Chapter 326 Bank Robbery
Luke looked back at the county police department and was about to say something, when a bunch of police cars suddenly charged out of the parking lot and headed northwest.
With his sharp eyes, Luke caught sight of Big Nick and his group in a few black SUVs. He said, “Let’s follow them.”
Almost ten cars had been deployed. It was definitely something big.
This was probably what Big Nick and his group had been preparing for when Luke and the rest interrupted them earlier.
Luke wasn’t going to steal credit or whatnot; he only wanted to see how Big Nick worked.
Following them all the way to a small bank called Piclavie, Luke saw that more police cars from the county police department had arrived.
There was even a helicopter in the sky.
That was right, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Police Department had their own air support division.
The air support division provided backup during wildfire disasters and rescues which required a helicopter.
To Luke’s surprise, he even saw two FBI agents at the scene.
Luke murmured to himself, What major case is this?
Thinking for a moment, he had Sonia and her partner watch their surroundings and remain on standby.
“Have the cameras monitor the bank. Aim the long-distance sound collector at LASD and monitor their comms,” said Luke.
Selina quickly operated the tablet to monitor the comms line via her earphones.
The car radio played the information gathered by the long-distance sound collector at a low volume.
Putting everything together, Luke soon figured out what was going on.
Nick’s team had recently been monitoring the group of robbers which was currently inside the bank, but the FBI also had its eye on this bunch.
These were most likely the same suspects who had robbed the armored truck and killed four county officers a few days earlier. So, the local police and the FBI were both after the robbers.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a gunshot.
Luke was stunned. Then, he heard Nick and an FBI agent arguing.
At that moment, they were so loud that Luke could hear them even without the sound collector.
A hostage was dead!
This was a warning from the robbers, since the county officers had half-heartedly said earlier that they needed to consider the robbers’ demands: ten million in cash and a helicopter with a full tank.
Luke furrowed his brow.
Robbers who didn’t hesitate to kill hostages to put pressure on the police were the trickiest.
Also, they hadn’t minced words with the county police, and weren’t giving them a chance to negotiate.
Criminals who talked too much lost — the robbers were clearly aware of this principle.
Luke rolled down the window and activated Sharp Nose.
Selina alerted him: “The county police are about to send a helicopter.”
Luke nodded and closed his eyes. A moment later, he opened them and signaled to Sonia to withdraw.
The two cars moved back twenty meters and hid behind a building not far away.
Deep in thought, Luke asked, “Selina, in what sort of situation would robbers put pressure on the police by pretending to kill a hostage?’
Selina was going to say, “When they don’t want to kill.” After all, murder was a more serious felony than robbery. Looking at Luke’s face, however, she thought of something else. “Are they playing tricks?” Luke said, “Let’s wait and find out. These guys are… heh, interesting.” That being said, there was nothing but indifference in his eyes.
He had no mercy for robbers who killed police officers in the line of duty. In the next few minutes, Luke kept his eyes closed, while Selina monitored what was going on around them.
Suddenly, there was an explosion, which shattered the bank’s windows.
“Are they blowing up the vault?” Selina exclaimed in surprise.
Luke simply hummed a response and didn’t reply.
A moment later, he suddenly said, “Selina, tell Sonia to follow us.”
Selina signaled to Sonia’s car behind them, and Luke drove the car west.
Luke stopped one street away and got out of the car. Checking some location on the side of the road for a moment, he had Selina give Sonia a walkie-talkie. “We’re going to check out the robbers. Be careful and don’t expose yourselves. Those guys probably have military backgrounds, and are too ruthless.”
Sonia said, “What?” She didn’t expect this to be the reason for Luke’s mysterious departure earlier.
While the county officers were still arguing, her amazing colleague was going to lead them to the robbers.
Thinking this, Sonia’s palms were wet with sweat. She was both nervous and excited.
These weren’t simple robbers, and this could be a big case.
The danger of getting involved in a case like this with Luke wasn’t low, but it was still a lot safer than with anybody else.
After all, Luke was the detective with the best fighting ability, not just in Westside, but in the entire LAPD.
The two cars stayed a hundred meters away from each other, and communicated via the walkie-talkies.
Luke wasn’t really counting on Sonia and her partner to back him up.
Sonia could be helpful. She was only twenty-four and a fit woman, but her partner, Alessandro, was pitiful; Luke felt that one Sonia could take down two Alessandros.
Thus, he had them hang back to act as lookouts.
Like he said earlier, the robbers might have military backgrounds, and Sonia and her partner might be killed in a matter of seconds at their level.
After the Texas rangers and LASD, Luke didn’t want Westside LAPD to lose police officers too.
“Don’t lose your head, and don’t be reckless. Follow my lead,” said Luke.
“Copy that,” Sonia replied naturally, as if it was Dustin himself who was speaking; she didn’t react adversely to the way Luke’s words sounded like a command.
As they talked, Luke sped up, before stopping the car a hundred meters away from a building.
He narrowed his eyes at the building, which was the Federal Reserve’s Los Angeles branch!
Selina looked at the building as well. “Is that their real target?”
Working with Luke, her wits had gotten much sharper, and it was easy to derive the formula: bank robbers + cover-up = trick + real objective.
When she got a clear look at the sign on the building, she was shocked. “Are they crazy? That’s the bank of all banks. Nobody has ever robbed them.”
Luke’s mind was whirling with thoughts, and he said, “There are always some people with more guts than others.”
