Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 217 - 205 Temporary’s Temporary

Chapter 217: Chapter 205 Temporary’s Temporary

Gao Yi wasn’t acting recklessly this time.

Rather, he made a quick decision upon noticing the slightest anomaly, rendering his judgment as swiftly as lightning.

Waiting until there was only one person left to act was simple, but it would mean he couldn’t capture all of the enemies at once.

Indeed, Gao Yi had grand ambitions; he not only intended to extricate Luca, but also sought to understand the origins of these people.

Either don’t act at all, or don’t let a single one escape once you do.

There were certainly difficulties, starting with seizing the right moment. Nowadays, most cars have automatic locking features, and attempting to pull directly on the car door was likely to be ineffectual.

So Gao Yi and the others chose to act at the precise moment the car door was opened, ensuring they could first take control of the driver and prevent the most likely person to escape from getting away.

This meant that Gao Yi, who intended to act, was separated by a car from the person next to the co-driver’s door—he needed to cross over the car first.

Gao Yi’s choice was to glide over the hood of the car, then leap from the hood, grabbing the target’s freshly drawn handgun, while delivering a blow to the target’s head.

It was as easy as reaching into a bag and flipping one’s hand.

Gao Yi stood beside the car and turned back to see Lucy already with her pistol drawn, aiming at another target who had just stood up.

Gao Yi himself was also targeted by a gun, but Lucy’s reaction was faster.

Finally, shots were fired.

A table separated Lucy and her target, with the target moving quickly, faster than an average person—a skilled assassin—forcing Lucy to make the call to shoot.

Drawing the gun and firing happened in one fluid motion.

Bang, bang, two gunshots sounded, the previously peaceful atmosphere shattered in an instant. Some people stood up to flee rapidly, others tumbled off their chairs, lying still beside the coffee tables, not daring to move.

Lucy held a pistol with a hand, her shot piercing the target’s temple from the side. In the same moment the target was hit, he also fired his gun, but being struck first, his shot deviated from its intended aim.

The target, due to lingering nervous system reactions, completed the action of firing, with the bullet barely missing above Gao Yi’s head.

Security in Spain’s big cities was not great, mostly petty theft prevailed, even though violent robberies had significantly declined.

However, in a small city like Toledo, using a gun and killing someone was a serious incident.

Her face full of vigilance and her right hand holding a gun while the left was open, Lucy silently questioned what exactly Gao Yi was up to.

Dual-wielding and shooting together was within Lucy’s abilities but wasn’t her preference or habit; in reality, she’d be more accurate firing a single weapon, and drawing and shooting would naturally be quicker with one gun.

"Asalam..."

Gao Yi blurted out a phrase in Arabic.

What did that mean again? Gao Yi hadn’t even processed it when he spoke, and only after he finished did he realize he’d said something akin to "hello."

But it didn’t matter; the fact that he spoke in Arabic was crucial.

There were too many witnesses around. A few words in Arabic would reassure them; Shaman wouldn’t mind being the scapegoat, as he was accustomed to it.

Lucy looked around vigilantly.

Gao Yi opened the rear car door, stuffing the individual he was carrying into the back seat.

He then ran back, first unbuckling the driver’s seatbelt, yanking the driver out, opening the rear door, and shoving the driver into the back seat as well.

Gao Yi then waved at Lucy, signaling her to follow.

Lucy searched the body of the man she shot dead, finding a mobile phone, digging out a Bluetooth earpiece from his blood-covered ear, and pulling out a small recorder, a common action camera that could be clipped to a collar, very tiny.

After extracting items from the body, Lucy hurried over. Gao Yi climbed into the driver’s seat, and as he reached to engage the gear, he noticed a problem.

Who still drives a manual car these days?

The driver had been speeding when he arrived, and he had shifted into neutral when he stopped. Before he could shift back into first and start again, he was knocked unconscious by Gao Yi.

Now Gao Yi realized he couldn’t handle this car.

With his left foot on the clutch and right hand on the gearstick, he released the clutch, pressed the gas, started, and the engine stalled.

The car jerked to a halt, staying put.

Do Europeans live in the past?

The car was small and beat-up—not to mention it was a manual. Whatever the origins of these people, couldn’t they drive something better?

Gao Yi froze for a moment, then turned to Lucy.

Lucy had just fastened her seatbelt and was looking at Gao Yi with puzzled eyes.

Gao Yi had learned to drive in an automatic, and as for Lucy, she learned in an automatic as well.

It was a hasty oversight and embarrassing. Why hadn’t he considered practicing driving a manual since he was part of a global assassin organization?

Cutting corners was sure to lead to trouble and taking the easy way was bound to backfire.

Gao Yi swallowed, stepped on the brake, turned the key, and the car started smoothly. Then, releasing the clutch, the car quivered and stalled once more.

He had forgotten it was still in gear.

How does one even start with a manual transmission?

Don’t panic, don’t be haphazard, just think back to your experiences driving a taxi in China.

But Gao Yi sadly realized he had ridden in plenty of manual transmission cabs, yet he had never really paid attention to what the drivers’ feet were doing.

