Chapter 1358: Overt Ploy, Self-Investigation
This was Luke's overt ploy.
He knew that Amanda Waller didn't dare protect these informants, because what she had asked these gangsters to do couldn't be revealed.
From the evidence he gave, there was no doubt that the gang bigshots wouldn't be able to escape.
Secondly, most of the blame fell on the gang members under Amanda's 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 weren't officials, and didn't even know Amanda's 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 York's D.A. to nail them aboveboard, and didn't need to lift a finger at all to kill them himself.
Amanda Waller didn't 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 didn't 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 you're 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 didn't communicate with them personally, the people who helped her couldn't 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 wasn't because Luke was smart, but because Amanda couldn't expose herself.
…
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 hadn't been exposed during the operations.
Flegg had a sense of foreboding, but when he asked, Amanda didn't give him an answer.
But he clearly didn't 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, "Is it related to Batman?"
"Huh?" The deputy leader suddenly thought of something. "Wait, 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 gangsters…"
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 "snakes."
In the past, they hadn't 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 Batman's actions — he was looking for trouble with the Research Unit.
Flegg didn't ask again. This question didn't need a 100% definite answer
Did Batman need to give Flegg a reason for what he did? Obviously not.
"Look into it carefully. You better pray that your men don't have any private dealings with the New York gangs, otherwise…" Flegg didn't finish, because he didn't know what would happen either.
They would be crippled at the very least, and paralyzed at worst; whatever the case, they wouldn't 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, "Are you sure those guys didn't leave anything online?"
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. "Okay, I've done a search. We didn't miss anything."
Looking at Amanda's solemn expression, he added, "But if those guys did secretly copy some videos and didn't upload them to the Internet, there's nothing I could do. You know that I'm only responsible for things online. It's impossible for me to remotely erase files in an external drive."
Amanda nodded. She was well aware of that.
However, those bigshots were all idiots. She didn't think they had those sorts of brains.
In fact, the thin young man had found very little information online. Those bigshots basically didn't know how to use online backup.
The thin young man didn't say anything else.
His worries didn't 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.