That doesn't make sense. Isn't 'HR' in league with Rea?" Finch, who had been on the phone with Reese, asked in confusion.
Reese clearly had his own opinion on the matter. "In a war, controlling your allies is sometimes more important than controlling your enemies."
"If Germany during World War II had your perspective, they might not have chosen Italy as their ally," Jack quipped.
Finch's voice was a bit high-pitched. "Gentlemen, according to your theory, does that mean that after Rea hired 'HR', he spent an additional $5 million to buy insurance to ensure that these corrupt cops wouldn't fail in a critical moment?
If any of the corrupt cops had problems cooperating, he had a backup plan: threatening their families."
"Perhaps this also explains why that corrupt cop tried to kill me and the trainee even though he knew it was impossible. Because his family was threatened,"
Jack thought of his own experience at noon.
"Leah is more cunning and brutal than we expected." Reese's face showed a hint of regret. He had the opportunity to nip this evil in the bud. If he hadn't saved Leah, he would never have escaped the Russian mafia.
In contrast, Jack preferred to think about the problem from another angle.
"If we uncover all those scumbags, doesn't that mean we can just check each targeted family one by one and have a relatively complete list of HR members?"
Reese hesitated for a long time before nodding. "Liya knows they're HR members, obviously because they've met before.
In other words, he should have some sort of ledger keeping track of everything."
"There's no rush for the ledger. Commissioner Reagan doesn't expect to jail every corrupt cop associated with HR. Eliminating them from the NYPD would be a success."
Anti-corruption is also within the FBI's purview. Jack and the Most Wanted team haven't been out executing warrants for a while now. Besides investigating Lyia, their main focus has been tracking and monitoring each member of the HR team using the list Fusco provided them.
They already have a good deal of evidence. While the true mastermind remains unidentified, they've already established a clear picture of the situation surrounding mid- and high-level members like Simmons Patrick.
With Leah's help, even the lower-level officers couldn't escape. Even if there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute some, Commissioner Reagan could still sack them for violations of disciplinary rules and expel them from the NYPD.
Reese wasn't as interested in "HR" as he was in capturing Leah. He shrugged nonchalantly at Jack's words. "So, how do we lure out that cunning fox Leah?"
"There are only three LCN bosses left. If we take them all out, Leah will achieve his goal of controlling LCN. Shouldn't we give him a chance?"
Jack felt it was almost time to close the loop. Leah's methods were too radical, and he didn't want to wake up tomorrow morning to see a TV report about an entire bus being blown up because a Mafia boss was hiding inside, trying to escape New York in plain clothes.
"You want to use the remaining three bosses to lure out Leah?" Reese frowned, clearly unimpressed by the idea.
"Basilai wanted to seek protection from the FBI, but he was assassinated in an alley. I think the remaining three people would not dare to ask the FBI for help even if they found a place to hide secretly?"
"They dare not seek protection from the police, but the police can put them in protective custody." Jack raised his eyebrows. "Of course, this can't be done by the FBI. Lai Ya will have to see the right opportunity before he will take the initiative."
Finch, who had been listening to the conversation between the two, had an idea and blurted out on the other end of the phone, "You mean to let Detective Danny Reagan gather them in a safe house, and then leak the location of the safe house to the people of 'HR'?"
Jack chuckled, "Didn't 'HR' just plant one of their own next to Detective Reagan?"
-
"If you had listened to me from the beginning, we could have dealt with him long before Lai Ya did anything to my father!"
At ten o'clock in the evening, still in the "Alliance Club", the godfathers of the five major families that ruled LCN gathered again, but compared with the daytime, only half a day had passed, and the number of participants had dropped sharply from five to three.
At this moment, facing Moretti II's loud questioning, the two old men, Zambrano and Grifoni, frowned in silence, puffing on their cigars.
Suddenly, the conference room door was kicked open with a bang. The three turned in surprise, only to see Danny and Fusco, wearing bulletproof vests emblazoned with the "NYPD" logo, swaggering in.
Zambrano, seated at the head, though portly and pig-like, was a godfather-level figure and naturally knew the Reagan family. Seeing Danny's imposing appearance, he even acted like an elder.
"Detective Reagan, even your father wouldn't dare to be so rude."
"Really?" Danny didn't even bother to raise his eyelids. "Whatever you say, from now on you are under protective custody until we catch Leia."
"I don't think so." Zambrano sat on the chair and didn't even bother to move his butt. "Even the FBI is unreliable now, let alone your NYPD. 'HR' has infiltrated you like a sieve."
Danny drew his gun directly after hearing this. "No one can question the Reagan family's loyalty to this city. Now you have two choices, either go to the safe house with me or be killed by me here.
Leia's target is the three of you. Maybe if you all die here, the people of New York will no longer have to worry about being injured by explosions caused by your cars while walking on the roadside."
Zambrano slammed the table in anger and finally stood up. "We never cooperate with the cops. Come on! Get these two idiots out of here!"
However, there was no movement outside the door. Neither the thugs in the club nor the bodyguards who followed them responded at all.
After an awkward silence, Moretti II finally lost his patience and walked past Danny and Fusco to the door. "Where are they? Jimmy! Santos! Are you all asleep?"
There was still no response. Moretti II peered into the hallway and found it deserted. It was as if all the men he had brought with him had vanished.
(End of Chapter)