As New York truly bids farewell to winter, the New York Botanical Garden opens its orchid exhibition. Children laugh and play happily in the park, and women hurrying along the streets finally shed their coats and don light, beautiful skirts.
Jiejie walks briskly past a row of sewer grates, the slight updraft blowing her skirt. While it's not a classic Hollywood scene, if it were cut into slow motion, it would certainly be no less impressive.
"Sometimes I really hate federal dress codes," Jack says, leaning against the Audi R8 and politely opening the door for Jiejie.
He suddenly realizes how rarely he sees the women around him wearing skirts. FBI field agents are on call 24/7, so both Jiejie and Hannah usually wear smart suits and trousers.
"On the contrary, I like you in formal attire." Jiejie reaches out to straighten Jack's tie, then takes the thermos from his hand and curiously tries to open it.
"What weird dish did you make for Danny again?"
"Soybean stewed pig's trotters. I gave Linda the recipe. It's enough for three or four people. You girls can try it, it's both good for your skin and your appearance."
Jack tried to close the car door for Jiejie, but the girl stopped him, a look of worry on her face. "Are you really going to Seoul alone?"
"Fifteen lives, thirty-two serious injuries. That debt has to be paid, not to mention those bastards made Danny cry." Jack's words were full of murderous intent at first, but the second half made Jiejie laugh.
"This is top secret. Linda has warned you repeatedly." Jiejie suppressed a smile and poked Jack's chest with a warning finger, but then a hint of worry returned.
"Whatever you do, be careful. We'll be waiting for you to get back."
Nearly two months had passed since the street attack, and this case had become the longest one Jack had ever worked on in his police career.
Of course, that wasn't to say the entire Most Wanted Unit had done nothing but this case in the past two months.
With the exception of Jubal, who remained in Washington, working with the joint task force, and Hannah, who was recovering at home, Jack and the rest of the team continued their daily work.
The delay wasn't due to a lack of leads, but rather an abundance of them. Jubal's team took nearly a month to compile a preliminary report.
First, it was confirmed that Zhang Mingjun had left the United States. As Jack suspected, in New York, a global trading hub, it wasn't surprising for a drug dealer and arms smuggler to possess one or two secret smuggling routes.
Based on the bodies of the attackers left at the scene, the CIA provided information about a small international assassination ring, but the details were vague, and a detailed investigation is ongoing.
Because the attack involved terrorism and was essentially a diplomatic incident, federal agencies, besides the FBI, were under pressure from the State Department. However, investigations into such covert international organizations typically move slowly.
It's rumored that the CIA has already sent undercover agents to target this group, and it's known that they've offered $50 million for Zhang Mingjun's release.
The IRS and FBI jointly froze a number of related accounts, totaling approximately $100 million. Beyond the $50 million reward, the assassin organization, which had been involved in the prisoner rescue operation, lost $20 million.
The remaining $30 million was linked to accounts believed to be all connected to Zhang Mingjun.
According to intelligence provided by the DEA, he and his core members mastered a complete process for producing tartaric acid, enabling them to produce cheap tartaric acid from a variety of chemical raw materials.
However, just as they were preparing to expand their business from Canada to the United States, their leader, Zhang Mingjun, was unexpectedly imprisoned by Jack in connection with the "Little Wing" missile.
The DEA estimates that this operation nearly drained the drug trafficking organization's funds.
According to several of Zhang Mingjun's associates previously arrested, his closest associates were loyal defectors from the military of that country.
It's said that many of these individuals harbor deep vendettas against that country, including Jang Myeong-jun, whose wife and daughter were killed by a high-ranking official in a separate incident.
Jubal even suspected that the man's purchase of the "Little Wing" missiles wasn't simply for arms trading, but unfortunately, none of the individuals arrested at the time were trusted confidants; they had only heard rumors within the organization.
Jang Myeong-jun had previously mentioned his desire to ignite a Civil War through a series of terrorist attacks, though the details are unknown.
The FBI speculated that he intended to ship some of the missiles to South Korea to implement this plan, and considering his former military background, it seemed plausible that this plan might succeed.
The news of a mole within the NYPD was finally revealed, nearly reaching the media. Fortunately, Frank Reagan's former television lover, Miss Davidson, intervened at the last minute to avert the crisis.
Mike Taylor, still on a mission in South America, stopped by Jamaica and recaptured the ESU members who had smuggled themselves there and brought them back to the United States.
According to the man's confession, he was deeply in debt due to his gambling addiction. A week earlier, an Asian man had approached him, providing him with a fake passport and a $2 million advance.
The man promised to pay an additional $2 million upon rescuing Zhang Mingjun, and he subsequently fulfilled the payment.
Although the intelligence he provided was limited, it was extremely valuable. First, the FBI used him to determine Zhang Mingjun's escape route.
He had pre-installed a simple electric vehicle in the sewer, which he then used to enter the Hudson River through a sewage outlet. In less than two hours, he boarded a cargo ship bound for Asia at the freight terminal.
This account matched the CSI lab's findings in the sewer, including traces and pre-made markings. They even recovered several abandoned electric vehicles from the Hudson River.
Finally, after compiling multiple intelligence sources and analysing the timeline, Jack and Jubal uncovered a sinister clue: a mole within the NYPD was suspected, and the FBI itself was also at fault.
The International Department, through Rossi, assigned the mission to the Most Wanted Squad nearly two weeks ago. Jack and Aubrey received the mission letter from Jon Michaels, the new International Department Director.
The letter outlined the entire escort process and route, but the New York office's SWAT team was scheduled to carry out the mission.
Subsequently, a secret diplomatic team from a certain country arrived, and negotiations between the two sides began, lasting over a week. Then, Jack met Lieutenant Colonel Lin Zheling and Lieutenant Park, who had arrived to collect the suspects.
