Tom: "I've been in Washington, D.C. and Virginia, and it was only from the news that I found out you've stirred up something big again. How's the injury?"

Jimmy: "Just a minor issue, I got shot in the flank, a through and through. I estimate I'll be mostly recovered in a few days. Was there a news blackout or something? Aside from the initial reports, there probably hasn't been much follow-up coverage."

Tom: "Investigating your case is still fairly straightforward, but what exactly happened? I saw on the news that five people tried to kill you?"

Jimmy glanced outside, making sure that no one was at the door before speaking, "I've been activated. The acting director of the Anti-Terrorism Bureau, Katherine Prado, just a few days ago. It probably started when the Director of the Anti-Terrorism Bureau and the Director of the CIA were both taken down by something called Project Black Rose. Now there's a new acting chief in charge, and they found my file when they were reviewing records."

Tom furrowed his brows in thought, "That shouldn't be. I personally arranged your file, and the acting director of the Anti-Terrorism Bureau shouldn't have been able to get it."

Jimmy: "I don't know then, the problem is here. The day I was activated, I went to see this new chief, and that same night, someone tried to assassinate me in my apartment. After that, I was followed by three cars taking turns, and then yesterday, I went to the Anti-Terrorism Bureau and was ambushed on the way back."

Tom: "Let me think." He pulled a chair closer and sat down to ponder, while Jimmy kept an eye on the outside. Although Tom was very good at disguises, if someone found out and came to investigate, it would be easy to be exposed.

After thinking for a while, Tom still shook his head, "I can't figure it out for now. I need to do some investigation."

Jimmy: "Yeah, it's good that you're looking into it. I'm completely unfamiliar with the CIA side of things, not sure how to handle it. Right, it just occurred to me after being activated that undercover agents should all have hidden resource caches, right? Where's mine? It would be better to get a clear idea so I don't slip up later."

Tom: "I've already transferred the resources you had in Little Rock over to New York for you, Kaufman, a Jewish-owned storage warehouse in Brooklyn." Tom picked up a notepad from the table and wrote down a string of numbers, "You can go straight there to collect your box, it contains weapons, operational funds, and identification documents."

Tom really is reliable, having prepared so much in advance for Jimmy. Jimmy nodded, "That's good, to avoid problems later on."

Tom: "Since you're injured, you'd better rest up, I'm heading out now."

Jimmy: "Wait, James has retired, and he's planning to travel around with his wife. Do you... want to get in touch with him? And leave me a contact method for you."

Tom shook his head: "I'd better not show up, let them enjoy their trip."

Jimmy: "Have you still not sorted out your business? It's been so long."

Tom reported a cell phone number to Jimmy, waved his hand, stood up, and left the hospital ward.

Watching Tom leave the ward, Jimmy also felt sad. It's been three years, Tom had been working on investigations and revenge ever since staging his own death, and he still hasn't settled everything. Jimmy could see that Tom seemed to have let go of some things, appearing much more relaxed, but it's not good to keep living like a dead man either.

Seeing Tom leave, the two agents outside returned to their positions outside the ward. Jimmy felt that their presence there to protect him was somewhat superfluous while he was awake, but it was Hughes's order, so it was fine.

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

The Department of Homeland Security hadn't taken over the case in its entirety, but now they needed to be fully informed of all the case clues, so practically, they were supervising like overseers, and the information from Mahong and the others' investigation was being relayed to them.

The FBI's Manhattan office command center was also activated, similar to the Anti-Terrorism Bureau, the only difference being that the FBI might not have as comprehensive data as the Anti-Terrorism Bureau. No choice; the FBI is under the Judicial Department, while the Anti-Terrorism Bureau is now part of the Department of Homeland Security, a massive difference in the managing departments.

The Department of Homeland Security, established just two years ago, is currently in its largest and most chaotic phase, as it has absorbed too many departments. After giving them enough time to sort things out, once the departmental realignment and workflow arrangements are smoothed out, it will naturally be time to spin off some of its functions.

