"Let me guess what you are thinking." Alessio lay on the bed, raising one leg straight, and the loose brown trousers fell halfway from the ankle, revealing an old scar on the Achilles tendon. He touched the top of the bed with his bare feet, "You are awake, but you don't want to get up. You plan to lie in bed lazily until the afternoon, right."
His new upper bunk replied in the same lazy tone: "I haven't slept for a long time until I wake up naturally... Besides, what else can we do here besides eating and sleeping? Should we grab gym equipment from the gays?"
Alessio laughed, "Perhaps you want to go to the movie room to watch a movie? Today they are showing "High Aspirations"."
"Oh come on, do they think that putting a patriotic brainwashing film can have the effect of disinfecting water? Let us reflect on our lives amidst the shock of the soul and swear to change our minds, and after going out to volunteer in the community and go to the hospital to care for cancer patients, Or go to a prison with a shortage of manpower to be a prison guard or something?" The sound of killing casually seeps from the cracks in the bed board.
Alessio couldn't help laughing-the guy sleeping on the upper bunk was more interesting than he thought, and his sharp mouth was inversely proportional to Junxiu's appearance. He cleared his throat and said, "Then you continue to linger. By the way, after 4 o'clock in the afternoon, there is a fixed card game on the eighth floor. I want to take you to see it."
"why?"
"Because that is a good time to see the situation clearly." The Italian further explained, "The situation of the white building, you know-between the'resident' and the'resident', between the'resident' and the guard, and the guard Between the guards."
He finished thinking for a while and said: "I don't think a fixed game will welcome newcomers."
"Yes, but," Alessio shrugged: "One of the guys was in the'grave' last week. They were missing for a few days, and they were a little crazy."
"Well, you're an'old man', you have the final say." He rolled over, ready to sleep, and a string of dull footsteps approached their cell.
The iron door lined with a small square of thick glass was knocked several times, and the voice of the prison guard rang outside the door: "3145-107, there are visitors, now come to the interview room with me."
Before I walked out of the cell, I heard Alessio muttering behind him: "Why do they always call your number? You are not a robot."
The person who appeared in the meeting room was not unexpected, but the opponent's ability to fight every second made him nod slightly.
The man in a suit and leather shoes enthusiastically greeted him and shook his hand vigorously, "I'm glad we gave each other a precious opportunity. I want to introduce myself once more formally: Canning Gonzalez, The chief lawyer of Neckert Law Firm has 13 years of experience. I will be responsible for the whole process and eventually win your lawsuit. Trust me—" He looked around, cautiously approaching the ear of the new client: "Mr. ."
"Lee, here you can call me that." He said, sitting at the meeting table, "Let’s talk about your strategy, I don’t think you would just come here and tell me based on your enthusiasm. I'll be out of prison soon, right."
Canning sat down opposite him, straightened his tie, and said in a deep voice, "In order to win this defense of innocence, I plan to—"
Suqin suddenly stretched out an index finger and put it straight in front of the opponent's face.
Canning was taken aback: "... What do you mean?"
"Meaning, you only have one last chance." He took back that index finger and held up his right cheek with the adjacent thumb. "There is an old saying in our country,'There are no more than three things.' In the basement of the court, you draw It’s a fake pie, and now it’s the second time. If you still refuse to be honest with me, when I am a legal idiot, our still very fragile partnership will end."
Canning's eyes flickered, but he still maintained his usual demeanor and demeanor, "I don't quite understand what you mean, Mr. Li, I am sincere and sincere about this case..."
"Sincerely innocent defense, but the winning rate is only, um, I count-0.001%, this is still under your excellent performance." He chuckled, "No, I am not questioning your ability, but Have a clear understanding of your own situation. I think you, as a lawyer, should know better than I am. In criminal cases prosecuted by the federal government, 99% of the defendants plead guilty through plea bargaining before the trial, in exchange for an acceptable sentence. It's just the form, and the 1% who refused to plead guilty alive and dead, after losing the first trial, the winning rate in the second trial was only one in a thousand, didn't they?"
Canning moved a bit on the chair, and seemed to sit on pins and needles, but he couldn't interrupt the sharp analysis.
