New Gods of North America

As it turns out, the "professional group" is indeed much slicker than the "amateur group."

The events of that evening unfolded something like this:

An unknown individual sneaked into the residence of the monitored target in the middle of the night.

About forty minutes later, a figure climbed out of a window near the alley.

Following normal logic, the person climbing out would either be the same one who went in 'furtively' earlier, or the trench coat man living there. So Wayne didn't let the person get far before his agents discreetly apprehended them.

However, under the lights, a quick look revealed that the captured person didn't match either of them in terms of clothing. Naturally, Wayne suspected that the detective agency's personnel or the other two surveillance points had been detected by the trench coat man, so he ordered a raid on the house to arrest or pursue him immediately.

Upon entering the trench coat man's rented suite, they found someone tied up like a dumpling, gagged, and left on the bedroom floor, muttering incoherently.

The agents recognized that this person was not the trench coat man and asked about his whereabouts.

It turned out that this person was simply a petty thief with bad intentions who had overheard in a bar that the resident might be carrying a lot of cash that night.

So he planned to seize the opportunity, but instead, he was quickly taken down himself.

After subduing him, the trench coat man briefly inquired about the situation, then left him in the bedroom and quickly departed, closing the door behind him.

In this situation, a normal person would easily assume that the trench coat man had already evacuated and escaped surveillance. The predictable action would be to quickly give chase.

Unfortunately, the detective agency currently had sufficient manpower. Wayne and the agents trusted Inessa and Conner's observation skills and didn't believe that anyone else had left the building during that time. Therefore, they expanded the scope of the search and even called in the patrol officers.

In the end, they caught the trench coat man hiding in another subdivided suite in the same building, preparing to flee at the opportune moment.

This guy was quite clever. He knew that the lady across the hall was, as usual, having an affair while her husband was out drinking, and he also knew that a warehouse watchman upstairs worked day and night and was likely not at home at this hour.

So, with a little ingenuity, he stirred up a large group of people, and the lover who received his hint, quietly climbed out the window, and was inexplicably apprehended, even thanked him earlier.

Wayne didn't care about any of this. Since the patrol officers were present, the petty thief, the lover, and the trench coat man were all taken away for investigation.

Those who deserved to be judged would be judged, and those who deserved to be embarrassed would be embarrassed. As for the trench coat man, it was clear that he had accomplices. He probably realized that he was under surveillance and, unable to approach himself, came up with the trick of luring a petty thief.

At the police station, Wayne deliberately used the 'prisoner's dilemma' tactic, making the trench coat man and the assassin see each other from a distance. Then, while the iron was hot, he tried to extract more information.

Unexpectedly, both of them were quite stubborn. Even though they had only seen each other and hadn't even had a chance to make eye contact, their testimonies still seemed to be prearranged. One took full responsibility for the assassination, while the other acted ignorant and pretended to be innocent despite his age.

Wayne, after questioning them for a while, felt a bit admiration. "Does your unit have such good benefits? Or are you particularly close and unwilling to betray each other?"

The trench coat man, who claimed his name was 'Steve,' finally offered a rare explanation:

"We have a normal working relationship. There's nothing strange about our feelings."

Wayne looked at him with a strange yet understanding expression. He hadn't expected such a thing between them. As expected of a suspected intelligence organization sent by the Windsor Kingdom, this aspect was quite in line with Wayne's stereotype.

But regardless, emotional fluctuations in the interrogation subject were a good sign, meaning that this might be a good breakthrough. At least he had now admitted that he and the assassin were 'colleagues.' So Wayne had Doug continue to delve into this guy's emotional side, trying to get the trench coat man to say more.

As for Wayne himself, he returned to the assassin's side, intending to replicate the process and see if he could open another breakthrough.

The assassin didn't seem to have much affection for the trench coat man.

Wayne, while lamenting 'another unrequited love,' continued to tell the assassin about the other's deep affection.

Men are often easily softened by those who like them, sometimes even feeling guilt or a sense of letting them down, and then wanting to make amends.

Wayne didn't have much practical experience in emotional matters, but his theoretical knowledge was extensive. Soon, this assassin named 'Carl' was made somewhat unconfident by Wayne, becoming somewhat resistant while also slowly falling into memories, sometimes looking like he was moved, sometimes like he was afraid, and then the two emotions seemed to cycle.

Inessa, meanwhile, kept watch back and forth between the two solitary cells. Even if these two guys were still unwilling to reveal anything about the case, as long as they started confiding in the past, then everything would be traceable.

At least, through the events of that night, the detective agency had confirmed that their group definitely consisted of more than two people. Even if this case didn't ultimately involve figures like Pastor Bazzini, then if the quality wasn't enough, they could make up for it with quantity. Catching a few more accomplices would probably barely suffice.

He was just afraid that Bishop Corleone would still be dissatisfied. It would be best to dig out the assassin's motives more clearly.

Pastor Tyrrell seemed to be more 'motivated' in this matter, perhaps as long as they could catch someone, he would have a way to involve certain people.

Everything seemed to be developing in a positive direction.

Wayne was constantly adding fuel to the fire on both sides, hoping that the two criminals would save each other, and then the bad news came.

"Lina was attacked?! Is she injured?"

This was truly a possibility that Wayne had never considered. Lina's self-defense capabilities were among the best in the detective agency. Logically, the tasks she had been performing recently weren't very dangerous. He hadn't expected that something would happen on her side instead.

Willie, who had been cooperating with Lina in playing the role of a 'noble lady in distress,' quickly dispelled Wayne's worries:

"Miss Lina is fine, but Mr. Morier is injured."

"For safety's sake, Miss Lina took him to our detective agency's temporary base, but he's not yet aware of Miss Lina's relationship with us. He only believes that Miss Lina is seeking emergency help."

Still have to act…

Wayne pondered briefly. Two things happening in one night, could it be that the assassin's accomplices were starting to 'clean up'?

If that were the case, then their scale seemed to be larger than he had imagined.