Invasion of America

Chapter 6 Bar
When Raul received a call from the police early in the morning and learned that his brother had been killed in a bar shootout, he did not feel much sadness.

The two brothers didn't have a strong relationship. Although they lived in the same town, they rarely saw each other after they became adults, and even rarely contacted each other.

His elder brother is the leader of a gang, always aggressive and violent, living on the edge of law and death; Raul chooses to go to college, and although he is unruly, he eventually becomes a discipline teacher.

Although he was not popular among teachers and students, at least it was a serious job.

Raul had known for a long time that his brother would die in a fight or a gunfight sooner or later, and it would only matter how many years of glory he would enjoy before his death.

That evening, Raul received a call and was allowed to go to the Miami-Dade County Police Department morgue to identify his brother's body.

The morgue was air-conditioned, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant. The autopsy officer opened the metal cabinet, revealing a pale, naked corpse lying before Raul.

The body was shot in the head. The wound was processed after the autopsy, but the traces of bullet penetration could still be seen.

This is the first person to fall in last night's bar shootout.

Raul stood in front of the body, staring at the familiar yet unfamiliar face. Suddenly, he felt as if his throat was tightly strangled by something, and he choked with sobs and could not speak.

Only then did he feel an indescribable sadness. Years of family affection had come to an abrupt end, like a thread suddenly cut, never to be reconnected.

"How did my brother die?" Raul finally spoke, his voice hoarse and low.

"He died from a gunshot wound." The autopsy officer shrugged and handed Raul a stack of forms for claiming the body as a matter of routine, asking him to fill them out.

"No, I mean why did the shooting happen? They were just drinking at a bar, it shouldn't have gotten to this point."

Raul's heart was full of doubts.

How could such a normal thing as hanging out at a bar, having a few drinks to kill time, picking up a few loose women and going home to sleep with them, turn into a deadly gunfight?
What is the root cause of the contradiction?
Although the two brothers had little contact, Raúl knew his brother was always cautious. He was involved in smuggling and would not easily resort to violence when faced with trouble.

Otherwise, the town's police would have wiped out the gang long ago. There must be something hidden behind this gunfight.
The coroner had no answers, saying only that any questions should be directed to the police. The body will not be cremated until the case is closed, and further examination is possible at any time.

To solve the mystery, Raul returns to White Beach Town.

He went to the town's clinic to ask his gang accomplice who was slightly injured in the gunfight for clarification.

Since this was a major case involving ten deaths and injuries, all the seriously injured people involved were considered suspects.

The seriously injured were sent to large hospitals for treatment, while the lightly injured were kept in a clinic in the town, but they were all wearing electronic shackles and were not allowed to leave.

But when Raul arrived at the clinic, he found the place in a mess.

There were hurried footsteps and shouting in the corridor, and several nurses looked pale and panicked.

Raul stopped a nurse and asked anxiously, "What happened?"

The nurse gasped, her voice trembling. "Three guys in shackles escaped. One smashed the back window of the clinic, one rushed out the door, and one tried to kidnap me."

"The person who smashed the window and rushed to the door successfully escaped, but the one who tried to hold the nurse hostage failed and was shot dead by the police who arrived."

Raul followed the nurse's gaze and saw a body lying on the floor of the clinic corridor, with shocking bloodstains spreading and not yet dried.

The medical staff were still in shock, and the police who arrived were cursing. No one expected that such a solved case would have a follow-up.

The more Raul thought about it, the more he felt something was amiss. He pulled out his phone, swiping his finger across the screen, searching for every name in his address book and dialing them one by one.

But those gang members who usually treated each other like brothers seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth. The other end of the phone was either a cold busy tone or silence with no one answering.

"What's going on?" Raul frowned. He continued to flip through his address book, expanding his contact list. He quickly confirmed that everyone in the gang was either dead, seriously injured in the hospital, or at large with minor injuries.

Several others were arrested by the police as suspects in the case. The few who slipped through the net also refused to answer his calls, clearly trying to avoid him.

"This is so strange..." Raul muttered.

He had a feeling that everyone who knew the truth was hiding something, as if a thick fog was tightly wrapping around the truth, preventing him from getting any closer.

He walked out of the clinic, walked quickly to his car, opened the door and got in. He glanced at the navigation map and found that the "Scorpion" bar where the accident happened last night was less than one kilometer away from him.

He stared at the bar's location and thought to himself that if he couldn't get anything out of it over the phone, he might as well go and see for himself. Perhaps there would be some clues there.

The car turned a few corners and not far ahead was the Scorpion Bar. The door of the bar was closed and a yellow cordon was drawn at the entrance.

The front door was closed, but the back door was open.

Raul quietly slipped into the bar from the side door of the kitchen. When he pushed open the slightly rusty iron door, the air mixed with the smell of alcohol and blood hit him in the face.

He thought it would be pitch black here, but he didn't expect that there were lights on in the bar.