"In short, in a lawsuit with the government, you can only lose, you have to lose, and you lose without suspense—because the other party is the federal government. Oh, you know with your toes, how can the government lose face and lose the lawsuit? , Why should I accept your proposal, because regardless of whether you win or lose, you can take advantage of this case to soar in popularity, and the conversation fee can rise from $100 to $800 per hour. This unilateral benefit?"
Canning was staring at him with deep and deep eyes, cold sweat oozes from his forehead, "No, I think you have a bit of a misunderstanding, actually..." He defended incoherently, but the few words were as pale as his face. After a moment of embarrassment, he gave up and sighed, "Well, you are right, this is not a win-win situation-at least not equal. But I will do my best to defend you so that this case can minimize the sentence , I can swear to God on this."
With a little smile on the corner of his mouth, he took a sip from the hot coffee cup he brought, and said in a tone that soothes the kid who made the mistake: "You should confess earlier. But it's not too late."
The lawyer who has experienced many battles has now realized that the young man opposite is not of any type he has ever been in contact with: he is not depressed, angry, fearful, obedient, arrogant, or restless, all those facing life imprisonment The emotions that criminals should have are almost non-existent in him.
He felt that he could not guess the other party's thoughts at all. The young man's head was like an unfathomable deep pool, and his expression was calm water.
-This is a man with a truly strong heart and fearlessness, a hundred times more dangerous than those serial killers. This sentence flashed in Canning's mind, but he found that instead of shrinking, he tasted the stimulus of adrenaline in the trembling of the skin on his back.
This is the case you want, the big case! Rather than a bunch of bad things such as husband and wife cheating, children fighting for childbirth, and widowed old lady suing the pet grooming center to wash her pet dog out of her hair! Canning clenched his fist uncontrollably, blocking his lips. He coughed gesturely, tried to calm his excitement, and said in as calm as possible: "So, do you want to arrange a plea bargain before going to court? I can do work on the side of the prosecutor and the judge..."
"No, you made a mistake." Qing Qing replied calmly, "I don't plead guilty."
Canning was puzzled: "But you just clearly—"
"Yes, I know that this lawsuit cannot be won, but I don't plead guilty."
Canning pondered the deep meaning of the other party's words, and asked tentatively: "What do you mean... Use the public's attention to this case to get the most benefit? Yes, this is another option to raise public opinion. The climax put pressure on the government, but I’m not sure if the consequences of doing this will be the government’s retreat or increased anger... But I like this option, this is my style!" The gray-eyed lawyer thumped with excitement. Desktop, "This will be a fierce fight, but I smelled an extremely exciting smell! I can't wait to control the situation afterwards!"
Shaoqing didn’t comment on his personal understanding. Ten fingers touched his chin: "Go, my bulldog... Before that, I will provide you with an excellent piece of equipment: go to the junk on the corner of 16th Street. At the recycling shop, ask the manager for a key, then go down from the subway entrance No. 3, open the storage box No. 139, the thing is inside."
Canning looked at his dripping expression and couldn't help but curiously asked: "What is it?"
"A manuscript just finished."
"Manuscript? Is it a novel? Or is it a personal autobiography related to the case? Do I need to contact the publisher for help? What is the title of the book, and is it published under its real name?" Grinding teeth awaiting the attack.
He smiled at him slightly: "My pen name is written on the cover, you know what to do when you read it."
FBI New York branch building.
"I have a bad feeling..." Rob put down the handset and muttered to himself, "What did he say at the time, "I don't have a private lawyer, and I don't plan to contribute to the renovation of a lawyer's new villa. , Since there are free ones, why not use it?'Now suddenly changing lawyers on the spot? It's not like his style,'
"—What signal do you think this is? Planning? Conspiracy?" He frowned, picked up the file at the top of the desktop and flipped through it quickly, and asked the assistant agent who was looking for information behind him without looking back.
"I think these two words are the same thing."
"No, it's different—wait! This sound..." Rob turned around in amazement, his dark blue-eyed partner was standing at the door and nodding at him with a smile.
"Leo!" Rob yelled out of his voice. He was overjoyed and squatted: "You are not on vacation, I thought you would have more..."
