Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

Mandalay Bay hotel, 32nd floor.

The room was filled with the thick scent of gunpowder, mixed with a faint smell of blood.

The shooter was already dead, and now the question was, how to wrap things up?

This wasn't Los Angeles but Las Vegas, and, honestly, Luke's identity here was a bit awkward.

But looking at the outcome, he had bet right.

Luke had suddenly burst into the hotel room, interrupting the shooter's spree.

Afterward, Luke decisively shot and wounded the gunman, who, left with no choice, turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.

No matter how you looked at it, Luke was a hero of Las Vegas, and his act of bravery was about to reap huge benefits.

It might seem opportunistic, but that's human nature.

Apart from the very few selflessly benevolent souls who are compassionate about the world, who would confront someone at the risk of being counter-killed by an armed assailant, without any benefit?

Luke took out his cellphone and initiated a video call with Chief Reid.

A moment later, the video call connected, and Reid, sitting on the edge of his bed and yawning, with a glass of whiskey in his hand, said, "Luke, shouldn't you be living it up in the Las Vegas casinos at this hour? What made you think of contacting me?"

From his tone, Reid probably didn't know about the Las Vegas shooting yet, but then again, it made sense, since he was the Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles Detective Bureau; if not for Luke being at the shooting scene, the case wouldn't have anything to do with him.

"Chief, I've got a bit of a situation here."

Luke, holding his phone, panned around the room, showing Reid the scene.

Reid sat up abruptly, his sleepiness instantly gone, "Where are you? Isn't this supposed to be your vacation? What the hell are you doing?"

Luke said, "Chief, you might want to turn on the TV and check out the Las Vegas news right now."

Reid got out of bed and turned on the TV while asking, "Stop beating around the bush, what happened?"

"I'm currently on vacation in Las Vegas, and there was an open-air music festival going on here.

Around 10 p.m. while I was dancing in the square with other tourists, suddenly there was a burst of gunfire. I looked up and saw flames coming from the 32nd floor of a hotel, guessing that there might be a shooter firing down at the square.

After that, many people in the square were hit, there were heavy casualties, and the situation was chaotic.

At first, I thought it would be over soon, but the gunfire continued for a minute or two without the shooter showing any intention of stopping; more and more people were getting hurt, and the Las Vegas police had not yet appeared.

By that time, I had locked on to the shooter's location and decided to stop the perpetrator's massacre.

I rushed to the shooter's room, kicked in the door, and gunfire was exchanged. I shot the shooter in the arm and thigh, and the shooter committed suicide with a handgun in his left hand." As Luke spoke, he filmed the deceased's body.

"Chief, that's about the situation. What should I do now?"

Reid asked in return, "Did you get hurt?"

"I took a bullet to the chest, but I found a Las Vegas cop on the 31st floor, and I got a bulletproof vest with a steel plate in it from him. Apart from some pain in my chest, it's nothing serious."

"You reckless idiot, I thought David was rash enough, but you're even more so," Reid said, with a mix of laughter and helplessness,

"Where is the Las Vegas police? Why is it that only you are at the scene?"

"I only saw a Las Vegas cop on the 31st floor; I wanted him to act with me, but he was waiting for orders from above. I guess he's probably still waiting for backup."

Reid asked in return, "He's waiting for backup? Why did you charge up there alone? Weren't you afraid of getting hurt?"

Luke, who had a hanging thread, naturally wasn't afraid.

But he couldn't say that to outsiders, so he found another reason, "I didn't initially think I could subdue the shooter by myself.

I just wanted to go up to the 32nd floor to investigate and see what the situation was.

If the shooter had accomplices on the 32nd floor, I'd back off and wait for backup.

Turns out, when I got to the 32nd floor, I didn't find any accomplices of the shooter, and nobody was seen throughout the entire corridor.

Previously, from downstairs, I observed just one person shooting, and I boldly guessed the shooter might be alone.

Even if not, there couldn't be many.

Then, I located the shooter's room, broke in, exchanged fire, and that's what happened."

In a grave tone, Reid said, "Luke, don't be so reckless in the future. When you get back, I'm definitely going to properly reprimand you."

"You're the boss, and after I get back, you can reprimand me however you'd like. But the current problem is, what should I do?"

Reid hesitated for a moment, "The Las Vegas police still haven't made a move?"

"No, they're probably downstairs discussing tactics."

Reid cautioned, "Be careful, don't let those bastards mistake you for the shooter and gun you down. It's best to find a hidden spot in the room to stay in."

"You're right." Luke took cover in a corner of the balcony and sat down.

If the Las Vegas police barged in, they wouldn't see this spot right away, thus avoiding an exchange of fire and possible accidental injuries.

"Chief, do I still need to do anything now?"

"Stay in the room, be careful about hiding, don't run around, to avoid being mistaken by the Las Vegas police and getting hurt.

Then, call 911 and explain the situation.

I will ask Chief Frank to contact Las Vegas police and clarify your situation, but it might take some time to pass the message along."