North American Gunslinger Detective

Chapter 831: Someone is watching him?
Roland woke up quickly. When the gunshots rang out, he woke up and sat up, raising a revolver. Then he saw the monster falling from the sky. Looking at the thin tail trailing behind, Roland shouted, "Thorn Lurker, shoot his head and heart, on the left side."

After Jimmy shot, he immediately pulled out his second revolver, aimed at the monster that had fallen to the ground and fired two more shots, all of which hit the monster's head. The monster trembled a few times and then stopped, completely silent.

Roland: "Be careful, there may be more than one of these things."

Jimmy looked up and observed, but did not find any more traces of the monster, but the sound just now did not seem to be from just one monster.

Roland had already stood up and also raised his gun to observe the surroundings: "They will disguise themselves as trees and branches, be careful."

Jimmy: "Yeah, I've been looking for it. Damn, why are these things so hard to find? How do you know their weaknesses?"

Roland: "I have encountered them and was injured. They attacked me by surprise."

Well, this would explain why Roland was so familiar with the Thorn Lurker. It turned out that they had dealt with it before. People with Roland's physique could be ambushed. It was very good that Jimmy was not aware of it until it was two or three meters above his head. Obviously, Jimmy's perception of danger was still very strong, at least stronger than Roland's back then.

Jimmy: "OK, tell me more about how we can find them."

Roland: "There's nothing we can do. When they simulate tree trunks and branches, they are almost indistinguishable from real trees. Even their skin looks like bark. There's no way to identify them in such a dark night. We can only wait for them to take the initiative."

Jimmy gritted his teeth and switched back and forth between the two visions, trying to find anything unusual. However, his normal vision was completely dark. Although he could barely see the shape of the tree trunk, he could not see it if it was a little further away. His mind's eye vision could only see the outline, but because the monster was definitely connected to the tree, he could not recognize it by just looking at the outline.

Many of the trees in this forest have mutated, with so many abnormal twists and turns that Jimmy could only look at them as best he could.

In addition, it can be seen from the one he killed before that this monster is not the same as the one he killed in the forest on the beach outside Little Rock. Obviously, Roland failed to identify it based on his description before. The one in the woods of Little Rock is indeed made up of branches, while the one here is a whole.

"I remember you said that this guy's physical defense ability is not strong, right?"

Roland: “That’s right.”

Jimmy: "Be on guard. I'm going to do something to alarm them."

Roland didn't reply, and Jimmy didn't wait either. He took a look at the corpse on the ground, then aimed at all the tree trunks that looked about the same size as the body, and fired one shot after another with his left revolver. At the same time, he kept his eyes on the target with his right revolver, so that he could shoot immediately if the opponent made any unusual movement.

However, after firing six bullets, there was still no reaction. There was no doubt that this was a forest, and there were too many targets like this if one only relied on their size to distinguish them.

"Reload."

This was the first time Jimmy officially cooperated with Roland. He was not sure if he could keep up with his pace, so he needed to remind him. He took the bullets out of his pocket and loaded them into the revolver in his left hand. Jimmy immediately fired two shots at a vine-like thing in front of him, breaking the vine directly. A monster suddenly jumped out from behind the tree trunk, but did not pounce on Jimmy and the others, but flew away. Of course, his speed was definitely not as fast as Jimmy and Roland's bullets. With a "bang", he fell to the ground after only a few meters. He struggled for a while and stopped all movements.

After killing two in a row, there was no telling if there were more. The little light left in the fire was not enough. "Roland, turn on the flashlight on the ground."

Jimmy held his gun with both hands and was on guard, while Roland held his gun with one hand and squatted next to Jimmy's sleeping bag, picked up a flashlight and turned it on. The two searched for more than ten minutes but did not find the third one, so they lifted the alert.

"Damn, these things are hard to work with."

Jimmy complained as he walked towards the first Thorn Lurker he had killed, "Damn, this thing looks like a collection of weapons."

