Chapter 1514: Bad News and “Bad” Suspicion
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor:Henyee Translations
Now that he had locked onto the mastermind, Luke wasn’t in a hurry.
The harvest operation in Mexico had already proven that the more prepared the other party was, the greater the gains when they were caught.
Capturing Clairvoyant Garrett was nothing, Only by keeping an eye on Garrett and digging out Hydra would Luke be able to maximize the man’s worth.
It would be even better if he could be used to contact the other “heads” of Hydra.
However, it wouldn’t be easy for Luke to investigate this matter.
s.h.i.+ELD had a tight security system. It would be impossible for him to get a list of members whom Garrett was in contact with every day.
But someone else could.
Luke sent Phil a message.
Half an hour later, they met again.
Someone walked out of the dark alley and got into the pa.s.senger seat. He looked at Phil and nodded. “This second model is more pleasing to the eye.”
Phil immediately confirmed that it was Big Dipper.
n.o.body except Big Dipper knew that this was the second model of the new mask.
Phil started the car and asked, “You said you found something big, What is it?”
Luke said, “Let me state my terms first.”
Phil: “No problem, go ahead.”
Luke said, “I have to be involved in the cleanup operation. Hm, for example, can you arrange a temporary ident.i.ty as a s.h.i.+ELD agent for me?”
Phil: “This…”
Luke waved his hand. “Ask Nick Fury. No need to give me an answer right away.”
Phil: “Okay.”
Luke said, “Let me tell you first, so that you don’t expose yourselves. John Garrett, have you heard of this name?”
Phil’s hands jerked, and so did the car. “Who?”
Luke said, “John Garrett. Also, there’s a younger guy named Grant Ward with him. He should be a problem too.”
Phil took a deep breath and didn’t say anything.
John Garrett, a level 7 s.h.i.+ELD agent, was slightly older than Phil and had made more contributions.
Factoring in the people involved with Garrett, it was a terrifying number.
For example, Phil, a newly promoted level 6 agent, had had more than 50 s.h.i.+ELD agents work under him before, and had worked with more than 300 other personnel, and his boss was Nick Fury.
If Phil was a suspect, these people, including Nick Fury, would be included in the investigation.
Garrett had even more seniority and had made more contributions, so there were more than 200 s.h.i.+ELD agents connected to him.
Worst of all, Garrett’s direct superior was… Alexander Pierce.
This was the previous s.h.i.+ELD director, and one of the five members of the World Security Council.
Nick Fury had become the director with Pierce’s strong support.
From this point of view, Phil being Hydra was much less harmful than Garrett being Hydra.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Phil had always been calm and had “died” recently, he would probably be tearing his hair out right now.
He didn’t suspect Big Dipper of giving him fake information.
Big Dipper was telling him this information so that Nick Fury could verify it for himself.
This wasn’t a TV show. Phil and Nick Fury weren’t stupid enough to immediately arrest Garrett on hearsay.
But if Garrett was Hydra, that would be too big a problem.
As for Grant Ward, Phil had a deep impression of him.
This young man was capable, calm and courageous. He was the most promising new agent for s.h.i.+ELD.
Give Ward ten years, and he would be able to become a level 7 agent.
But now… d*mmit! It was Garrett who had brought Ward in; they even went on vacation together.
They had a deeper relations.h.i.+p than between a regular teacher and student.
If Garrett was Hydra, could Ward be “clean”?
Worst of all, there were more than a few s.h.i.+ELD agents like Ward whom Garrett had brought in.
Luke gave Phil a few minutes before he continued, “Lamar was under Garrett’s control. He implanted a ‘Clairvoyant System in Lamar’s eyes. He uses the system to keep an eye on people and give orders at any time, or burn their brains out if he has to. The people under his control know him as the
Clairvoyant. You should be mindful of that.”
Phil’s mind was in a mess, but he took note.
But Luke wasn’t done. “Lamar’s mechanical arm is probably related to Roxxon Corporation. You can investigate whether Garrett is working with this company.”
Phil finally hit the brake and put his hand to his forehead. “Any other bad news?”
His head felt like it was about to explode when he heard the name Roxxon.
From Luke’s description, Garrett had a large number of subordinates and friends in s.h.i.+ELD, and he could use some Clairvoyant System to control the “Death Soldiers.”
Not only did he have a Mexican cartel which made a billion in dirty money a year, he was also working with a giant corporation like Roxxon.
This one person had enough power to go up against all of s.h.i.+ELD.
Luke chuckled. “It’s not bad news, but a ‘bad’ suspicion. Want to hear it?”
Phil said, “Go on.”
Although he didn’t want to hear it, he had to.
Luke said, “Hydra’s catchphrase is: Cut off one head and two more will grow. You’re familiar with this, right?”
Phil nodded.
Luke said, “Supposing that s.h.i.+ELD did cut off its head before, we’ve only just found Garrett, this one ‘head’.”
Phil:
As soon as Luke said that, Phil understood.
If Garrett, who had worked for s.h.i.+ELD for more than ten years, was Hydra, then there couldn’t be just one “head” in s.h.i.+ELD.
Without the ability to spread like a virus, would Hydra dare claim that two more heads would grow?
This proved that s.h.i.+ELD had a big problem — at least, much bigger than Nick Fury and Phil had expected.
‘The s.h.i.+ELD agents were divided into ten levels and roughly three groups.
‘The first group was comprised of level 1 to level 3 rookies and support staff
The second group consisted of level 4 to level 6 agents and core staff, which included fieldwork and logistics.
The third group was made up of level 7 special agents who had their own teams and were responsible for certain individual matters (such as managing a branch).
As for the remaining level 8 and level 9 agents, they were rare in s.h.i.+ELD, and could be counted on one hand. As for level 10, Phil only knew one person who had reached this level — Nick Fury.
In terms of jurisdiction, agents between level 1 and level 6 could only make inquiries within their work scope.
Level 7 agents and above could obtain most intelligence on cla.s.sified projects.
This also meant that about 50% of s.h.i.+ELD’s intelligence was open to Garrett.
Someone knowing half of the workings of a secret service organization was the same as putting your life in their hands.
Looking at Phil’s worried face, Luke didn’t feel anything, and even wanted to laugh.
‘What was a big problem for Phil was a big gift bag of points for Luke!
If he didn’t make clear now how serious the situation was, Nick Fury might still dream about taking Hydra down himself.
At least half of the total points from this “instance” was Luke’s!
He had saved Phil twice and dug up Garrett; he had to get the “reward” that was his due..