At this point, the plan changed. According to Jon Michaels, he accepted the request of the head of the other delegation and shortened the extradition process, moving the departure time to the next morning.
This time shift was crucial, as it was precisely this shortened extradition process that led to the transfer of the escort mission originally assigned to the FBI-SWAT team to the NYPD's ESU.
This was precisely the key to the successful rescue of Zhang Mingjun. The armored vehicle transporting the prisoner was specially designed. While it wasn't completely impenetrable from the outside, the operation was extremely cumbersome and required multiple verifications.
Even with a master of explosives, it's impossible to simply stick a C4 stick in the door and press the blaster, causing it to automatically fly outwards, as depicted in movie scenes.
A brute-force approach would likely result in serious injuries, even if the door was successfully blown open.
Therefore, the bribed ESU member was the key to the entire operation. The question then becomes: how did the people who rescued Zhang Mingjun know that the ESU would take over the FBI-SWAT escort mission and initiate the bribery a week in advance?
Jack and Jubal approached Rossi with this question and began a secret investigation.
Their primary suspect was naturally Jon Michaels, who had participated in the entire extradition operation and personally orchestrated the entire process.
He was the one who contacted the NYPD to transfer the escort to the ESU, and it was he who informed the North Smecta of the request for an early extradition, thus changing the escort plan. Jack even suspected his motive.
Last year, the International Department was in turmoil due to internal strife. Rossi was asked to mediate, not only recruiting Mike Taylor into the FBI to form a new field team, but also forcibly recruiting members from the Most Wanted Unit.
His efforts helped to stabilize the field operations, but the power struggle remained unresolved.
Ultimately, the old man lost his temper, coaxing one side and the other, before finally reaching an agreement.
The International Department will be decentralized and downgraded, with some responsibilities being split up and its de facto location shifted from the New York office, with Dana Moger serving as its concurrent head.
While the decision hadn't been officially announced, word had already spread internally. Jon Michaels, the newly appointed head of the International Department and poised to make a big move, clearly wasn't going to be happy.
While Jon Michaels, the actual executor of the prisoner hijack, faced a difficult time after the incident, Dana Moger, the person who had been a passionate advocate for stronger cooperation with local police departments and personally driving the initiative, also faced criticism.
This was part of the program's experimentation with the FBI's lack of manpower, allowing local police SWAT teams to independently conduct federal operations.
Fortunately, the Most Wanted team didn't skimp on the situation and headed directly to the airport to await the arrival of their star agent, Jack, who performed remarkably well.
Although Zhang Mingjun escaped and the bomb exploded, resulting in heavy casualties, it's clear that without the Most Wanted team, the situation would have been far worse, and the ESU SWAT team might have been wiped out.
Considering that Jack came to New York specifically to serve as the liaison officer for this project, it's fair to say that Dana Moger's decision to pry him away from Rossi was incredibly foresighted, giving her the confidence to handle this pressure.
The investigation into this incident is ongoing, but Jon Michaels is rumored to be considering resigning, which, to those already suspicious of him, suggests a clear sign of his departure.
However, this is all speculation, without any evidence. Launching an internal investigation into a department head based solely on this suspicion is clearly unrealistic.
Fortunately, Rossi remains incredibly effective. While North Simeda is completely closed off, making it difficult even for the CIA to infiltrate, its isolation also means that only a handful of diplomats remain permanently abroad.
A week ago, a diplomat who had previously served as head of the secret diplomatic corps was caught red-handed by CIA agents while traveling abroad.
After some coercion and inducement, he admitted to accepting a $2,000 bribe from Jon Michaels and that the request to shorten the extradition process was not genuinely from North Korea.
Jon Michaels's reason at the time was that he might be transferred soon and wanted to finish the job quickly to enhance his seniority.
While his words couldn't be used as testimony, they were enough for Rossi to take action, and the International Director was now under covert surveillance.
The FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) launched a covert investigation and discovered a suspected secret account belonging to Jon Michaels overseas.
Coincidentally, a month after Jang Myung-jun's arrest, this secret account received a wire transfer of €12 million.
By tracing the source of this money, the IRS was able to identify the secret fund account belonging to Jang Myung-jun's organization and trace it back to the account of the mysterious assassin organization.
Of course, Jon Michaels remains in the dark, unaware that his secret account could be frozen at any moment, as the OIG discovered that he was still secretly communicating with someone suspected of being Jang Myung-jun, for unknown reasons.
So, when intelligence from South Korea recently revealed the whereabouts of Jang Myung-jun and his associates, Jack decided to travel to South Korea himself, while the rest of the team remained in the country to continue monitoring Jon Michaels.
The reason he acted alone was because someone was secretly plotting a personal vendetta. Hannah's scars on her shoulders and hips had been a source of torment for over a month.
Although Jack possessed powerful healing skills, such severe scars couldn't be completely healed in a matter of days; a month or two of gradual fading was more reasonable.
He'd been tormented by the girl's anxiety, and now, finally, those once hideous scars were almost gone, finally giving him relief.
Of course, Jack didn't really intend to act alone. To make his move easier, he found a helper to accompany him to South Korea.
After bidding farewell to Jiejie, Jack headed to Kennedy Airport alone. The Bombardier business jet assigned to the Most Wanted team was already waiting.
Besides the two pilots, a model-like beauty, dressed in a professional outfit resembling a flight attendant's uniform, was waiting at the ramp.
After greeting the pilot, Jack walked onto the plane and glared at Anna, who was wearing a short skirt and black stockings. "What are you doing? Why are you dressed like that?"
"Isn't it common for private jets to have dedicated flight attendants? As your personal assistant, I can adapt to any role you want me to play," the former FSB agent said, winking at him.
(End of Chapter)