Seeing the chaos before me, even I felt a flicker of panic.
If those files were destroyed, my five years of work would all go to waste.
“Emily, tell your fans to stop!” I yelled.
“My briefcase contains top-secret national documents—any damage is unacceptable!”
Emily, however, remained unmoved. With her hands on her hips, she watched gleefully, as if savoring my predicament.
Just then, my phone suddenly rang inside my pocket.
The moment I saw the caller ID, I felt a wave of relief.
Without a second thought, I answered on speaker, right in front of everyone.
“Mr. Lee, please help me!”
Hearing the panic in my voice, Mr. Robert Lee immediately sensed trouble.
“Mr. Stone, what happened? Weren’t you already on the plane?”
“Don’t tell me the U.S. detained you?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll contact the embassy right away. They won’t dare touch you!”
Clutching my phone, panting heavily, I replied:
“Mr. Lee, my flight landed safely.”
“The problem is, I’m trapped here at JFK, and the project files are in danger—any second they could be destroyed!”
“What!?”
Mr. Lee’s furious outburst nearly rattled the phone in my hand.
“Mr. Stone, tell me you’re not joking!”