The body of the monster lying on the ground looked exactly like cracked bark, and its color was dark gray. Its limbs were slender, and the front ends of its claws looked very sharp. There was a spike on the tip of its tail, which looked like a bone spur. Its color was inconsistent with its tail, but it was clear that it was a killing machine. Coupled with its speed and hiding ability, there was no doubt that even an SRT team would be slaughtered by it, and they might not even get hurt.

Of course, this is based on the SRT team that worked with Jimmy to hunt down mercenaries in the woods of New York State.

Jimmy: "Roland, will this thing leave the forest?"

Roland: "No, they are rarely seen outside. This is their territory."

Jimmy: "That's good, otherwise I really wouldn't be able to sleep at night."

Pulling out the dagger, Jimmy directly dismantled the monster, but he gave up after just two cuts. This thing looked like it couldn't be eaten, and there was no point. He was not a biologist, so there was no need to figure out the structure of this thing. As long as he could kill it, it would be fine.
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Nia felt very strange. As the time for Jimmy and the others to return approached, she was always uneasy. Of course, it was not because of little Liam. The little guy still played when he was full and slept when he was tired. It had no impact at all. The main reason was that he was too young and was not yet old enough to miss his father.

Nia has started to draw the curtains more frequently recently, and has taken Liam to the park less often, but she always has the feeling that someone is watching her. She is a police officer, and although not as professional as Jimmy, she knows some surveillance rules. She has already searched the house, but at least no surveillance cameras have been found.

The feeling of being watched was terrible. Under normal circumstances, she should have contacted Kevin. Although the NYPD technical staff was not strong, it was no problem for them to find some surveillance equipment. The key was that it was time for Jimmy and the others to return. There was no way to determine the exact time. If there were other people at home when they returned, that would be a big problem.

The best way now is to protect herself, so even at home, Nia still carries a Glock for self-defense, and she persisted like this until she received a call from Jimmy. Jimmy had placed an anonymous mobile phone in the basement in advance, in order to ensure that no accidents would happen when he came back, at least he needed to contact him first.

Nia pulled the curtains and made sure that no one outside could observe her location. Then she carried Liam to the storage room and opened the secret door. "Shh." She stretched out her right index finger to her lips and pointed to the basement before Jimmy spoke.

Jimmy frowned and motioned Roland to step back. Everyone came to the basement. Nia motioned Jimmy to come over and whispered in his ear, "I've been feeling like someone is watching me lately. I'm not sure if it's my imagination, but I'm worried that there's some... surveillance equipment in the room."

Jimmy immediately looked up into the room and said in a very low voice, "Has anyone been to our house?"

Nia: “No, at least not when I’m home.”

Jimmy reached out and took Nia's hand and glanced at the time on her watch. It should be two or three hours before dark. "You go up and move around normally. We'll wait here until night."

Nia nodded to Jimmy and the others, then turned and went upstairs. It was only two or three hours, so it wasn't a big problem.

Jimmy whispered to Roland about the current situation, and the two began to search the basement without speaking loudly, looking for anything suspicious.

At night, Jimmy asked Roland to continue waiting for news in the basement, and he quietly came out of the basement, climbed out of the window at the back of the house, hid in the shadows, and began to observe the surrounding environment.

Jimmy's house is in a corner of the park. There are not many residential buildings nearby. At least from his observation angle, he did not notice anyone staring at his house. Maybe he needs to look further away.

It expanded outward until Jimmy's house was almost out of sight. Only then did Jimmy confirm that he had found nothing unusual and walked along the street to his house in broad daylight. If someone really was monitoring his house, the targets would definitely not be Nia and Liam. She had rested for too long and had no grudges with the outside world. The most troublesome person in this family was Jimmy.

Now Jimmy is appearing on the road openly. If someone is targeting him, he will definitely be discovered. If there is a potential attack, the distance from his appearance to his return home is the best time to act.

