Xiaomi Heavy Industry, its first entrepreneurial venture!

Chapter 478 Damira: She's gone! (First update!)

Hearing his complaints, Marbury shrugged and snapped, "Damira, this is Algeria, not your Libya, understand?"

“You yourself are someone who fled from Algeria, so you should know very well how valuable Algerian tribal militias are.”

"Especially the tribal militias in the northern region!"

"In recent years, while the central government has been tightening its grip on tribal militias, it has also opened up other policies concerning young people."

"These policies have led to more and more young people in tribal militias leaving their tribes to live in big cities."

"They no longer need to depend on the tribe!"

“You’ve been with Gaddafi, you’ve seen all that glitz and glamour. If I hand these people over to you, I guarantee that within five days, their guns will be pointed at my head.”

"Out of consideration for our shared kinship, they might not kill me, but they'll definitely beat me half to death!"

How could I possibly entrust my weapons to you?

Marbury's words left Damira speechless. The logic was indeed sound, but it couldn't be said that way.

That being said...

I don't know what to say next.

After a long pause, he pointed at Marbury and said, "Take me to see your father."

“Okay! Let me change my clothes!” Marbury nodded, turned and went upstairs. In less than 10 minutes, he had changed into a traditional Arab robe and reappeared in front of Damira.

The two of them got into a car in the underground parking garage and then drove along the highway towards the mountains to the east.

An hour later, in Tamluka, a small town east of Constantine, Marbury was the first to enter his family estate. Seeing the butler standing at the door, he waved and asked, "Where's my dad?"

Across from him, the butler, Larim, lingered on Damira for a fleeting moment, a flicker of panic crossing his eyes, which he quickly concealed.

The butler walked up to the two of them, bowed slightly to Marbury, then greeted Damira. After greeting her, he spoke slowly and deliberately:
"Mr. Kirigia is entertaining some old friends, and it may take a while. Mr. Marbury, would you like to take Mr. Damira to your yard for a while?"

Knowing his own father's temperament, and also knowing that when those old men got together, they were slow to speak and act, and could discuss even the smallest things for a whole day, Marbury simply turned to Damira:

"Are you going to wait for my dad here, or come over there with me for a bit?"

Damira stood still, glanced up at the main building, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I'll wait here!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Larim said impatiently, "Mr. Damira, the matter that the master and the others are discussing is a bit complicated, and they probably won't be out for a while."

"My personal suggestion is that you and Stephon Marbury go there and have some fun."

"Let's talk about it later!"

Alim spoke very quickly, so quickly that Mira didn't even have time to react before he finished speaking.

After hearing what he said, Damira turned her eyes to the main building, out of Larim's sight.

Before the other party could notice, it was taken back.

He then nodded to Larim and said, "Since Butler Larim has said so, Marbury, I'll go with you over there for a bit."

After saying this, he looked at Larim and said, "Butler Larim, could you please prepare some of my favorite desserts?"

"Thank you!"

After thanking him, Damira followed Marbury toward his yard.

Behind them, the butler, Larrym, watched their backs as they left until they disappeared around the corner. Only then did he let out a long sigh of relief. After letting out a sigh of relief, he turned around and ran back to the main building.

On the top floor of the three-story main building, several old men were sitting on a carpet, leisurely eating seasonal fruit and discussing Damira:
"Anyway, the information I've received is that this guy doesn't actually have many people under his command. We can lock him up, torture him severely, find out the whereabouts of the gold, and then kill him."

"Kirigeia, you've gone too far! He came to you for help because he's from the same hometown, and you want to stab him in the back? I think he has way more gold than he has!"

"I think so too!"

"Alright, you old codgers, none of you have ever left Algeria, what the hell are you talking about... I have intelligence, it's all guesswork, so let's stop rambling. In short, arrest Damira, skin him alive, tear him apart. If he can't hold on, he'll naturally reveal the location of the gold. If all else fails, we'll find his family and wipe them all out!"

These final, angry words left the old men, who had just seemed so confident, quite embarrassed.

They are now local landowners.

I have money, but that little bit of money has to support a large group of people.

I can spend a little more, but not too much.

Not to mention trying to gather so-called intelligence.

Their so-called intelligence is nothing but wild guesswork with their minds completely blank.

If you guess correctly, it's intelligence; if you guess incorrectly, well, you guess incorrectly.

In the awkward atmosphere, the door was pushed open from the outside, and Larim appeared in the doorway, panting as he said, "Grandpa, Damira and the young master have come together."

“He didn’t bring any luggage today, and he didn’t drive himself. I suspect… I suspect something’s wrong!”

One sentence instantly put the old men, who had been making wild guesses, on high alert.

They all turned their gazes to Kyrie: "Old man, are you playing two games?"

"It wasn't me! I didn't let him come over!" Kirigia waved his hands repeatedly, denying any involvement in the matter.

After denying it, the panic on his face disappeared, and he raised his head, leaving only a fierce look on his face: "Since he came here today and ran into the line of fire for our discussion, it can only mean that he was unlucky."

"Everyone, capture him and torture him severely until you find out the location of the gold."

His words were met with agreement from a group of old men in the room, who all raised their hands in agreement: "Good!"

“The young men I brought are very capable fighters. Let them work with your men.”

"go!"

After agreeing on their plan, Kirigia turned to Larim and asked, "Where are the Damira people?"

Larim nodded: "I was afraid they would run into these gentlemen if they came up here, so I had the young master take Damira to the young master's courtyard in the south of the city!"

"Shall we go now?"

“No!” Kirigia rejected the idea. He turned to the others and shook his head slightly. “Damila is very alert. He didn’t bring any luggage today and didn’t drive himself, which means something must be wrong.”

"Let's calm down first!"

