not wanting to miss any useful

information.

One of the officers returned, "Captain, I was just about to call you! We

have a lead. We traced the whereabouts of every large truck that

showed up in front of DeNox at the time. Excluding the rest of the

suspicious vehicles, only one truck remains the most suspicious.

Captain, look, here is the gas station that is closest to the border of

Khebury, this big truck went in to refuel, but did not come out again!"

“Look here! Look, the big truck drove in!" He pointed at the screen and

replayed it once, "Look, but it didn't come back out!"

"Where did this minivan come from?" Karl pointed out another minivan

that was coming in and out.

The officer shook his head, "I don't know, maybe it just happened to

come for gas."

"No, what's this minivan doing driving into a diesel fuel station when it

needs gasoline?" Luther also noticed that.