But she knew that was just Jimmy's personality, chatting while assessing, and things had gone smoothly overall. For lunch, Jimmy had of course invited her out, and after the meal, they parted ways—Jimmy went home, and Mary returned to her studio.

When Jimmy got home and saw the state of the bedroom, he felt stifled. How could anyone sleep in there?

After some thought, he contacted the apartment property management to recommend a renovation company. The place was unlivable; it needed a complete overhaul.

Sitting on the couch, Jimmy phoned Nia for a bit and then decided to head out to find a hotel to stay temporarily. With the renovation needed, he would have to live elsewhere for at least two to three months. He planned to stay in a hotel for a few days and then figure out what to do next—if push came to shove, opting for a long-term hotel rental wasn't out of the question, even if it meant spending more money.

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

While Jimmy was busy, Hughes wasn't idle either. After giving a heads-up to his superiors, Hughes took a flight to Washington, D.C. His approach was straightforward; find a middleman who could link him up with Senator Blair for a direct chat.

Poor Hughes—it was tough for him. He held a decent rank within the FBI, or one might say within the upper echelons of New York City, which allowed him some influence. But reaching politicians at the peak of American power was a whole other challenge.

Using his old connections, he managed to get someone in the FBI headquarters to help introduce him to Senator Blair. That very evening, in a villa on the outskirts, Hughes finally met with Senator Blair.

Hughes stayed in Senator Blair's villa for about fifteen minutes and then left; naturally, their conversation wasn't straightforward but hinted that his associate was overstepping boundaries in New York, which looked very bad.

Although their talk could hardly be described as fully agreeable, it luckily didn't escalate to open confrontation.

Top-tier politicians might seem useless or full of hot air to some, capable of achieving little, but in truth, these individuals are quite shrewd. They might lack knowledge in certain specific areas, but they are definitely not fools, nor would their staff allow them to be made fools of.

The fact that someone influential had vouched for him meant Hughes was not to be underestimated. The issues he brought up in person were clearly no small matter.

After Hughes left, Senator Blair called someone over; he needed to find out what had happened.

Hughes stayed in Washington, D.C., waiting a little while. These bigwigs wouldn't make any face-to-face commitments or statements, but they would surely initiate an investigation after their talk. Whatever the outcome, a response would follow, though it might not necessarily be helpful to him.

The next day at noon, while Hughes was still resting at the hotel, a strange call came in, inviting him to meet someone at the bar downstairs.

Hughes didn't make them wait long. He took the call, waited a bit, and then headed down to the hotel's bar. There weren't many customers at the bar around noon; in fact, there was just one person, sitting at a table near the corner.

Hughes walked over and sat opposite him, a white-haired old Caucasian man with graying hair.

The old man started the conversation in a low voice, "The issue in New York has nothing to do with us."

Hughes, "I don't think you came all this way just to say that."

Old man, "I'm only stating a fact. You should know that someone of his stature couldn't possibly do something like that."

Hughes, "Get to the useful information. If I managed to come to D.C., it means certain things are already established."

The old man nodded, pulled out his phone, typed some letters on his messaging app, and turned the screen toward Hughes, "Did you get that?"

Hughes looked at the phone to memorize the text entered by the man and then nodded. The old man took back his phone and deleted the contents. "Senator sends his regards," he said, then stood up and left the bar.

Hughes gestured for the waiter to bring over a drink and sat there, sipping his drink and pondering.

The old man's phone displayed a name and a sentence, "Scott Coleman, his son had died half a month ago."

Based on the existing intelligence, Hughes had roughly figured out what had happened this time.

Jimmy and his team had raided an Azte stronghold, killing a dozen people, one of whom was likely this Scott Coleman's son. According to intelligence, he had obtained specific information about the operation from within the FBI and had arranged for Thomas, a middleman, to contact himself, trying to switch his son's body.

From the intelligence gathered, it was certain that the mole, Derek, and the middleman had lied; they must have known that Scott Coleman's son was also in the Azte gang, which is why they notified the people behind them immediately.

While handling his son's body, he also used the mole inside the bureau to initiate an investigation on Jimmy, hoping to tarnish his reputation using the rules.

After obtaining his son's body, he had utilized Azte's resources to bring in people and had launched an attack on Jimmy, preparing to seek revenge physically.

After Hughes had asked the middleman Thomas to handle the mole, Thomas must have communicated with Scott; afterwards, he disappeared, and there was a very high chance he had truly "disappeared," handled by Scott.

Hughes had instructed Ruiz to investigate the mole; thereafter, Jimmy and Mahong had again raided Trinidad, capturing other gunmen who had come from Azte.

Scott Coleman probably couldn't fully control Azte; being able to arrange a few people from the border to New York was likely his limit. After these people were either killed or captured, even if he wanted to continue his revenge, it was not possible to just send one person to attack Jimmy. Then who exactly attacked Jimmy yesterday?

Hughes, based on the existing clues, couldn't deduce a reasonable reason; the incident of Jimmy being attacked at home was shrouded in mystery. Since he came to D.C. yesterday, he was unaware of someone tracking Jimmy yesterday; he was still puzzled; Scott's revenge plan should not have ended yet, so why has there been no reaction during this period?

Now Hughes only had Scott's name and had not yet confirmed his specific details; this required investigation after returning. As for the other parts, at least for now, he could roughly clear them up.

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

Jimmy had stayed in a hotel for one night, and the next day he waited for the remodeling company's staff, leading them to the apartment to check the condition.

Of course, the bloodstains on the bedroom floor and the various white circles and numeric markers drawn by the forensic team startled them, but after Jimmy showed his credentials and explained the situation, the two remodeling company workers finally calmed down. They inspected the bedroom and other rooms and, after discussing, offered Jimmy an unexpected proposal.

Originally, Jimmy had expected they would suggest a plan to demolish and remodel the whole house; instead, they submitted a proposal to remodel the bedroom only, focusing on the master bedroom, and to remove the previous homeowner's flooring to relay it in a consistent style and color difference. Of course, the materials used would definitely not be cheap ones, and there was no need to ventilate the place for two months after the renovation.

Jimmy considered it for a moment; the remodeling company staff mentioned that if only these renovations were done, Jimmy could even move back in as soon as half a month later. This was also not bad, at least he didn't have to stay in a hotel for two or three months.

Jimmy nodded and agreed to their proposal. After making the appointment, Jimmy began to pack all the sensitive items in the house, renting a warehouse temporarily to store everything including the safe; the rest of the furniture and other items in the house didn't matter.

Jimmy also phone notified Nia about the remodeling, and for the next while, they would only be able to meet in the hotel.

Having run around for most of the day and handled everything, Jimmy finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Hughes had finally returned; besides an old man who everyone knew was arranged by Senator Blair but was not explicitly stated, Hughes hadn't obtained any other clues in D.C.

However, at least now three things could be confirmed: first, it was very likely that Senator Blair had no idea about the situation in New York; if he knew that his men under the FBI had been attacked multiple times without success, he certainly wouldn't have reacted this way.

Second, Azte's expansion channels in New York had indeed been arranged by people under Senator Blair; at least Scott was his white glove, specifically handling some dark affairs.

Third, after weighing the interests and risks between his men and the FBI, he had ultimately decided to forsake a subordinate, a decisively executed decision.

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