Jimmy was also frustrated. "If you're the mastermind and you've already escaped, why can't you just live peacefully? Why come back and start trouble again?"

After checking that his room was secure, Jimmy finally closed the door behind him. For safety, he pulled out a strand of hair and placed it in the door crack, leaving only a tiny bit visible. This way, he could tell if the door had been tampered with when he returned.

Driving back to the FBI office, Mahong and Philicia were already there, going through the explosion case files and reviewing them.

Mahong said, "Jimmy, I wasn't involved in the original case. When you were handling it, besides the main culprit, did anyone else escape?"

As Jimmy hung his suit jacket on the chair, he said, "The main players didn't escape, but originally Nu'er had arranged for three people to pick up El and leave. I can't be sure if his subordinates were limited to these three, but other than that, there doesn't seem to be any oversights."

Mahong replied, "Let's go over it all from the beginning."

Jimmy nodded, pulled over a whiteboard, reviewed the report once more, then confirmed it against what he remembered, and went over the clues he'd found and the subsequent responses with Mahong and Philicia.

After Jimmy finished, Mahong nodded, indicating there seemed to be no problems with the previous investigation. Jimmy's instinct had been to deduce a potential explosion case from an unassuming suspected traffic accident, revealing a sensitivity that surpassed most agents. His reputation was well-deserved; he had real skill.

Mahong looked at the evidence photos and the relationship charts that Jimmy had pinned up on the whiteboard. It was truly difficult to identify any additional associates from here, and with almost a year gone by, looking for new leads now was too challenging.

Jimmy added, "By the way, a little while ago, Agent Riley from the Newark office in New Jersey came by because of a trash can explosion that occurred in Newark. The explosive material tested was practically identical to our case, so he suspected a connection. I accompanied him to visit El in prison, and after that, he followed up on the explosion case by himself. I haven't been keeping up with it."

"Contact him now. This may be the start of a new lead," Mahong suggested.

Jimmy nodded, took out his phone, and called Riley. Riley had once accompanied Jimmy to New York and spent some time at the Anti-Terrorism Bureau for El's family's bomb case, so Jimmy had his contact information.

Despite the late hour, Riley, a dedicated FBI agent, was never without his phone and answered quickly.

"Hi, Jimmy. Good evening. What's up?" Riley inquired.

"Yeah, Riley. How's the explosion case going on your end?" Jimmy asked.

"No leads so far, why do you ask? Do you have any on your side?" Riley responded.

Jimmy glanced at Mahong before answering, "No leads here, I just wanted to know if you had any and whether you came across Nu'er Mohammod, the previous mastermind."

"No clues whatsoever. At the prison, we couldn't agree to El's conditions, and even after consulting him another time, it was the same outcome," Riley explained.

Jimmy fell silent for a moment. "After your talks with him, his only request was to be transferred to a different prison?"

"Exactly. He said the conditions in his current prison were too harsh. Although he couldn't be paroled, he hoped to have a better quality of life, to be in a better prison with a clean single cell. Those were all his requests. I'm still not sure if he'll have other demands after we agree," Riley stated.

"I understand. Thanks, Riley," Jimmy responded.

"No problem, keep me updated with any progress. Goodbye, Jimmy," Riley said.

"Will do, goodbye," Jimmy affirmed.

Jimmy pocketed his phone and shook his head at Mahong. "No new leads from Newark."

"What were you saying about El's conditions?" Mahong inquired.

"Riley came here to confirm whether anyone else could make fertilizer bombs like El. El proposed a deal to trade a clean prison and a clean single cell in exchange for telling Riley about another person skilled in bomb-making. But it seems like Newark isn't agreeing to it," Jimmy explained.

Mahong thought for a moment and turned to Philicia, "Philicia, let's go visit the prison tomorrow and have a talk with El. Jimmy, you shouldn't come."

Jimmy was momentarily surprised but quickly grasped Mahong's intention. "Understood, you guys go ahead with the investigation; it's not appropriate for me to see him now."

