FBI Washington Headquarters, Task Force 13 meeting room.
Looking at every picture on the conference table that needed to be pixelated, Reesi couldn't help but click her tongue repeatedly:
"I didn't expect Sarls to be so beautiful but have such a ruthless heart."
"Is it necessarily Sarls who did it?"
Chenier frowned, looking up at Roland and asked:
"Doesn't Hale Rick have enemies? Is there a possibility that after Hale Rick went to jail, his enemies started taking revenge on his family?"
"Hale Rick has been in the underground arms market for many years; it's impossible for him not to have enemies."
Roland shook his head and replied:
"But as to who actually did these things, our CIA hasn't found useful information yet. We can only say that all possibilities exist."
Group Leader Luo An waved his hand to interrupt Reesi, who was about to say more, and gestured towards Roland to continue.
Roland picked up a folder and continued to introduce:
"Sarls' mother is named Mary, a pianist who is 48 years old. She gave birth to Sarls at the age of 19 with Hale Rick.
Before becoming an underground arms dealer, Sarls inherited her mother's hobby and talent, teaching piano in a certain African country as a music teacher."
Staring at the photo of Sarls tenderly playing the piano, Winslow expressed his surprise:
"Switching from a teacher to an underground arms dealer, that's quite a leap in careers."
The others were similarly surprised but were silent. Roland continued:
"After becoming an underground arms dealer, Sarls was ruthless. In a very short period of time, she wiped out nearly 10 competitors and seized a large share, rapidly expanding her power.
But this approach also meant she made a lot of enemies in a short time.
Ever since she entered the underground arms trade, Sarls has never settled down, constantly in a cycle of 'doing business – seizing territory – assassinating others – being attacked and targeted by assassinations.'"
Looking at the nearly ten arms dealers on the conference table killed by Sarls, agents of Task Force 13 had various expressions.
However, they had to admit that Sarls was very formidable; surviving so many attempts of vengeance and attacks to this day was not ordinary.
Luo An, however, noticed something else and asked:
"These arms dealers who were killed are from Africa and South America, their territories don't reside in the same country—does Sarls not have a fixed base or operational area?"
"Indeed, she doesn't." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NoveI★Fire.net
Roland shook his head, explaining:
"Because of the many enemies, Sarls rarely stays in the same place for long.
She has safe houses and secret bases in many countries across Africa and South America; she's often flying around with her people, so it's impossible for anyone to determine her exact whereabouts."
Hearing Roland's words, agents on both sides of the conference table frowned. Mona stopped the motion of typing on her keyboard and asked:
"If we cannot determine Sarls' exact whereabouts, how are we going to catch her?"
Roland spread his hands, indicating he was also at a loss, then shifted his gaze towards Luo An.
Winslow, Chenier, and the others also looked towards Luo An. After pondering for a few seconds, Luo An asked:
"Roland, can your CIA help us create some fake identities so we can contact Sarls under the guise of buying weapons and meet with her?"
Roland shook his head and said:
"Creating fake identities is easy, but Sarls won't show up in person for regular arms deals; she'll have her subordinates handle the transactions.
For big deals, Sarls only deals with regulars or people recommended by regulars."
All agents present brightened up at the words, and Luo An also smiled, saying:
"The next steps are fairly straightforward. First, we find an acquaintance, find a way to 'persuade' him, and then get him to willingly and kindly introduce me to Sarls."
"That's a good plan."
Roland picked up the folder and said:
"I'll go back and investigate Sarls' acquaintances, then screen for suitable candidates to pick one and have a chat with him."
Before Roland had finished speaking and had packed up his folder ready to leave the conference table, Mona raised her hand to interrupt him, exclaiming loudly:
"I've already logged into the CIA database; I can find information on Sarls' acquaintances right away."
Upon hearing Mona's words, Winslow, Chenier, Michelle became speechless, while Reesi's eyes lit up as she quickly moved closer to Mona. Luo An helplessly raised his hand to cover his eyes, knowing it would be .
Roland's face was filled with disbelief as he said incredulously:
"You logged into the CIA's database? How is that possible? Its security level is so high..."
"It's not that complicated."
Mona typed away at the keyboard, smiling as she said:
"I didn't hack into the CIA's database; I simply borrowed the credentials of a certain CIA agent and used his access to look up the information.
He is one of the CIA's own; the database won't flag any issues."
Roland's temples throbbed as he remembered when everyone had first met, and Mona had asked him for some information under the pretense of "verifying identity"... His instincts told him he might be quite familiar with the "certain agent" Mona was talking about.
Roland was just about to speak when Luo An preemptively cut him off and took him out of the conference room.
Entering the rest area, Luo An turned on the coffee machine to grind some coffee, poured Roland a cup, and then asked with a smile:
"Agent Roland, I'll cut to the chase, could you tell me, who is Sarls working for?"
Roland intended to discuss Mona's actions with Luo An, but upon hearing Luo An's question, his expression immediately turned solemn, and he said seriously:
"I'm sorry, Group Leader Luo An, I don't know what you're referring to..."
Luo An took a sip of his coffee and looked at Roland with a half-smiling, half-serious expression, saying:
"In the underworld of arms trading, you can't do business without someone backing you up, because arms dealers are not manufacturers of guns and ammunition; they are merely middlemen and transporters.
What the CIA does abroad, I'm not interested in, nor do I wish to know too much.
However, as this matter concerns me and my team members, I must find out who's behind Sarls, OK?"
For political and profit motives, staging coups, assassinations, supporting puppet regimes, helping the rise of strongmen, using others to do dirty work—these are the things the CIA has done.
In such a vast market of illegal arms trade, the CIA naturally wouldn't miss out. Therefore, probably half of the world's arms dealers are associated with the CIA, and some of them actually are the CIA.
Previously, considering the responsibilities of the FBI, Luo An had always thought that the Sarls case would eventually be transferred to the CIA and handled by them.
It was beyond imagination that the case would end up with his own investigation team, accompanied by a CIA agent, allowing the 13th investigation team to organize an international capture operation.
For a moment, a plethora of potential conspiracies flashed through Luo An's mind—like using others as pawns, scapegoating, and the proverbial "mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
It's not that Luo An was inherently suspicious, always expecting the worst.
But since this was originally a CIA matter, having FBI agents like him act out was kind of stealing their job from a certain point of view.
Plus, with the CIA's reputation for being almost as dirty as sludge, without any admixture of the "clean" impurity...
The break room was dead silent, seconds and minutes ticking by. After a long silence, Roland finally said in a low voice:
"Group Leader Luo An, do you know MI6?"