Chapter 203
Usuha Izuki patiently waited for Vermouth to finish her phone call, then she told him about the new developments on Eddie Cassano's side.
"...That's how it is. The person is now with the FBI."
Vermouth felt dazed: "They say the transaction video has fallen into FBI hands."
Although she didn't know how this news had leaked, there's no smoke without fire. Plus, the person had already been arrested, so having less secrecy was understandable.
But from another angle, before this, they hadn't heard a single whisper, and news only came after the dust had settled, which showed that the FBI's operation this time was truly high-level and indeed worth bragging about subtly.
Although he had long seen that the fraud had problems and that Eddie Cassano would definitely take a loss, he hadn't expected that in just a few days the person would go straight in. Usuha Izuki was stunned as he listened: "...Transaction video? Between Cassano and Vodka?"
"...Not clear." Vermouth said, "After all, it's not our mission. Even if something went wrong, any reports would definitely go to the boss..."
Usuha Izuki thought for a moment: "Call Gin."
Vermouth also snapped out of her shock—even if Vodka's mission failed, what did it have to do with her? She was just an ordinary Hollywood star who had attended a neighbor's party.
She had no sense of camaraderie. If she hadn't been startled by Usuha Izuki's "prophecy," she would actually have been in the mood to watch the show by now.
So Vermouth readily agreed, raising her hand to call Gin.
When Gin saw Vermouth's incoming call, remembering that Vermouth was currently in Los Angeles, it was normal for her to hear news. Plus, the incident involved Hollywood people, so she might even know some inside information. Therefore, his finger that was about to hang up moved and tapped to answer.
"Gin, your mission this time... it didn't go wrong just like Botanist said, did it?" Vermouth asked with sarcasm.
"..."
Gin's head ached.
Yes, as soon as news came out that Eddie Cassano was arrested by the FBI, Gin's first reaction was to remember Botanist's prediction about Eddie Cassano having a "bloody disaster."
As for undercover agents and such, although Gin had some doubts, based on years of deep-rooted prejudice, he still mostly felt that Usuha Izuki was talking nonsense, a blind cat catching a dead mouse—who said that just because Eddie Cassano was arrested by the FBI, it had to be related to that researcher?
The incident had just happened, information was still being gathered, things were a bit chaotic, and it wasn't certain which link had the problem. So the cautious Gin was currently only willing to acknowledge Usuha Izuki's normal judgment of people. As for undercover agents...
"I said that Japanese researcher was problematic." Usuha Izuki moved close to Vermouth's phone, speaking shamelessly. "I already had Vodka tell you guys to be careful. You guys still haven't reported that guy?"
Hearing Usuha Izuki's voice, Gin's grip on the phone tightened.
He hadn't spoken directly with Usuha Izuki for quite a while, but Gin was never afraid of Usuha Izuki—he just found him annoying. Therefore, he spoke just as rudely, coldly mocking: "If you really saw something, why didn't you follow your habit and directly say he was an FBI undercover agent?"
Such a vague "undercover agent" sounded like random talk.
Usuha Izuki's tone immediately became somewhat displeased: "Hah? I did think he didn't seem like a researcher at all, but he didn't seem like FBI either! Why do I have to say he's an FBI undercover agent!"
Gin became even more impatient listening to this. If not FBI, who could it be? The FBI must have been planning this for a long time to achieve such a decisive victory. Botanist couldn't even see this and was still making trouble here. If not for the boss protecting him, he would have taught this guy a lesson long ago.
So Gin simply skipped over Usuha Izuki and directly asked the caller: "Vermouth, did you call just to ask about this?"
Compared to Gin, Vermouth trusted Usuha Izuki's words a bit more: "Yes, who told you guys not to listen to Botanist? If you had earlier—"
Gin hung up the phone.
He was really busy as hell right now. He had also heard about the FBI possibly having video footage. If they captured Vodka's figure...
Considering that Vodka always wore sunglasses day and night, the impact might not be particularly severe. The main concern was whether the transaction dialogue recorded in the video had exposed organizational information—that was the most important thing.
So after hanging up, Gin had to continue gathering personnel to work overtime investigating this incident.
Because Vodka might be targeted by the FBI, he could only stay at the base organizing intelligence, feeling guilty that he might have dragged them down.
When people realize they might have made a mistake, they can't help but constantly replay events, and even though there's no regret medicine in the world, they can't help thinking, "if only I had done such and such back then."
Vodka was the same.
"Big brother." Finally, Vodka couldn't help but speak: "If we had believed Botanist back then..."
Gin said decisively: "We did believe him, which is why you can sit here safely now."
If he hadn't thought there was some possibility to Usuha Izuki saying Eddie Cassano would have a bloody disaster, would he have had Vodka withdraw early?
They might have been caught in the FBI's dragnet!
But Vodka wasn't talking about that: "If we had told Eddie Cassano about that undercover agent..."
Maybe Eddie Cassano could have prepared countermeasures in advance, and it wouldn't have come to the point where the person was arrested, all goods were confiscated, and their deposit was also wasted.
Not to mention the hidden danger of him possibly being recorded on video.
The more Vodka replayed events, the more he felt that if they had listened to that Usuha Izuki kid earlier, things might not have reached this point.
Such regret!
But Gin couldn't stand hearing Vodka speak admiringly of that unreliable street punk Usuha Izuki. He sneered: "Listen to Botanist? If we listened to everything Botanist said, you'd be finished even faster than this time! Do you really believe that researcher was an undercover agent? Botanist couldn't even tell if the other party was FBI!"
