Immediately afterward, almost all the alarms of the vehicles parked in the basement parking lot rang.
“Young Master, be careful!”
Big Ken shouted as he used his own body to block the shockwave from the bomb explosion for Alex Cohen, and in the process, he pushed Alex to the ground.
This was a subconscious move by Big Ken, the kind that did not go through his head.
Alex was shaken by the loud sound that his brain was abuzz and he did not hear what Big Ken said. He could not even hear the sound of the rising and falling sirens. While planted to the ground, he was startled as he looked back. He saw that about 20 meters away from the explosion point, a cloud of thick black smoke and a blazing fire rose to the sky. Along with the fire, a black car hit the ceiling!
As the car smashed back to the ground, there was another explosion.
The car’s fuel tank had exploded. Except for some of the car parts that were blown away, the entire car was ablaze.
Alex had seen a bomb explosion before, but at this moment, he was still scared. That was because, in a confined place like a basement parking lot, the sound of the explosion was much louder than above ground. Moreover, it was also because the scene was too shocking. A car that weighed a few tonnes was directly lifted to the ceiling.
If there were people in the car, what would they have become?
Big Ken also did not expect to encounter such a situation. He was wide-eyed as he vigilantly looked around.
About half a minute later, uniformed security guards rushed in from the entrance of the basement parking lot and picked up fire extinguishers to put out the fire at the point of explosion.
There should be no more bombs exploding, but Big Ken still did not dare to be careless. He climbed up and shielded Alex as they went to the corner next to the exit. There were no vehicles there, so it was relatively safe.
Gunner Young and Fallon Ballantine also ran over and met up with the two of them.
Alex looked around and eagerly asked loudly, “Where’s Captain Simpson and Chief Judge Whitman?”
Like Alex, Gunner and Fallon’s ears were still ringing, and they did not hear what Alex said. They just pointed to the explosion and explained according to their respective understanding.
Alex raised his hand then patted his head hard and rubbed his ears, but he still could not hear clearly.
However, through the lips movement and vague voice, Alex could somewhat understand Gunner and Fallon. He learned the horrifying news. The car that just exploded belonged to Chief Judge Whitman. When he had gotten into the car, Captain Simpson was also near the point of explosion!
“What? Both of them are in trouble?”
Alex was shocked and felt more anxious than if he had been injured. As he said this, he was about to get up to go towards the explosion to see what happened.
Just then, two security guards came over with a man in their arms.
The unconscious man was Harvey Simpson.
Earlier, after Harvey and Alex parted ways, Harvey sent Chief Judge Whitman to the car and walked over to his own car. He had just taken a few steps when Chief Judge Whitman’s car exploded. Harvey was blown away by the huge shockwave and landed heavily on a car, where he smashed his head that he fainted on the spot.
When Alex saw Harvey, his heart tensed up. After pondering for a few seconds, he said to Gunner, “Sir G, please take Captain Simpson to the hospital. Big Ken and I have to stay here…”
“Alright!”
Gunner agreed without a second thought. He then wanted to open the door to get into the car.
Big Ken hastily yanked Gunner’s arm and asked, “Sir G, I remember your car can be remotely started with your car keys, right?”
“Yes!”
“Give me the key.”
Big Ken took the car keys from Gunner’s hand. He first leaned down and checked the bottom of Gunner’s car, then carefully examined it. He did not find any abnormalities and asked everyone back up about three meters away before he used the key to remotely start the engine.
He waited a few seconds and everything was still normal. Big Ken then returned the keys to Gunner and said, “Alright. There’s no problem. You can go now.”
Gunner handed the car keys to his bodyguard, got into the car, and caught up with the two security guards to help Harvey into the car, then sped away.
Using the same way, Big Ken checked Alex’s car, Fallon’s car, and Harvey’s car in turn.
Alex had been following Big Ken. While he helped to do the inspection, he had also figured out what Big Ken was doing.
According to Big Ken’s briefing, to install the bomb on the car, there were generally four types of detonation: remote detonation, countdown automatic detonation, electromagnetic signal detonation, and car circuit detonation. No matter which way was used, someone must install the bomb in the car, so the car body should be inspected carefully.