Everyone else had finished running, but Gao Yi’s car hadn’t even started yet.

Gao Yi silently took out his phone and dialed a number.

"We’ve made our move, there’s been shooting, and now we need to get going, but the car is a manual transmission."

After rapidly stating the problem, Gao Yi urgently asked, "How do you drive a manual car?"

"Press the clutch, shift into first gear, and give it gas. Step on the clutch, put it in first, slowly lift your left foot, stomp on the gas with your right foot, and charge."

Feng Biao’s instructions were very concise, and Gao Yi firmly pressed down on the clutch, turned the ignition, stepped on the gas with his right foot, and after revving the engine, he slowly lifted his left foot, and the car started to move forward with a roar.

Although it started slowly, at least it got moving.

The throttle was a bit too heavy, but that didn’t matter as long as it could drive.

Finally, once the clutch was fully released, the sedan roared impressively, and Gao Yi couldn’t increase the speed any further despite how hard he pressed the accelerator in first gear.

"Press the clutch, shift to second gear, shift to second gear!"

Feng Biao shouted over the phone.

Gao Yi was more nervous now than during the shootout, but he was starting to get the hang of it. He pressed down on the clutch with his left foot again, looked down at the gear shift, successfully slotted into second, and slowly released the clutch, after which the car did indeed accelerate.

Gao Yi breathed a sigh of relief and spoke into the phone, "I’ve got it moving now."

Feng Biao replied anxiously, "What happened with the shooting? What’s the situation there? I haven’t detected any anomalies from my side."

"We’ve captured two alive. Find a place to interrogate them quickly, the situation might be different from what we expected. Come and meet up."

"We’re on our way."

Lin Xianghua and Feng Biao were in another direction, but their car was fast, mainly because they were skilled drivers, and it took approximately three minutes for their car to catch up.

"Stop the car, I’ll drive. You press the clutch, let off the gas, shift to neutral, then hit the brakes..."

Actually, Gao Yi was capable of stopping the car on his own, and didn’t need instructions.

The car stopped by the roadside, Gao Yi opened the door, and Feng Biao also got out. He hurriedly said to Gao Yi, "For a first-timer on a manual transmission, driving off like that is pretty impressive..."

Was flattery an instinct for Feng Biao? Even now, he didn’t forget to throw in a compliment.

Feng Biao took the driver’s seat, engaged the gear, and started the car in one fluid motion; the little manual beater roared as it sped away.

Gao Yi got into Lin Xianghua’s car.

Lin Xianghua seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he simply asked, "Where to?"

"I don’t know, let’s avoid the police for now, follow Wind Vane; wherever he plans to go, we’ll go."

Escaping was something Feng Biao excelled at; Gao Yi couldn’t do better, so he simply delegated the responsibility.

Gao Yi picked up the phone and called Luca. Waiting for Luca to answer, he spoke urgently: "Action taken. Three of them, one dead, two alive. I don’t think there’s a fourth person. Hurry up and leave; I’ll inform you later about the rendezvous."

"Why did you start a fight, and you..."

Luca started to question but eventually resignedly said, "Understood, I’m leaving."

Gao Yi hung up the phone. Right now, his thoughts were on how to find a safe place in a strange city, one that would give him a few hours to hide from pursuit and calmly interrogate the two captives.

The necessity for a safe house became evident at that moment; no wonder the assassin organization Garden still spared no expense to set up their own safe houses.

He wondered if the National Intelligence Bureau had a safe house in Toledo.

He feared that Toledo might be too small a city for the National Intelligence Bureau to have any necessary operations, and consequently, they might not have any safe houses there.

Might as well ask—Gao Yi called Abdulla. While waiting for Abdulla to answer, he immediately asked, "We’ve got captives, is there a safe house?"

"Yes, in Madrid."

Toledo wasn’t far from Madrid.

Now the question was whether to find a nearby place to start interrogating as soon as possible or drive to Madrid, which would take at least an hour, but allow time to settle down and ask questions at leisure.

But just how secure was a National Intelligence Bureau safe house, really?

An unfortunate reality of safe houses is that if they’ve been scouted and surveilled well in advance, they’re no longer safe houses but instead traps ready to ensnare you at any moment.

Considering the extent of the CIA’s infiltration into the National Intelligence Bureau, Abdulla probably knew less about the bureau’s safe houses than the CIA did.

Gao Yi hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Is the safe house in Madrid really secure?"

There was a brief silence from Abdulla before he finally replied, "Hmm... The safe house in Madrid was established twelve years ago. I just recently found out about this house—it’s probably... not very safe."

As expected.

Gao Yi didn’t know what to say, but after thinking for a moment, he finally said, "Never mind, forget I asked."

Abdulla replied sheepishly, "Otherwise, let me prepare a temporary safe house for you to use. It should be okay for a temporary setup."

Temporary upon temporary, Gao Yi felt resigned, but it seemed he had no better choice, so he finally said, "Set it up then. Send someone to guide us there. We’re heading over now, thank you."