Mahong nodded. "Let's leave it there for today. We'll discuss more when we get back tomorrow."

The three of them sorted out the files and left the office to rest.

After Jimmy returned home and verified that there were no anomalies in his room, and the hair left on the door hadn't moved, he finally opened the door and went in. Being attacked today had made him somewhat hypersensitive.

-----------------

The call that Hughes had been waiting for a long time finally came before he went to sleep. Thomas returned the call, and Hughes, holding his cellphone, left the bedroom to take the call in his study.

Thomas, "Sorry, Hughes, I was in a special place earlier and it was inconvenient to have my phone. What's up?"

Hughes, "Where are you?"

Thomas, "Albany."

Hughes, "What about your guarantee? I didn't see it."

There was silence on Thomas's end, and Hughes did not rush him. After a while, Thomas spoke, "Sorry, Hughes, my mistake, I'm dealing with some reasons. I'll give you a satisfactory answer."

Hughes, "Don't bother. Thomas, we'll handle it." After he finished, he hung up the call.

Thomas was somewhat stunned by Hughes hanging up. Then something suddenly occurred to him, and he immediately called back, "Hughes, what happened?"

Hughes, "You can check it out for yourself."

After Hughes hung up, Thomas tried to call back but Hughes did not answer. Thomas only dialed once before giving up. Hughes wasn't going to answer his calls today; something had definitely happened on New York's end.

-----------------

The next day, Jimmy arrived at the office early. Mahong and Philicia were going to the prison, so they were expected to arrive a bit later.

Once Hughes got to the office, he closed the door and began making calls. It would be best for Jimmy to step away from this case; Hughes was worried that, if he got involved in the investigation, he might dole out extreme justice out of anger. This wasn't an overestimation; Jimmy had always been tough, and killing had become a habit for him. Now that it involved himself, it was really hard to expect him to remain reasonable at all times.

The investigation wasn't just about uncovering the person behind the curtain, it would also involve an internal review, and if Jimmy got involved, it could lead to unwanted situations for everyone involved.

Reassignment was the best option; the biggest problem now was finding a reason for him to take a leave of absence.

Hughes had already selected a target, Lambert, the chief of the Dallas office. Jimmy had previously spent some time with Lambert, who had a good impression of him. This time they didn't plan to keep him away for too long; just let Lambert help arrange a case for about a half-month should be enough.

Lambert was a bit surprised when he received the call from Hughes, as OPR had just inquired about Jimmy. Why had Hughes called as well?

Without going into details, Hughes simply asked if Lambert could arrange a case to keep Jimmy busy for a while. That wouldn't be a problem, so Lambert agreed.

After the prep work had been completed, Hughes finally relaxed. As long as Jimmy was sent over, the investigation here should proceed more smoothly.

After taking a short rest, Hughes stood up and walked over to the Homicide Team office.

Jimmy, "Hughes, what's up?"

Hughes, "What happened yesterday?"

Jimmy, "After going back, I was ambushed by two guys on a motorcycle who opened fire. I'm fine; we just haven't found any leads on them yet. I've already contacted NYPD to investigate the surveillance footage, but there's no solid news yet."

Hughes, "Mhm, any theories?"

Jimmy, "We, I mean, Mahong, Philicia, and I discussed it yesterday and suspect it might be Nu'er Mohammod, the mastermind of the previous bomb case who escaped. He might be seeking revenge against me for his earlier failure. Mahong and Philicia went to interrogate El, the bomb-maker, at the prison this morning."

Suddenly, Hughes's mind was in disarray. What was happening? It had been nearly a year since the bomb case; could these events really be connected? Had Jimmy and the others not at all suspected Azte gang's involvement this time?

Hughes looked at Jimmy. No, could it be intentional? Was he using this theory to cover up the fact that he wanted revenge? He needed to go back and think this over.

Hughes nodded, "Let me know if you get any leads. I'm heading back now."

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