HLM – Chapter 971 The Boss Lady Takes Command

When Eva received the news that her fiancé might have been kidnapped, she was in the middle of teaching four autistic children. Of course, the “class” was really just playing with them and helping them connect with the world.

Hanging up the phone, she smiled and kissed each child gently on the forehead. “Stay here and play with your blocks, okay? The world is in danger, so your teacher needs to transform into Superwoman and save it.”

“Superheroine? Supergirl?” one child, whose gaze was always unfocused, asked.

“Superheroine Diana–Dearden. Don’t tell anyone—that’s actually my real identity!” Eva winked at him, put on her coat, and walked out of the classroom.

She drove straight to the foot of the gold mine. As she got out, Uncle Bing hurried toward her. “Boss lady, the boss has been kidnapped. A group of mountain Maori showed up last night and abducted several tourists. The boss went up to negotiate… and got kidnapped too.”

Eva frowned. “Is he out of his mind? Negotiation? With terrorists?!”

Cold sweat trickled down Uncle Bing’s back. The boss lady was even more ruthless than the boss—she immediately categorized the situation as a terrorist attack.

“What do we do now?” Bowen asked as he walked up. “The message he left on the phone says ‘war begins.’ Should we request support from the AOS tactical team?”

Eva looked surprised. “You haven’t requested support yet?”

“Of course not. We were afraid of provoking those lunatics on the mountain. There are hundreds of them!” Bowen said anxiously.

Charlie was on the phone. “I’ve already reported the situation to police headquarters. This is serious—don’t make any rash moves, or we could trigger a disaster!”

“Damn… is Sunset Town really going to break into a war?” Kidd said nervously.

Eva spotted a binocular set on a police car, picked it up and inspected the mountain. “Where’s the enemy deployment map? Has anyone drawn it?”

Uncle Bing gave her a startled look. “Oh—sorry, we haven’t made one yet. We’ve been busy keeping order. The relatives of some kidnapped tourists arrived—they’re really agitated.”

Eva said, “Then deploy a defensive line. Bring every usable vehicle and block off the area. Charlie, call your girlfriend Britney and have her notify the media…”

“Uncle Bing, organize an assault team. We’re rescuing them!”

“Atulu… fine, he’s been kidnapped too? Then find someone fluent in Māori language and culture. Bring a loudspeaker—we need to negotiate.”

“We’re still negotiating?” Kidd asked timidly.

Eva glared at him. “This won’t be close-range negotiation. We’ll stay behind the vehicles and use the Predator for cover. Regular cars can’t withstand bullets.”

Uncle Bing went off to arrange things. Kidd muttered, “What did the boss lady used to do? She’s kind of scary.”

“She definitely wasn’t a teacher,” Uncle Bing said. “Teachers don’t know that regular cars offer zero protection against gunfire.”

“They don’t?”

“Of course not. Every time we train new recruits, we demonstrate it—three vehicles parked side by side, a single small-caliber rifle shot goes through all six doors!”

Hani looked at Eva. “Boss lady, maybe we should wait for Sheriff Smith. This is going to blow up…”

“No, we’re not waiting,” Eva said firmly. “My man is up there. If you don’t know what to do, then I’ll teach you. I’m going to bring him back! I want to see him as soon as possible!”

This situation would indeed be huge. Although Māori–white conflicts happened in New Zealand every year, rarely were they on this scale.

And this time, the Māori had kidnapped several people— including an acting town mayor.

That was extremely serious.

Sheriff Smith received the emergency report and rushed over by police helicopter.

Two helicopters were already in the air. Eva had sent Uncle Bing and Gerald up to observe the Māori encampment and create an offensive/defensive terrain map.

By the time the sheriff arrived, the map was ready.

Seeing the detailed description of the Māori deployment, he whistled. “Cool. This is very professional work. Who made it?”

Eva slapped a stack of photos in front of him. “These pictures show the Māori involved. Sheriff, please investigate whether they have criminal records.”

“Where’s the AOS tactical team?”

“They’re assembling in Cromwell. They’ll need two hours to get here.”

Because the AOS rarely mobilized, they were scattered across precincts—they needed time to gather.

The sheriff said, “We need to wait. My men are on the way. I brought everyone available, but we only have about twenty—still nowhere near enough.”

Eva frowned. “It’s enough. We’re not fighting a trench war—we’re doing a rapid-strike rescue. Ideally a decapitation operation.”

“Select four people—Uncle Bing, Gerald, take Li Xing and Conley. Put on body armor. Once you locate the hostages, the helicopter will carry out the rescue.”

“Sheriff Smith, your helicopter has weapons, right? Good—we’ll use them for cover. And we have another helicopter to create chaos among those bastards on the mountain!”

The sheriff stared at her in shock. “What? You want to force an assault? We’re not waiting for the AOS?!”

Eva said, “Relax, Sheriff. Yes, they have guns, but they’re just a mob. And I’d bet they won’t actually hurt anyone—the guns are for intimidation…”

“But we can’t gamble! Didn’t you see? They have AK-47s! Their firepower is way stronger than ours!” the sheriff shouted.

Eva replied, “No, those are AK-74U-BB. Civilian market neutered versions. From this high-resolution image, you can see they’re unmodified—they can’t fire automatic bursts.”

“Second, look at their formation—it’s a living-area camp layout. Once we confirm the hostages’ location, a helicopter strike can extract them smoothly. Zero risk.”

Sheriff Smith shook his head. “You’re insane, Ms. Eva. You’re a psychology teacher, not a special-ops commander!”

“Of course not. But do you think special-ops commanders play pretend with children? Besides, I have Officer Benjamin—he used to be an SAS squad combat leader.” Eva said.

“Trust me, Sheriff. With the town mayor in Māori hands, their situation is far more dangerous than any rescue mission. These Māori are a disorganized mob. We don’t know whether some of them hate white people or government officials. If such people are among them, they’re in real danger!”