Chapter 9: Death by Injury

"Father Robert, you're here, please come in, I've just got a good bottle of whiskey, and it's time for us to have a drink." The door of the bungalow opened, and it was Parker, the military attache of the U.S. Consulate, who had been in China for three years, and loved whiskey like Robert, and the two became friends with the deliberate guidance of Mike, the owner of the Rose Bar, and the person Robert was looking for was Parker.

"Honey, go get my bottle of whiskey, we'll talk for a while." Letting Robert into the living room, Parker asked Lola, the consulate secretary who stayed with him, to fetch the wine. Parker is amorous, and there are often women in and out of his house, which Robert has long been accustomed to, but Robert still deeply feels that Parker's methods are clever when he can hook up with the consul's beautiful female secretary.

"Your business has been done, this is the child's passport, are you really planning to go back to the United States? What does the church say? Will the Vatican agree? Laura put down her drink and went upstairs to sleep, and Parker handed Robert the passport he had taken out of the safe, who opened it and put it in his pocket. However, Parker asked three questions one after another, Robert didn't know which one to answer first, the priest was just a disguise used by Robert in China, according to the Vatican's church regulations, the priest's whereabouts were indeed to be reported to them, but Robert was a fake priest at all, and he didn't need to follow those procedures.

Accompanied Parker to drink several glasses, Robert, who had been vague, got up and said goodbye and left, Parker is a person from the consulate and also belongs to the category of people who Robert suspects that there is a secret intelligence deal with Japan, Robert did not dare to disclose the information he knows to Parker, and now Robert only believes Mike in Shanghai, and other people, including the Americans in the consulate, he doesn't believe any of them. No matter what is involved in politics, it is dirty, Robert has always suspected that someone in the consulate is betraying information to the Japanese, Robert's suspicion is obviously not groundless, just before he left Parker's house, Parker, who had a gloomy face, immediately dialed a number and whispered a few words.

It was dark, and there was no rickshaw on the road, although it was night, but after all, this was a concession, and the security was good, and Robert was not worried about any danger on the road, so he was relieved to walk boldly to the church. After walking two blocks in a row, Robert suddenly noticed that someone was following him, and being followed felt like someone holding a knife to his back and stabbing him in the back. Robert was going to Parker's house to get Tang Cheng's passport, so he didn't bring a weapon with him as usual when he went out, and Robert, who noticed the abnormality, could only speed up his steps and try to pick a bright place.

After a few Chinese carrying things, Robert turned around and entered a dark alley, like which there are many in Shanghai, and there are often miscellaneous things piled up in the alley. Robert stood lightly against the wall, and he could only stand like this until his vision could adjust to the darkness of the alley. "Japanese?" There was more than one person following him, and when the three figures flashed past the alley where Robert was hiding, Robert, who felt that he had nothing to do with the Japanese, didn't know what the Japanese would follow him for, but Robert did hear them talking in Japanese as they passed through the alley.

Robert, who took a few steps back, reached out and picked up a broken bamboo basket from the ground, and in just a few clicks, he dismantled the broken bamboo basket into a pile of bamboo pieces, picked out a few 20-centimeter-long and sturdy bamboo pieces and held them in his hand, Robert slowly walked out of the alley. Cold weapons are not Robert's forte, but now he can't find anything else that can be used as a weapon, and if these bamboo pieces are used well, they may not be able to kill. When Robert walked out of the alley and was about to fight to the death, an oncoming rickshaw appeared in time, and the overjoyed Robert threw the bamboo chip in his hand and walked into the car, urging the rickshaw driver to speed up and leave here.

The rickshaw driver pulled the rickshaw as fast as he could, and it didn't take much effort for Robert to see the spire of the church. Seeing that he was about to reach the place, Robert asked the coachman to slow down, and there was a Jewish-owned bakery on the street, and Tang Cheng liked to eat his brioche bread. Robert slapped Tang Cheng's palm board today, so he thought about bringing some butter bread back, and by the way, he discussed with Tang Cheng about preparing to return to the United States.

"No need to look for it, the extra money is a reward for your service." The fare was only five cents, and Robert, who saw that the bakery had not yet closed, was in a very good mood, and directly gave the coachman a dollar, and without waiting for the coachman to express his gratitude, Robert had already walked to the bakery. "Be careful" The rickshaw driver who bowed to Robert's back again and again straightened up after bowing, and suddenly found that several black shadows suddenly appeared from the darkness on the side of the road and rushed straight to the priest who had walked to the middle of the road, and the unarmed driver could only shout to be careful, and then pull his rickshaw and turn around and run.

