S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Attention

"Move, move, move! You useless trash, if you don't want to lose your jobs in the future, get moving at top speed!"

On the basement level of the Haulers Group building, John, dressed in a black military uniform, stood before the command vehicle and roared. More than a hundred burly men in black swiftly climbed into their respective vehicles and headed for the location from which Annie had last sent word.

"David, what happened to the person specifically assigned to stay in contact with Miss Annie's security team? Why did we only discover that something had happened to Miss Annie after the BOSS called personally?"

Inside the command vehicle, John's eyes were bloodshot.

Ryan was his benefactor. From an ordinary shooting instructor to a senior department head responsible for the futures of over a hundred people, Ryan had given him everything.

Now that such a major problem had occurred in the department under his command, how was he supposed to explain it to the BOSS afterward?

"He... took poison and killed himself!"

David's lips curled bitterly. By the time he arrived with his men, the man had happened to die right in front of him, foam spilling from his mouth.

Suicide?

John's expression gradually turned grim. Other forces infiltrating the security department was a responsibility he could not shirk, but this was not the time to dwell on it.

A planted spy who could immediately take poison and commit suicide after being exposed was not someone an ordinary force could train. Who could it be?

A string of names flashed through John's mind, including espionage organizations such as the FBI, CIA, and KGB.

Don't think an entertainment company would not draw their attention. Once a company had grown powerful enough to casually influence social trends, no amount of caution was excessive.

The Transporter Company had always been known to the outside world for its mystery. Aside from BOSS Ryan Garcia, no one even knew where the company's other shareholders got those works from, or who their authors were.

And Ryan was alone in the world. If something happened to him, aside from Miss Annie, there was no one who could legally inherit the company. Perhaps the attack on Miss Annie was merely a smokescreen, and Ryan himself was the real target!

Unable to sit still any longer, John picked up his phone and called Ryan.

Under normal circumstances, he would never question an order Ryan had given, but this time, he was afraid—afraid that Ryan had been blinded by rage and would walk straight into a trap someone had laid for him.

"This is Ashe. What do you need the BOSS for?"

Ashe's cool voice came through the receiver. John narrowed his eyes and asked, "Why do you have the BOSS's phone?"

After the earlier incident with the spy taking poison, everyone looked like a spy to him now.

"The BOSS has other matters to handle and will return tomorrow. During that time, I will handle the company's affairs in his place," Ashe replied calmly.

He had disappeared again at a time like this?

John frowned upon hearing that. The company's old hands all knew that the BOSS mysteriously vanished for a period every day and could not be contacted by anyone, but he had not expected him to do so even while Miss Annie was in danger.

But he could not completely trust this woman Ashe either. The Haulers Building's security forces had been almost entirely pulled out. If something happened there, they might not have time to return in support.

"I want to send two teams back," John said, testing her.

"You can, but you'll have to explain it to the BOSS yourself afterward," Ashe answered without hesitation.

"I'll explain it myself."

After saying that, John hung up and picked up the radio. "Teams Three and Five, return to the company immediately and execute Level One alert."

"Yes!" x2

After two crisp responses, two of the eleven black vehicles turned back the way they had come.

Seeing that, John relaxed slightly. With two fully armed security teams on guard, unless a large number of armed personnel launched an open assault,

there would be no problem holding the company's key positions. ...

That night, the wail of police sirens echoed through the streets of New York.

Curious New York residents tried to find out what had happened. Some said the police were hunting a murderer, while others claimed the department was closing in on a criminal organization it had tracked for a long time.

In no time at all, seven or eight hundred different rumors had sprung up across New York City.

In Washington, United States, inside the headquarters building of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, Nick Fury, the current director, was reviewing newly obtained intelligence alongside his adjutant, Maria Hill.

"Have we found out which force made the move?" Nick asked.

A kidnapping like this would ordinarily never have drawn his attention, but it involved the Haulers Group and Ryan Garcia, forcing him to spare some time from his busy schedule.

"Not yet." Maria Hill was equally surprised as she spoke. Being able to hide it from them was not something an ordinary force could accomplish.

Nick Fury abruptly raised his head, his one remaining eye fixed on Hill. "Investigate! I want every piece of intelligence on this matter!"

For someone to cause such an incident in New York, where their control was second only to their home base, and leave them without a single lead—regardless of the reason, it made him take the matter far more seriously.

"Yes!"

Hill answered sharply. Just as she reached the office door, Nick Fury's somewhat low voice sounded behind her. "Still no news of Tony Stark?"

"Yes, still no news."

"Don't stop searching!"

Nick spoke in a low voice. It was also the last thing he could do for Howard Stark.

"I understand."

After replying blandly, Hill left the office. Nick instantly composed himself and refocused on the intelligence in front of him.

The Haulers Group was synonymous with mystery in the public eye. It always produced bestselling masterpieces by unknown authors, and with its endless stream of works, it had become a giant in the entire cultural industry in just ten years.

Ryan Garcia, the man at the helm of this commercial juggernaut, had long entered their sights. At the time, however, they had merely kept an eye on him and had not investigated him in depth. What truly made S.H.I.E.L.D.—and even Director Nick Fury himself—remember him was the explosion that had shocked the nation three years ago.

Only one person survived that explosion, while nearly a hundred died. The sole survivor was Ryan Garcia.

However, their investigation later revealed that the explosion had actually been an assassination attempt on Ryan by multiple forces. A plan that should have succeeded without question had failed for unknown reasons. Ryan's retaliation afterward threw the global economy into turmoil for several months. Every force involved went bankrupt and was acquired, while those who had personally participated met with accidents and died within one to three months. For a time, Ryan's name carried terrifying weight among the upper class of the United States!

Now that something like this had happened again, Nick truly feared that Ryan might add fuel to the fire while the United States was mired in the Subprime Crisis, pushing an already terrible economy into collapse. For that reason, even if it was only to ensure that his—no, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division's—budget for next year would not be reduced, he had to monitor the situation from start to finish and prevent it from reaching the worst possible outcome.