Chapter 386 Elijah

Chapter 386 Elijah

Chapter 386 Elijah

In mid-March, the weather in Seoul suddenly turned rainy. A light rain had just passed the day before yesterday, and when I woke up early this morning, the whole city was shrouded in drizzling rain again.

At No. 188, Sejong-daero, Jongno-gu, the location of the U.S. Embassy in South Korea, An Rushong drove a Chevrolet Suburban driven by Jenny herself and slowly parked in front of the iron gate at the entrance of the embassy to be inspected by two U.S. soldiers in military uniforms.

Jenny had a special pass on her, but An Rushong did not have it. However, the two American soldiers had obviously been notified in advance, so after checking Jenny's pass, they just glanced at An Rushong symbolically and began to use detectors to check whether there was anything in the car that should not be carried.

The inspection process went very quickly. After a while, the automatic retractable iron gate slowly moved open. A soldier walked back to the driver's window, handed the pass back to Jenny, saluted her, and indicated that she could drive in.

In his two lifetimes, this is the first time that An Rushong has set foot on American soil. Yes, the American Embassy also belongs to American territory, even though it is located in Seoul.

The American Embassy in Seoul is very large. Its main body is an eight-story office building covering a large area. This building originally belonged to the United States Agency for International Development. It was not until around 1970 that it was handed over to the U.S. State Department and was used as the site of the U.S. Embassy in South Korea.

Jenny drove the car into the courtyard of the embassy and did not go to the parking lot. Instead, she parked it directly in the middle of the courtyard, near the front entrance of the building.

When she parked the car, An Rushong, who was sitting in the back seat, saw two men in military uniforms walking towards the car. Of the two men, An Rushong only recognized one, that was Leonard, who was walking on the left and had colonel epaulettes on his shoulders.

Walking on Leonard's right was a middle-aged man, a slightly thin and short man, but also with the rank of colonel.

Different from Leonard who has a serious expression on his face, this middle-aged man always has a faint smile on his face. This smile makes people feel that he has an inexplicable temperament, the kind of temperament that can deal with everything calmly and handle any trouble.

An Rushong waited until Jenny turned off the car before reaching out to open the door. He hid the serious expression on his face, replaced it with a smile, and his eyes met Leonard and the other man who were about to approach.

"Hey, An," Leonard took two quick steps and walked in front of An Rusong before the middle-aged man following him. He stretched out his hand to An Rusong and said with a smile, "How do you feel today?"

"Not bad," An Rusong shook hands with the other party and said with a smile, "No, not not bad, but very good."

"Haha," Leonard laughed. He understood what An Rushong meant.

"President An," the middle-aged man also walked up to An Rushong at this time. He stretched out his hand to An Rushong and said, "We finally meet."

An Rusong looked at the other person with a somewhat stunned expression on his face. From what the middle-aged man said, the other person seemed to have known him for a long time and had dealt with him before, but in An Rusong's memory, there was no information about the other person.

"This is Colonel Alvin Callum," Leonard introduced. "He works at Yongsan Base. This time Senator Elijah is coming to Seoul to investigate drug trafficking cases involving US troops stationed in South Korea. Colonel Alvin will be in charge of the related liaison work."

"Oh, hello, Colonel Alvin," An Rushong shook hands with the other party and greeted him with a smile.

"Haha, President An, you don't have to be so polite. Just call me Alvin," Colonel Alvin said with a smile, holding An Rushong's hand.

As the three were talking, Jenny, who was driving, came around from the other side of the car. When Colonel Alvin saw her again, he let go of An Rusong's hand and said with a smile, "Haha, Commissioner Jenny, I haven't seen you for a while. You look even more beautiful."

"Thank you," Jenny said, smiling.

Seeing that the two seemed to know each other, An Rushong immediately thought of something. He remembered that when he had a falling out with Lieutenant Colonel Wilder over Han Chengbi, Jenny had called him. During that call, another person tried to mediate the conflict between him and Wilder.

that person.
"Colonel Alvin is in charge of intelligence work at the Yongsan base," Leonard seemed to see An Rusong's confusion, and he explained with a smile, "There has always been a business cooperation relationship between him and our NSA."

