Crimson Instinct

Chapter 161: Reverse trap

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*Bai Li*

"Because there were two bullets that were shot that night," Xin Zhen said.

I nodded.

"What!?" Liao Huifang and Qi Qiang exclaimed.

It was just as shocking for me when things fell into place as I remembered everything.

I heard Xin Lei's pitter-patter on her phone. "Your bullet hit the pole."

"While somebody else's bullet hit Tan Ye," I completed. "There was somebody else standing behind me at a distance, which made that shot. No wonder Cocoa was barking so much and seemed so restless."

I heard Luo Zhiqiang's voice, "What do you mean?"

"I had instructed Cocoa to go at the backside and attack Rodey if necessary on my command. Naturally, he was supposed to be quiet. But when Rodey caught hold of Tan Ye, he suddenly ignored my command and started to bark loudly. I was surprised because he never did that. He kept on barking, and I panicked because he exposed his location to Rodey."

I took a pause.

"I urged him to be quiet, but he didn't listen to me, and I couldn't understand why he sounded so anxious. My whole attention was on the civilian Tan Ye, whom Rodey had caught. Rodey had a dagger in his hand as he told me, and I didn't want him to hurt Tan Ye accidentally. But Rodey was already about to strike him, and I raised my arm to shoot."

I shut my eyes for a moment and opened them again.

"This was the order in which things happened. I shot at Rodey, there was a clacking sound, and almost a second later, Tan Ye gasped in pain."

I heard Liao Huifang say, "Is the order important? I still don't understand why you concluded that there were two bullets."

Luo Zhiqiang said, "The order is important. Isn't it, Bai Li?"

I smiled. "Yes, it is. This is what must have happened. I shot a bullet, and at the right moment, Rodey turned or bent to aside for a second. My bullet missed him, and it hit the pole instead, and at that same time, that is a second later, somebody else standing behind me shot a bullet too. He aimed at Tan Ye, so the bullet pierced his head. And then he gasped and collapsed, dead. Does it make sense now?"

"Woah! I understand now, bro!" Qi Qiang said. "It makes sense now. But why wasn't the second shot heard?"

"He put a silencer on his gun."

"Ah...right. But why didn't you remember that you heard that clacking sound?"

I sighed. "It was all a mess. Immediately after Tan Ye gasped, Rodey laughed and said how he died by my bullet. I just felt utterly blank. I heard that sound, but it slipped off my mind. Everything happened in a matter of seconds, and before I could think more, Rodey broke that news to me. Naturally, only I had shot a bullet, so I thought it was really mine with which he died.

And when I assumed that, guilt took all over me. It is the worst thing for any soldier or cop to know that an innocent civilian died by your ends in an accident. I rushed towards him, and when I felt the blood and the bullet hole on his head, I was... completely numb. I couldn't think of anything else."

That moment of confirming Tan Ye's death was imprinted in my mind so firmly that I still felt the chills whenever I recalled it. The guilt that had enveloped at that time still felt fresh to me.

I felt Xin Lei wrapping her arms around me and jumping in my embrace. I heard her typing. "It must have been hard, right?"

I slowly nodded. "It was. But I tried to convince myself that I couldn't be wrong in my shot. It was really Rodey that I had aimed for. How did Tan Ye die then? I had trained hard for years so that I know when and where to shoot and at whom. When I sensed Tan Ye's blank pulse, I felt that I failed my hard training. Everything went down the drain. But my stubborn mind refused to believe that I killed him. I fought my best in the court-martial, but then they brought my PTSD in the argument, and then once again, I wasn't sure of myself anymore because when Cocoa barked against my orders, I had indeed got anxious about Tan Ye and that our plan would fail."

I stopped, and there was silence for a moment.

I heard Shi Ruiling say, "So Cocoa barked because"

I said, "It was in the VR that I realized. Because he already sensed someone was standing behind me. Dogs have a strong sense of smell and instinct. That was why he sounded so ready to attack. He was growling in impatience and danger, and I failed to detect that. I was only thinking about Tan Ye. He was a hostage, and if Cocoa recklessly attacked Rodey, then he could have hurt Tan Ye in that fight. So I didn't let him move from his spot."

I heard Xin Lei typing. "But didn't Cocoa chase after that man afterward?"

I shook my head. "He tried to tell me that. When Rodey escaped, he was biting and pulling my pants as if he wanted to guide me somewhere. But I didn't move because I was too shocked by Tan Ye's death. I couldn't have left him alone. It was because of me. Firstly, I didn't give Cocoa any order to chase after somebody. And secondly, he might have sensed my conflicting feelings and got worried about me. So he stayed by my side. I sensed that because he was circling me and nudging his head on me out of concern and care."

I pursed my lips. "It is still my fault, though. If I had understood Cocoa's signs, then the tragedy would have never happened. I call myself his best buddy, but I failed to understand him."

I heard Xin Lei quickly type again. "It was not your fault. You did your best that you could in that situation."

"I agree with Xin Lei," Kang Yuan said. "With Tan Ye's arrival, everything became messed up. You did a wonderful job, nevertheless."

"But bro, doesn't it seem too much of a coincidence that Rodey had an accomplice already ready at his position who shot Tan Ye?" Qi Qiang sounded doubtful.

I narrowed my eyes at Qi Qiang's question. "It wasn't a coincidence. And the accomplice is not the worrying only part."

"It was Tan Ye himself," Xin Zhen said with a hint of coldness in his tone.

I nodded.

"His presence at the container terminal itself is filled with suspicion. I am sure that the terminal was out of operation when I chose it as my place to catch Rodey. The situation could have turned into an encounter, so why would I select a place where there was a chance of even one civilian present? So Tan Ye got work at the last moment for a delivery?" I shook my head. "It is unbelievable."

Shi Ruiling said, "So Tan Ye's presence was pre-planned."

"That was what Major General Shi Jianguo suggested too. When we met recently, he said that the details of the person who called the owner of the terminal were nowhere to be found. The number with which he called became unavailable. The owner called Tan Ye to do the delivery but later, when Major General checked the address, it led to an empty house. Nobody was living there. It was cold and abandoned."

I heard Xin Lei's robotic voice through the phone again. "But what about the bullet? The forensics confirmed that it was your bullet, right? How is that possible?"

"Somebody altered the report, little sis," Xin Zhen said, "He must have recovered Bai Li's bullet from the near the pole after everything was over and showed that bullet as the one found from Tan Ye's body while he must have discarded his own bullet."

I heard Liao Huifang ask, "But bullets are different, right? Hehe, at least I know that much. That culprit and Bai Li's bullet shouldn't match, right?"

I smiled. "What if he uses the same model of the gun as me? The bullets would be similar too. There would be no difference between the bullet found in Tan Ye's head and the bullet I hit on the pole. They will look and feel the same. Of course, you can still identify which bullet was fired from which gun, but that is the trick. The autopsy report said that it was my gun. So, clearly, it was forged. They must have coated Tan Ye's blood and DNA on my bullet and threw away the culprit's one. And viola. I became the guilty soldier."

Silence for a moment.

I heard Xin Lei typing and sensed the nervousness from that sound alone.

"Bai Li. If Tan Ye's presence was pre-planned and if that somebody could easily forge the autopsy report, putting all the blame on you, then doesn't that mean that it wasn't Rodey who fell in your trap, but you did?"

I let out a deep breath. "That is the sad part. My mission to catch Rodey and its details were only known to a tight-knit group of people in the Army. If this was a set up for me, then no doubt... somebody in the Army works with the true culprit behind these deaths."