"Is it time for vacation?" Leo walked in stride, a dark gray woolen long trench coat wrapped around his black suit, and the hem of the beautifully tailored cloth flicked neatly with his footsteps.
"Excellent, you are resurrected!" Rob hugged him, palms on his back with relief.
Leo also patted him, "I am not Jesus. I just need some enough sleep."
"It seems that you slept well last night." Rob took a step back and squeezed his eyes at him. "The effect of whiskey? Will I buy a box of it to your apartment next time?"
Leo shrugged and didn't answer, and turned his head. "What were you talking about just now, private lawyer... his?"
Rob knew who this "he" was, and nodded and handed over a page of information, "Canning Gonzalez, the lawyer he hired within ten minutes before his first court appearance. Look at this guy's resume. Well, trade secrets theft, police bribery, supermarket robbery... From criminal cases to trivialities, he has a wide range of interests and wins more and loses less. Did you know that last month he helped an extramarital husband with 80% of his property? Because the wife accidentally knocked the child’s forehead on the edge of the bathtub while helping their son bathe, and was twisted into an'abuse behavior' by him. In order not to be deprived of custody, the poor woman voluntarily gave up 30% of her support. Get wealth... Oh, this guy is a crocodile! Cold-blooded, self-interested, scheming, and a good appetite."
"But the New York Bar Association did not revoke his license, indicating that he may not be so upright, but he did not violate the law." The assistant agent on the side interrupted.
Rob ignored him and asked Leo seriously: "The edge of the cliff, the gray area, walking a tightrope on the gap between law and morality for personal purposes... Who does this description remind you of?"
The black-haired and blue-eyed agent frowned.
"I now know why he was appointed for the finale-apart from the occupation, he is like a weakened version of him." Rob closed the coffin.
Leo stared at the information in his hand and said solemnly: "I think he is more like his gun, or three-sided thorn. He always carries weapons with him. Even if he is stripped and thrown into prison, he can still use the With all the resources, find another one for yourself."
"Canning doesn't fail to see that he was being used as a gun, but he is still willing, which shows that they have reached some kind of agreement, some... dangerous, agreement." Rob blinked green thoughtfully "Leo, do you think we... let the public know that we caught him, the serial killer, and the case is under further trial? To be honest, we can’t hide it for a few days. The media is pervasive these days."
"I know." Leo said, "but we still need to collect more evidence and call witnesses. If the news is announced too early, it will inevitably be affected by public opinion and certain groups in society-you know that you died from those serial links The relatives of the victims under the killer knife were grateful to him, and even spontaneously formed a fan group on the Internet, called the "Dark Angel Trial Group"?"
"Oh, this name is really bad." Rob sighed, holding his forehead. "Why don't they call the Avengers?"
Leo reluctantly knocked Rob's head with the page, "Agent, pay attention to professional ethics!"
"Well, take it back."
"We need some time. To be precise, Prosecutor Martini needs some time to make her behave better and more impressively in court."
"For her promotion opportunity at the end of her tenure, I understand."
"Keep it, block it," the senior agent said to his partner. "Then investigate the lawyer to see what he knows, but don't let him find out."
The latter slapped his palm clearly, "Based on the confidentiality agreement of the lawyer's client, the lawyer cannot disclose the client's information, even if it is a criminal act. So in order to defend successfully, what he said to him may be much more than we know... Leave this to me to ensure that it will be done without any traces. Don't worry, federal agents are best at this." Rob said half-jokingly.
He raised his collar with high morale, walked to the door of the room, turned his head and asked, "What about you, Leo, what's your schedule today?"
Leo thought for a while, "Go talk to the prosecutor, so that she doesn't have to spend too much time on choosing clothes for court?"
Rob smiled at his pun and shook his head, "What else?"
Leo thought.
"I'll give you a suggestion... Maybe you should go to MCC and meet him."
Leo glanced at him and frowned deeply. "That's useless work, he can't say anything."
"I am not for the case, but for you. Anyway, before you act as a defendant and a witness against Boss, you must make a break between you. Calm, rational, and unconcerned break. This is for everyone. good."
Leo was silent.
Rob continued with a meaningful expression, "I don't want you to be drunk every night to fall asleep, so that after you quit your drug addiction, you will start to quit drinking again."
