Soon, Morin followed Dal into the CIA headquarters.
Just as they walked in, a fire alarm could be heard getting closer.
Then, a fire truck arrived at the front entrance of CIA headquarters, catching everyone's attention.
"We received an alarm from sections 3, 7, and 12," the lead firefighter, who was an impostor named Ethan, asked the front desk. "Did you receive it here?"
"We did," the front desk said, looking at the computer screen with a confused expression. "But the alarm didn't activate."
"Which section is the air conditioner in?" Ethan asked.
"Section 21, but there's no alarm there," the front desk replied.
"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 on 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..."
While the front desk was talking, Luther, the technician Ethan had specifically recruited for this mission, who was in the back of the fire truck, successfully hacked the alarm system.
The alarm went off.
"This gear is really good... Where did Ethan get all this stuff?" Luther was impressed with the equipment Ethan had brought back a few days ago.
Little did he know, this equipment was actually newly developed gear that Morin had picked up directly from the IRS's R&D department.
Of course it was good!
"Hey," another front desk employee tapped the shoulder of the person who was still talking to Ethan and pointed at the computer screen that Luther had just hacked. "There's an alarm now."
At this point, they couldn't stop them anymore. The front desk immediately said, "Follow me," and led Ethan and his team inside.
This was Ethan's plan to get in.
They first hacked the fire department's system to trigger a fire alarm at CIA headquarters, then replaced the real firefighters on the way and got here without any trouble.
Then, with the help of the highly skilled technician, Luther, they would hack the alarm system here to get a chance to go in.
But, to be honest, this plan was full of holes. So many that Morin couldn't even be bothered to point them out...
First, it was completely ridiculous that the entire building didn't evacuate or send anyone to check when the fire alarm went off.
Second, the firefighters arrived, and... they only sent one front desk employee to check for the fire?
Was manpower that tight?
Third, Ethan and his team's operation was going to take a long time. The fact that no one had come to check on them after such a long time was also ridiculous.
It was as if everyone had just forgotten about them?
Fourth, the blasted air vents... This was the biggest and most classic flaw.
Whether it was wide enough for two people to pass through, strong enough to hold the weight of several adult men, or clean enough that they could still find a rat inside, Morin couldn't be bothered to complain.
The most absurd thing was that the CIA had a laser security system at the air vent exit in the main server room...
If you already thought that someone might use the air vents, why didn't you just make the air vents smaller, or the exit smaller?
Even if the CIA headquarters was so crowded that it needed such a big air vent... whose air vent was just an empty tunnel without a fan?
Was it a natural ventilation system?
It was simply preposterous!
To be honest, Morin felt like this was an insult to his intelligence.
But...
It wasn't his teammates anyway!
The dumber the enemy, the better!
Although the CIA wasn't really an enemy, they were now on the opposite side of what Morin wanted to do. So, it was fine to call them enemies.
Morin hoped that the entire CIA staff would be blind and that Ethan would easily get the list, and he would get the ten million dollars.
Then he would catch the mole, Jim, and hand him over to Ethan, and the two of them would have completed their transaction.
So, even though he was complaining in his mind, Morin didn't show any signs of it on the outside. He just said to Dal, "Dal, what were you saying earlier?"
"Ah, what?" Dal was about to ask what had happened, but Morin's voice brought him back to reality, and he quickly answered, "We were talking about... about the CIA's renovation plan for next year!"
Morin: "...Huh?"
When did we talk about that?
"Yes, you probably don't know yet, but we're planning a large-scale renovation next year to modernize our old building."
Dal began to use the storytelling skills that the head of the administration department had to possess.
"Including the air vent system and many other aspects. This will require a lot of funding..."
As Dal was talking, he was leading Morin to the reception room, unaware that he had just narrowly escaped a life-or-death situation.
Honestly, when Morin heard Dal say something about "renovating the air vent system," his first thought was that he had been discovered, and he was already considering whether he should make a move.
But then, Morin quickly came to his senses.
Dal wasn't that smart.
It wasn't that Morin was looking down on Dal. It was just that, from any angle, Dal didn't have the ability or the information channels to know about Ethan and his plan!
A bluff, this must be a bluff.
Besides, Morin hadn't seen anything suspicious on Dal's face. And even if he had been exposed, Morin wouldn't have gone for the kill.
The goal of this mission was just to get the list. If it became a big mess and someone died, it wouldn't be good for anyone.
Although Morin wasn't afraid, he still wanted to avoid as much trouble as possible.
Ethan also saw Morin standing to the side, but with his current disguise, he couldn't greet him. He followed the front desk employee and hurried to section 21.
...
In a car on the way to CIA headquarters, a man tried to call again.
But just like the previous dozen times, the phone went unanswered.
"Fuck!" the man threw his phone aside. "What are they trying to do by not answering the phone?"
This man was the director of the CIA, Brown Query.
After receiving a call from Dal and having him explain the situation, he immediately had his driver take him to headquarters.
As the head of such a massive intelligence agency, Brown knew very well what the CIA did on a daily basis, and he knew that the CIA really couldn't handle an IRS investigation.
But he also knew that, normally, the IRS wouldn't come to them for no reason, as both departments had a lot of power and dirt on each other, so they were in a mutual state of check and balance.
At most, there were minor frictions.
But this time...
What was going on?
They were going to turn against each other for no reason?
Brown was furious and completely clueless.
*****
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