Gordon saw Joey and Jimmy come in and asked, "How was the field investigation?"

Joey nodded, "Their judgment was correct; the car was indeed modified into a giant bomb. However, the bomb itself hadn't been installed into the car. It seems that the current explosives are a backup plan, prepared to dispose of the car when necessary."

Joey opened the report Jimmy had given him and attached several photos to the whiteboard with magnets.

"There's some doubt about this spot. We've confirmed that the bomb disposal team didn't remove anything, so there must have been something extra here, but it was taken out earlier. I suspect it might have been the location for a remote control device, or there might have been other equipment intended for use together." Joey pointed to the spot he had just noticed.

Gordon looked at it, "Let's not worry about that for now, just identify the location of the bomb."

Gordon continued looking at the clues on the whiteboard, "Jimmy, could you help ask if the content from journalist Ashi's cellphone has been filtered yet?"

Jimmy nodded and left the conference room for his office, where six unfortunate souls were still sifting through those hundred-plus phone numbers.

"How are things going? Any results yet?"

One of the agents looked up at Jimmy, "Not yet, it will probably take a few more hours."

Jimmy nodded, "Currently, besides Ashi's phone, we only have that driver left." He went back to the conference room. "Agent Gordon, it will take a few more hours to finish filtering, and we've also extracted the past month's call records from the NSA. Once we've confirmed the identities behind those numbers, we can follow up individually."

Gordon nodded, his gaze shifting from the whiteboard to Jimmy, "Were you the one who investigated this case in its early stages?"

Jimmy, "Yes, it was initially just considered an accidental incident, because we found a dent behind Ashi's car and therefore went to his house to investigate. By the way, there's a surveillance team monitoring Ashi's girlfriend, Jinnie, but we haven't received any intelligence so far."

Gordon frowned, "Why are we monitoring Jinnie?"

Jimmy, "I found something suspicious in the notebook Ashi left, so I arranged a surveillance team to watch Jinnie. If someone's investigating Ashi from behind the scenes, his apartment will become an obvious target."

Gordon, "Alright, I understand. Let's leave it at that for now."

Jimmy said goodbye to Gordon and returned to his own office. Since coming back from the police parking lot, he hadn't seen Chris and didn't know what he was up to. Now that he wasn't in charge of the case, he didn't know what to do next; it all depended on Gordon.

Jimmy sat in his office for a while, where several trainee agents were busy looking up information. As he had nothing else to do, he decided to go directly to the interrogation room, which was specially designed with one-way glass allowing one to see inside from outside.

Jimmy looked through the glass into the room where two headquarters agents were questioning, and the driver seemed a bit off, looking very tired. Jimmy glanced at his watch; it had been just over two hours since he and Joey had checked the van. What techniques had these two agents used?

During his training at Quantico, the instructors focused primarily on strategic interrogation training, mainly oriented toward psychology; at most, they used fatigue tactics like the "wheel technique." Other methods of interrogation were not essentially taught by the academy; those had to be learned through everyday experience by junior agents working with senior ones. Unfortunately, Jimmy had not been so lucky since his mentors in Manhattan had never been interrogation experts.

It was a pity, for if he could observe a bit, he might learn some useful tricks. He had heard that the interrogation methods at CIA were the best. If there was a chance, it would be great to get hold of some training materials from there.

Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I saw Tom. When he left last time, he said to wait for his word, but there's been no news for so long, I don't even know if he's dead or alive.

The interrogation seemed to have no follow-up, only the transcripts were left, which was boring. Jimmy left directly and went back to rest.

The next day, Jimmy arrived at the office, and six trainee agents had already completed the mobile phone verification. They were not in the office now, and Chris wasn't there either. Jimmy looked around and headed to the conference room. Jimmy didn't know how Chris had arranged for Gordon and the others yesterday. Although he didn't know where they were staying, they really came early. By the time Jimmy arrived, the four of them were already there, writing something at the conference table.

Jimmy knocked on the door and entered the conference room, "Agent Gordon, do you have any results? What do you need me to do?"

Gordon, "You're just in time, Jimmy. Later, you need to take them to inspect that driver's residence."

Jimmy, "Has the driver confessed already? No problem, have you applied for a search warrant?"

Gordon shook his head, "No need, I have already contacted the Judicial Department. This is a potential bombing case; solving it takes precedence."

Jimmy, "Alright, I understand. Once you confirm the time, we can leave."

Gordon glanced at his watch, "In about half an hour, Scott, you guys take a half-hour break and get ready to leave."

Three agents put down what they were doing and started resting on the chairs. Seeing their state, Jimmy thought, they must not have slept last night?

Jimmy turned and left the conference room. Since they were going to investigate the driver's residence, they needed to take someone from Forensics to avoid invalidation of evidence due to procedural noncompliance.

Fortunately, Hughes had instructed Forensics not to have any objections about Jimmy being a new agent, and they readily arranged two teams of four people to accompany Jimmy later.

Everything was ready. Jimmy checked his watch to ensure it had been half an hour, then he reentered the conference room. Scott, Harry, and Joey were woken up by Gordon, freshened up in the restroom, and then followed Jimmy. They headed to the southeastern corner of Brooklyn, to a waterfront warehouse district where the driver had rented a warehouse using a fake identity.

On the drive there, Jimmy learned from Scott about the driver's identity. The driver's name was Abdul, from the Middle East, who had studied in France. After the war in Afghanistan started in the United States, he heeded the call to join a special organization, "Al-Qaeda," and as a member, he was tasked with helping someone establish a branch in Iraq.

This operation wasn't his idea but one he was executing. Thanks to his study abroad experience and a fake identity, Abdul had successfully come to New York. Over the next six months, several executors arrived in New York in various ways. Since he was not an organizer, he was unaware of the others' affairs, simply carrying out orders.

His capture rather than suicide was also due to his study-abroad experience. Although Abdul had joined the organization, he was not as fanatical as typical members; he did not sacrifice himself as the organization demanded and cowered in front of police and FBI guns.

This warehouse was Abdul's hideout. To keep a low profile, he lived here apart from the occasional stroll or hotel stay, and the car provided by his superiors, equipped with a bomb underneath, was unknown to him.

Jimmy had guessed wrong. Previously, Chris had told him that the driver hadn't spoken a word or requested a lawyer. Jimmy had thought the driver was some tough criminal but actually, it was simple—Abdul had used a fake identity, and revealing his true identity meant certain death. In such a situation, seeking a lawyer was pointless; he was prepared to tough it out.

However, the agents from headquarters directly broke him, and after some torture, he had no choice but to confess everything. Not to mention anything else, for now, it seems Abdul is likely not going to die but will spend the rest of his life in prison.

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