If it wasn't William, then who stole the Declaration? Seddes asked Riley, "How long ago did the robber leave?"
Riley stammered, "About twenty or thirty minutes, I'm not too sure, but definitely not too long ago."
Seddes ordered his subordinate, "Lily, pull up the surrounding surveillance cameras. I want to know where that robber went. Hurry."
"Understood, sir," Lily said after making a call.
Seddes stared at Riley and asked, "Tell me everything you know, Riley, or you'll be rotting in jail."
A terrified Riley stammered out the entire sequence of events, from beginning to end. Seeing Riley speak, Ben Gates finally had to reveal what he knew. William's earlier words had finally taken effect.
Ben Gates thought to himself, if William were the mastermind, he definitely shouldn't have spared his life, because Ben Gates knew many things about William, and keeping him alive would indeed be very disadvantageous to William.
He now also wanted to know who had been lurking in the shadows, watching him. He directly stated his judgment, even mentioning how he had tried to test the robber. Finally, Ben Gates said that these people might have been watching him for a very long time, perhaps even since Ian approached him two years ago.
At this moment, Agent Lily suddenly walked in quickly and whispered something to Seddes. Seddes exclaimed, "What? How can there be no clues at all?"
"Yes, sir. The opponent is very experienced in counter-surveillance. We only found a burnt-out pickup truck with a lot of listening devices inside, but no hard drive remnants. It must have been taken away. All leads are dead."
This was going to be difficult. It wasn't easy to track down a group of experienced veterans who had planned ahead. The Secret Service now truly believed that there were indeed secret clues about a treasure on the back of the Declaration of Independence; otherwise, so many people wouldn't want to get their hands on it.
Seddes' expression darkened. It seemed he was in big trouble. If he couldn't find the Declaration of Independence in three days, he believed his superior wouldn't be polite to him and would definitely use him as a scapegoat.
He hadn't expected to encounter something like this so close to retirement, which greatly angered Seddes. He barked at his subordinates, "Handcuff Ben Gates and Riley. We're going back to Washington first."
After his subordinates cuffed Ben Gates and Riley, Sedes gnashed his teeth and said to Ben Gates, "Ben Gates, you'll rot in jail, you bastard!"
To prevent the agents accompanying him from noticing anything, William pretended to be angry with them. He kept his eyes closed on the way back to Washington D.C. and ignored them when they spoke to him.
Two hours later, back in Washington, Sedes had no evidence to detain William. Watching William walk into the hotel, Sedes, with a gloomy expression, ordered his subordinates, "Keep an eye on William Devlin 24 hours a day. I want to know his every move. Even though we don't have evidence, he's still highly suspicious."
"Understood," a subordinate replied, and several agents followed William into the hotel.
Sedes covered his face and asked the agent, "What do you make of this?"
The agent pondered for a moment before saying, "Although everything we've gathered suggests William is not involved, I have a faint intuition that all of this is inextricably linked to him.
Sedes, you've never handled international affairs, so you don't know William, but I know a lot about him. Don't let his youth fool you; William is absolutely a ruthless character who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
He spent so much time and effort searching for the treasure, yet he showed no concern for the final whereabouts of the Declaration of Independence. This is very unusual, almost as if he's deliberately trying to clear himself of suspicion."
Agent Lily listened, then asked doubtfully, "But the information we have indicates that William never intended to steal the Declaration of Independence in the first place. Dr. Abigail has already confirmed William's statement on this point."
"That's why I'm suspicious of him. William might not act himself out of concern for us, but he'd certainly be happy to see the Declaration of Independence stolen. Lily, if you were William, would you act yourself or hire someone?" the agent asked.
"So, that means William had been watching Ben Gates and his crew for two years? But that doesn't make sense. Two years ago, William Devlin was only 18, still a high school student, and he had no money. How could that be?"
Sedes also became puzzled. "What if William only started watching Ben Gates these past few days?"
After thinking for a long time, everyone had to shake their heads. Sedes sighed, "Alas, although we all know William is highly suspicious, we have no evidence. Everything needs evidence. Arresting a celebrity like William Devlin without reason would lead to the media relentlessly hounding us. If he were to retaliate and cause an international incident, both the higher-ups and England would tear us apart."
Having no other options, everyone drove back to the Secret Service office. It was already past 1 AM, and the agents, exhausted from a long day, were drowsily watching the retrieved surveillance footage while sipping coffee.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel, William suddenly felt a persistent unease. He knew this was his intuition warning him of danger. Sitting on the sofa, William pondered for over an hour, replaying all the events several times, but still couldn't pinpoint where the problem might lie.
This made him extremely irritable. He opened a bottle of whiskey, stood by the window, and took a large gulp. Where did I make a mistake? Looking at the street in front of the hotel, William suddenly thought of something as he watched the cars parked on the street.
Damn it, that car! The car parked outside the archives had a complete set of listening devices and receivers.
If that car were to be discovered, his suspicion would become even greater, because if it belonged to another group, the car wouldn't have remained parked outside the archives; it would have driven off long ago.
William put down the whiskey bottle and pondered. Heh heh, thankfully, he had an advantage. Perhaps a bad thing would turn into a good thing.
Turning, he walked into the bathroom, scanning it several times with his mental power and finding no surveillance equipment. He thought to himself that the portal would finally be put to good use.
William was still very cautious. He didn't open the portal directly into the small truck because he didn't know if the Secret Service agents had already anticipated this loophole and were ambushing around the truck, waiting for someone to take the bait.
Meanwhile, back at the Secret Service office, the agent watching the video suddenly exclaimed, "I've got it! Wireless surveillance has a limited range. Whether it's William or someone else watching Ben Gates, they must have a listening receiver. Otherwise, the bug itself can't transmit very far. Lily, pull up the surveillance footage and see if any car followed Ben Gates to Pittsburgh.
Sedes, let's go to the archives and check around the building for any suspicious vehicles or recent suspicious residents.
Hurry! Let's hope the evidence hasn't been tampered with."
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