The scene of the gunfight had not been cleaned up. The dim light shone on the messy tables and chairs and the broken glass on the ground, reflecting a messy scene.

What shocked him even more was that almost all the gang members who could not be contacted by phone were here, a total of seven or eight of them, belonging to two gangs.

They were scattered in various corners of the bar, some leaning against the bar, some standing by the booths, and some squatting on the ground, holding guns tightly in their hands, hiding themselves and staring at their opponents vigilantly.

The two guys who had escaped from the clinic were there, still wearing their hospital gowns, with bandages on their arms and thighs, and blood seeping out.

Their wounds had not yet healed, their faces were pale, but their eyes were extremely fierce, as if they were ready to pounce on others at any time.

There was a tense feeling in the air.

Everyone present had a mixture of fear and fanaticism in their eyes, and their breathing was heavy, but no one spoke, as if they were all waiting for a moment of explosion.

"What the hell are you doing?" Raul couldn't help but shout angrily, his voice echoing in the empty bar.

He strode to the center of the crowd, his eyes sweeping over everyone. "What's causing you to kill each other? Are you all crazy?"

His eyes were particularly fixed on the two guys who had escaped from the clinic, and he mocked loudly, “You two escaped from the clinic, and you’re still wearing electronic shackles.

The police could come to your door at any moment following the tracking signal from the handcuffs. Do you want to kill everyone?"

As soon as the word "electronic shackles" was mentioned, the seven or eight people in the confrontation suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem.

A burly man yelled, "Are you two idiots? You dare to come looking for that lottery ticket with electronic anklets on? Are you trying to lure the police here?"

The two men in shackles refused to give in, and one of them retorted with gritted teeth: “If you don’t come, are you planning to eat up my share?
That's $2.2 billion! Why can you share it but we can't?"

When Raul heard the word "lottery," his heart skipped a beat. He asked anxiously, "What lottery? The one from last night? $2,237,650,000?"

Seven or eight people fell silent again, the muzzles of their guns remained motionless, but their eyes became more fanatical and fierce.

Raul, the last person to arrive, was unarmed and tried to defuse the situation: "Please, put the gun down, okay?
The police will be here any minute. Those two in handcuffs, can you please leave here first? We can discuss the assignments after this is resolved.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the muzzles of the guns that were originally facing each other were all pointed at the two guys in handcuffs.

When the latter saw that he had aroused public anger, he quickly raised his hands and shouted: "Don't shoot! We can leave, but we can't leave without our share! Otherwise, we will report it to the police!"

Raul shouted again, "There's over $2.2 billion, more than enough for us to share. No more deaths are necessary. The key now is to keep the police out."

At gunpoint, the two men, wearing electronic anklets, were forced to leave the bar. Before leaving, they repeatedly emphasized the need to protect their interests.

The bar door slammed shut behind them, leaving a brief silence.

With two people missing, Raul spoke again: "Okay, now tell me, what happened last night?"

Everyone present looked at each other, seemingly unwilling to speak first. Finally, a guy standing at the bar said reluctantly, "Boss Maxim bought a lottery ticket at the seaside restaurant last night.

Before the lottery draw, he came to the Scorpion Bar for a drink and showed off his lottery ticket, saying that if he won the jackpot, he would share it equally with everyone present.

Another guy hiding behind the sofa took over the conversation: "Boss Tochi also came later, and the two of them sat in a booth and talked about the lottery.

When Maxim took out the lottery ticket, everyone laughed a little, but no one took it seriously. After all, the probability of winning was too low.

"But who knew that lottery ticket actually won!" A guy leaning against the wall suddenly shouted through gritted teeth: "And the number was confirmed in front of everyone.

Maxim tried to leave immediately, but Tochi wouldn't let him go. An argument ensued, followed by a shoving match and finally a knife and gun fight.

Raul suddenly realized how his brother had died. He asked anxiously, "And then?"

"Then there will be a gunfight." Everyone shouted in unison, with anger and helplessness in their tone.

"No, I mean then..." Raul asked.

"Then the police came," a guy standing by the booth whispered, "but no one wanted to give up the lottery ticket, so they opened fire on the police."

Raul was even more anxious and yelled, "Idiot, I'm asking where the lottery ticket is?"

This question stumped everyone present. Seven or eight pairs of eyes stared at each other, each suspicious, but no one could come up with an answer.

Only Raul sighed and scoffed, "Well, I'm sure none of you got the lottery ticket. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here at all and would have gone to claim the prize yourself."

This makes sense.

Seven or eight people gradually put down their guns, but an oppressive silence permeated the tavern.

Everyone's face was full of fatigue. No one had been able to get a good rest from last night until now. At this moment, they were trying hard to recall the chaotic scene during the gunfight and think about the whereabouts of the lottery ticket.

"Who wants to continue?" Raul continued, trying to find clues in their accounts. "Like, what about the surveillance footage from the bar? Who heard about the lottery?"

"The surveillance footage was immediately taken away by the police. Besides the bartender and the waitress, there were only two gang members present at the time."