At the door of his home, Jimmy did not open it directly, but stood by and made a phone call, "Hi, Sloan, it's me, Agent Jimmy Young."

Sloan is the assistant director of the technical department of the FBI office. Jimmy had often communicated with the technical department through him before. Although the phone Jimmy used this time was an anonymous cell phone, the voice and name were definitely correct.

Sloan: "Hi, Jimmy, I haven't heard from you for a long time. Are you on vacation?"

Jimmy: "Well, I just got back. OK, long story short, I have something to trouble you with."

Sloan: "Now? It's party time now, do you want to come?"

Jimmy was speechless. "I've been away from home for a long time. You know there are a lot of people who want to cause trouble for me... No, not a lot of people, but a lot of enemies. So, can I ask you to find someone to help me check the house?"

Sloan: "Wait, let me change places."

After a minute, Sloan's tone changed from frivolous to serious, "Are you sure? Do your potential enemies have the ability to install surveillance cameras in the homes of senior agents?"

Jimmy: "I'm not sure, but, you know, my child is still young, safety first."

Sloan: "OK, give me half an hour."

Jimmy: "Thanks, Sloane, I owe you one."

Jimmy opened the door, shook his finger at Nia, went to the basement to call Roland out and asked him to leave through the window, then sat in the living room and waited.

Soon a white van stopped in front of Jimmy's house and three people got out. Before Jimmy opened the door and let them in, he gestured to them not to speak. After the three nodded, they carried the boxes into Jimmy's house.

Two of these three people are strangers, and the other one is the person who helped Jimmy design the baby room surveillance and house surveillance, so he is an acquaintance, so their identities can also be confirmed to be safe.

The house only has two floors. The three people checked each room repeatedly with handheld devices before returning to the living room. "Agent Yang, we checked. Apart from the surveillance cameras installed before, we found no other surveillance equipment, including surveillance probes and eavesdropping devices."

Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank God, I'm safe. Thank you."

The man he knew stretched out his hand and gestured: "Wait, although there is no surveillance, I found that the infrared surveillance of the rear window was turned off, and there were obvious signs of entry and exit on the window."

Jimmy took him to the window and checked it. Well, Jimmy forgot to turn on the surveillance again after Roland left, and the marks left by stepping on the window were still there, but he forgot to clean them.

Jimmy: "I see, thank you. Please help me restore the surveillance. Also, maybe a more hidden surveillance is needed here. What do you think?"

The technician nodded and said, "I think it would be better to add a camera in that corner."

Jimmy: "Help me get ready, thank you."

After sending the three people away, Jimmy was finally able to go take a shower. A false alarm was better than someone monitoring his home.

However, before Jimmy got out of the bathtub, Nia came in with his cell phone, "Ruiz's call."

Jimmy raised his eyebrows and took the phone, "Hi, Ruiz. ...Um, just got back. ...OK, tomorrow night, I need to get some rest. ...Bye."

Handing the phone to Nia, Jimmy soaked in the bathtub in a daze.

After coming out of the shower, Jimmy hugged Liam and teased him, while listening to the content of the phone call and what happened recently recorded by Nia, so as to avoid saying the wrong thing when chatting with other people.

Nia was only responsible for saying that Jimmy needed to analyze the situation here by himself. There were some things Nia didn't know, for example, after Peter called him, Ruiz also called him, and then there was no news from them.

Obviously Ruiz convinced Peter, and no matter what help Peter asked him for, Ruiz refused. This also meant that the New York office was unwilling to let him get involved in the case again, no matter how big or small the case was. In other words, he was completely hidden.

He just called Sloan today and arranged for someone to check the house. Ten minutes after the results came out, he received a call from Ruiz, asking him to meet. Obviously someone has been keeping an eye on him. This is not the treatment that a person who has been hidden should receive.

Maybe Jimmy was overthinking it, maybe Nia's feeling was not wrong, someone was indeed watching her, or watching this house, waiting for him to appear.

(End of this chapter)