Chapter 1043: In a Storm of Scandal
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
The sound of the propeller whizzed in the air, and five transport helicopters arrived above the 7th Institute.
Looking at the dense crowd below, Horvat’s skull felt numb. He was ready to enter combat when he was dispatched, but there were no militants at the scene at all.
Other than the wreckage and shambles, he only saw protestors that had already rushed inside, as well as media vans from the media outlets around the world.
“Sir?” The mercenary sitting next to him looked at him with eyes of inquiry.
After hesitating for a moment, Horvat pressed on the headset and made an order: “Lower the height, prepare for a rope drop.”
Five helicopters hovered in front of the main entrance of the institute, and dozens of special forces landed on the ground using ropes.
The protesters had already rushed into the institute, and ambulances and fire trucks surrounded the entrance. Stretchers and cameras mixed with the crowd and made the scene particularly chaotic. Police dispatched from nearby were trying to control the situation and remove unrelated individuals and the media from the institute, but they were ineffective against the angry protesters and aggressive reporters.
Sargent Dover leaned against the police car with his hand on his forehead. He brought over a hundred police forces, but they still had a minimal impact on the protestors who had already rushed into the institute.
Obviously, the reporters found something in the research institute. Body bags labeled with numbers were lined up in the open space in front of the institute. The director of the institute, who had a bruised nose, was lifted into an ambulance. The protesters questioned who the police should arrest. The police also asked the police chief the same question. Dover didn’t know the answer, so he could only resort to reporting to his superior.
However, until now, his superior hadn’t given him any clear instructions. He just repeated the sentence: “Control the situation.”
With heavily-armed mercenaries, Horvat walked to Dover’s side and showed him the documents to enter the restricted zone… The documents were unnecessary since the restricted zone was already filled with protestors who couldn’t be moved.
“Where is Carol?” Horvat glanced at the protesting crowd and lowered his voice.
“You’re talking about the director of the institute? He was carried to the ambulance.” Dover raised his chin and pointed to the ambulance next to him. “He looks a bit miserable; you should be mentally prepared… when we retrieved him from the protesters, we almost didn’t recognize him.”
Horvat’s eyebrows twitched and he walked in the direction of the ambulance.
Looking at the mercenaries rushing into the crowd, the protesters looked at them with hostility.
“Arrow? Where is our 9th Anti-Terrorist Brigade? When did Peter outsource ‘anti-terrorism’ to military contractors?”
“Who knows? Maybe next time, they will even outsource the ballots.”
“Ah, then I have to sign up for a printing factory to bid.”
Without paying attention to the protesters, Horvat pushed aside the protestors in front of him, walked to the ambulance, showed the medical staff his documents, and pulled Carol out of the ambulance. The sound of the bolts scared off the protestors who were preparing to rush forward. They formed a human wall and retreated in the direction of the helicopter.
“Sh*t, this guy got messed up.” The stretcher was pushed into the transport helicopter while a mercenary whispered.
“As long as he’s the right one.” Horvat glanced at him and told the medic to handle the director’s wounds then turned back to the crowd.
Although he was miserable, Carol fortunately still had some air left in him or it would be difficult for him to answer to his superior.
In addition to the director of the institute, other researchers surrounded by protestors were waiting for rescue. When Horvat rescued key researchers from the locked office, he returned to the helicopter and Carol, who was almost on his last breath, woke up.
Horvat sat down beside him and stared into his eyes.
“Where is Jeff? How come I didn’t see him?”
“Jeff…” It took a while for Carol’s concussed brain to recall the owner of the name.
Coughing violently, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his violently pumping chest.
“He was taken away by the militants.”
“How could that be with Jeff’s skills?” a mercenary interrupted.
Horvat frowned, raised his hand to cut the mercenary off and persisted further.
“Tell me all the details.”
“The militants broke into the underground research institute’s security system and opened the alloy door. The last mercenaries and the militants exchanged fire in the corridor in front of the main entrance, and Jeff took me to the office at the back of the lab. Then…”
“And then?”
Recalling the tragedy that occurred an hour ago, Carol was frightened. Suppressing his fear, he narrated what happened with great discomfort.
“Then they quickly pushed the front door and threw a grenade inside. Jeff and the other three got down, but the grenade didn’t explode. There was only a very faint static noise then they couldn’t crawl back up. They were knocked out by the militants who rushed through the door. If I’m not wrong, that should’ve bee—”
“EMP” Horvat muttered to himself and spoke the three letters for him.
Located in the Finnish manor, Carmen quietly listened to the report from his phone.
The 7th Institute was attacked by the militant army organization claiming to be the “People’s Liberation Front.” They released a video of the battle at the research institute, not only publishing evidence of human experiments to the whole world but also letting in the protestors.
“The traces of EMP weapons were found on the scene,” Johnson said with a dignified look.
Whenever these three letters were mentioned, it wasn’t difficult to guess who was behind this. All Celestial Trade possessed were non-nuclear EMP weapons. However, Carmen didn’t expect that not only did they reduce the size of their EMPs to non-guided support rockets, but they also further reduced it to a portable grenade.
After listening to Johnson’s report, Carmen didn’t speak. After a long silence, he picked up the phone and called the Krupp Group to tell them that the ‘Lightning’ exoskeleton required EMP protection then hung up.
After being neglected for a long time, Johnson waited for Carmen to finish calling then he hesitated for a moment before asking: “…What should we do now?”
“I’ll give you all of Arrow’s resources in Frankberg. Find them and kill them in their cradle. ”
“Roger.”
Johnson lowered his head then left with quick steps.
Looking at the closed door, Carmen gritted his teeth in anger. He gazed at the Golden Apple on the table sullenly and said, word by word, “You will pay for your stupidity.”