The 40th Chapter

(The title was eaten by me, I'm starving to death without recommendation tickets)

Steve could only watch as Zhou Yi took the Hunters away.

Nominally, the CIA has no law enforcement authority within the United States, so arresting people? They didn't have that power.

But, as always—the world isn't black and white.

Gray occupies the vast majority, perhaps even all of it.

The CIA has no law enforcement authority within the United States, but it's not impossible for them to arrest someone if they want to.

If they had enough time, they would change into FBI uniforms, bring FBI identification for everyone, and then act.

After all, anything can be FBI!

However, this time, due to the urgency of the mission and the remote location of the target, they acted directly in their own uniforms.

They could also just grab them and run; as long as they weren't discovered and reported, there would be no problem.

If they were indeed reported and evidence was caught...

It would be like the words Ethan always received from the IMF before every mission: "Should you or any member of your team be captured or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your activities."

Similarly, if the CIA's arrest of people within the United States were exposed and caused a major stir, to the point where Director Brown had to step in, Brown would state at a press conference—

They were completely unaware of it; it was merely the personal actions of their agents.

This is the most common and most practical scapegoat.

Everyone knew the truth wasn't like that, but no one could prove it wasn't, unless they could obtain CIA's command orders as evidence.

Now, all the CIA agent lists had been stolen by Ethan.

Eugene dared not tell anyone about such a significant incident and directly covered it up.

Otherwise, if others found out, Eugene's position would be over.

He might even have to go through CIA interrogation and end up in prison.

The person in charge of the central switchboard data room had already been sent to the frontier by Eugene to grow vegetables. If nothing unexpected happened, he probably wouldn't have a chance to be transferred back.

Now, Eugene wanted to retrieve the agent list from Ethan's hands and pretend that the list had never "gone out for a stroll," making it disappear into thin air.

Therefore, this operation, led by Steve, was completely confidential!

Under such circumstances, how could Eugene possibly let departments like the FBI get involved and conduct a formal joint operation?

After all, the identity of the Hunters as leaders of the drug trafficking group was something Eugene had fabricated on the spot, and it couldn't stand up to scrutiny!

Eugene was like an ant on a hot pan right now, pacing back and forth, no longer caring about rules.

But this meant Zhou Yi's actions faced no pressure.

If the CIA were to cooperate and coordinate with organizations that had actual law enforcement authority within the United States, like the FBI, then it would be almost impossible for Zhou Yi to just take people away like this, or it would require a lot of effort.

But now, the CIA was secretly trying to act directly, while Zhou Yi had received support from Chris, successfully obtaining tax certifications and enforcement approval for the Hunters...

In other words, in this matter, the CIA was acting illegally and abusing its power, while the IRS was enforcing the law legally.

How could they compete?

The status and power of the two sides were not on the same level at all!

After Zhou Yi put the Hunters in the car, he unlocked their handcuffs, then started the car and led his subordinates away.

"Of... Officer..."

Kruoff Hunter tried hard to defend himself, "Is there some mistake, Officer? I'm not the leader of any drug trafficking group, and I haven't evaded taxes..."

"Mr. Hunter, you and I both know the truth about whether you've evaded taxes."

Zhou Yi smiled and handed the document to Kruoff, "Some things on this document were fabricated on the spot, but some of it is true... Of course, I don't plan to pursue it."

"Officer? What... what do you mean?" Kruoff was a bit confused.

"You have a good son, Mr. Hunter, and I've made a small deal with him, so I'm helping him protect you."

Zhou Yi explained, "The CIA wanted to use you to threaten him, so they fabricated evidence that you were drug dealers and intended to arrest you."

"What?" Kruoff's face turned ashen.

At the same time.

"What?" Eugene's face turned ashen.

"What did you say?" Eugene questioned, "People from the IRS took them away?"

"Yes, sir," Steve replied, "They had more detailed information and enforcement approval documents, so I couldn't complete the mission."

"Didn't I tell you to bring those two back no matter what?" Eugene asked.

Then, Eugene immediately realized that the IRS's power was not equal to the CIA's, and he had asked a foolish question. He immediately changed the subject, "Under what pretext did they take those two away?"

"They said the Hunters were suspected of tax evasion," Steve said, "and they also said they had been investigating the Hunters for a year and were certain that the Hunters were not the leaders of a drug trafficking group, and that we should investigate again before making any conclusions..."

Speaking of which, Steve also felt very frustrated.

It was the first time someone had pointed a gun at his chest like that, and he hadn't dared to fight back!

Because he knew he was completely in the wrong in this matter. If he died, he wouldn't even get a decent funeral, and his superiors would brand him as a "lawbreaker who acted without authorization using the CIA's name"!

Under such circumstances, Steve naturally chose not to act.

If he acted, regardless of the outcome, he was destined to have no good results. It would be better to simply not act and let these two go.

"Fuck, fuck!"

Eugene hung up the phone and fell into a state of frenzy. If someone were nearby, they might think he had rabies.

Why are all the people under me so useless!

The only strong one, Ethan, had now become a traitor and directly stolen the list of CIA agents!

So, what method should he use now to blackmail Ethan, and ensure that Ethan knew that others wouldn't be suspicious and notice anything wrong?

Eugene racked his brain, thinking.

Going to the IRS to demand people was absolutely impossible.

The IRS had far greater power than the CIA, and the matter of Eugene sending his subordinates to arrest Ethan's parents absolutely could not be exposed.

Otherwise, someone would definitely investigate the reason for Eugene's actions, and if CIA Director Brown found out about this, Eugene knew very well that he would be completely finished.

A minister arresting his subordinate's parents, what would that imply?

It would definitely trigger an investigation.

And once investigated... the matter of the lost list would be exposed, Eugene would be removed from his post, and he'd find new employment in prison.

Before Eugene could come up with a viable plan, there were two knocks on his office door.