Chapter 1069: Heading to South Korea (Patreon)

As New York finally bid farewell to winter, the Botanical Garden launched its orchid exhibition, children laughed and played joyfully in the parks, and women rushing along the streets finally shed their overcoats for light, colorful dresses.

JJ walked briskly past a row of sewer grates, the rising air gently lifting her skirt. Although it didn’t recreate the classic Hollywood scene, if viewed in slow motion, it definitely wouldn’t pale in comparison.

“Sometimes I really hate the federal dress code,” Jack said, leaning against the Audi R8, gentlemanly opening the door for JJ.

He suddenly realized that he rarely saw the girls around him in dresses. As FBI field agents were on call 24/7, both JJ and Hannah typically wore sharp suits and slacks.

“On the contrary, I really like the way you look in formal wear.” JJ reached out to straighten Jack’s tie and took the thermos from his hand, curiously trying to peek inside.

“What weird dish did you make for Danny this time?”

“Soybean-braised pig’s feet. I gave Linda the recipe. There’s enough in here for three or four people. You girls should try it sometime—it’s great for skin and beauty.”

Jack was about to close the door for her, but JJ stopped him, a hint of concern on her face. “Are you really going to Seoul alone?”

“Fifteen dead, thirty-two seriously injured. Someone has to settle the score. Besides, those bastards even made Danny cry.” The first part of Jack’s response was full of murderous intent, but the second half made JJ burst out laughing.

“This is top secret, you know. Linda’s already warned you multiple times.” JJ tried to suppress her laughter, poking Jack in the chest with her finger in mock warning, then grew serious again.

“Just… be careful, okay? We’ll be waiting for you to come back.”

It had been nearly two months since the street ambush, and this case had become the most time-consuming one in Jack’s law enforcement career.

Of course, that didn’t mean the fugitive apprehension unit had done nothing else in those two months.

Aside from Jubal staying in Washington to work with the joint task force and Hannah recuperating at home, Jack continued to lead the rest of the team in their regular operations.

The time-consuming nature of this case wasn’t due to a lack of leads—on the contrary, there were too many. It took Jubal’s joint task force nearly a month to compile a preliminary report.

First, it was confirmed that Zhang Mingjun had already left the U.S., just as Jack suspected. In a global trade hub like New York, it wasn’t surprising that a drug and arms trafficker like Zhang had access to one or two secret smuggling routes.

From the corpses left behind by the attackers, the CIA identified a small international assassin organization. However, the intel was vague, and the investigation was still ongoing.

As the attack involved terrorism and constituted a diplomatic incident, every federal agency—especially the FBI—was under intense pressure from the State Department. But investigations into secretive international groups were rarely fast.

Reportedly, the CIA had already sent in undercover agents. What was known so far was that the group had accepted a $50 million fee to break Zhang Mingjun out.

The IRS and FBI froze a number of accounts totaling around $100 million. Besides the $50 million ransom, the assassin group, which had deviated from its usual business to engage in this prison break, ended up losing $20 million in the process.

The remaining $30 million was traced to accounts believed to be connected to Zhang Mingjun.

According to DEA intel, Zhang and his core team possessed a complete synthetic methamphetamine production method, using a variety of chemical ingredients to produce low-cost drugs.

Just as they were about to expand operations from Canada into the U.S., Zhang was arrested by Jack due to the infamous “Little Wing” missile.

The DEA estimated that this operation had nearly drained the cartel’s entire funds.

From the confessions of Zhang’s subordinates, his inner circle consisted entirely of defectors from his country’s military—men fiercely loyal to him.

Reportedly, many of them had personal vendettas against their homeland, including Zhang himself, whose wife and daughter had been killed by a high-ranking official over some unknown matter.

Jubal even suspected that Zhang’s acquisition of the “Little Wing” missile wasn’t just a business deal, but part of a plan for a terror campaign. Unfortunately, those arrested with Zhang were not in the inner circle and had only caught vague hints of this.

Zhang had allegedly talked about launching a series of terrorist attacks to spark a civil war between North and South Korea. Details were unclear.

The FBI suspected he planned to smuggle some missiles into South Korea. Considering his military background, he might actually have a decent chance of success.

Eventually, news of the NYPD mole leaked and almost reached the media. Fortunately, Frank Reagan’s old flame, Miss Davidson from the TV station, stepped in at the last moment to prevent a scandal.

Meanwhile, Mike Taylor, still on assignment in South America, made a detour to Jamaica and captured the fugitive ESU officer.

According to this officer, he had fallen into a gambling debt spiral, and a week before the attack, an Asian man approached him offering a fake passport and a $2 million advance.

The deal promised another $2 million after Zhang’s rescue—and they had indeed paid him afterward.

Though his intel was limited, it was valuable. First, it helped the FBI piece together Zhang’s escape route.

The perpetrators had pre-installed small electric carts in the sewers. After the explosion, Zhang escaped through a sewage outlet into the Hudson River, then boarded a freighter bound for Asia within two hours at a cargo terminal.

CSI’s findings in the sewer—including physical traces and markings—matched his account. They even recovered several discarded electric carts from the Hudson River.

Once Jack and Jubal compared the timeline with other intelligence sources, an unsettling suspicion arose: not only had the NYPD been compromised—so had the FBI.