If they could not find the bomb, then they could basically rest assured, but to be safe, it was better to do follow-up auxiliary checks.
According to Big Ken’s briefing, Alex conducted some extended analysis on his own.
Alex had seen the countdown automatic detonation bomb before. Previously, Leo provided Chase Lucas with this bomb. It counted down from one minute and automatically detonated. In the current situation, the person who installed the bomb did not know when Chief Judge Whitman would get into the car, so the use of such a bomb was unreliable and could basically be ruled out.
As for the car circuit detonation, Alex had seen it in the movies. The bomber would have to tamper with the car and connect the car’s circuitry to it, which would inevitably trigger the car’s alarm. Since there was no movement to Chief Judge Whitman’s car beforehand, this could also be ruled out.
Alex also saw the electromagnetic signal detonation in the movies, which used mobile phones to generate electromagnetic signals to interfere with the internal magnetic field of the bomb so that the internal wiring of the bomb would form a circuit and detonate the bomb. Likewise, the bomber did not know when Chief Judge Whitman would get in the car, so that would be a problem. The technical requirements of such bombs were also very high and generally, no one could obtain this in the private sector.
With these types excluded, there was only one way left to detonate the bomb, that was, remote detonation.
Even though it was remote, it would not work from too far away. Like a walkie-talkie, it could only work properly within a certain distance. More importantly, the bomber would have to see with their own eyes that Chief Judge Whitman got in the car before they detonated the bomb. This meant that the person who detonated the bomb was in the basement parking lot and was also able to see Chief Judge Whitman’s car from a certain location!
“CCTV!”
Alex noticed that the basement parking lot was covered by a full range of surveillance cameras and immediately thought if they got access to the surveillance footage, they should be able to find the bomber!
Big Ken also thought of this point and said, “Young Master, you and Manager Ballantine stay here. I’ll check the footage.”
Alex nodded and watched as Big Ken went upstairs, then said, “Manager Ballantine, you can rest in the car for a while, or even go back first. But when the police arrive, they would probably be looking for you to cooperate with the investigation…tonight is destined to be a sleepless night.”
Fallon shook her head and said, “I’ll just sit in the car for a while. I won’t go back first.”
“Okay!”
Alex sent Fallon back to the car, let out a deep breath, and went to the explosion site with a heavy heart.
The car that exploded and caught fire had been extinguished, but the fabric, plastic, and other combustible materials had almost been burned away and only an iron frame remained. Chief Judge Whitman had died a tragic death in the driver’s seat. Although Alex had expected it after he learned that the car that exploded was Chief Judge Whitman’s, now that he confirmed the fact with his own eyes, he still could not accept it and could not bear to look at it any longer. He only took a glance then hurriedly removed his gaze.
“Sigh…”
Alex let out a long sigh and could not help but lament, “Why do good people always have short lives?”
The security guards had already reported the incident to the police. Explosion and gun-related cases were big cases, so the dispatch center directly reported the case to the Serious Crimes Unit and got an immediate response. Captain Pannell, who was on duty at the time, rushed over with his team members as fast as possible.
Captain Pannell met with Alex and after understanding the general situation, he immediately ran to the security room.
Alex also followed.
Big Ken, who arrived at the security room ahead of time, had already communicated with the hotel’s management to put together the relevant footage.
Through the playback of the surveillance video, they could see that 20 minutes before the incident, a Santana drove into the basement parking lot and drove straight to the front of Chief Judge Whitman’s car. A short person wearing a hat and mask got out of the car, looked around, then squatted down. This short person most probably installed the bomb at the bottom of Chief Judge Whitman’s car.
A few moments later, the Santana drove away, but the short person did not leave with the car. Instead, that person walked to the nearest exit and waited in the corner next to it. It was clear that the person was nervous with his head down and kept pacing back and forth.
It was only when Chief Judge Whitman came down that the person raised his head.
Big Ken immediately zoomed in on the picture. Alex looked carefully and suddenly realized that the person seemed to be a woman and she even looked a little familiar…