"Poof" Robert, who heard the rickshaw driver's shout, didn't have time to perceive the danger, and a palm-wide cut had been cut on his back by a long knife, and Robert, who secretly screamed that he couldn't care about the pain in his back, ran quickly to the bakery a few meters away. No matter who plots against him, as long as he can run into the Jewish bakery, the person who plots against him will have nothing to hide, not to mention that there are several apprentices in the Jewish bakery, and Robert does not believe that the plotters dare to chase into the bakery.

"Help, help, I'm Father Robert, the priest of the church, someone wants to rob me, I have a wound in the back, help me." Robert, who had another wound in his back, finally rushed into the bakery. The beliefs of the Jews are not the same as Robert's, but now Robert doesn't care about that much, and no one who sees Robert's embarrassment at this time will associate him with a CIA agent, and Robert at this time is simply a priest in distress who is seeking help.

The plotter didn't have the courage to chase into the bakery, but the bakery apprentice who had gone around came back and said that there had been a few dark shadows standing on the corner, and the bakery owner, who had not dared to go over to take a look, had called the patrol and gave Robert a towel to stop the bleeding temporarily. "Robert, what's wrong with you? Who did this? Before the patrol came, the bakery apprentice sent to the church to report the news brought the church handyman and Tang Cheng, and when he saw Robert, who was weak due to blood loss, Tang Cheng's eyes immediately had a fog.

The Concession patrol arrived, but before they could get into the bakery, they clashed with a few people standing on the corner, and Tang Cheng, who was in a hurry to take Robert to the hospital, had to borrow a cart from the bakery with the church handyman and leave on foot. "Mosa, there are Japanese people over there, we can't get by." The blade that slashed Robert's back must have been smeared with poison, and Robert only said a few words and spent all his strength, if Tang Cheng hadn't put his ear to Robert's mouth, he wouldn't have been able to hear what Robert was talking about.

Although Tang Cheng said that he was naughty and mischievous and ran around on weekdays, he was only 19 years old after all, and he had been living under Robert's love and wings, and suddenly encountered such a thing, Tang Cheng himself had no idea. In a panic, he had to push the frail Robert back to the church according to Robert's wishes and the church handyman. "Come here, I have something for you." Robert, whose cheeks were already gray-black, beckoned to Tang Cheng and motioned for Tang Cheng to come to the bedside to speak.

"I have a passport in my pocket, an American passport that I asked someone to get for you, and I was originally going to surprise you tomorrow, but now I'll give it to you in advance." Tang Cheng had not experienced or parted with life and death, but he could feel that Robert's condition was very bad, looking at Robert, whose breath was weakening, Tang Cheng held his passport with both hands and was still stained with blood and cried silently. Sending Robert to the end of his pension was just a joke Tang Cheng said to Xie Bo and them, who would have thought that before today, all this would become true.

"There's an iron box under the bed, and it contains some of the money I've saved, you take it all, go to the Rose Bar and find the owner Mike, and he will take you out of China." Robert's eyes suddenly brightened, and he even spoke much louder. Tang Cheng was overjoyed when he saw this, and hurriedly took a towel to wipe the stains on Robert's face, and the young Tang Cheng thought that Robert had turned the tide of evil.

"Don't talk, lie on your stomach, I've already called the handyman to call a doctor, and when the doctor stitches up the wound for you, you'll be fine." Tang Cheng secretly lifted the towel on Robert's back and looked at it, the two wounds that had turned black and smelled so bad that his hands and feet were numb and his heart was beating faster, before the doctor arrived, Tang Cheng could only feed Robert some water, and then accompany Robert.

"Son, do you know the truth? When I first met you, you were the size of a kitten, and in the blink of an eye you were already an adult, and time flies. You have grown up, but I am also old, you are very smart and excellent, but you are frizzy and impatient, when dealing with people in the future, you must remember to be guarded, and do everything must first make a complete plan and plan a way out. Robert explained to Tang Cheng word by word, the latter just nodded with tears in his eyes, although Tang Cheng still didn't know what Robert meant by saying this, but he knew that Robert said it was all for his own good.

The sweaty handyman with the doctor finally arrived, but as soon as they stepped into the church, they heard Tang Cheng's heart-rending cries, and Robert still couldn't make it to the doctor's arrival. The Japanese didn't know what poison Lu Dao had smeared on the knife, and Robert, who had lost his breath, had an abnormally black face, and Tang Cheng, who was drowsy in his head, forgot everything, so he knelt in front of Robert's corpse stupidly, until Mike, the owner of the Rose Bar, heard the news and rushed over, and Tang Cheng's eyes had a hint of light.