Two weeks earlier, the fugitive task force had been assigned this mission through Rossi by the International Division, under the new director Jon Michaels. Jack and Aubrey had received the orders directly from him.

The original plan stated the FBI’s SWAT team would handle the prisoner transport.

Then, a secret delegation from Zhang’s home country arrived, and negotiations began, lasting over a week. That’s when Jack first met Colonel Lin Zheling and Lieutenant Park.

The plan changed at that point. Jon Michaels claimed he had accepted the delegation leader’s request to shorten the extradition process, moving the departure time up to the following morning.

That change proved crucial. It shifted the transport duty from the FBI-SWAT team to NYPD’s ESU team.

And that change was exactly what allowed Zhang’s rescue to succeed. The armored transport was specially designed—not impossible to open from the outside, but highly complex, requiring multi-person verification.

Even an expert in explosives wouldn’t be able to simply slap some C4 on the door and have it fly open like in the movies.

A brute-force detonation might breach the door, but it would also kill or seriously injure the prisoner inside.

That made the compromised ESU officer critical to the whole operation. Which raised a disturbing question: how had the attackers known a week in advance that ESU—not FBI-SWAT—would be handling the transport?

Jack and Jubal brought their suspicions to Rossi and launched a covert investigation.

Their primary suspect was, of course, Jon Michaels. He had been involved in every step of the extradition and had personally orchestrated the revised plan.

He was the one who handed the job to ESU and claimed the North delegation had asked to expedite the transfer. Jack had even come up with a plausible motive for him.

Last year, infighting had thrown the International Division into chaos. Rossi had been asked to mediate and ended up recruiting Mike Taylor into the FBI and pulling in the fugitive task force.

Thanks to those efforts, things hadn’t fallen apart. But the power struggles continued.

Eventually, the higher-ups intervened, finally bringing about a compromise.

The International Division would be downgraded, stripped of some responsibilities, and reassigned under the jurisdiction of the New York office, to be led by Dana Mosier.

Though not officially announced yet, the decision was already circulating internally. For someone like Jon Michaels—just promoted and eager to prove himself—this was clearly unwelcome news.

After the ambush, Michaels didn’t have it easy. But Dana Mosier, the program’s main advocate, also took heat.

Part of the initiative involved letting local SWAT units handle federal assignments when FBI resources were stretched.

Fortunately, the fugitive task force hadn’t slacked off and just waited at the airport. With Jack present and operating at full capacity, things were at least partially under control.

Yes, Zhang escaped. Yes, the bombs exploded. Yes, there were massive casualties. But without the task force there, things would have been exponentially worse. ESU might’ve been wiped out.

Given that Jack had been assigned to New York as liaison for this very project, Dana Mosier’s foresight in poaching him from Rossi proved invaluable—strengthening her position in the fallout.

The investigation is still ongoing, but rumor has it Jon Michaels is considering resigning—seen by some as a sign he plans to flee.

There’s no concrete proof, so launching an internal probe on mere suspicion wasn’t feasible.

Thankfully, Rossi—ever the resourceful operator—acted. North Korea was notoriously impenetrable, but their overseas diplomats were few and well-known.

A week ago, when one of those diplomats—the very one who’d headed the secret delegation—traveled abroad again, CIA agents were ready.

After some coercion, he confessed: the request to expedite extradition had come from Jon Michaels, not the North Koreans. Michaels had bribed him with $2,000 and claimed he wanted to wrap up the case quickly to bolster his resume ahead of a possible transfer.

That wasn’t admissible in court, but it was enough for Rossi to act. Michaels was now under covert surveillance.

The FBI’s OPR (Office of Professional Responsibility) launched a secret probe and discovered one of Michaels’s offshore accounts.

Coincidentally, that account received a €12 million transfer one month after Zhang’s arrest.

Tracing that transaction helped the IRS uncover Zhang’s secret network of accounts and ultimately led to the assassin group’s financial channels.

For now, Michaels remained unaware his account was about to be frozen. OIG found he was still in covert contact with individuals linked to Zhang, though the reason was unclear.

So when intel from South Korea indicated Zhang and his men had been spotted, Jack decided to go himself—leaving the rest of the team to keep an eye on Michaels.

He chose to go alone partly because of a personal grudge—Hannah’s scars from the attack, especially those on her shoulder and backside, had taken over a month to fade.

Even with Jack’s healing abilities, such injuries couldn’t just vanish overnight. It took weeks of gradual fading to be believable.

And during that time, he’d been put through the wringer by a clingy, emotionally fragile Hannah. Only now, with her nearly recovered, did Jack finally feel some relief.

Of course, he didn’t intend to act entirely solo. To facilitate a bit of underhanded action, he brought along a particular ally.

After saying goodbye to JJ, Jack headed to Kennedy Airport, where the fugitive task force’s Bombardier private jet was already waiting.

Besides the pilot and co-pilot, a stunning woman in a tailored flight-attendant-style uniform stood at the stairs—figure better than most models.

After greeting the pilots, Jack climbed aboard, then turned to glare at Anna in her short skirt and black stockings. “What the hell are you wearing?”

“Isn’t it common for private jets to have exclusive flight attendants? As your personal assistant, I can play whatever role you want,” the former FSB agent said with a wink.