The muscles on Leo's face were tense, and he replied coldly: "I don't want to beat him in front of a bunch of prison guards and suspects."
"Then don't beat him up, speak well."
"Impossible! I want to draw a gun when I think of his face now."
Rob sighed silently, "If you hate him so much, you should go and see it, it will be very relieved-you know a beautiful woman who has been seriously injured, has limited mobility, and has severely reduced self-preservation ability (he emphasized the word ) Young man, what will happen once he goes to jail? Don't say that he can be one enemy and one hundred, life is not a kung fu movie."
"He deserves it. People always pay for what they do." Leo said coldly.
"Yes, the price can be imprisonment and going to the injection station, but it shouldn't be physically and personally insulted." Rob said while staring at the face of the black-haired agent, trying to find some micro expressions, but he failed. , Shrugged regretfully: "Whatever you do. I wish you a good night's sleep." After speaking, he walked out of the office.
Leo stared blankly at the automatically closed door, as if he was stuck in a quagmire of difficulty. He wanted to get rid of it and go ashore, but the soft and sticky mud wrapped his feet tightly, producing a warm, tight, and seductive suction... He pulled out one leg so hard, but the other leg was trapped. Deeper…
He shook his head violently and rubbed his face with the palm of his hand, until his face became numb and painful, and he broke free from the dangerous hallucinations.
Sorry, I will not accept your suggestion. Leo said to Rob, who had left, that from the moment that he tore off the false mask with his own hands, my love died with Li Biqing, and what was left was just a pair of deadly enemies.
Federal Metropolitan Detention Center (MCC).
The visitor puts his hand into the reader, and the invisible seal on the back of the hand fluoresces under ultraviolet light, showing his alert level and entry time. "Verification passed." The electronic synthesis sounded, and the heavy iron door slowly opened.
"Management procedures." The warden Jensen sent an apologetic look of "please understand" to the visitor. "There are two doors behind."
"In order to be sure." The visitor nodded understandingly, "Caution is a good thing, especially here." As he said, he took off the other badge on his chest and put it in the inner pocket of his suit: "Don't you mind?"
"Of course not," Jason replied with a smile, "isn't it a good thing to be cautious, Senior Agent Lawrence."
"Leo, you can call me that." The black-haired and blue-eyed man stared at the pale and long corridor in front, as if his eyes could penetrate the barriers and reach the deepest point.
"Please wait a moment in the interview room, I'll call someone to summon," the warden said.
It seemed that within a second, Leo suddenly changed his mind and blurted out: "You don't need to make any arrangements, can you show me a tour of the cell?"
"The application must be filed and approved in advance. But," the warden glanced at him, slowly grinning his fat lips, "procedures are dead, people are alive."
"Good point, Jason." Leo patted his fleshy shoulder. "Which one?"
"That number kid? Oh yes, let me see." Jensen flipped through the folders. "I was at 7R when I first arrived. I moved to 9S, Area A, No. 13 the next day."
Leo paused, "Change the cell the next day? Why? What happened... Not so good?"
"There is nothing unusual in the daily report. But if you mean...'that' thing." Jason pressed the corner of his mouth exaggeratedly, making an expression of "I'm sorry but it's beyond your comprehension." "We will try our best to avoid it, but after all, there are dozens or hundreds of men in a room. You know, there are no sex life, strong hormone secretion, there are always some dirty bastards trying to take advantage-especially for newcomers. ."
"So I changed the room for him, as... to make up for it?" Leo looked at him blankly.
Jason avoided his eyes involuntarily, annoyed and puzzled at the sudden cold tone of the Federal agent. No one wants to be accused of negligence on their own territory, even if that person is a senior FBI agent.
Sorry, but when you caught him and threw him in to us, you didn't specify a private room, did you? He wanted to ask so much, but he held it back rationally.
Fortunately, the federal agent's eyes quickly moved away from his face and continued to move forward, seemingly not intending to delve into the topic just now.
They took the elevator and quickly reached the 9th floor to cell No. 13 in Area A, but the iron door was wide open and the inside was empty.
Jensen waved to the guards patrolling nearby, and asked the latter sternly, "Where are the people inside?"
