The chief of the special forces shook his head. “I’m afraid not. The deputy director wants to see you.”
“Huh?” Luke was rather surprised.
The deputy director was also known as the deputy chief.
There were only two people above the deputy chief, namely, the assistant chief of police and the chief of police.
But these top two positions were in fact only responsible for administrative matters instead of actual cases themselves.
The deputy chief was always the commander at the very top when it came to the actual cases, and furthermore only got involved in major cases.
Luke took Takagi and Jimena to the other side of the garage and drove his Ford out.
He was stopped at the exit. After he showed his badge, and both he and his car were examined, he was allowed to pass several minutes later.
He didn’t want to take the bus to work tomorrow, so he had to drive his car out.
Driving his Ford to where he was told the deputy director would be, Luke got out and asked a black policeman, “Can you tell me where Deputy Director Robinson is?”
Stunned for a moment, the black man eyed him strangely. “Luke Coulson?”
Luke said, “That’s me.”
The black policeman said, “I’m Bauer. Come with me.”
Luke followed him to the back of a command van, where he saw a white man between forty and fifty years of age.
Bauer said, “Chief, Luke’s here.”
The white man extended his hand to Luke in delight. “Nice to meet you, Detective Luke Coulson. I’m Duane Robinson. I’m very proud of what you’ve done. You’re a distinguished officer of LAPD. I’ll…”
Luke interrupted him awkwardly. “Deputy Director Robinson, please allow me to introduce you. This is Mr. Takagi, head of Nakatomi Corporation.”
Stunned for a moment, Robinson extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Takagi.” He knew that it was Nakatomi Corporation that had been attacked tonight. Thus, he said hurriedly, “I’ll definitely look into the case, please rest assured.”
Takagi, however, shook his head. “It’s already clear what happened tonight.”
Robinson was taken aback. “Well…”
Takagi bowed at Luke again. “Thank you for saving me. If it’s possible, I hope to host you at my home tomorrow.”
Luke rolled his eyes and smiled. “Mr. Takagi, I’m sure you’ll be busy in the next few days. Why don’t you give me your contact, and we’ll talk later?”
As he spoke, he glanced at Nakatomi Plaza.
To be honest, Detective John had done more damage to the building with the C4s on the second floor than the terrorists had.
It would take Nakatomi Corporation a while to fix up the building.
Takagi thought for a moment, and agreed with him. He presented Luke his card with both hands.
Luke accepted it with both hands as well. He saw that it was a personal card which had nothing but a personal phone number and a name on it.
However, most of the employees at Nakatomi Corporation didn’t know this number at all.
Luke thanked him with a smile and watched him speak to Robinson. Very soon, a limo came to pick Mr. Takagi up.
Luke then said to Robinson again, “Chief, my girlfriend was frightened by everything that happened. Can I take her home first?”
Robinson immediately understood Luke’s meaning. He said, “That’s fine. You’ll be free to go in a moment. However, you need to report to headquarters tomorrow morning.”
Gesturing subtly, Robinson led Luke to a corner. “Luke, it was LAPD who worked out this entire case, do you understand?”
Luke was puzzled. “But what about Detective John McClane?”
Robinson didn’t consider it a big deal. “That’s between us and NYPD, but the FBI isn’t a part of this, alright?”
Luke was surprised. “FBI? Where were they?” Robinson sneered. “On the helicopter.”
Luke abruptly cursed, giving Robinson quite the shock.
Luke said angrily, “When I took the hostages to the roof, the people in the helicopter shot at me and nearly killed me. Those FBI agents aren’t careful or professional at all.”
Robinson was delighted.
After experiencing something like that, Luke wouldn’t say anything nice about the FBI at all.
Robinson patted his shoulder in satisfaction. “That’s all. Have a good rest tonight with your girlfriend.” His tone turned sly.
Luke chuckled. “Yes, sir!”
Robinson laughed and told him to go.
Luke saluted him and took Jimena to his car.
They didn’t go back to Jimena’s dorm, where her roommate would hear them if they made any noise, not to mention that it only had a communal bathroom.
Luke decided to go to a hotel.
Since he hadn’t used much of the money from Sergei, Luke simply took Jimena to the Beverly Hills Hotel and booked a luxurious suite for eight hundred dollars a night.
They smiled at each other. Together, they “toured” the bathroom, the glass window, the table, the sofa, and the extremely comfortable bed.
The next morning, Luke was woken up by his phone.
He picked up the phone and heard Dustin’s voice. “Where are you? Selina said that you aren’t at home.”
Luke said, “I left with my girlfriend last night.”
Pausing for a moment, Dustin said helplessly, “Do you know what time it is? Headquarters just called. I need to take you there for the investigation into last night’s case.”
Luke yawned. “Huh? What time is it?”
Dustin said, “It’s ten past nine. How much longer do you plan to sleep?”
Luke couldn’t dawdle anymore. “Fine. I’ll be at the department in thirty minutes.”
Dustin said, “You only have twenty.” He then hung up the phone.
Luke snorted. You were acting so nice when you asked for my help, but you’re singing a different tune now when I’m no longer needed.
On the other side, Jimena was still sound asleep in bed.
Luke called out to her, only to find that he couldn’t wake her up. He could only wash his face and brush his teeth first.
After he was done, he left a thousand dollars and a note on the nightstand under Jimena’s cell phone. He then left the room in a good mood.
He told the receptionist that no one was to knock on the door until noon, before he finally drove to work.
What happened next was quite boring. Dustin took him to Park Center, which was LAPD headquarters.
Duane Robinson, whom he had met last night, was also there, and even shook his hand with a smile. However, the deputy director appeared much more reserved today.