Here at the command center, there is a pre-set level of authority, with direct access to New York State Police and various county police, as well as city police systems. The dispatch center's surveillance can finally be accessed directly, without having to contact each one individually.

Jimmy and his team are here now, pulling up surveillance footage to trace the route taken by that utility vehicle, as well as any routes it might have taken previously. Meanwhile, trainees and other agents without urgent tasks have been deployed, and any locations under suspicion identified by Jimmy and the team's investigation will be checked and queried by agents or NYPD patrol officers, in order to expedite the investigation of leads.

The technical department has finished analyzing the unbranded walkie-talkie; it uses an automatic frequency-hopping mode with military-grade encryption. Aside from confirming that it is not something ordinary people could obtain, they haven't made any further discoveries.

That's not to say they've come up with nothing. From the current situation, it's clear that they must have an observer or a commander within a one-kilometer radius. Finding this sixth person is critical, as they could be the key to exposing the mastermind behind the scenes.

Of course, this takes time, and what Jimmy and his team need the most right now is just that—time. As time goes on, there's a higher chance of another attack occurring. After a military squad armed with automatic rifles was entirely taken out, no one can guarantee what might happen next. This is what the folks at DHS are thinking too, so any intelligence needs of Jimmy's team are currently being filed through DHS agents to Washington, D.C., and the intelligence is provided swiftly.

The review of the car assigned to Jimmy has been completed. Other than the vehicle's built-in GPS device, no additional devices have been found in Jimmy's car, and the technical staff at FBI headquarters also reported that they have not discovered any traces of users accessing Jimmy's car GPS data from the system. So, there are two possibilities: either no one has looked, or someone with a high-level clearance did so and then cleaned the records accordingly, with the technical staff detecting no anomalies.

Unfortunately, the ambush team also had no form of identification, not even mobile phones, so the most convenient means of tracking via phone location and historical data were unusable; otherwise, the investigation could have proceeded even faster.

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

The Anti-Terrorism Bureau has also started its operation. DHS agents have made contact with them. Caitlin has arranged for the command center to carry out a synchronized investigation, and she has reached out to her acquaintances at the CIA to begin investigations from that end, focusing mainly on field squads and the mercenaries they work with.

The style of this operation's personnel is just too reminiscent of the CIA's way of doing things. It's not so much their method of attack, but rather the way they acquired intelligence beforehand, a heavy spy agency's operational pattern with precise control over intelligence, definitely not something average people are capable of.

CIA's independent operational squads are generally out in the field and only come back when they are on rotation, which are relatively easy to investigate because their operations generally have authorized records. What's complex are the mercenary squads they work with, who are not part of the company and are only contacted when needed, making them much harder to investigate.

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

The night after the ambush, Jimmy finally received some good news: Jimmy and his team had located the previous temporary residence of the five people who had attacked him, an apartment where agents were now investigating the tenants and others in the building.

To Jimmy, this was a rare piece of good news over the past two days, at least marking some progress.

Even better news came the next morning when, upon Jimmy's request, the doctor re-examined his wound, and the healing was proceeding better than expected. It seems that the doctor who treated his arm injury the last time was right; due to Jimmy's physiological condition, his recovery rate was slightly faster—at roughly one third of the usual time.

With the confirmation of good recovery progress and no apparent issues, Jimmy was finally able to leave the hospital and return to the hotel to continue recovering. It wasn't because of any lofty principles that he didn't want to spend a few more days in the hospital at the agency's expense, but rather for the convenience of making contact—staying in a hotel made things easier.

The prepaid phone Jimmy had prepared earlier was tossed in the warehouse, so he had no choice but to buy another one on the way back to the hotel. It wasn't necessary originally, but since Tom had suddenly shown up, a prepaid phone was essential for contacting him.

Jimmy sent a message to Tom using the prepaid phone, then rested in the hospital room, waiting for the results of the various investigations.

(Damn, you guys have guessed a bit of the plot, not much though. What to do?)

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.