Apart from the investigation into the cell phone, there was good news: the gunman's surgery had been successful, and he was now under observation in the ICU. If nothing unexpected occurred, they would have a living gunman to provide more clues.

However, to interrogate the gunman, they would have to wait a few more days until he was out of danger and transferred to a regular ward before an agent could question him. It was just a questioning; if an interrogation was needed, it would require even more time.

After arranging for the investigation of all clues, Mahong finally called Jimmy to share this good news and cheer him up.

Jimmy was indeed happy. Nia had finished work and arrived at the hotel. Although there were some things they couldn't do, having Nia by his side at this time was already enough.

Jimmy rarely spent much time with Nia, and although it was inconvenient for her to stay overnight, spending a few hours together was not a problem.

Jimmy ordered takeout for Nia, while his own dinner still consisted of a nutritionist-designed meal.

Tell it like it is, although tasteless, lacking a fullness sensation, and poor in flavor, the nutritional meals indeed benefited his wound recovery. He knew he was recovering faster than most, but to be able to progress to nearly normal eating in just over a week was definitely related to these meals.

Not all experts are scam artists; the kind that makes one pay a hefty price for hardship is generally both loved and hated.

Nia: "Jimmy, you might become famous."

Jimmy, while drinking a nutritional drink, tilted his head to look at Nia.

Nia: "Some patrol officers from yesterday's scene seem to have given an interview to a TV station. I guess it should be broadcast by tomorrow at the latest."

Jimmy put down the cup and wiped the green juice from the corners of his mouth with a napkin. Who on earth came up with vegetable juice? This awful-tasting stuff, and he had to drink two cups a day.

Jimmy: "It doesn't matter, as long as they don't reveal my face. Ah, just a small slip-up, and now I might become famous from stripping. I think maybe I could head to Hollywood to make movies later."

Nia: "Although it was an accident, there are benefits too, becoming a star agent will benefit you in the future."

Jimmy, pointing at his face: "I'm Asian; do you really think I could become the director of the FBI?"

Nia fell quiet too, wrapping her arms around Jimmy and leaning against him. She wasn't a naive girl and was well aware of various forms of discrimination. But what she liked were strong individuals, and Jimmy was the strongest of his age she had ever met.

They chatted casually while watching TV, and later Nia left; Jimmy was still in danger, and now wasn't the time to cling together. Any problem could distract Jimmy.

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

Jimmy didn't sleep deeply that night and was laying directly on the edge of the bed, barely moving without falling to the floor. The window was closed, and curtains drawn, making it difficult for someone outside to see his position.

Jimmy too considered the current situation. After several failed attacks, if the person behind the scenes continued targeting him, it wouldn't be with simple tactics. Considering the failure of close ambush and long-range sniping, the options might involve more people or use of mass destructive weapons, both of which carried significant disadvantages.

Ambushes involving multiple people leaked information easily and were hard to keep secret. After several past attacks, no clues pointed to the mastermind. He surely didn't want to expose himself, so such identity-revealing methods would definitely not be used.

As for mass destruction, it was indeed a possibility. Bombs, grenades, using heavy machinery from a medium to long distance—although these might eliminate him, they bordered on terrorist attacks, and surely the person behind the scenes wouldn't want multiple intelligence agencies chasing after them; probably not this approach either.

Another possibility was poisoning—a favorite method of CIA agents in foreign films. However, Jimmy had only seen this in movies, never in reality. If the mastermind was with the CIA, maybe it was possible.

Considering many methods was purely scaring himself; Jimmy let his mind blank out for a while before finally falling asleep.

The next day, Jimmy woke up, freshened up, and brought the nutritional meal in from the doorstep. Opening the bag and taking out the meal, Jimmy ate while dialing out on his phone.

Jimmy: "Mahong, any results?"

Mahong: "Not so fast, don't worry about it. Just rest well."

Mahong hung up the phone and looked toward the gunman in the hospital room. He had been woken up early by an agent's call from the hospital; since yesterday's surgery, due to the effects of the anesthesia, the gunman had been unconscious into the evening. Agents had just been watching outside the room; after all, it was the ICU—they avoided going inside unless necessary to avoid complications.

However, in the early morning, the cardiac monitor in the gunman's room suddenly alarmed. Nurses entered the room for an emergency resuscitation and called the duty doctor for urgent care. After some treatment, they could only declare the gunman dead.

