Chapter 119: Saving Private Hobbs
Not long after Petrov angrily left, Ron, having received a signal from paige regarding the CIA operation, also set out alone in his modified pickup truck.
This operation was purely due to his relationship with Hobbs, a purely personal act. Therefore, he intended to forgo anything related to the IRS, such as Ron's trademark drone or his highly capable squad.
Meanwhile, Hobbs's situation was dire, and it was finally time for Ron to intervene.
"Jet, I need to tell you something. You've always been the only one who treated me right and never made fun of me. You're the only one I trust in this world. I know you have plenty of friends, but I don't. You're my only friend, Kevin."
Just as Hobbs was making a heartfelt confession to his old high school buddy Kevin, Kevin pressed the tracker given to him by the CIA with a guilty expression on his face: "Sorry, man."
"Sorry for what?" Hobbs was confused.
"I told them where we are. They were gonna hurt Maggie, so I had to do this. I didn't have a choice," Kevin hung his head in shame, unable to meet Hobbs's eyes. "I'm sorry."
Just then, sirens wailed in the distance.
Having been led around by Hobbs, Kevin, after a fierce battle in the office and two close calls with his therapist, finally made up his mind and chose to betray Hobbs.
Before Hobbs could react, countless squad cars surrounded him. A swarm of federal agents, armed and ready, surrounded him like he was public enemy number one, their weapons trained on him.
"Nobody moves! Hobbs, hands on your head, now!"
Hobbs didn't even have time to reach for his piece. He froze in place, helplessly following orders and slowly raising his hands to his head. But just as his hand was halfway up, his encrypted phone buzzed.
"Don't answer that phone! Keep your hands on your head!"
"Wait a minute!" the woman in the suit stopped her men. "Maybe it's the buyer for the encryption key, Hobbs. I need you to answer that phone right now. Put it on speaker."
Hobbs, forced to comply at gunpoint, slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone with just two fingers to avoid any misunderstandings.
He showed the phone to the agents and, after getting a nod from the woman, pressed the answer button. Immediately, Ron's voice, distorted by a voice modifier, rang out through the speaker for everyone to hear.
"Buzz Lightyear, this is Woody the Cowboy!" Ron called out playfully. "Woody calling Buzz Lightyear!"
Woody and Buzz Lightyear are both characters from the Disney movie "Toy Story." While everyone else looked confused, Hobbs smiled knowingly, realizing his backup had arrived.
This was Ron!
Having watched the movie with his daughter countless times, Hobbs got the nickname instantly. Ron was from Texas, where cowboy culture runs deep. As for why he was called Buzz Lightyear?
Probably because of his bald head.
The female agent was completely baffled by the call. Wasn't the traitor's codename Black Badger? And what the hell were Woody and Buzz Lightyear?!
Nervously, the female agent tapped Hobbs's head with her gun barrel, signaling him to respond quickly. At the same time, she barked at her subordinates, "Go find out who the hell Cowboy Woody is!"
"Ma'am, I think he might be a character from a kids' movie," whispered a subordinate who had children.
"This is Buzz Lightyear. What's the situation?"
"I'd like to ask, what would Buzz Lightyear do if his space helmet got knocked off?" Ron asked, and Hobbs immediately remembered the movie scene.
"I think he'd... hold his breath?" It clicked for Hobbs, and he took a deep breath and held it.
"Bingo! Correct answer!" Ron grinned, pressing the pickup truck's launch button.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh." Four makeshift rockets shot out from the four steel tubes mounted in the truck bed.
Since they were close enough, they barely needed aiming before landing among the federal agents surrounding Hobbs.
"Incoming! Take cover!" the combat-experienced female agent shouted, and her subordinate immediately tackled her to the ground, bracing for the explosion.
However, after the "rockets" landed not far from them, they only made soft popping sounds, nothing like the expected devastation.
No way! That size couldn't possibly pack that much punch!
The agent cautiously opened his eyes and looked toward the impact point. Where were the rockets? They were clearly gas canisters spewing white smoke!
Wait! Gas canisters?!
Before he could figure out what was happening, the smoke from the canisters engulfed his face, and the acrid, burning smell instantly overwhelmed him, bringing tears to his eyes and making his nose run.
At that moment, an engine roared to life. He didn't have time to think and pulled his superior aside as Ron's pickup truck barely missed scraping past them.
The truck window rolled down, and Ron, wearing a gas mask, tossed one to Hobbs. Hobbs quickly put it on and took a long, grateful breath.
"Cough... enemy contact... cough... open fire!" The female agent coughed and gave orders with difficulty, and suddenly gunfire erupted.
But because of the smoke screen, the shots were mostly wild. The truck, being such a large target, only took a few hits. Ron even provocatively threw the truck in neutral, gunned the engine, and cranked up the stereo.
It was like he was daring them to hit him.
"I'm tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface
Don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
[Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow]
I've become so numb, I can't feel you there
I've become so tired, so much more aware
I'm becoming this, all I want to do..."
"Bang bang bang..." The female agent was so pissed that she emptied two full magazines at where the music and engine sounds were coming from, but the rock music kept blasting without missing a beat.
When the smoke finally cleared, the female agent looked at the silhouette revealed in the haze and couldn't help cursing: "Son of a bitch! Damn it! What the hell!"
She cursed a blue streak before kicking over the busted speaker that was still blaring music. Ron, the pickup truck, Hobbs, and even Kevin had all vanished without a trace.
It turned out that before Ron even drove into the smoke, he had planted a speaker on the ground. It was playing pre-recorded music and engine sounds, creating the illusion that someone was inside taunting them.
Hobbs, after getting his gas mask, had already jumped in the truck with Kevin and driven off with Ron, leaving the clueless CIA agents shooting up a boom box.
The craziest part was that the speaker survived the entire firefight without a scratch.
"Hahaha..." Hobbs pulled off his gas mask. "Ron, how the hell did you come up with that idea? You're a freakin' genius!"
Ron shrugged. "Honestly, you're not the first person to call me a genius today. Face it, I'm better than you."
"That was just today." Hobbs shook his head, unconvinced.
"Whatever, believe it or not, I'll smoke you in our next competition too. So where are we headed next?"
"Boston."
"Damn, in that case, we're gonna need a plane." Ron slammed the steering wheel in frustration.
(End of chapter)
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