Chapter 22: Identity Exposed

Inside the building, Owen was climbing through the elevator shaft with difficulty, still aching all over from a recent bungee jumping-like escape.

He had hoped for a free elevator ride like last time, but luck wasn't on his side this time. The freight elevator he was in seemed unused and never came up, forcing him to painstakingly climb floor by floor.

In a room, Hans was contemplating how to capture the dynamic duo who had caused him plenty of trouble. To prevent them from spoiling his plans, they needed to be caught quickly.

But the difficulty lay in the fact that these two were like mice, completely untraceable. He had checked with the surveillance room; the two seemed to have vanished. Since their last appearance on the rooftop, they hadn't been seen, and no one knew how they even got to the rooftop.

Disappeared? Impossible. But how they got to the rooftop puzzled Hans. The surveillance on the 55th floor wasn't tampered with, leading him to consider the elevator as a possibility.

Hans couldn't help but praise his own cleverness, grabbing the walkie-talkie eagerly: "Everyone, pay attention, those two might be in the elevator shaft. Focus on the elevator shafts."

"Roger that."

"Roger that."

"Roger that."

Responses flooded the walkie-talkie, but for Owen in the elevator shaft, it was a moment of despair. He had kept the walkie-talkie from a sniper he had killed on, naturally hearing Hans's announcement.

Currently stuck between floors, Owen had nowhere to run if found.

The sound of an elevator door being forcibly opened above him confirmed his fears. Looking up, he saw a head poking out from the elevator door above him.

Owen's heart sank, followed by a mocking voice over the walkie-talkie: "Hans, you were right. Guess who I found? Haha, want me to bring him back for you to deal with?"

With his current predicament, Owen had no choice but to surrender, hoping the other side wanted a live capture. Otherwise, a downward spray of bullets would leave him only two choices: death by gunshot or a fatal fall.

"No, I don't want him alive. Kill him."

The bad news over the walkie-talkie left Owen foreseeing his fate: death by gunshot followed by a fall to become a mangled corpse.

It seemed his bad luck streak began after separating from McClane, from being captured by a short-haired robber to narrowly escaping encounters with the robbers multiple times. His luck had finally run out, highlighting the absence of a protagonist's aura.

The sound of gunfire above made Owen close his eyes, hoping for a quick, painless death rather than suffering a brutal end.

But when he felt no pain and opened his eyes, he found himself unharmed, with McClane's smirking face appearing from the elevator door.

"Hey buddy, we're even now. I know you've been holding onto the fact that you saved me twice."

McClane's laugh brought relief to Owen, the protagonist's aura seemingly restored, making McClane's smirk endearing.

"Adams, what's the situation? Adams, respond if you hear me."

Ignoring the walkie-talkie's continuous calls from the dead body, Owen and McClane quickly departed. Shortly after, two robbers found the body.

"Hans, Adams is dead. The walkie-talkie is here, but his gear is gone. No sign of anyone else."

Hans, infuriated, threw the walkie-talkie, while the blond man beside him showed a gritted teeth expression. However, a news report on the television soon caught their attention.

Outside the building, in a news van.

Reporter Elvin, smiling broadly, hung up the phone. The fax machine beeped, and soon, a fax came through.

Elvin, triumphant, grabbed the document, eyes gleaming with excitement. The photo showed McClane and Owen's details, listing their lives clearly, even including a family photo.

In America, the media's power is immense. Elvin received all information on McClane and Owen from a New York colleague, including those photos.

The photos excited him the most because the woman next to McClane was not only his wife but also a senior vice president of the Nakatomi Corporation and one of the hostages.

"Should we really do this? You know, this might get him killed."

Seeing Elvin's expression, the chubby cameraman couldn't help but speak up, certain that the news would be devastating for McClane.

Elvin's expression darkened, "Our job is to inform the public of the truth. People have the right to know. Understand? We don't need to worry about the rest. As for you, you're just a cameraman. Just do your job."

Despite the cameraman's doubts, Elvin's mindset remained unchanged, not letting the Pulitzer Prize slip away.

The cameraman, having seen many who touted the freedom of the press while engaging in despicable acts, pitied the police officer. He wanted to quit but needed the job to support his child, reluctantly compromising.

Minutes later, the broadcast began.

"Hello, viewers, I'm your old friend Elvin, reporting live from the Nakatomi Plaza heist. We have breaking news...

Our exclusive report reveals the identities of the two unnamed heroes in the Nakatomi Plaza heist, named John McClane and Steve Owen.

Through our investigation, both are police officers, with Officer McClane serving as a detective in the New York Police Department, and Officer Owen as a detective in the West Hollywood Police Department. We're unsure why they were in the building, but we've uncovered a shocking secret. Please see the photo behind me."

Inside the building, after watching the ABS report, Hans and the blond man smiled triumphantly, the media had handed them the perfect mousetrap for the two mice.

Hans stood up, looking through the office window at the only female executive among the hostages, Holly, who had been negotiating on behalf of the hostages since Takagi's death, unaware she was the wife of one of the mice.

"Alex, bring her up. It's time to give Officer McClane a family reunion," Hans said confidently, the blond man leaving with a cruel gleam in his eye.