ATPnovel Chapter 42 Mission Impossible
Chapter 42 Mission Impossible
Two days passed, and there was still no word from Samuel.
Fiona felt uneasy. She wanted to ask several times, but seeing that Levi was still handling the business affairs on time every day, as if the conversation that night had never happened, she swallowed her words.
On the third day at dusk, the back door of the warehouse was finally knocked on.
The person who came was Samuel again.
He looked like he hadn't slept for days; his eyes were sunken, and his once fervent gaze was now filled with ashes of weariness.
He didn't say anything, but simply placed a crumpled piece of paper on the table.
"Jonas Reed. A low-ranking clerk in the Governor's Archives. Thirty-two years old, his wife died last year, and he owes a large gambling debt to four different tavern owners. We recruited him six months ago to provide some trivial government documents. But he's too greedy."
Samuel's voice was hoarse and dry.
"Our people discovered that Gage's informants are already watching him. He'll be arrested in a few weeks at most. He knows the addresses of several of our peripheral contact points."
Li Wei picked up the slip of paper and carefully looked at the information on it.
This is truly a perfect offering.
Their identity is real, their motives are sufficient, and they are about to be exposed.
Eliminating him is a way to mitigate damage for the "Sons of Liberty," not a sacrifice.
"So it seems someone within your organization made the decision for you?"
Samuel closed his eyes in pain and nodded.
"Silas...and others. They say you're right. The cause of freedom is not child's play." He recited this quote he had heard from Livy, his tone filled with self-contempt.
"Very good." Li Wei lit the note on the whale oil lamp and watched it turn to ashes.
"We thought that rather than waiting for him to be arrested, unable to withstand the interrogation, and reveal everything he knew, it would be better to..." Samuel didn't finish his sentence, but the pain on his face said it all.
"Why not let him be the 'sacrifice'?" Li Wei finished the sentence for him, his tone as indifferent as if he were talking about an insignificant product.
"We can make him a hero!" Samuel cried, grasping at the last straw. "Tell him it's part of the plan, let him do it himself..."
"No," Li Wei refused decisively.
"A victim who is aware of the situation is the biggest variable. He will reveal his weakness at the last moment out of fear. Only when he is completely unaware will his shock and despair be the most real. And this realism is the 'pledge of allegiance' I gave to Gage."
Li Wei stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the scattered lights on the dock.
"If it's acting, then it has to be a full performance. A traitor about to be arrested should grasp at something of real value in his final moments of madness to make his betrayal seem more believable."
Samuel looked up abruptly, staring at him in bewilderment.
Li Wei walked to the wall and lifted the tarpaulin covering the port map.
He used a charcoal pencil to draw a circle on the map at the location of a remote, abandoned warehouse.
"At the end of the North Wharf, there's that abandoned cod warehouse. Schedule an 'important meeting' there tomorrow night."
"What?!" Samuel exclaimed. "Isn't that sending our men to their deaths?"
"No. All you need to do is set up the stage. For example, put a few boxes of badly printed flyers, a few old rusty guns that won't fire, and a broken printing press part there."
"The items need to look 'important,' but in reality, they're all trivial supplies. Then, all you have to do is let Jonas Reed 'accidentally' obtain this information."
"Okay, I'll go find him, pretend to give him one last task with a generous reward. Then, during the conversation, I'll 'casually' mention the importance and location of this meeting."
"Direct contact is too stupid; your and Silas's faces are too easily recognizable. We need a more sophisticated stage to lead him into the trap himself."
"Which bar does Jonas frequent?"
"'The pirate's good bird.' He owes the boss there six shillings," Samuel replied listlessly.
"Find two absolutely reliable people, but whose identities Jonas doesn't know. Have them put on hooded cloaks and go to 'The Pirate's Good Bird' for drinks. You need to figure out how to get Jonas to show up at that tavern tomorrow night at the same time."
"For example, have a brother he's never met pretend to be an accomplice of the debt collector and invite him there to discuss installment payments."
Levi turned around and looked at Samuel.
"Then, have your two people act out a scene in the booth next to his. A scene about an 'important meeting'."
Then, Levi described the details of the script to Semius in detail.
As Samuel listened to the end and seemed to be deep in thought, Levi cautiously added:
"Finally, when one of them leaves, they have to 'accidentally' drop a crumpled piece of paper under the table. Nothing needs to be written on it, just a simple charcoal map of the way to the warehouse, and a time marked on it."
"What if he doesn't pick it up?"
"No, he will! A gambler's curiosity and greed will make him pick up this piece of paper."
After Li Wei finished speaking, he turned to look at Seamus, who had been standing silently in the corner.
"Seamus, take ten of your most trusted men and surround that warehouse after dark tomorrow. Remember, I want it alive. I want a 'traitor' who's terrified and will say anything. The Governor's Mansion needs a witness who can talk, not a corpse."
"Understood, sir."
Li Wei then looked at the woman in the corner. "Fiona, once Seamus succeeds, he will send a signal. You immediately arrange for an illiterate dockworker to deliver an anonymous letter with Jonas's name and 'evidence of betrayal' to the garrison's mailbox."
……
The next day at dusk, just as the kerosene lamps of the "Pirate's Good Bird" tavern were lit, Jonas Reed sat in the corner clutching a crumpled IOU.
The guy who claimed to be the debt collector's helper said the new creditor was willing to meet, but he waited for almost half an hour and the person still hadn't arrived.
The sour taste of the cheap ale stung his throat, and the only three pennies in his pocket jingled.
With that little money, even the worst prostitute at the Red Rose brothel wouldn't give him a second glance.
Just as Jonas was stirring his cheap ale in frustration, the hushed conversation of two men in dark hooded cloaks sitting next to him drifted into his ears.
"Are you sure? That batch of 'hardware parts' will really arrive?"
"Absolutely true! I heard that this time it was someone from above who made the contact personally. It's at the cod warehouse at the end of the North Wharf."
Jonas froze, his ears immediately perking up.
"That place has been abandoned for so long, is it safe?"
"The more abandoned the area, the safer it is! Those lazy patrolmen will never go there. We'll make our move at 8:55 p.m., once the last patrol passes by."
"Great! With this shipment, we're much more confident! We'll show those 'lobster soldiers' what we're made of!"
The two men whispered a few more words, then quickly finished their drinks and got up to leave.
Jonas watched them disappear through the door, his heart pounding as he pondered to himself.
"If it were anyone else, they probably wouldn't understand either. They never imagined I was a member of the Sons of Liberty. Looks like God is watching!"
At that moment, he subconsciously glanced at the booth where the two people had sat. In the dim light, a dozen or so torn pieces of paper were scattered around the table leg.