Chapter 534: Then What Might Be The Purpose?
After hearing Mr. York’s report, Michael reached out and patted him on the shoulder, "Good job."
They laid in wait as the clock ticked away. Three-twenty came soon enough.
The flight from Rheinsville City had just landed.
"Keep everyone outside the airport, allow no one in. Keep an eye on all the foreigners and conduct a thorough check on anyone who appears to look like Clement," Michael issued his instructions swiftly.
"Yes, sir," Mr. York replied as he quickly relayed Michael’s instructions to his team.
Gradually, people began to stream out of the airport.
Michael’s eyes were trained on everyone who walked through the exit.
At that moment, Mr. York’s phone rang. The airport manager was calling him.
Mr. York accepted the call immediately.
"OK, I’ll be right there," Mr. York responded briefly before hanging up.
He immediately relayed the message to Michael, "Mr. Lucas, Clement has been detained by the airport authority. Shall we head over there now?"
Michael nodded, although he had a sense of foreboding about this.
Everything had progressed too smoothly.
Clement was a seasoned criminal and no novice. It was improbable that he would set himself up to be caught so easily.
He instructed Mr. York, "I will go with some of the men. You stay here with the others and continue to monitor the situation."
Mr. York nodded, catching Michael’s drift.
"Hi, Mr. Lucas," the airport manager hurried forward to greet him.
Smiling, he bowed officiously and said, "The person you are looking for is inside."
Grunting an acknowledgment, Michael walked into the detention room immediately.
He frowned when he saw the man seated in there.
As he had suspected, it was not Clement.
Having been continuously exposed to the realities of the world, the airport manager was astute enough to sense from Michael’s demeanor that something was amiss.
He asked tentatively, "Mr. Lucas, is this not the person you were looking for?"
"Nope!" Michael inhaled sharply, trying to control his emotions.
When he heard Michael’s name mentioned, the ’Clement’ seated behind them immediately yelled, "What right have you got to hold me here? If you don’t give me a good reason, I will sue you!"
The man’s angry rant was the least of the airport manager’s problems right now as he followed Michael outside.
"Was there only one person called Clement on that flight?" Michael asked the airport manager as he walked away briskly.
Instantly, the airport manager replied, "Yes, there was only one person."
Michael said nothing in response.
"We will continue our search and contact you once we make a discovery," the airport manager replied.
"Thank you," Michael said emotionlessly.
Walking back to the exit, he noticed Mr. York checking each person meticulously as they came through the doors. He walked to him and asked, "Anything?"
Mr. York shook his head.
Mr. York looked behind Michael and sighed when he did not see Clement. He asked, "Not Clement?"
"Not the Clement that I’m looking for," Michael replied. He did not know if the man he just saw was really called Clement. But that did not matter because he was not the Clement that he wanted.
By then, most of the people on that flight had come through the exit doors.
Mr. York said, "There are a few possibilities that we have intercepted outside. Shall we go there now? Or would you want to wait a while more?"
"Let’s go now," Michael replied. "You stay here and keep monitoring."
Michael left the airport and noticed that his men had intercepted a large group of people at the entrance gates. He walked over to them.
When his men saw him coming, they stepped aside for him to get through.
"Mr. Lucas, these are the men we found to be possibilities. Please check them out," one of the bodyguards informed Michael.
...
There were more than ten men that they had intercepted.
They could be heard muttering and complaining, obviously displeased at being detained.
"Why are you holding us here? What have we done?"
"This is my first trip to Lake City. Is this how you welcome your visitors? You’d better have a good reason for doing this. Otherwise, I will sue you."
"The car I’ve hired is going to leave without me. Let me go now!"
"I’ve been coming to Lake City many times and have never encountered something like this. Why are you doing this?"
"Release us now before we call the cops!"
.....
The continuous ranting sounded jarring to Michael’s ears.
He scanned the group and concluded that none of them was Clement.
Keeping his eyes shut, he took a deep breath and said grumpily to his men, "Nope, he’s not here. Release them all."
"Not any of them," the underling nodded. They began to release the men.
"Hang on." Michael deliberated before adding, "Compensate them with cash and make sure you apologize to each of them. Help them out as much as possible if they need anything during their stay in Lake City."
The old Michael would not have done anything to make amends for detaining these people. He would neither have apologized nor made any form of compensation.
But now, he was the husband of the kindest woman.
He had wanted to learn to be compassionate and kind.
Since he was wrong to have detained them and caused them inconvenience, it was just right that he should compensate them accordingly.
