Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Terrorists Attacking Osborn

“What happened? Did you have a fight with them?”

Kinsa set down the stainless-steel fork in her hand and asked.

Her sister-in-law Helen was an excellent cook, and after her careful preparation this dinner was lavish enough to rival a Thanksgiving feast.

It was a rare and exquisite meal, but the moment Kinsa heard about Gwen’s recent condition, her appetite vanished at once.

George was not particularly surprised by her reaction. He knew well enough that Gwen had always been especially close to this aunt of hers.

So he too slowed his knife and fork and answered plainly, “No, no. You know what Gwen is like, Kinsa. She’s a sensible child, never mischievous or troublesome. How could she quarrel with us?

“It’s like this. Do you remember that summer camp run by Osborne Biotech?”

At the question, Kinsa thought for only a moment before recalling it.

Two months ago, she had even taken Gwen shopping for everything she needed for that camp. That same day, she had also run into Zhong Shenxiu, the man in prison who had left a deep impression on her.

“I remember. Does it have something to do with Osborne?” Kinsa asked.

George frowned slightly. “I can’t say it definitely does... but about a month ago, for reasons no one seems to know, Osborne suddenly shut the camp down early, and Gwen came home because of it.

“But from that point on, she suddenly became much quieter...”

“She hardly even speaks to me anymore, and I’m her mother.” Helen came over carrying a platter of fragrant roast meat. As she listened to them, she set it down in front of George and sighed.

A thoughtful gleam passed through Kinsa’s eyes. “Maybe something happened to Gwen at Osborne.”

Then she looked at George and asked, “Why exactly did Osborne end the camp early? Other people may not know, but surely you, of all people, haven’t failed to hear anything at all?”

The meaning beneath her words was obvious: if even this was beyond the reach of the New York Police Commissioner, that would be rather pathetic indeed.

George rubbed his nose and inwardly marveled that nothing could ever be hidden from his keenly perceptive sister. Lowering his voice, he said, “This matter is confidential. If I tell you, don’t go spreading it around.”

Kinsa nodded.

Helen remained expressionless, clearly having heard it from George long ago.

“Terrorists attacked Osborne,” George said. “They smashed a hole straight through the strongest outer wall of the entire facility, a gap three or four meters high. They also threw a great deal of explosives inside and blasted the place into utter chaos.”

“Terrorists?” Kinsa asked. “Did they catch them?”

“No... And what’s strange is that after the attack, Osborne made no public statement at all. They never said what, if anything, had been stolen. Our police only got involved because nearby residents reported it. But when we went over, we were shut out entirely. We didn’t see Norman Osborne, and we never even met the most basic company representative.

“Still, from witness accounts in the surrounding area, we did learn how that huge hole was made.”

A huge hole...

By a woman’s instinct, Kinsa suddenly and inexplicably thought of the great breach in the western wall of Sing Prison two months earlier.

And sure enough, George went on, “They say it was a silver-white giant with a rhinoceros horn on its head!”

A silver-white giant with a rhinoceros horn...

Wasn’t that the same one who had escaped from Sing Prison?

As the prison doctor there, Kinsa had naturally heard of him. After all, he was the first successful escapee in the prison’s decades-long history.

But after finally breaking out, he had gone and attacked Osborne? Was the man insane?

Still, Kinsa did not dwell on that matter for long. She was not concerned with rhinoceros-men or bomb attacks.

What she cared about was Gwen.

“So when Gwen was at Osborne, was she caught up in the attack at all?”

George replied, “Probably not. The ecological unit where Gwen’s camp was being held had its outer shell damaged by the blast, but the inside was completely safe.”

“Then could it be that Gwen witnessed everything herself and was frightened by the attack?” Kinsa asked again.

This time George did not answer at once.

Because he had long suspected the same thing.

Seeing him fall silent, Kinsa did not wait for him. She asked again, “Did you ask her?”

“We both did, one after the other. She refused to say anything,” George answered. Then he shot a look at his wife beside him.

Helen understood at once and added, “So, Kinsa, Gwen has always been closest to you. Sometimes, as her mother, I’ve even felt a little envious. Why don’t you go talk to her for us? Try to comfort her, help her open up.”

Hearing that, Kinsa immediately understood why tonight’s dinner had been so extravagant.

But she paid little mind to the little scheme between husband and wife. Even if they had said nothing, once she learned all this, she would have gone to speak with Gwen herself.

So she nodded in agreement.

“All right. I’ll go upstairs and talk to her now.”

——————

Inside the secret base.

“I need this truck modified to have some off-road capability,” Zhong Shenxiu said, gazing at the cargo vehicle stripped down to its chassis. After thinking for a moment, he turned to Ivan with his requirements. “It needs strong power, and it can’t sacrifice too much agility either.

“Best if it can match the common tactical police vehicles.”

At this, Ivan began constructing designs in his mind. One scheme after another appeared before his thoughts as vividly as three-dimensional reconstructions.

Then he bared his somewhat yellowed teeth and replied, “If that’s the goal, then the maximum cargo load will have to be reduced. If it’s carrying too much weight, then no matter how I modify it, it won’t be able to perform on the level of a police vehicle.”

Zhong Shenxiu nodded. He understood that much. “That’s fine. Carrying a little less won’t be a problem.

“Besides modifying this truck, I want you to start designing and planning a route as well. It will mainly be used for transporting the goods back after the theft.

“You need to account for surveillance control at key intersections, and if there are pursuers at the time, where exactly they can be shaken off, where we should begin quietly taking a detour, and how we ultimately return to the base unseen.

“All of this needs to be planned in advance to ensure absolute safety and concealment, with no exposure of our identities.

“If we lead something like S.H.I.E.L.D. to Ingram Street again, then every plan we have afterward will be obstructed. Keep that in mind. Do not lose the greater whole over some smaller detail.”

“Yes, boss!” Hearing such meticulous arrangements, Ivan immediately straightened in earnest.

With a leader this farsighted, everything became so much easier. All he had to do was follow instructions. No matter what problem he could think of, this man always had a solution ready...

Ivan felt profoundly at ease, even though the target of their robbery was the largest arms company in the world—Stark Industries.