Harry's Whereabouts

Norman Osborn brought Luo Xia to the top-floor office of the building. Rather than an office, it was more like a private laboratory.

The space covered a full five hundred square meters, four hundred of which were packed with all kinds of equipment. The remaining fifth was where Norman Osborn usually worked and met with visitors.

Although Norman Osborn fell far short of a super-genius like Tony Stark, he was still an outstanding scientist whose intelligence far exceeded that of an ordinary person. Otherwise, he could never have designed high-tech equipment like the Goblin Glider.

Thinking of that, Luo Xia couldn't help feeling a little excited. He wondered if the Goblin Glider could be activated with AllSpark energy and turned into a robot. If so, it should be even more powerful than Luo Fei and Violet, right?

But then Luo Xia remembered that Harry was only five. Who knew whether Oscorp had even started researching the Goblin Glider yet? If they hadn't, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't exactly tell Norman Osborn, "Put on that mask. It's your destiny."

While Luo Xia was lost in thought, Norman Osborn pressed a few buttons on the wall. The doors and windows of the entire laboratory locked, and soundproof, blackout shutters came down.

"Good. No one should be able to eavesdrop on us now. Luo Xia, sorry for the trouble, but please tell me what you know about Harry." Norman Osborn asked urgently.

Luo Xia had no intention of deliberately stalling. He simply took off the Tactical Goggles and handed them to Norman Osborn. "Put these on."

Norman Osborn looked puzzled, but followed Luo Xia's instructions and put on the seemingly ordinary black-framed glasses.

They had been nothing more than ordinary prescription-free glasses, but soon a different image appeared before Norman Osborn's eyes: a Mercedes-Benz, the car he had prepared specifically for his son.

But the Mercedes-Benz was driving down a filthy, run-down street utterly at odds with its expensive price tag.

The images had clearly been captured by hacking into security cameras. When the car left a camera's range, it took some time for a new image to appear.

It seemed there weren't many cameras in this place, which looked like a slum. Or perhaps there weren't many working cameras.

The car had entered Hell's Kitchen, probably the most chaotic part of New York City.

That was one of the reasons Luo Xia had told Norman Osborn not to act rashly. Calling the police would be useless here. If the police were any help, people wouldn't be dying every few days in Hell's Kitchen.

After a while, Norman Osborn saw the Mercedes-Benz stop at the entrance to a dilapidated underground parking garage. The driver, the nanny, and Harry were forced out of the car at gunpoint by a group of armed men.

The driver seemed to know them. He knelt before them and begged for something. Unfortunately, all his pleas got him was a bullet between the eyes.

The images were silent, but Norman Osborn still shuddered in shock. If that bullet had hit his son, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

But it was clear that the kidnappers had no intention of killing their hostages right away. They simply put Harry and the nanny into another car, then drove into the parking garage.

To Norman Osborn's disappointment, once the car left the camera's range, no new images appeared.

"What happened?" Norman Osborn asked tensely.

"Sorry. Wherever they went, there probably aren't any cameras. And satellites can't see underground parking garages," Luo Xia said helplessly.

Violet's abilities were indeed formidable, but without cameras, even she was powerless.

After taking several deep breaths, Norman Osborn finally calmed down again. "Luo Xia, since you've been able to track these people all along, you must have made some preparations. What do you need me to do?"

"Even if we know the address, that doesn't mean we can just rescue him. The more we learn about the kidnappers, the better our chances of keeping the hostage safe," Luo Xia explained.

"But they've only called me once. I tried tracing the call, but it was clearly a disposable number. They threw it away after using it, so I couldn't find any useful leads."

"Did they make any demands over the phone?" Luo Xia asked.

"They didn't make any demands at all. They even gave me time to figure out how to rescue him, and promised they wouldn't kill the hostages." Norman Osborn said furiously.

Luo Xia furrowed his brow too. These people seemed to have a complicated background. They were definitely no ordinary kidnappers.

"They're awfully arrogant. Looks like they're very confident in themselves. And they definitely want more than just money. Since they said they'd give you time, we should use this opportunity to find more clues," Luo Xia suggested.

Some people might think that once you knew where the kidnapping had taken place, rescuing the hostages would be easy. But Luo Xia knew better. In his previous life, he had taken part in more than ten hostage-rescue operations, and they had successfully brought the hostages out alive less than half the time.

Once, a kidnapper had strapped a bomb to a hostage and appeared to be holding the detonator in his hand. But it was just a ruse. He had actually hidden the switch in the sole of his shoe.

When Luo Xia and the other special forces operators broke in, they had just managed to subdue him. The moment his foot left the ground, the bomb went off.

Who could have guessed something like that?

Having faced such a devious opponent, Luo Xia would never assume that a frontal assault would give them a good chance of bringing the hostages back alive.

As for investigating the kidnappers, the main goal was to uncover their demands and find psychological weaknesses, to see whether they could be persuaded to release the hostages through negotiation. That was the safest approach. Otherwise, why would the military and police employ so many psychologists and negotiators? Were they all relatives of the leadership?

"But how can we find clues in such a short time?" Norman Osborn asked, at a loss.

This wasn't scientific research, where you could run experiments over and over until you found an answer. One mistake could cost his son his life.

"I do have a lead. Someone connected to this kidnapping is probably still in the hospital," Luo Xia said confidently.

"The hospital? Who is he?"

"One of your people. The security guard who was shot several times by the kidnappers during the kidnapping."

"How is that possible? He saved Harry's life." Norman Osborn was astonished.

He hadn't witnessed the kidnapping in front of the building, but he had heard the reports from the others. If that security guard hadn't stepped forward, Harry would have been shot.

"Why would he save Harry's life? The kidnappers wanted to take him away, so why would they shoot Harry right there? Don't you think that's contradictory?"

Faced with Luo Xia's question, Norman Osborn had no answer.

After a long while, Norman Osborn finally spoke through gritted teeth. "Then let's go visit the benefactor who saved my son's life."