Federal Senior Special Agent Colin—who had recently achieved a career peak and a salary raise by busting the high-profile terror case of Nina Bell and her ties to Al-Qaeda—had just stepped out of the elevator. Upon hearing Gwen's sentence, he nearly stumbled.
What did she mean, "it must be us"?
What did we do?
Colin blinked, walked in, and offered a bitter smile.
"Ms. Stacy, I assure you, the FBI has absolutely no illegal wiretapping programs in place."
Gwen blinked as she watched the FBI agent, who had seemingly arrived right on cue.
George, meanwhile, stifled a laugh as he shook hands with the approaching Colin.
The FBI doesn't have any illegal wiretapping programs?
Only the incredibly naive would believe that. However, if a program hadn't been exposed, it technically wasn't "illegal wiretapping" in the public eye. From a certain angle, he wasn't lying.
"And," Colin added, "Guantanamo Bay is the CIA's territory."
Ninety percent of the prisoners in Guantanamo were put there by the CIA. The FBI, at most, just talked about it.
Furthermore, what was this about them being "petty"?
Of course, for an ordinary person, if they dared to sue the FBI and won... well, such a person couldn't possibly be "ordinary." A truly average person would never even get the chance to successfully file a lawsuit against the FBI.
Was Locke an ordinary person?
Leaving aside the fact that this was New York City, his girlfriend's father was the true "local snake"—a high-ranking Captain of the NYPD. The FBI in New York was, at most, a "dragon crossing the river." Unless their brains had short-circuited, why would they risk offending a local power player they had only recently repaired relations with?
Not to mention, Locke had a literal army of lawyers behind him. Unless there was ironclad evidence, the FBI wouldn't touch a person like this.
Besides, they weren't the ones who had paid the settlement last time. S.H.I.E.L.D. had caused the disaster, and the FBI had simply cleaned up the mess—even losing a judicial assistant in the process. S.H.I.E.L.D. owed them an explanation for that.
Colin then looked at George.
"If you need the FBI for anything, just say the word. Illegal wiretapping of a citizen is a federal crime."
Locke watched Colin from the side, deep in thought. 'Did he run over here just to explain himself, fearing I'd file another lawsuit and drag the FBI back to court?'
Gwen, hearing Colin's tone and seeing his seemingly sincere expression, muttered, "If it's not the FBI, then it must be Homeland Security. They also have—"
Just then, Ms. Victoria Hand emerged from the elevator, accompanied by Mockingbird, Barbara Morse. Hearing Gwen's words, she interrupted directly: "This matter was not done by our Department of Homeland Security, either."
Gwen stopped talking and blinked.
What was going on? The NYPD, the FBI, and the DHS were all here.
Locke also looked at the approaching Victoria Hand with curiosity, raising an eyebrow before it clicked. Most people would assume the 911 emergency center fell under the NYPD.
But in reality, the 911 center's superior agency was the Department of Homeland Security.
Following the events of 9/11, the newly formed DHS was established precisely to prevent such occurrences from happening again.
It wasn't a brand-new department built from scratch, but rather a patchwork of various agencies brought together under one umbrella. Therefore, given the DHS banner, it was only natural they would know about his 911 call and the details of the situation.
Ms. Hand looked at the evidence bag in George's hand and reached out.
"Captain Stacy, may I take a look?"
George handed the bag over.
Ms. Hand thanked him, took the bag, glanced at it, and then passed it to Barbara Morse.
Mockingbird inspected the transmitters in the bag. After a moment, she pinched one of the devices and applied pressure with her fingers.
*Snap.*
The bug shattered instantly.
Barbara pulled out her phone, took a photo of the exposed chip serial number, and after a moment, looked up.
"Confirmed. These are from the batch we lost."
Locke's eyebrow quirked.
Gwen caught the word. "Lost?"
Ms. Hand explained, "Five days ago, a factory in New Jersey belonging to Hammer Industries lost a shipment of wiretapping devices that were ready for delivery."
George frowned.
"I haven't heard anything about this from the Jersey City side."
He had good relationships with nearby police chiefs. While he didn't know every chief in New York State, he had connections with more than half of the chiefs across the country.
Just like during their last hunting trip—when chiefs from other areas came to New York, they would drop by the NYPD to show their faces. This ensured that, at the very least, they wouldn't receive any traffic tickets in the local area.
