"Two tries... Two tries are all I have," Ryder muttered as he sighed.
He kept listening to the news, trying to see any new development. He wanted to know all he could.
"Wait a minute, that spy on my trail. If sheâs working for Ray, that number she called would be his. If I can get in contact with Ray, I should be able to get more insider information. I still have 7-8 hours to collect information," Ryder muttered as he stood up.
He walked to the hall and dialed the unknown number. He didnât wait for Shu to confirm who the number belonged to. He didnât have enough time. He was mostly sure that it was the number of Ray from the FBI who was after him. Either way, since he was going to erase this timeline, it didnât matter who this number belonged to. There was not going to be any consequences after all.
He called the number.
The phone started ringing.
Ray and his fellow teammates were at the blast location inside one of the Seven-star hotels that suffered the attacks. They were checking the CCTV footage to see what happened before the blast.
"Fast forward it," Ray told the operator, but thatâs when his phone started ringing.
"Pause it right there. Iâll be right back," he said as he turned back.
He looked at the number on his phone, which was showing Ryderâs name. Ryder didnât know about it, but Ray had already found his number and even saved it.
" Ryder? Interesting. Letâs see what you have to say," Ray muttered as he smiled. He had a feeling that Ryder could help him get to the culprits faster.
Ray picked up the call but didnât say anything.
"Youâre Ray from the FBI, arenât you?" Ryder asked straight away.
"Yes," Ray replied.
"Look, Ray, Iâm pretty sure you know who I am by now if you send your little spies after me," Ryder muttered. "You should be glad Iâm letting the little bird live despite knowing that sheâs spying on me."
Ray was shocked to hear Ryderâs words.
"Donât harm her! She didnât mean anything bad," Ray replied instantly.
"Iâm not harming her. She still doesnât realize that I already know about her," Ryder replied casually. "Iâm not interested in that little bird."
"Why did you call me?" Ray asked with a frown.
" I called to tell you something. Now, I donât care if youâre recording this call or whatever. It doesnât matter anymore. Iâm telling you straight away. You were right. I am Ryder, and I am the guy that saved your life in Washington and in front of Jamesonâs house," Ryder said in a stern tone.
"I knew it. Donât worry; my calls are not being tapped. Your secret is safe with me. Did you call me regarding todayâs attacks? What do you want to talk about? Is this the work of the same people? Why did you leave the city just before the attacks happened? Did you know about the attacks?" Ray fired all his questions one after another.
" The reason why I called you? Itâs because I need your help. I donât know if itâs the work of the same people and thatâs why I need your help. I need information. I need to know details regarding the attacks so that I can help you and save innocent lives. Iâm outside the city, and I canât come back fast enough to collect the information myself, so you can be my only eyes and ears now," Ryder replied.
" It all depends on you now. If you help me, we can save thousands of lives together. If you donât help me, those lives will be as good as gone," he added.
"Iâll help you. What do you need?" Ray nodded his head as he said.
"Good. All I need is the information regarding the attacks. Iâm sure youâll check CCTV footage and ask the witnesses about what they saw. I want you to send me the pics of all the culprits you can find in the CCTV along with the information on where they appeared and where they placed the bombs. The faster you get me the information, the more Iâll be able to help," Ryder said in a grim tone.
"Itâs 4 in the night. You have till 4 in the morning. I need the information I asked for. These twelve hours are the most crucial. Any delay will result in the loss of lives. Be fast," he continued. "Iâll call you in 6 hours to check up on you."
Ryder disconnected the call.
Ray went back to the monitor and started looking at the footage.
Ryder called Esmi once again, wondering if her phone was on right now.
Fortunately, this time, the call was connected, and Esmi picked up the phone.
"Are you fine?" Ryder instantly asked.
"Ah, yeah. Iâm fine. I was home at that time," Esmi replied.
"Thatâs good. Why was your phone turned off when I was calling you before? Also, how many people did you lose in these attacks?" Ryder inquired.
"My phone? Ah, It ran out of battery. I was ignorant and forgot to charge it. As for the losses, many men died. There were over fifty of my men inside at that time," Esmi replied as she sighed.
"It couldâve been worse. At Least youâre safe," Ryder said as he sighed in relief.
"What about you? Everyone is fine on your side, right?" Esmi asked.
"Yeah, fortunately, no one close to me was harmed," Ryder replied. "Also, outside the city, so there was no way I would have been harmed."
"Thatâs good," Esmi said, nodding her head.
"Do you have any clue who is behind these attacks and why your place was targeted? Most of the places that were targeted had at least a few hundred people. Only your place had less than a hundred. Why does it seem like they just did it for some reason, especially with your place?" Ryder asked as he suddenly thought of something.
He was wondering if the people that attacked had some link of enmity to Esmi. That could be the reason they went out of her place to destroy her club instead of targeting more populated places like they did in other attacks.
"You mean one of my enemies could be involved in these attacks? I guess I didnât think from that point of view at all. This does make sense now that I think about it. The problem is that a person can make many enemies in this business. Itâs impossible to pinpoint one," Esmi replied as she sighed.