The prison guard glanced at the prisoners walking up and down in the hall, and hesitated: "Now is the time for the activity, probably... which activity area is it in?"
"I don't need to be'probably.' Contact the monitoring room and tell me within a minute where the new Chinese boy is." said the warden.
The prison guard immediately connected with the walkie-talkie, and replied after a while: "In the central lounge on the 8th floor."
Jason turned his head to signal Leo, and the two took the elevator again to the 8th floor, passing through the prisoners who were walking, talking, chatting and singing under the supervision of the prison guards, and entered a relatively quiet lounge.
The scene before him was unexpected-at least completely by the black-haired agent's accident.
On the side of a square table next to the sofa in the lounge, four men of different appearances sat around: an old man with gray hair and a hook nose, dressed in an old-style military uniform; with his bald head, his left eye changed due to scars. Asian brawny man; gentle, pale and thin young man with glasses, as well as those in prison uniforms and bandages that have not been completely removed... Finished.
Hell, if he reads it right, the neat rows of small squares on the table are... Chinese Mahjong
"Two barrels!" The old man in military uniform threw out a card and slowly spit out a cigar ring.
"Huh! Single hanging two barrels!" The bald burly man sitting on his opponent laughed and went to draw cards.
"Wait," he reached out a finger and pressed the second tube, "the upper house stopped Hu."
"—Fuck! Newcomers know the rules? Do you dare to block the cards of the ghost?" The bald head slapped the table with a "bang", yelling in Putonghua mixed with Fuqing accent.
"There are no brothers in the poker court. If the rules are broken, be careful of your hands." He said in a hurry.
The bald complexion was grim, even the blood vessels in the back of his head were red. The unusually thin young man with glasses next to him gently touched the back of his hand, his voice trembling half-dead: "Ghost, there is no rule to make a square."
The head of the light was licked by the poisonous snake Nobuko and withdrew his hand, and glanced at the other person with some fear.
Sitting on the sofa with their backs to the door were two prison guards with drink cups. One of them slapped his colleague with the cup, and smiled triumphantly: "Look, I won. I told you earlier to take the Western position. "
The other shrugged annoyedly, and said sarcastically: "Be careful not to admit the newcomer... Don't forget the previous Lucas, that guy not only didn't pay the fee, but also wanted to go to the warden to sue you for bribes."
"So I taught him a good lesson. The topic is "Hey boy, you have to recognize the survival rules of the prison, otherwise you will wait for the chrysanthemum." His colleague pointedly stabbed the baton in the waist.
Outside the lounge door, Leo turned to look at the flushed old face of the warden, with an indifferent expression: "Could you please introduce me to the other three people at the gaming table and their relationship with your men?" "
Jason was panting in anger, his fat body was about to shake, and he made a bellows-like chirp from his throat, but he was not so angry that he lost his sanity. He gritted his teeth and said one by one, "That The old man, Liu, the head of the Kunsha drug cartel in the Golden Triangle; the bald head, Chen, the boss of the New York Chinese gang ghost gang; the man with glasses, Gan, a famous killer in the Hong Kong circle-can play cards with them at the table, it seems that our newcomer comes back Isn't it small?" He glared irritably, and then said to Leo in a bad tone: "Okay, agent, I'll return your secret boy to you, one hour, is it enough?"
The muscles at the corners of Leo's mouth twitched imperceptibly, and he replied stiffly: "No need!" Then he brushed away unceremoniously.
The two prison guards who took part in the bet turned their heads inadvertently, and saw the huge body standing outside the door, their faces turned pale. Their boss shouted angrily: "You two come to my office, right away! The others, leave and go back to their rooms!"
Leo strode out of the aisle, his fists clenched in anger. I knew it was a huge, stupid mistake to come this time! He yelled at himself from the bottom of his heart, I must have been crazy at the time, so I thought that an expert-level criminal like the killing would suffer in prison! That guy is like a fish in water, moisturized like a leopard rushing to the jungle, compared to his final determination after struggling with all kinds of contradictions, it is simply a shame!
I will never care about that bastard's life and death! Leo swears secretly, and after deciding to go back, he will find someone to cut Rob hard.