An Rusong made a surprised expression, but at the same time, he kept smiling. He was sure that the person he had talked to was 90% the Colonel Alvin in front of him. Colonel Alvin had tried to mediate the conflict between him and Wilder's people in order to cover up the scandal of drug trafficking by the US military. Now, he has become the liaison person for Senator Elijah during his investigation in Korea. Leonard seemed to trust him.
There must be a story behind this, but An Rushong just can’t figure it out yet.

"Let's go, Senator Elijah is waiting for you," Leonard briefly introduced Alvin's situation and changed the subject. He made a gesture of invitation to An Rushong and said.

An Rushong looked at Colonel Alvin again, then nodded and followed Leonard towards the main entrance of the embassy building.

In the American system, members of Congress, whether senators or representatives, cannot hold actual positions in government agencies. Once a member of Congress takes up a position in a government agency, he must resign as a member of Congress.

However, don't think that legislators have no power because of this. On the contrary, the power of legislators is much greater than the power of an actual position in a government agency.

For example, super-rich people like Bill Gates don't have much fear of the US president, because it is not easy for a president to cause trouble for them. But on the other hand, if Bill Gates is targeted by senators, he will not be able to sleep well. The fact is that the reason why Bill Gates resigned from the position of president of Microsoft was because of the investigation launched by the Senate.

Institutions like the US Forces Korea Command are like frontier officials in the US military system. As the commander-in-chief of US Forces Korea, Sharp may not be afraid of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But when facing a senator like Elijah, he had to put away his edge and bow his head honestly.

This is not only because Elijah is a senator, but also because he is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he is the majority representative on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

There are currently 26 senators in the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, including the chairman. The Democratic Party, to which Senator Elijah belongs, holds 16 seats, while the Republican Party, as a minority, only holds 9 seats. There is also an independent Democrat, but he also stands on the Democratic side.

Considering the powers of the Senate Armed Services Committee, if Senator Elijah's investigation yields a result unfavorable to the US Forces Korea Command, then Sharp, as the commander of the US Forces Korea, will not be able to continue in office, let alone get away with it.

So, An Rushong, who followed Leonard into the embassy building, vaguely guessed some things, such as why Colonel Alvin appeared here.

Even though Senator Elijah only arrived in Seoul yesterday and he still had to adjust to the jet lag and so on, he probably didn't have much free time. But in just less than a day, the US Forces Korea Command might have reached some kind of compromise with him.

Even before Senator Elijah left the United States, the relevant compromise had been completed. Those who represented the interests of General Thurman got what they wanted, while those who represented the interests of General Sharp were forced to give up what they had to give up. And Senator Elijah's trip to South Korea was just a show for the outside world to see.

There were four elevators in the embassy building, one of which was reserved for the upper floors. Leonard walked in front, leading An Rusong and the other two to the elevator and pressed the button for the eighth floor.

Maybe it was because there were surveillance cameras in the elevator, but Leonard didn't say a word in the elevator. The four of them took the elevator up to the eighth floor in silence.

When the elevator reached the eighth floor, Leonard was the first to get out. He walked along the corridor to the right, and after only a dozen meters, he stopped at a door with frosted glass.

Leonard turned around in front of the door and knocked on it. Then he grasped the door handle and pushed the door open a crack. He turned to An Rusong and smiled, "Come in, An. Senator Elijah is waiting for you."

An Rusong was surprised and asked, "Myself?"

"Yes, Senator Elijah wants to speak to you alone," Leonard nodded.

Shit, is there a "accidentally entering the White Tiger Hall" drama waiting for me here? An Rusong was a little unsure. However, at this time, he obviously had no choice but to push open the door after a little hesitation.

To An Rusong's surprise, there was no luxurious room inside the door. Instead, there was only a small office of less than 20 square meters. The most conspicuous thing in the office was a large desk placed by the window. At this moment, behind the desk, sat a middle-aged man with blond hair.

The middle-aged man was wearing a pair of glasses and was frowning as he looked at a document on the table in front of him.

(End of this chapter)