Mahong was now here following the agent's call, looking at the doctors and nurses organizing the room, feeling helpless. The doctor had already declared him out of danger; how could his heart suddenly stop?

Now that the only live witness was gone, they could only wait for the hospital's report, though there wasn't really a need to pay attention now that the man was dead. The clues were broken, and how he died made no difference.

Mahong arranged for agents to wait for the hospital's report before he left for the office.

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

Jimmy hung up the phone with Mahong, feeling somewhat uneasy. Mahong's attitude had given him some bad vibes. The recent attacks, anyone could tell, bore the heavy traces of an intelligence agency. Could it be that his cover had been blown?

He sent a text to Tom, needing to discuss the matter with him to see if there were any leads on whether it was the CIA behind this.

There are many intelligence agencies. It's not necessarily the CIA, but Jimmy had hardly any dealings with other agencies. So, relationally, the CIA was the most suspicious.

Caitlin of the Anti-Terrorism Bureau hadn't been heard from in days, and it was unclear if she had found any leads. Jimmy scrolled through his phone, found the number for the Bureau's building, and upon calling learned that Director Caitlin had been gone for several days and was not in the office.

Everything was obscured by fog. Jimmy was not clear on what his next steps should be. He only knew that he needed to gather his strength, perhaps the final battle was not far off.

Tom looked at the text from Jimmy on his phone, deleted it, and put the phone away.

He hadn't just been waiting for news from his teacher, Mrs. Waltz; he had also been gathering some intelligence himself. However, his findings were negligible and he had even come across the awakened Caitlin.

Caitlin was now at headquarters, discreetly checking if it was the CIA that had targeted Jimmy, and since she couldn't openly investigate, she had to use personal connections, which overlapped with Tom's contacts.

When Tom learned that Caitlin was also searching for the source, he was sure that she wasn't involved in this matter.

Tom "borrowed" someone's credentials and smoothly made his way to the underground archives in Langley, met an old man whose been around longer than CIA itself.

Tom, "Hi, Henry."

Archivist Henry looked up at Tom, surprised, "Hi, Kodaiski, how's Waltz doing?"

Tom stepped forward and embraced Henry, "The teacher is doing well. I just visited her recently. Henry, I'm here for the Stumbling Block Project files."

Henry raised his eyebrows, "Why is everyone looking for the Stumbling Block lately? Hold on."

Henry opened the filing cabinet and took out a stack of files, placing them on the table.

Tom, "Who else has been looking into this?"

Henry, "A few young girls, I remember one of them was called... Pamela Randy."

Tom nodded, "You should watch the news; she caused a big stir, and now everything is chaotic. Director Kramer is also under investigation, but no results yet."

Henry, "Ah, that's none of my business. I'm too old, who would bother me now?"

Tom, "I need to look at these files." He stood at the table, flipping through the Stumbling Block Project files, which contained a list and records of all agents involved in the project, as well as training programs.

Finally, Tom found what he was looking for. The Stumbling Block Project included a portion on drug-enhanced abilities, provided by a pharmaceutical company, Stesen Moranta.

The initiator of the Stumbling Block Project was senior executive Dr. Albert Hirsch. A doctor and a pharmaceutical company—that was interesting.

Tom jotted down some key information, closed the files, and handed them back to Henry. "Henry, thank you."

Henry, "You're welcome, Kodaiski, goodbye."

Tom nodded, turned, and left the archive room.

In a safe house, Tom turned on his computer and began investigating the Stesen Moranta Company. An important CIA agent training program implementing a pharmaceutical company's products must not be simple. Also, the initiator, senior executive Dr. Hirsch, definitely had some connection with this pharmaceutical company.

However, Dr. Hirsch had died just a few days ago, which Tom hadn't paid attention to when it was reported on the news. Now, it seemed, there was a more significant issue here.

The initiator of the Stumbling Block Project was dead, and agents involved in the plan were being assassinated. Someone was cleaning up the project; this was the known situation. Thus, the pharmaceutical company was key.

Tom simply started searching and quickly found out about a shooting at Moranta Company's laboratory in Maryland. A researcher killed several colleagues in the lab before committing suicide.

The only surviving researcher had also died due to a house fire. To say that this had nothing to do with the people who died in the Stumbling Block Project would be an insult to Tom's intelligence.

Following this lead, Tom uncovered more agencies involved in the matter. It seemed it wasn't going to be a quick job finishing this intelligence.

(Thanks to the brother for the reward, temporarily coding, that's all for now, double update tomorrow.)

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.