The guy leaning against the bar replied in a deep voice, “After the two bosses fell, the rest of the people were firing.

The lighting in the bar was bad, but I remember the waitress trying to take the lottery ticket from Maxim during the chaos.”

"Did she succeed?" Raul asked anxiously.

"I don't know." The other guy shook his head. "Anyway, I shot her twice. No one can take the money in front of me."

"I shot her too, but I'm not sure if she got the ticket," a third person added. "It was too chaotic to look closely."

"So you guys shot the waitress, and then what?" Raul demanded.

"Then everything went to complete chaos," the guy behind the sofa said in frustration, "bullets were flying and people were running around.

The two gangs were either shooting at each other or hiding, and they didn't care about the lottery ticket at all."

"When the police arrived, the situation got even more chaotic." The guy standing by the wall scratched his head in frustration. "We opened fire at the police, and they quickly pulled out their rifles and fired at us.

We were no match for them in terms of firepower, and the wounded could only throw away their weapons, lie on the ground, and surrender. A few people slipped out the back door.

"So the lottery ticket was taken away by the police?" Raul asked unwillingly.

No one can give a definite answer, but the police must have searched the scene and examined the body after the incident, so they are most likely to have taken the lottery ticket.

The two gangs paid a heavy price but gained nothing, a result that was unacceptable to everyone present.

Everyone looked at each other, eyes filled with resentment and anger. A lottery ticket worth over $2.2 billion had just slipped through their fingers?
Just then, sirens sounded outside the bar.

Apparently, the two idiots who escaped from the clinic didn't go far away and were still wandering around until the police caught them with the help of the positioning of the electronic shackles.

"Damn it, we have to leave." Raul turned around and took the initiative to escape from the back kitchen of the bar.

Thinking of the police's ferocity, the seven or eight gang members present immediately panicked and ran after Raul.

But waiting outside the kitchen were seven or eight rifles from the Baitan Town Police Station and flashing police lights.

Sheriff Congers stood beside his police car, holding the microphone of the police car loudspeaker, and cursed angrily:

"I'm in a terrible mood today. You bastards better get down on the ground, or I'll send you to hell right now."

The two men who escaped from the clinic have been apprehended. Apparently unsure of their accomplice's integrity, they immediately told members of both gangs to gather at the tavern in anticipation of another shootout.

Gang members number seven and eight dropped their guns, raised their hands, walked out of the bar, and lay on the street, waiting for the police to tie them up one by one with restraints.

When they tied up Raul, he protested, "Officer, why are you arresting us? I haven't broken any laws."

Sheriff Congers stepped forward, squatted down, and demanded, "What are you bastards doing in this saloon? Are you hiding some smuggled goods, or some other shameful secret?"

Raul denied it. "I don't know. I'm a teacher at the town's high school. I'm not a gang member. I don't have a criminal record. My brother died here, and I'm here to pay my respects."

The other tied-up gang members all lay on the ground, looking at Raul with their heads tilted.

The one closest cursed under his breath, "Fuck you, Raul. You better know what you said?!"

This was a threat, but also a tacit agreement, meaning that the other gang members had decided that Raul was the one who was responsible. They either had to keep their mouths shut or no one would get the lottery ticket.

Sheriff Congers didn't care and arrested everyone, taking them back to the police station for interrogation - but he had to release Raul early an hour later.

Raul had no criminal record, no criminal record, and a good reason to be in the bar. When he walked out of the police station door and turned his head back, Sheriff Congers was staring at him from behind.

The two men's eyes met with each other, neither giving in.

Raul suddenly smiled and thought to himself, "There are only a dozen police officers in the White Beach Town Police Station, and it was Congers and his partner who were the first to arrive at the tavern last night.

Congers was the most likely person to get the lottery ticket, but it was so chaotic at the time that who would care about a small piece of paper?

The person most likely to win the lottery is definitely someone with subjective intention.

The gang members in the bar were busy exchanging gunfire with the police, and this window of opportunity may have lasted only a minute, or maybe thirty seconds.

But with enough courage and the right timing, that's enough time for whoever takes the lottery ticket."

Raul took out his phone and looked through the address book, "Let me see, who were there at the time?

Excluding those who were shot last night, those who were hospitalized with minor or serious injuries, those who appeared in the bar tonight, and those who were in the police station and couldn't get out, the only thing left is..."

At the same time, Sheriff Congers returned to the police station and retrieved the surveillance video he had brought back from the Scorpion Tavern during the day.

Before, he treated the gunfight as a gang fight, figuring out who killed whom was enough to sort out the relationship. But now, he is more concerned with the details of the moment when the gunfight took place.
The lighting in the pub was very dim, and after the gunfight, several lighting sources were blown up in succession, so the images seen in the surveillance video were very blurry.

But there was one figure that was very special. When everyone else heard the gunshots, they all ran outside, but he was the only one lying on the ground, crawling towards Maxim's body.

The figure was tall and fat.

(End of this chapter)