Forging identities was already a basic skill for Tom, he had impersonated an FBI agent and arrived at Moranta Company, rechecked the identity of the shooter, and then went to the only surviving woman, Marta's, house at the crime scene.

It was a small villa located in the woods, but now it had become ruins, there had been a fire, and firefighters had found a woman's body in the villa, confirmed to be Marta herself.

Tom inspected the area around the ruins and soon noticed some irregularities. There were many tire marks in front of the villa, which could be explained by the arrival of firefighters and police. However, he found some tire marks from sudden braking and drifting on the road, which was unusual.

The ruins had already been tampered with, so there was basically no need for investigation. If it was as he suspected, someone had already handled the ruins, and any clues found could likely be those they deliberately set up or left behind.

But the tracks on the road were better; there was no need for them to interfere here. Moreover, neither the fire department nor the police would drive recklessly in such a situation, so these marks basically confirmed that there had recently been a car chase here.

The only survivor of the shooting case, Marta, might still be alive and had escaped.

Tom returned to the city, found a safe place to start investigating, and unexpectedly discovered that this company had collaborations with many government agencies. There was also a press conference held in Washington a few days ago about a drug, already in the experimental phase, designed to enhance physical abilities and alleviate cognitive deficiencies.

This was related to the medication they were taking in the 'Stumbling Block' project, so Tom's investigation finally produced results. They had their press conference not in Maryland but in Washington D.C., indicating their cooperating agencies were located there.

Tom didn't stay any longer and directly returned to Washington, D.C., to continue investigating Moranta Company and because he had received a message, news from his mentor, Mrs. Walz.

Upon arriving in Washington D.C., Tom drove to Mrs. Walz's cottage in Virginia, and the door was opened by Sam.

Tom, "Sam, has the teacher rested yet?"

Sam, "Uncle Kodaiski, Grandmother is waiting for you in the study."

Sam led Tom into the study and then left to prepare coffee, closing the door behind him.

Mrs. Walz was sitting behind the desk, looked up at Tom, and gestured, "Tommy, come here."

There were no chairs beside the desk, so Tom pulled a folding chair from the wall and sat next to Mrs. Walz.

Tom, "Teacher, have you obtained any results from your investigation?"

Mrs. Walz, "Yes, the reason I called you here was to tell you about these things. You can also talk to that boy about it, although he might not be able to accept the situation. If I don't tell you now, I don't know if there will ever be another chance."

Mrs. Walz picked up a picture frame from the side, which contained a group photo of several people; however, the people in the photo looked young, and it was an old picture.

Mrs. Walz touched the glass of the photo with her finger, "That was decades ago, too long ago. He is Harry Anderson, the father of Veronique Durand. Does that sound familiar?"

Tom nodded but did not speak.

Mrs. Walz, "Former deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Bureau, died years ago. The person wanting to deal with Veronique is our former deputy director, Christian Greg, and Anderson and Greg were good friends."

Tom, "They were friends? Then why would he target Jimmy? He's Veronica's father."

Mrs. Walz, "Veronique Durand uses her mother's surname. Anderson knew of her existence long before his death but never officially acknowledged her until he passed away.

Greg's wife and son died in a traffic accident, but information later revealed that the accident was deliberately caused, and they were just caught in it. And the instigator of that accident was Anderson.

Greg fell into despair after the death of his wife and son and went mad when he found out from the intelligence that Anderson's actions caused their demise, but by then, Anderson was already dead."

Later, Anderson's house experienced a gas explosion, and his family perished in that explosion, although there was no evidence, but...

Greg retired soon after and returned to Washington, D.C., to retire."

Tom, "So was Veronica's death related to him as well?"

Mrs. Waltz, "I cannot be sure; I can only say there is a possibility. The fact that Veronica was Anderson's illegitimate daughter was known only to a few of us, and it was I who arranged for Veronica to join the company. Greg might have done it, but again, no evidence."

Tom, "I previously used your authority to check, and someone has occasionally been looking up Jimmy's file, Jimmy being Veronica's son. Could it also be Greg doing the checking?"

Mrs. Waltz shook her head, "I can't say; it's been too long since I left the agency, but I did find some other information."

Mrs. Waltz handed Tom a piece of letter paper, "I asked someone about Jimmy's file, and I also learned about the stumbling block plan he was involved in, though there are not many clues but should be sufficient for you to investigate."

Tom looked at the information on the paper, National Research Analysis Group, head Rick, Washington D.C.

Mrs. Waltz, "The Stumbling Block Plan was initiated by him, you might want to investigate that, my people couldn't access his files."

Tom nodded, he folded the paper, and put it in his pocket.

With the business talk concluded, Mrs. Waltz called Sam to bring in coffee, and only then did they start chatting casually about past events. As people age, they tend to ramble and reminisce about past events, and Tom was just the right company for Mrs. Waltz to talk more.

The two also talked about Henry at the secret archives in Langley, this old relic could be termed as a living history of Langley, with his contemporaries having either died or retired, while he always remained the archive keeper, safeguarding the agency's secrets.

Of course, Henry was never likely to be earmarked for retirement; he knew too much, and actually arranging his retirement would instead make people feel like someone wanted to eliminate him.

Tom dined with Mrs. Waltz before driving off, heading back to his safe house.

The intelligence he received was somewhat abundant, warranting a good analysis. This was also the first time he had learned about Veronica's background, and he also found the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Jimmy very strange.

Why would these events coincide at this time? It was quite odd.

Regarding the information given by Mrs. Waltz, the National Research Analysis Group, since they were the initiators of the stumbling block plan, the cleaning operation inside the plan must have been launched from their end.

So, what was going on with Greg?

As a former deputy director, Greg had enough authority to investigate Veronica's and Jimmy's relationship, Veronica had been dead for several years, why is he now targeting Jimmy?

Oh, wait, it's still not confirmed that this attack on Jimmy was his doing.

Tom had unresolved situations as well, over the years, knowing that Jimmy was Veronica's son, why hadn't Greg acted earlier? With his capabilities, he could easily have arranged for someone to kill Jimmy without it being detected.

Things that are incomprehensible must be set aside for the moment; better to focus on Rick.

From the current situation, Rick is definitely the most suspicious. If he could plan and push forward the Stumbling Block Plan, then Moranta Company must also be related to him; linking together the events of this period, with Rick at the center, everything could be connected.

Now, the biggest question is, why clear out the Stumbling Block Plan.

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