"A thief? Maybe I am," Ryder muttered as he smiled. He was talking in a different accent than his normal one and using a rich voice to make it difficult for the man to realize who he was.
"Iâm warning you. You donât know who youâre dealing with. I am from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As a thief, youâre not worth my time. If you free me, you can leave. I wonât stop you," the blonde man said, threatening Ryder.
Ryder squinted his eyes as he gazed at the man as if he was looking at an idiot. He replied, "Why should I care who you are? From the FBI or from the government, after one bullet, youâre going to be a corpse. You know, Dead Men tell no tales. I donât need to worry about anything. So donât even bother trying to scare me about your position."
The blonde man could sense that it wasnât a normal robbery. The masked man wasnât trying to find anything valuable even though he had tied the man. This felt more like a kidnapping and less like a robbery.
"What do you want then?" The blonde man asked, understanding that this wasnât what he initially thought. "What are you after?"
"I am after you. You were looking at something in the safe. Unfortunately, you didnât have the time to take it before I hit you," Ryder let out as he pulled out a document.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Is it right? The document is pretty interesting. Should I leak it in the media?" He continued as he waved the document.
âHe saw it. I was here to take that back so I can sell the land, but he has the paper now,â the blonde man thought, frowning.
"The worth of this land is so much that I donât think even the Director of your headquarters can buy this in his lifetime. It along with inheritance properly, but that seems to be impossible as well since this paper shows that you purchased it," Ryder let out as he gazed at the paper.
He took out a wallet from his pocket.
"My wallet," the blonde man called out as he recognized the wallet.
"Yeah. Itâs your wallet. Oh, sorry. I misspoke. This used to be your wallet. Now, this wallet belongs to this thief," Ryder said, smiling.
He folded the document and kept it in his pocket before he opened the wallet.
He pulled out the identity card of the man.
"Hmm, so youâre actually an FBI member. You werenât kidding. Assistant Director, huh? Not bad. You look young. Who would have known that you were already over 40 and had such a high position? Not bad," he muttered as he read the card.
"Now that you know who I am, free me. Itâs an honest mistake. I will really forgive you. If you kill me, the Entire Bureau will be after you. You wonât be able to escape. Even if I will be dead, you wonât survive either. Please donât make the biggest mistake of your life," the Blonde haired man said again, thinking that Ryder would be more cooperative after knowing about his high position.
"Well, Mister Handerson, As I said before, I wouldnât care about you or your position. Answer me one question. Where did you get money to buy this from? Were you the one who leaked the information to Uprising?" Ryder asked, shooting an arrow in the dark.
He didnât expect it to hit its spot since there was a possibility that the man was rich enough to buy on his own, but the manâs expression gave him away.
As soon as Ryder mentioned the name, the manâs face went pale, which was shocking.
It was more surprising since the FBI knew that organization as a different name. The only people who knew about the real name were Ryder and Ray.
Ryder was sure that other than Ray, no one knew about the real name of the organization since the FBI referred to them as BioTerror.
As the man reacted, it was as if he was stunned to know that name from Ryder, making it evident that he had some link.
"So I was right. You are the leak. Interesting. From what I knew, only the Director knew about the locations, but the locations were leaked. So you and the Director are working with them. Itâs either that, or you used some other method to get the information from him without him knowing, is that right?" Ryder asked with an amused smile on his face.
"Who are you?! How do you know about them?" Handerson asked grimly as he squinted his eyes.
"Who I am doesnât matter. What mattered was the answer which I got now," Ryder muttered as he sighed. He walked over to the window and looked outside. There was only a single guard outside who was still standing at the main entrance.
Ryder brought a gun out of his pocket, which already has the silencer attached to it.
He turned back and walked closer to Handerson.
Seeing the gun in Ryderâs hand, Handerson was stunned.
He had a bad feeling.
"What do you want? Why do you have the gun? We can talk it out!" Handerson called out, looking scared.
"Iâm doing nothing. Iâm only arranging for a game. Let me tell you the game. For every wrong answer, Iâll shoot you. And for every right answer, youâll get one point. If you get three points, youâll win, and you will be freed. Thatâs all. Simple and easy, right?" Ryder asked, smiling.
"You! Stop it this instant and free me! I donât want to play any game! Free me this instant!" Handerson protested.
"Are you in a feast or something? When youâll be allowed to leave whenever you desire? Sit there silently. Iâm the king here, and only my rules will be followed. I make rules here! You either follow that, or you die without even playing. You can decide," Ryder said, smiling like the devil.
"You..."
The man was stunned, but he didnât know how to react. His threat wasnât working, and Ryder had a gun. Ryder wasnât budging from his original position either. He could see no other option but to give in and play by his rules.
"I will agree. Ask your three questions," the man said, feeling confident that he would win easily.
All he needed was to answer three questions correctly in a row or at least respond in such a way that Ryder wouldnât know that he was lying.
"Alright. Thatâs like a good boy. Let us start then." Ryder smiled, pleased at the answer.
"First question. Are you linked to the Dark Uprising? Is the Director also associated with you guys," Ryder asked.
"Thatâs two questions," Handerson pointed out.
"I told you I make the rules. Itâs counted as one question," Ryder asked, smiling.
The man wanted to curse Ryder for openly cheating, but he controlled himself. It was a situation where he couldnât lose his calm, or his death was going to be the consequence of his actions.
"I heard about the Dark Uprising, but Iâm not working with them closely. I only leak information once in a while. Also, I donât think the Director knows about it. I was the only one involved in leaking," The man answered.
"Oh? The Director didnât know?" Ryder said, smiling. "I told you, no lying, right?"
Bang!
He fired the bullet aimed at the knee of the man.
As soon as the bullet
"You bastard! How did you know I was lying! Fuck you! You attacked randomly! Thereâs no way you knew I was lying!"
Ryder smirked as he heard the response. It was true. He internationally asked this question since no matter what the answer was, he was going to shoot the man.
In his mind, if the man was telling the truth and Ryder shot, he would curse Ryder for shooting even when he was telling the truth in anger. If the man was lying and Ryder shot, his initial response would be completely different. In that case, the response was going to be of shock. This was a testing mechanism for him; thatâs why he asked the main question in the first turn.
"I told you, donât try to lie to me. I have my methods to know that you lied to me. See? Because if you lie, you lose one leg. You wonât be able to walk properly," Ryder said, sighing.
"Donât lie again. I donât want you to lose your other leg as well," he continued
"Second Question... Where is the office of the Director?" Ryder asked his second question.
"On the top floor. Room 1709!" The man let out as he groaned in pain. He couldnât even stop the bleeding since his hands were tied.
âAt Least stop the bleeding now! My leg can still be saved! I answered!" He continued.
"You can do that yourself after answering two more questions. Iâll free you. Then you can stop your bleeding or make it worse. I donât care."