Soon, Morin followed Dal into CIA headquarters.
The moment they stepped inside, the sound of a fire alarm grew closer.
Then, a fire truck pulled up in front of the building, instantly drawing attention.
"We received an alarm from sections 3, 7, and 12," the lead firefighter said to the front desk. The man was an impostor-Ethan. "Did you receive it here?"
"We did," the front desk replied, staring at the screen with a confused look. "But the alarm didn't activate."
"Which section houses the air conditioning system?" Ethan asked.
"Section 21. But there's no alarm there," the front desk answered.
"I need to go in and check the situation," Ethan said.
"I'm sorry, but you can't enter a section without an alarm," the front desk refused.
"Do you want the entire building to catch fire?" Ethan asked.
"I'm sorry, but that's the rule. No one is allowed to enter a section without an alarm unless there's a-"
Before the sentence could finish, the technician Ethan had specifically recruited for this mission-Luther, seated in the back of the fire truck-successfully hacked the alarm system.
The alarm went off.
"This equipment is incredible..." Luther muttered. "Where did Ethan even get this stuff?"
What Luther didn't know was that the gear had been freshly developed and picked up directly by Morin from the IRS R&D department.
Of course it was good.
"Hey," another front desk employee tapped the colleague who had been speaking with Ethan and pointed at the screen Luther had just hacked. "There's an alarm now."
At that point, there was no reason to stop them.
"Follow me," the front desk said immediately, leading Ethan and his team inside.
This was Ethan's entry plan.
First, hack the fire department's system and trigger an alarm at CIA headquarters. Then intercept and replace the real firefighters on the way. Finally, use a skilled technician to hack the internal alarm system and gain access.
But to be honest, the plan was riddled with holes.
So many that Morin couldn't even be bothered to count them.
First, when the fire alarm went off, the entire building didn't evacuate, nor did anyone seriously check the situation.
Second, when the firefighters arrived, only one front desk employee was sent to handle it.
Was manpower really that tight?
Third, Ethan and his team were going to take quite some time. The fact that no one checked on them after such a long period was absurd.
It was as if everyone had simply forgotten they existed.
Fourth-the air vents.
This was the biggest and most classic flaw of all.
Whether they were wide enough for multiple people to pass through, strong enough to support several grown men, or clean enough that someone could still find a rat inside-Morin didn't even want to complain anymore.
The most ridiculous part was that the CIA installed a laser security system at the air vent exit in the main server room.
If you already suspected someone might use the vents, why not just make them smaller?
Or shrink the exit?
Even if the headquarters was so crowded that it needed such massive air vents... whose vents were just empty tunnels with no fans?
Was it natural ventilation?
It was completely preposterous.
Honestly, Morin felt insulted.
But...
They weren't his teammates.
And the dumber the opposition, the better.
Even though the CIA wasn't truly his enemy, they were currently standing in the way of what he wanted.
That was enough.
Morin hoped the entire CIA staff stayed blind, that Ethan smoothly obtained the list, and that he himself got the ten million.
After that, he'd catch Jim-the mole-and hand him over to Ethan.
Transaction complete.
So despite all the complaints running through his head, Morin showed nothing on his face.
He simply turned to Dal. "Dal, what were you saying earlier?"
"Huh?" Dal blinked, momentarily lost, then snapped back. "Ah-right. We were talking about... about the CIA's renovation plan for next year."
Morin: "...Huh?"
When did that happen?
"Yes, you might not know yet," Dal continued smoothly, "but we're planning a large-scale renovation next year to modernize the old building."
Dal's storytelling skills-essential for the head of administration-kicked in immediately.
"Including the air ventilation system and several other areas. It's going to require a significant amount of funding..."
As he spoke, Dal led Morin toward the reception room, completely unaware that he had just brushed past a life-or-death moment.
The moment Morin heard the words "renovating the air vent system," his first instinct was that he'd been exposed.
For a split second, he was already weighing whether to make a move.
But he quickly calmed himself.
Dal wasn't that smart.
It wasn't contempt.
From any angle, Dal simply didn't have the ability-or the information channels-to know about Ethan or his plan.
A bluff.
This had to be a bluff.
Besides, Morin hadn't noticed anything unusual on Dal's face. And even if he had been exposed, Morin wouldn't immediately resort to killing.
The objective was just to get the list.
If things escalated and someone died, it would benefit no one.
Morin wasn't afraid.
He just preferred less trouble.
Ethan also spotted Morin standing off to the side, but with his current disguise, there was no way to greet him. He followed the front desk employee and hurried toward section 21.
...
Inside a car speeding toward CIA headquarters, a man tried calling again.
Just like the dozen times before, there was no answer.
"Fuck!" He threw the phone aside. "What the hell are they doing not picking up?"
The man was the CIA director.
Brown Query.
After receiving Dal's call and hearing the situation, he had immediately ordered his driver to head for headquarters.
As the head of such a massive intelligence agency, Brown knew exactly what the CIA did on a daily basis.
He also knew just how disastrous an IRS investigation could be.
But under normal circumstances, the IRS wouldn't come knocking without reason. Both sides held plenty of leverage-and plenty of dirt-on each other. They existed in a delicate balance.
At most, there were small frictions.
But this time...
What was happening?
Were they really turning on each other for no reason at all?
Brown was furious.
And completely in the dark.