053 The Masked Person
The next day, the two young guys, Richard and Steve, met with the executives. Fortunately, Keith's dad accompanied them, so the entire negotiation went very smoothly, resulting in a pretty substantial deal.
When Richard and Steve left the office building, the two buddies shouted and cheered excitedly in the street, arms raised, nearly attracting a cop check.
The nationwide theatrical release of the movie was settled. Naturally, it was time to celebrate. Having taken five days off, it would be wrong not to have a good time, but one had no interest in partying, while the other had to remain faithful to his girlfriend. Thus, neither intended to seek that kind of fun; they simply looked for some entertainment venues to hang out in.
The two played from day until night. Richard dumped the drunk Steve back into his hotel room, then returned to his own room to wash up before heading out again.
Checking his digital watch, it was 7:50 PM. Richard, wearing a baseball cap and a surgical mask, took a taxi to an apartment building. He observed the building's layout from the outside before stepping in, making his way to apartment 712 and knocking on the door.
After a short while, a bloodshot eye appeared in the peephole. The person inside asked Richard warily, "Who... who are you?"
The other person seemed to have been drinking; his tone was slurred and hesitant, and he let out an uncontrollable hiccup at the end of his sentence.
Richard said calmly, "Jerrod Potter, I'm from Hawkins."
Hearing the stranger call out his name and mention a place he never wanted to remember, Jared shuddered instantly. "Prove it to me!"
Richard pulled an ID badge from his pocket, his finger deliberately covering the photo portion while revealing other features of the card. This badge was naturally something he had lifted from a dead guard during his infiltration of The Lab and stashed away. He had thought it might be useful one day, and now the time had come.
The person inside only took a cursory glance before immediately identifying it as a real badge. His drunken haze cleared instantly, and in fear and panic, he hurriedly opened the apartment door to let Richard in.
"How... how did you find me?" Jared stammered. He was a thin, balding middle-aged man, as slovenly as his room. The apartment reeked of weed and cheap booze. As soon as he opened his mouth, Richard couldn't help but frown; his overly sensitive nose could clearly smell the man's foul breath even through the mask's protection.
Richard said coolly, "Jared, you didn't think that after working in a place like that and quitting, The Lab wouldn't keep tabs on retired personnel like you, did you?"
Jared looked full of regret and anxiety as he lowered his head. "What... what brings you here? Do you have orders for me?"
"I wouldn't call them orders, I just wanted to inform you that your life is in danger..."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Jared collapsed with a thud, landing on his ass on the filthy floor, looking at Richard in terror. "You... you're going to kill me?"
"If I wanted to do that, believe me, you wouldn't even hear my voice, and there would be no need for me to meet you face to face. You would die in an accident that anyone would find ordinary yet tragic." Richard clicked his tongue, entered the room, found a relatively clean chair to sit on, and watched Jared crawl toward him on his knees.
"Then is it someone else from The Lab who wants to kill me? No... Sir, please Sir, you have to save me. I can give you everything." It was unknown what kind of hell Jared had experienced in The Lab to make him so terrified of it.
Richard kicked the man away and said, "Don't come near me. Let me finish. Did you see the news last night about that criminal gang that's been going around killing people?"
"I saw it, it's... it's the group in the van."
"Correct." Richard nodded. "Their leader is someone who was severely abused by you and the group she killed."
"You mean... do you mean!?" Jared's expression changed. It seemed long-term drug use hadn't completely fried his brain; he could still figure out the key points. "You're saying there are escaped test subjects hunting down those of us who used to work at The Lab?"
"Bingo." Richard snapped his fingers crisply, the smiling eyes above his mask showing no sympathy or pity. "You might be next."
"No... no!" Jared panicked even more.
Having worked at The Lab, he knew that if people from The Lab wanted to kill him, he might still have a slim chance of survival since he at least knew his pursuers were human. But if it were test subjects from The Lab, the situation was entirely different. His pursuers would be a group of freaks who controlled supernatural powers. Furthermore, since he had participated in punishing test subjects who "stepped out of line," he would only die a more agonizing death facing their revenge.
Jared trembled, rummaging through his "trash heap" like a desperate animal. He finally managed to find a cookie tin and opened it to reveal some scattered cash. He pleaded, "I... I'm willing to offer all my savings. Please save my life. It's not much, but... but it's everything I have."
"Even a worthless life is still a life; this little bit of cash isn't enough." Richard shook his head.
He had no intention of saving the man, even if he paid for his life.
Besides, it wasn't as if this money couldn't be his once the man was dead. What a joke.
Richard was merely killing time. Based on the activity area of Kali's group yesterday, their most likely target for the next few days was Jared. Combined with the fact that the city's cops were chasing them closely, they wouldn't want to linger in this city much longer. They would likely speed up their operations, find Jared, and take him out.
As for how Richard found Jared's whereabouts, the answer was simple.
Richard carried data copied from The Lab with him; finding the current address of an employee like Jared was as easy as flipping through files.
Jared wanted to say something more, but Richard already heard the footsteps of a group—guys and girls—rapidly approaching. From the weight of the steps, he could judge they were all young, some heavy and some light.
Richard said nothing, quietly watching the pleading Jared. He raised a foot and sent the man flying with a kick from his instep.
BANG!
Suddenly, a shotgun blast. The door lock was instantly destroyed by the buckshot, and the apartment door was kicked open by a massive boot. A group of men and women dressed in punk styles and wearing various masks burst into the room. They were about to shout some threatening lines when they saw their target for the night flying through the air, eventually crashing down at their feet.
One of the girls, wearing a green serrated smiley-face mask, took advantage of the brief moment of confusion to shoot and kill Jared.
The two gunshots startled almost all the residents in the apartment building, especially those on the seventh floor. Peeking out from their doors, they saw three masked individuals holding firearms and a corpse lying in a pool of blood, with blood gurgling from the hole in the head.
"AHH!!!" As the screams rang out, the masked gang didn't have time to think and immediately took off.
Richard casually walked out onto the balcony. With a running start, he jumped onto the balcony railing, grabbed the apartment building's fire escape ladder, and slid all the way down to the ground...
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