Chapter 40

(The title was eaten because it was starving to death without recommendation votes.)

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

Technically speaking, the CIA had no law enforcement authority within the United States, so arresting people? They had no such power to begin with.

But as always—the world was not simply black and white.

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

The CIA had no law enforcement authority within the United States, but that did not mean they could not arrest people.

If they had enough time, they would change into FBI uniforms, equip everyone with FBI badges, and then take action.

After all, everything could be FBI-ed!

However, this time, the mission had come too suddenly, and the target location was remote enough that they had simply acted in their own uniforms.

They could still grab the people and run. As long as no one discovered and reported them, there would be no problem.

If they really were reported, and evidence was found...

It would be just like the line Yinsen received from the IMF before every mission—"Should any member of your team be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions."

Likewise, if the CIA arresting people within the United States was exposed and caused such a huge uproar that Director Brown had to step in, Brown would explain at the press conference—

They knew nothing about it. It had merely been the agents acting on their own.

This was the most common and most practical scapegoat.

Everyone knew the truth was not like that, but no one could prove otherwise unless they obtained the CIA's command orders as evidence.

Now, Yinsen had stolen the entire CIA agent roster.

Eugene did not dare tell anyone else about such a serious incident and had directly covered it up.

Otherwise, once others learned of it, Eugene's position would be finished.

He might even have to take a trip through the CIA interrogation rooms before ending up behind bars.

The person in charge of the Main Switchboard Archives had already been banished by Eugene to grow vegetables in the middle of nowhere. Unless something unexpected happened, that person would probably never have another chance to be transferred back.

Now, Eugene only wanted to retrieve the agent roster from Yinsen and pretend it had never gone out for a little stroll, making the matter disappear without a trace.

Therefore, this operation led by Steve had been kept completely secret!

Under such circumstances, how could Eugene possibly allow departments like the FBI to interfere and carry out a proper joint operation?

After all, Eugene had made up the Hunters' identity as drug cartel leaders on the spot. It simply could not withstand scrutiny!

Eugene was like an ant on a hot pan, jumping about in desperation and no longer caring about any so-called rules.

But that left Zhou Yi's operation without any pressure at all.

If the CIA had been cooperating with organizations like the FBI that genuinely possessed domestic law enforcement authority, then Zhou Yi would have found it virtually impossible to take the people away so easily—or at least he would have needed to go through considerable trouble.

But now, the CIA was secretly trying to act directly, while Zhou Yi had received Chris's support and successfully obtained tax documentation and authorization for law enforcement regarding the Hunters...

In other words, in this matter, the CIA was breaking the law and abusing its power, while the IRS was carrying out lawful enforcement.

How were they supposed to fight this?

The two sides were not even on the same level in terms of status and authority!

After Zhou Yi brought the Hunters into the car, he removed their handcuffs, started the vehicle, and led his men away.

"Of... Officer..."

Kruoff Hunter tried his best to defend himself. "Have you made some kind of mistake? I'm not the leader of any drug cartel, and I haven't committed tax evasion..."

"Mr. Hunter, you and I both know perfectly well whether you have evaded taxes."

Zhou Yi smiled and handed the document to Kruoff. "Some of what is in there was indeed fabricated at the last minute, but part of it is real... Of course, I have no intention of pursuing it."

"Officer? What... what do you mean?" Kruoff did not understand.

"You have a fine son, Mr. Hunter. He and I reached a small agreement, so I came to protect you for him."

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

"What?" Kruoff was horrified.

At the same time.

"What?" Eugene was horrified.

"What did you say?" Eugene demanded. "The IRS took them away?"

"Yes, sir," Steve replied. "They had more detailed files and authorization documents, so I had no way to 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 and CIA's authority were completely unequal. He had asked a stupid question, so he promptly changed the subject. "What excuse did they use to take those two away?"

"They said the Hunters were suspected of tax evasion," Steve said. "They also said they had investigated the Hunters for a year and could confirm that the Hunters were not drug cartel leaders. They told us to investigate again before saying anything else..."

To be honest, Steve felt extremely frustrated as well.

It was the first time someone had aimed a gun at his chest like that, yet he had not dared fight back at all!

Because he knew he had absolutely no justification in this matter. If he died, he might not even receive a decent funeral, and his superiors would label him a criminal who had "illegally acted under the CIA's name without authorization"!

Under such circumstances, Steve naturally chose not to act.

If he acted, then regardless of the outcome, he was destined to suffer. Naturally, it was better not to act at all and simply let those two people go.

"Fuck, fuck!"

Eugene hung up and descended into a frenzy. If anyone had been nearby, they might have thought he was having a rabies attack.

Why were all my subordinates such trash!

The only capable one, Yinsen, had now become a traitor and directly stolen the CIA agent roster!

So what method could he use now to threaten Yinsen, while ensuring Yinsen understood and no one else grew suspicious or noticed anything wrong?

Eugene racked his brains.

Going to the IRS to demand the people back was absolutely impossible.

The IRS had far greater authority than the CIA, and Eugene absolutely could not allow his order to capture Yinsen's parents to be exposed.

Otherwise, someone would definitely investigate why Eugene had done this. And if CIA Director Brown learned of it, Eugene knew very well that he would probably be completely finished.

A department head arresting his subordinate's parents—what was that supposed to mean?

It would definitely trigger an investigation.

And once there was an investigation... the loss of the roster would be exposed, Eugene would lose his job, and he would find new employment in prison.

Before Eugene could come up with a feasible plan, there were two knocks, and someone knocked on his office door.

PS: The author's note was eaten too. If you still refuse to feed me recommendation votes, I might start going after the main text!