Colin from the FBI also frowned. "I haven't heard of this either."
Hammer Industries had signed a Patriot Protection Agreement. Within that framework, any theft case could be considered a federal crime. And for federal crimes, the FBI had first priority.
Ms. Hand smiled and looked at Colin. "You didn't know because we were the ones who ordered that shipment."
Colin understood.
So that was why "DHS" (S.H.I.E.L.D.) had rushed over here.
When S.H.I.E.L.D. was exposed, they weren't *entirely* exposed. At the time, what was revealed in court was only the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division and its director, Nick Fury.
However, S.H.I.E.L.D. had since officially rebranded as "S.H.I.E.L.D.," and that long, clunky original title was gifted to the Department of Homeland Security. In a stroke of luck—thanks to the maneuvers of World Security Council member Alexander Pierce—they successfully obtained the right for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to operate under the DHS banner.
So, that previous "exposure" wasn't a total loss. Nick Fury was "dead," and in all these months, S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't sought revenge. Naturally, they wouldn't randomly come here to wiretap Locke now.
S.H.I.E.L.D. knew they didn't do it, but they knew Locke didn't know that. Locke definitely knew S.H.I.E.L.D. existed.
If they didn't come here to clear things up, the NYPD would trace the devices back to the Hammer Industries warehouse and then to the order records. Good grief, who knew if Locke would fly into a rage, drag S.H.I.E.L.D. back to court, and trigger another exposure crisis?
After all, Locke had a track record for exactly that.
Because of this, Victoria Hand had brought Barbara Morse here in person.
Locke looked at Ms. Hand, who was gazing at him with an "open and honest" expression, and he read the subtext perfectly: It wasn't us, I swear.
Locke rolled his eyes internally. He obviously knew who did it, but why were they so nervous?
'Am I really that terrifying?'
'Please, even though I often say S.H.I.E.L.D. is a mess, that's because I want you to do better. What is this? Have you just given up? I'm only seventeen, a tender age—what are you afraid of? At most, I'm a bit wealthy and have the best legal team on Wall Street behind me.'
'Is it necessary to be this scared? I haven't even done anything yet, and you're already scrambling here to explain yourselves?'
Did S.H.I.E.L.D. have no shame left?
Wait, he had already slapped the face off S.H.I.E.L.D. long ago.
Locke raised an eyebrow, a trace of speechless amusement in his heart. He had originally just wanted to call the police to have a witness prove he was home alone and that no "KGB Swallow" was waiting in his room.
The result?
The NYPD. The FBI. And the DHS (secretly S.H.I.E.L.D.).
Good grief. Locke felt that if the President's residence were wiretapped, such a "deluxe lineup" probably wouldn't show up. Definitely not.
Locke understood the situation, and George naturally understood it too.
However... George really wanted to criticize Colin and Victoria Hand, but after thinking it over, he chose to change the subject and looked at Victoria Hand. "I need—"
Ms. Hand looked at George and spoke before he could finish: "I've already ordered my people to compile the case files immediately. Tomorrow morning, Agent Barbara Morse will bring them to the NYPD. If there's anything the DHS can do to help, just ask."
Colin added from the side, "Same for the FBI. The Director said if necessary, the Behavioral Analysis Unit from Quantico can be sent to assist."
George fell silent, looking at Locke with an inscrutable gaze.
'Since when did this "wild boar" have such massive deterrent power?'
Just a few bugs, and here were the FBI and DHS tripping over themselves to help this wild boar solve the case?
George figured that even if his own home were wiretapped, he could get the FBI and DHS to help, but it certainly wouldn't be for free.
But this kid? Am I dreaming?
George wasn't the only one who felt like he was dreaming. In a hotel at the end of Fifth Avenue, a man and a woman were listening to the audio from the one remaining bug that hadn't been removed yet.
Hearing the statements from the high-level supervisors of the NYPD, FBI, and DHS, they looked at each other in disbelief.
Egorova frowned and looked at the man wearing glasses beside her—nominally her uncle. "Have we... poked a hornet's nest?"
"No." The man in the suit took off his glasses, wiped them, blew on them, and said with narrowing eyes, "This proves we've found the right person. Lorraine Broughton... as expected, she isn't dead!"
Dominika Egorova: "..."