Chapter 34: Successful Extraction
It was noon.
On the narrow streets of New Orleans, the Four Horsemen, knowing the magnitude of their crimes, scattered and fled.
However, thanks to the help of the hidden mastermind, Rhodes, their escape was more theatrical than genuinely tense.
McKinney actually wanted to escape with Henley; perhaps he could win her over by showing off his skills against some FBI agents.
However, it seemed she didn't want to take the same route as him. "You should go the other way. The more we split up, the harder it will be for them to catch us," Henley said, frowning at McKinney as he approached.
"Leave it to Daniel. Isn't Rhodes planning to put on a show with him?" McKinney shamelessly displayed his persistence. He'd been pursuing this woman for over a year. He usually succeeded with his mentalist techniques, but with the others watching, he couldn't use them on her.
And now, the two of them were alone.
"Ugh!" Henley made a disgusted sound, but didn't slow her pace. Clearly, McKinney was more repulsive than ever.
"We pulled off our mission today! Look at poor old Arthur! How priceless his expression was when he said, 'You stole my money!'" McKinney pushed off to catch up with Henley. "So, for all the effort I put in today, shouldn't you give me a chance?"
"A chance at what, exactly?" Henley's face was full of disgust. "You'd better not even think about it, you creep!" She was running quite fast and was starting to breathe heavily.
Fortunately, they'd successfully escaped several blocks from the theater and weren't wearing any tracking devices, so they could rest now.
Hiding in a narrow alley, McKinney watched Henley catching her breath and unconsciously licked his lips. "If I don't think about you, I'll never have a shot."
As a shameless pursuer, he didn't even bother to hide it.
Just as McKinney was about to press further, a voice interrupted them. "Don't move!"
The newcomer was well-built and professional-looking, holding a gun in his right hand; judging by his bearing, he was likely an undercover agent.
"Quick, use your mentalist thing to take him down!" Henley finally showed vulnerability when facing a weapon. This opportunity to play hero had come too suddenly; even a psychological expert like McKinney hadn't noticed anything suspicious.
"Of course," he replied casually, adjusting his collar as he slowly approached the agent.
He raised his hands, indicating he was unarmed, but when they were only three feet apart, McKinney subtly snapped his fingers.
Snap!
The agent seemed to lose all strength instantly, collapsing to the ground.
"Done," he said, turning back with a smirk at the stunned Henley.
"I think we should get back,"
McKinney said, frustrated as he watched Henley walk away. "Shouldn't you at least acknowledge what I just did? A thank you would be nice."
"I think I need to learn your techniques too," Henley suddenly stopped, glaring at McKinney.
"Oh? Why? Because you think mentalism is cooler than your escape artistry?"
"Because I don't want to be manipulated by you someday!"
"You don't need to worry about that at all. I'd prefer a genuine connection with someone who's willing," McKinney said with a sly smile. "If you want to learn, let's go back to the hotel, and I'll teach you."
The two moved quickly, bypassing the crowded areas and returning to the hotel along their pre-arranged route.
In McKinney's room, Henley pointed to a safe. "Didn't expect you to have one of these. Is there something valuable inside?"
"Valuable? No, of course not!" McKinney suddenly became nervous, though he didn't know why.
"Would you mind if I opened it and looked?" Henley asked.
"Uh..." Although he couldn't explain why, McKinney felt there was something critically important inside that he absolutely couldn't show anyone. Moreover, he began to sense something was off about the woman in front of him.
"You'd better not refuse me!"
McKinney was shocked to find that Henley had somehow produced a pistol and pressed it against his temple.
"You're not Henley?" McKinney's face darkened. A psychological expert being so easily deceived—no wonder he looked so upset.
"Thanks for the lesson," Henley didn't reply, but instead shot McKinney in the leg. Blood sprayed instantly, and a agonized scream erupted from McKinney's throat.
"That's for being a sleaze."
Ignoring McKinney, who was clutching his leg and writhing in pain, "Henley" fired the safe open and pulled out a thick stack of documents—roughly forty pages.
She read through them methodically, accompanied by McKinney's continued screams.
Thirty minutes later...
the door opened, and McKinney found that the person who entered was the undercover agent he'd previously subdued with hypnosis.
The agent went straight to Henley and asked, "How'd it go?"
"Just finished," Henley said, putting away the documents. "But I should do less of this in the future." She gestured at herself. "Even though it's just visual manipulation in the dream, it still feels weird."
"Extraction requires adaptability to any situation. You've mastered the technique."
"Then let's leave." With that, Henley shot McKinney...
When McKinney opened his eyes, he found himself asleep in a storage closet in the theater, with no one else around.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he checked himself; everything was intact, but the scene from moments ago was still vivid in his memory... Was it a dream, or reality?
Even this master of mentalism and psychology had to show a confused expression when faced with such an advanced skill as shared dreaming.
On the other side, Jake wiped sweat from his brow. Everything that had just happened was indeed a dream, and he'd transformed into Henley Reeves, the only woman among the Four Horsemen.
Actually, as soon as the four illusionists fled the theater, Jake had sedated McKinney and brought him into a dream, making subtle modifications to create the illusion that he was still escaping.
Playing the role of Henley was the only thing that had taken significant effort; impersonating a woman was no easy feat.
Although the process was somewhat uncomfortable, he'd already obtained what he wanted.
All the information he'd gained in the dream was now memorized, encompassing McKinney's decades of mentalist and hypnotic experience.
However, there was still one more thing. Jake and Cobb exchanged a glance, nodded, and each took out an item.
Cobb had his spinning top, and Jake had a brass die.
These were totems, essential for every extractor; their weight and characteristics were known only to themselves, allowing them to determine if they were still dreaming.
Cobb spun the top, and after several seconds, it wobbled and fell.
Jake tossed the die into the air and caught it.
The die had a sad face carved on five sides, and a smiling face on only one. If a sad face was up, he was still dreaming; if the smiling face was up, he was in reality.
The reason was simple: the sad face sides were weighted heavier, while the smiling face side was lighter. Within Earth's gravity, a sad face would statistically face down more often, and the smiling face up. Only in a dream would probability be meaningless.
It was confirmed that the two were now in the real world, meaning the extraction operation was a complete success.
"It's time to take you home," Jake said to the long-awaiting Cobb.
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