David Thompson gave a wry smile, tore a sheet of paper from the interrogation notebook, rolled it up, and then casually unlocked the handcuffs.

“All right, whatever you want to say or ask, just go ahead.”

Brian Carter rubbed his wrist, then sat up straight and said seriously, “Then tell me now why my parents died.”

David Thompson replied with a serious expression, “At that time, I was in charge of the UK. One day, your father suddenly called me and said he had some extremely important intel and had to meet me in person. So I rushed to the agreed place, but I waited a long time and he never showed up. When I finally saw him, he was already dead.”

“So he didn’t really die in a car accident.”

“Of course not. The car accident scene was staged. Your father’s real cause of death was poisoning. And almost at the same time, your mother died at home from a sudden heart attack. But her real cause of death was also poisoning. Your home was thoroughly searched, though everything looked normal on the surface. In fact, it had been turned upside down. Someone took what they wanted, and you escaped because you were still at school—or maybe those people thought you weren’t a threat and let you go. After all, you were only eleven at the time. Two deaths could be called a coincidence, but for all three family members to die in different places at the same time would be far too conspicuous.”

Brian Carter asked in confusion, “You just said you found two hundred thousand pounds in my house? And now you say my house was turned upside down? That doesn’t add up.”

David Thompson replied calmly, “Because money was never what those who killed your parents were after. They wanted something much more important, like this address book or something similar.”

Chapter 4: Choice

David Thompson took a very small notebook out of his inner pocket and placed it on the table.

Looking at the little notebook, Brian Carter’s heart suddenly trembled. Then he said in a low voice, “Is this address book for me?”

David Thompson replied calmly, “Not necessarily. That depends on what you choose in the end. Before you make your decision, we’d better talk first.”

Brian Carter nodded. He stared at the little notebook on the table in silence for a long time, then finally said softly, “If this is an address book, then how did you get it?”

David Thompson replied calmly, “Your father was worried something might happen to him, so he wanted to leave you a few backup plans. On the day he arranged to meet me—the day he had his accident—he told me a few meaningless words. But I’d interacted with him a few times before, so I understood what those words meant. After picking you up, I found the secret marks he left in your textbooks in your backpack and pieced together this address book.”

Brian Carter was very confused and asked, “With communication so advanced nowadays, you have cell phones, email—what kind of intel can’t be discussed over the phone? Why insist on meeting in person?”

David Thompson smiled, shook his head, and said, “You don’t understand these things. Phones and computers can’t keep any secrets at all, and they’re far from foolproof as communication tools. If your father knew he was being watched and was about to face a deadly crisis, then he might risk telling me over the phone. But otherwise, he would always choose to meet in person and pass on intel by word of mouth—the most primitive, but also the safest way.”

After speaking, David Thompson said with a gloomy expression, “Unfortunately, your father misjudged the situation.”

Brian Carter exhaled, then said in a low voice, “My father died because he wanted to give you some intel.”

“Yes, that’s the only reason.”

“Can I ask what the intel was?”

David Thompson was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, “It’s not that I can’t tell you, but I really don’t know. Before we met, your father would never have told me what the intel was. But this intel was related to the Grey Coats, and it was because of this intel that he was killed.”

“The Grey Coats? Who are they?”

“The Grey Coats aren’t a person, but an organization—a very mysterious transnational intelligence organization, with a long history and great power. I suspect your father was one of them, or at least had connections with them, but that’s just my guess.”

“Tell me more about this Grey Coats organization.”

David Thompson thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, “The Grey Coats have been our old adversaries—not just China’s, but every country’s. You could say the Grey Coats are the enemy of every sovereign nation. This organization is extremely mysterious—so mysterious that otherwise, they wouldn’t have survived until now. So, apart from knowing there’s a mysterious organization called the Grey Coats, we know nothing else about them.”

After speaking, David Thompson waved his hand to emphasize his point and said very seriously, “One more thing to stress: ‘Grey Coats’ is just the nickname used by the international intelligence community, because members of this organization often wear grey suits. It’s a conventional name, not their real one.”

Scratching his head, Brian Carter said with a troubled look, “A mysterious transnational organization is the culprit behind my father’s death, and you guys can’t deal with them either. That’s honestly pretty terrifying.”