Chapter 550 - Your Reward Is a New Assignment
Flegg and four of his men were escorting George and Crystal into a special prisoner van.
When he heard Luke’s voice, he turned his head with a smile. “Thank you for catching them, Detective Luke.”
Luke shrugged. “It’s my job. Alright, I’ll leave you to it.”
Flegg, however, stopped him. “Detective Luke, just a minute.”
Luke paused and turned around to look at him, waiting to hear what he had to say.
Pondering for a moment, Flegg then said, “When you run into people like George and Crystal again in the future, you can contact me directly, okay?”
Luke chuckled. “Okay.”
Seeing his smile, Flegg couldn’t help but ask, “They claimed they were caught by a man named Wade. Do you know him very well?”
Luke shook his head in denial. “I don’t know him very well, but money does.”
Flegg was stumped. “Money?”
Luke said, “Bills, cash, and money – the only things he knows are these.”
Flegg was speechless for a moment, before he couldn’t help laughing and nodded. “Fine, that’s indeed the case. Thank you for your time. Goodbye.”
After he watched Luke and Selina leave, Flegg got into another SUV, and his man who was driving the car couldn’t help but ask, “Captain, this young man is really quite good. Why don’t we poach him?”
Flegg heaved a sigh. “You think I don’t want to? But it’s too troublesome.”
As they followed the prisoner van, his subordinate asked strangely, “No way. Is it that hard for us to poach someone from the police department, as long as he doesn’t refuse?”
Flegg said, “He’s the most capable detective in Westside, if not all of L.A.. Nobody in Westside wants to let him go. Also, he’s very rich. I investigated him before, and he has millions of dollars in legitimate assets. Lastly, it was Stark Industries’ Pepper Potts who transferred him and his partner to LAPD. You know who she is, right?”
His subordinate was shocked. “Tony Stark’s personal secretary? Luke is Stark’s man!”
Flegg nodded with a bitter smile. “Now you know why I didn’t get him transferred? In fact, it isn’t just us; other organizations want to draw him in, including the FBI and the CIA, and even Wales’s division, but it isn’t that easy to poach someone from Stark.”
His subordinate fell silent.
Stark Industries may not be the richest in America, but it had very close ties with the government, the military and the Department of Defense.
Nobody was willing to piss off Stark over a minor detective; when he got angry, he wouldn’t show anybody respect.
It was a true feat if a person could make Stark point at them and call them stupid.
Most of the time, he would just give people disdainful and condescending looks, as if they were mentally deficient, and it was very easy for him to make someone feel deeply helpless because of a lack of IQ.
After all, Stark was a super genius who was also super rich!
Elsewhere, Luke went to look for Elsa after he arrived at the Major Crimes Division. “Boss, do you know about the two suspects who attempted to kidnap Stark being taken away?”
Elsa nodded. “I do. They already told me.”
Luke chuckled. “Should we be prepared for Tony Star’s fury?” Elsa laughed and said, “The FBI communicated with Stark Industries first before they took the suspects away, alright?”
Luke shrugged. “That’s fine, then. I’ll be on my way.”
Elsa said, “Wait a moment.”
After Luke stopped, she said, “Boss said that you did a good job on this case, so you’ve been assigned a new task.”
Luke waited silently.
Elsa didn’t beat around the bush. “You know that the Stark Expo is going to start soon, right?”
Luke nodded. “Yes. The opening ceremony is in two days.”
Elsa said, “So, you and Selina will be on plain clothes security duty at the expo for the time being.” Luke pulled a long face. “Is this a punishment?” He had been on a similar assignment in Houston. It was because that petty Brock intentionally gave him a hard time, and Stark was involved back then too.
Such assignments were demanding but unrewarding. He would be held responsible if anything went wrong, but wouldn’t be rewarded for doing a good job.
More importantly, this mission required him to spend most of his time at the expo. He couldn’t goof off, and he wouldn’t earn a lot of experience and credit.
Elsa said, “You think I want this? The boss doesn’t want it either, but what can we do when it’s Director Brad’s order?”
Luke covered his forehead. “Why would our big boss care about such a petty manner?”
Elsa said, “He wouldn’t have cared, except that the FBI had some paperwork with them when they took George and Crystal away.”
Luke thought for a moment and realized what was going on.
Brad made such an arrangement because every time the expo was held, the police and Stark Industries’ own security always clashed with each other.
The truth was that while few mishaps happened during the Stark Expo, there was too much bickering and cooperation issues between both parties.
Director Brad probably remembered that two particular detectives were pretty close with Stark, and had right away dispatched them to handle this problem.
There was nothing Luke could say about this assignment.
It wasn’t like he could go to Director Brad’s office and tell him, “I’m not really that close with Stark.”
He and Selina could only accept this new assignment. They went straight to the expo to check the environment.
The expo was usually held between March and June every three to five years for the purpose of showcasing new merchandise for clients to buy and kill even more people.
Stark Industries dealt primarily in military weapons, and their main products were weapons of mass destruction like missiles.
While there weren’t as many guns or common heavy weapons, there was the occasional innovative single weapon that could attract many weapon enthusiasts.
This was also the reason why law and order in L.A. had been deteriorating recently.Every time the expo was held, LAPD would transfer police officers from other districts to help the east district maintain safety.
The people who really bought missiles didn’t have time or the opportunity to go out on the streets and wreak havoc.
It was the weapon zealots, on the other hand, from all trades and backgrounds, who were the main reason for deteriorating public safety in L.A..
George and Crystal, for example, had been here to attend the expo, but because of an anonymous client, George had contacted and persuaded Crystal to work with him to kidnap Stark.
What was even more bizarre was that they weren’t going to kidnap Stark for ransom or to kill him. They were just going to lock him up for ten days and then release him after the expo was over.
Luke wasn’t surprised by this strange would-be kidnapping at all.
In many cases, when the backbone of a major corporation disappeared or missed some important event, its rivals might benefit.
In any case, they just needed to find two mudde-headed idiots to give it a try. It was cheap and risk-free. Many people wouldn’t mind giving it a shot.
