Chapter 1358: Overt Ploy, Self-Investigation
This was Lukeâs overt ploy.
He knew that Amanda Waller didnât dare protect these informants, because what she had asked these gangsters to do couldnât be revealed.
From the evidence he gave, there was no doubt that the gang bigshots wouldnât be able to escape.
Secondly, most of the blame fell on the gang members under Amandaâs control.
These people were basically the backbone of their gangs.
With some support from Amanda, they got rid of a few competitors, made a small fortune, and sat in key positions in the gang, which made it easier for them to do things for Amanda.
They werenât officials, and didnât even know Amandaâs face or identity.
Thanks to the evidence which Luke provided, these dozen or so people were all charged with serious felonies.
He used NYPD and New Yorkâs D.A. to nail them aboveboard, and didnât need to lift a finger at all to kill them himself.
Amanda Waller didnât want to blow the matter up or draw too much attention.
If they really started wrangling, even a slightly capable intelligence agency would find out. She didnât want to be targeted by these so-called colleagues of hers.
Furthermore, the cost of getting these people out would cripple her, and would expose her existence.
So, she could only watch these useful minions go to prison and become useless trash.
This was Luke telling Amanda Waller:?
I like seeing how you gnash your teeth but can only retreat and hole up in a corner.
The Department of Defense was very capable, and so was the Joint Advanced Research Unit, enough so that it had been easy as pie for Flegg to try and recruit Luke, this minor detective, back then.
Flegg was confident because the Joint Advanced Research Unit was just that confident.
If only one or two people had been caught this time, Amanda might not even have to show up and could have gotten someone to drop the NYPD execs a hint for the men to be released.
However, over a hundred felons, tens of millions in seized goods and a lot of follow-up leads had turned NYPD and the D.A. into wolves that had latched onto their prey and refused to let go.
What Department of Defense? What secret organization? Go to hell! If youâre so capable, hand over the official documents.
And even if there really were official documents, the New York police would do their best to delay the case.
The credit and the money were all here. Why should they give it to the Department of Defense? When did the Department of Defense start hiring gangsters?
If they wanted to take them, they had to cover the cost.
But no one was willing to pay the cost of fishing out hundreds of felons in one go.
And this was just the first phase.
Tomorrow, more than 20 gangs that cooperated with Amanda to some extent would be in trouble.
These gangs also had some connections with the 11, and Amanda had to rely on them to complete certain missions.
And the message Luke was sending? Hehe, he already had an eye on these gangs.
The more Amanda did, the more she was exposing herself.
Even if she was cautious and didnât communicate with them personally, the people who helped her couldnât escape.
This was the power of an overt ploy.
The opponent could only choose the size of their loss, and had no right to choose whether or not they would lose.
Of course, it wasnât because Luke was smart, but because Amanda couldnât expose herself.
âŠ
In an underground base, Flegg, who had been tossing and turning restlessly, was woken up by his phone.
Picking up the call, he said a few words, before Amanda quickly hung up on the other end.
Amanda had him immediately check the teams, especially those who had previously been on capture assignments in New York, to ensure that their identities hadnât been exposed during the operations.
Flegg had a sense of foreboding, but when he asked, Amanda didnât give him an answer.
But he clearly didnât have to do much. While he was gathering his team, one of the other deputy leaders gave him a call.
He had a good relationship with this deputy leader, who had called to swap information.
What still bothered Flegg was not knowing what Batman had asked him yesterday.
So, he asked his friend, âIs it related to Batman?â
âHuh?â The deputy leader suddenly thought of something. âWait, before I returned to the base, a friend from New York called me and said that Batman and Black Cat had crippled hundreds of New York gangstersâŠâ
He paused.
New York had the largest populace in the United States and was a metropolis where people from all over the world gathered. They had led their teams there to carry out missions before.
Occasionally, they needed the help of the local âsnakes.â
In the past, they hadnât delved too deeply into it. After all, in a secret organization like theirs, people who were too curious and wanted to dig deeper would definitely die quick deaths.
But now that Amanda had given the order, there was one possible reason for Batmanâs actions â he was looking for trouble with the Research Unit.
Flegg didnât ask again. This question didnât need a 100% definite answer
Did Batman need to give Flegg a reason for what he did? Obviously not.
âLook into it carefully. You better pray that your men donât have any private dealings with the New York gangs, otherwiseâŠâ Flegg didnât finish, because he didnât know what would happen either.
They would be crippled at the very least, and paralyzed at worst; whatever the case, they wouldnât be able to live intact for the rest of their lives.
While Flegg was privately gathering intelligence, Amanda was also very busy.
She was in her forties and wore a business suit. She was tall and had short, curly hair.
Although she was now an administrator, she had fought on the front line for years, and still maintained a certain level of training. She was quite strong, and not fat.
In front of her was the phone, and not far away was a thin young man who was operating a virtual screen.
After hanging up, she asked casually, âAre you sure those guys didnât leave anything online?â
The thin young man had his eyes closed and was wearing a strange helmet. Images and data flashed past on the virtual screen.
A moment later, they stopped moving. He heaved a sigh of relief and opened his eyes. âOkay, Iâve done a search. We didnât miss anything.â
Looking at Amandaâs solemn expression, he added, âBut if those guys did secretly copy some videos and didnât upload them to the Internet, thereâs nothing I could do. You know that Iâm only responsible for things online. Itâs impossible for me to remotely erase files in an external drive.â
Amanda nodded. She was well aware of that.
However, those bigshots were all idiots. She didnât think they had those sorts of brains.
In fact, the thin young man had found very little information online. Those bigshots basically didnât know how to use online backup.
The thin young man didnât say anything else.
His worries didnât stop there.
He had been the one to clean up after the explosions, and in the end, two people had started investigating him online.
It was probably Batman and Iron Man.