After calming down the old men nearby, Kirigia turned to Larim and said, "Larim, wait about 30 minutes and go to the young master's courtyard to personally invite Damira over."

"We'll sit here and wait for our prey to fall into our trap!"

“Understood!” Larim turned and left, while the other old men in the room all gave Kirigia a thumbs-up.
"You scoundrel, you're really cunning!"

In the south of the city, Marbury pushed open the gate to his yard, and several children ran towards him, shouting, "Dad!"

"father!"

Behind the child were four or five women dressed in traditional Arabic clothing, who stood behind the child and looked at Mabuli with eager eyes.

The children surrounded Marbury, hugging his legs and rubbing against him gently.

Marbury pried the children's hands apart one by one and then picked them up one by one.

He gave each of them a big kiss, then slowly put them down. After playing with the children, Marbury went past them and became affectionate with the woman standing behind them.

After greeting my family, about 10 minutes had passed.

He turned around to call out to Damira, only to find that there was no one behind him.

His car was also gone.

Turning to look at the gatekeeper beside him, just as he was about to ask a question, the gatekeeper pointed north and said, "That gentleman said he went to buy cigarettes!"

Upon hearing what the gatekeeper said, Marbury decisively turned around and went into the yard.

Although Algeria is a Muslim country, smoking is widely accepted there, and it has the highest smoking rate in North Africa.

Even in public social settings, a large number of young people smoke hookah.

Therefore, Marbury understood Damira's comment about going to buy cigarettes.

Marbury played with his children in the yard for a while, but instead of Damira, Larrym showed up.

As soon as he stepped inside, Larrym's eyes scanned the yard like searchlights. Not seeing Damira, he quickly turned to look at Marbury.

"Mr. Marbury, where's Damira?"

"He went to buy cigarettes!"

"Buying cigarettes?"

"Yes, they should be back soon!"

With just that one sentence, "He should be back soon," Larrym simply sat down next to Marbury and waited with him.

"Butler Larim, what brings you here?"

"The master sent me to invite Mr. Damira."

"Oh! What are you going to discuss?"

"Yes!"

Time slipped away quietly as the two exchanged questions and answers, and soon another 20 minutes or so had passed.

At that moment, both of them finally realized that something was wrong.

Because Tamluka is a small city, the longest street in the center is only 1.6 kilometers long, and one person can walk around the whole city in 50 minutes.

and so……

Larim ran out of the yard, asked the gatekeeper a few questions, and then, with his men, drove off in the direction Damira had gone.

They chased after him while asking questions.

Finally, after circling around, they arrived at a gas station in the south of the city.

The gas station is located on N102 highway, south of the town. Marbury saw his car and Damira on the gas station's surveillance camera.

The guy filled up the gas tank, bought a bunch of food, then stepped on the gas and drove south along N102, disappearing from the surveillance footage.

Upon receiving this answer, Larim knelt down with a thud, and the 50-something-year-old man burst into tears.

They waited in Marbury's yard for over an hour, and then drove around the city for another hour or so.

In other words, Damira has been running for two hours.

In two hours, although the N102 highway is in the mountains to the south, the road is not steep. In two hours, you can travel at least 100 kilometers.

Moreover, the roads leading south are interconnected, so if they just turn at any intersection, they won't be able to find anyone.

Finished!

It's all over!
Looking at Larrym kneeling on the ground, Marbury was filled with doubt. He bent down and asked cautiously:

"Did something happen?"

Alim looked up: "The master intends to imprison Damira and extract more information about the gold from him."

“I’ve come here to take him back; the master and the others have already made preparations at home.”

These two sentences left Marbury speechless. He pointed at Larrym for a long time, but couldn't say a word.

Finally, all I could ask was, "Then why did you make me bring him to this courtyard?"

With just one sentence, Larim stopped crying.

I stood up, told people to drive north in the sunset.

Meanwhile, several pickup trucks arrived in Tamluka, bathed in the glow of the setting sun.

The people in these vehicles were the same people who had chased Damira in Constantine during the day.

As the car entered Tamluka, the group naturally stopped at a roadside restaurant, leaving two people to wait for their food while the rest got into the car and pulled out maps.

The intelligence analyst among them pressed his hand against the map and recited the intelligence he had gathered:
"According to intelligence, Damira frequently stayed in this area when he was active in this area some time ago."

"And he's quite familiar with a guy here named Kyrigia."

"The intelligence contains information about this guy named Kirigya, 75 years old, who was a member of the Islamic Salvation Army during the Syrian civil war."

"Later, when the Islamic Salvation Army and the official government ceased fire, this guy brought his tribe back here."

"After the official government regained power in Algeria, this guy also helped the official government stabilize the local areas."

"That's why this guy should have a lot of weapons. Also, this kind of stubborn old man is very difficult to deal with. If we want to get information about Damira from him, we can only pry his mouth open with pliers."

"There is no other way!"

Beside him, the team leader frowned, his eyes fixed on the map.

A few minutes later, he looked away from the map and onto his companion beside him.

These men are all members of special forces, but this time when they entered Algeria, they did not bring their most proficient weapons, but instead purchased weapons from the Algerian underground market.

These weapons...

It was not enough to support them in fighting the militants.

As he pondered, a glint of light flashed in the team leader's eyes. He glanced at the people beside him and then called out a few names:

"Radley, Kara, Merckle, you guys will come with me later."

“You all have typical Arab features. Our identities later will be members of Gaddafi’s personal guard.”

"Our purpose in coming here is to hunt down our personal guard captain."

"He betrayed our President Gaddafi and embezzled the funds the President intended for his comeback!"

"We must avenge the president!"

"Understand? Now show me what you're capable of, be angry!"

(End of this chapter)