That was also true.
The specific situation hadn't been investigated yet. Maybe the person Usuha Izuki identified actually had no problems? Then wouldn't they be able to use that to slap him in the face?
Vodka was immediately filled with motivation.
Although Gin kept a cold face, he also had a feeling of wanting to prove something—Usuha Izuki's tone of "you'll suffer right in front of you for not listening to me" on the phone was really disgusting. He wanted to completely beat back Usuha Izuki's arrogance so this guy would stop causing trouble in the future!
This might be a once-and-for-all benefit. Gin felt that even Vodka's sunglasses appearance in the footage might not be as important as this—a terrible work environment causes huge negative impacts on workers' physical and mental health. Wasn't the importance high enough?
Perhaps because the big fish Eddie Cassano had already been netted, plus the FBI had just had an embarrassing scandal where one of their own wanted to bomb experts coming to America for a conference, they really needed to boost morale internally. So regarding this case, the FBI wasn't hiding anything.
Eddie Cassano's identity was also quite special—he was a Hollywood celebrity. Hollywood paparazzi had more timely information than the organization. Things they had discovered before but buried for money were all dug up again to make a second profit. For several consecutive days, newspapers and TV were full of news related to Eddie Cassano.
There were even interviews with Eddie Cassano. With evidence being ironclad and everyone who should be arrested already caught, they could slowly deal with the few fish that slipped through the net. The FBI, having gained some achievements, was generous.
Thanks to American culture, after discovering he couldn't turn things around, Eddie Cassano didn't refuse this appearance opportunity. While struggling desperately to beautify his image, he strongly condemned the guys who had caused his downfall.
"I was deceived! I encountered a fraud ring! They pretended to be experts, researchers, and even FBI..."
Simply put, this fraud ring first pretended to have a "new product" formula that they wanted their researcher to sell to them. Eddie Cassano paid 10 million dollars for this.
But midway, that guy pretending to be a researcher was bought off by the FBI and betrayed them, selling them out to the FBI. So the FBI caught them red-handed at the transaction site and obtained transaction video.
Eddie Cassano wasn't experiencing this kind of situation for the first time, so he chose to bribe the FBI in front of him with money, spending 100 million dollars to buy the evidence of his crime.
He had even asked them what would happen if the FBI didn't honor the deal. That FBI agent said, "The evidence of my bribery is in your hands—what are you afraid of?"
Eddie Cassano thought that made sense.
Only when he was arrested by the FBI for the second time did he discover that the previous wave of FBI agents were actually also the fraud ring in disguise. That is to say, they had swindled a total of 110 million dollars from him...
Of course, all this came out of Eddie Cassano's mouth after some packaging, but the FBI people dismantled his story, so everyone basically understood what had happened.
The FBI's external spokesperson also took this opportunity to boost their reputation: "We FBI would never do things like taking bribes. Please believe in our professional ethics blah blah blah..."
Vodka silently turned down the TV volume.
The atmosphere in the room was very heavy. Gin's low pressure was already affecting Vodka's breathing.
Because Usuha Izuki had already returned to Seattle, besides Vodka and Gin, there was also Vermouth in the room.
Vermouth didn't care about Gin's mood at all. She just sighed in admiration:
"Botanist was completely right. You see, that fraud really was playing an undercover agent and really wasn't FBI... No problem there. You should have believed him earlier, right?"
Gin: "..........."
Vodka: "..........."
They had wanted to slap Usuha Izuki in the face, but now their own faces were swollen.
Usuha Izuki really hadn't been talking nonsense. That guy really was... sort of an "undercover agent"?!
But hadn't Usuha Izuki also said they were undercover agents? Whether they were undercover agents or not—didn't they know themselves?!
What was wrong with suspecting Usuha Izuki of talking nonsense!
Even though Gin and Vodka shouted "impossible, absolutely impossible!" countless times in their hearts and found countless excuses to absolve themselves, they couldn't fight the fact that proved everything—they were completely wrong, and the biggest mistake was not believing what Usuha Izuki said.
Vodka had completely fallen apart.
Originally working overtime with the crisis of possibly being exposed in the footage hanging over his head, his nerves had been tense. Now with this incident, Vodka's spirit completely collapsed.
He even thought in a daze:
Usuha Izuki wasn't wrong, so who was wrong? It must be me.
But Usuha Izuki said I was an undercover agent—how do I explain that?
Could it be that I actually am an undercover agent, but I forgot? Maybe I had someone hypnotize me to avoid scrutiny?
It seems plausible, but could there be such a ridiculous possibility?! I'm not me—I'm just an undercover agent?
Who! Is the undercover! Undercover! Who exactly is it!
Vermouth asked: "Have you reported this incident to that lord?"
"Not yet..." The sleep-deprived Vodka was mentally confused and didn't know what he was saying anymore. "Big brother has to decide this. What if big brother really is an undercover agent..."
Gin, who was equally shocked but barely maintaining composure, had a pitch-black expression: "...??? How could I possibly be an undercover agent!"
Vodka, startled awake by the killing intent, quickly said: "Right, coincidence! Just once—this must just be a coincidence!"
How to report to the boss needed careful consideration...
Otherwise, if they weren't careful, this fire might spread to him and big brother, who had similarly been identified as undercover agents by Usuha Izuki!