Having issued his instructions, Michael went back into the airport.
As expected, Mr. York had not made much progress either on his end.
When Mr. York spotted Michael walking towards him, he looked to see if there was any sign of Clement. Sighing, he asked, "Still no sign of him, sir?"
Michael shook his head.
"Perhaps Clement knew that we’re looking for him and has gone into hiding," Mr.
York said. "No worries. As long as he’s in Lake City, we will unearth him eventually."
"It’s nearly four. All the passengers from that flight have come through the exit doors," Michael said.
Disappointed, he shoved his hands into his sides and uttered in exasperation, "If Clement did come to Lake City, he’d be long gone from the airport by now."
"Sir, who told you that Clement was coming to Lake City?" Mr. York asked. "Based on our intel network, we had not uncovered any information on this."
"Todd," Michael replied.
Speaking of Todd, Michael whipped out his phone and called him.
When he saw from the caller ID that Michael was calling, Todd assumed they had found Clement. Accepting the call immediately, he said, "Mr. Lucas, have you apprehended Clement?"
"Are you sure Clement was on that three-twenty flight?" Michael asked curtly, the chill in his voice effectively transmitted to Todd.
"Yes. My information is reliable," Todd replied. "Have you not apprehended him?"
Todd sounded puzzled and a tad embarrassed.
It was he who had called and informed them about Clement.
If Michael had not found Clement, he would think that Todd had intentionally given him false information.
Had this happened in the past, it would not have mattered. But things were different now with their strained relationship.
Nonetheless, he tried to explain, "Mr. Lucas, we did uncover Clement’s whereabouts.
"Before I called you, I had sent people to confirm his flight details. Indeed, there was a Clement scheduled to travel on that flight. The information is accurate."
"How did you come across the information about Clement?" Michael asked brusquely.
"I had been investigating him for a long time. A few days ago, we suddenly got news of his whereabouts and his plan to travel to Lake City," Todd said briefly.
...
Michael clenched the cellphone, lowering his head slightly. He did not know whether Todd was telling the truth.
Todd seemed to know that Michael was suspicious of him. He said, "Michael, I have no reason to call you up and deceive you. Believe it or not, I did find out something about Clement. I don’t know why you didn’t intercept him, but maybe you had your own reasons."
Michael had initially been in a good mood, but Todd annoyed him by saying that. He did not have a good impression of Todd, and he felt like Todd was accusing him of uselessness.
"I dared not say anything in Rheinsville City. If he really is on this flight today, he will not be able to escape." Michael’s tone grew chillier. "I had people surrounding the airport right after receiving your call. I even personally guarded the airport exit, checking each and every person!"
"Mr. Lucas, why are you being so emotional?" Hearing Michael enraged, Todd felt a little helpless and sighed. "Forget about it. It seems that I’m the nosy one."
Todd did not know what else to say. Since Clement hadn’t been caught, Michael was unlikely to believe him anymore. Michael had disliked Todd from the very beginning.
Moreover, Todd did not have any new information for Michael.
Hearing Todd’s words, Michael hung up the phone.
Mr. York saw Michael’s angry look and asked cautiously, "Mr. Lucas, what shall we do now?"
Michael took a deep breath and said, "I have to think about it first."
Mr. York left him alone then, not daring to disturb Michael.
What Michael needed to think about was whether he could trust Todd or not. If Todd’s words were false, then as he said, they did not have anything to do with each other. Todd should also have understood that he and Wendy were unlikely to work out. The best result was not to interfere with each other.
Todd had no reason to lie to Michael. Nevertheless, if what Todd said was true, how could he know about Clement’s flight information, or that it happened to be someone with the same first name and surname or even a similar look?
The probability was low. However, if this was not the case, then... Michael suddenly thought of a possibility.
He immediately said to Mr. York, "Get me the information about Clement on this flight. The sooner, the better."
Mr. York nodded and took action immediately.
Soon, Mr. York came over with a copy of the information. Michael read it carefully.
According to the information, the age, nationality, height, and appearance all matched Clement’s.
Michael carefully looked at the photo on the passport. It was indeed Clement. In other words, Todd’s information was right.
However, the person Michael had personally met at the airport hadn’t been Clement.
Michael understood it all at once. The reason Todd was able to track Clement’s whereabouts had nothing to do with his ability. Instead, Clement had deliberately planted the lie so that Todd would try to track him down.
But what was Clement’s purpose for doing this? What might be the point of revealing his own plans?
