Legendary FBI Detective
Chapter 471: The Greater Hidden Circumstances Behind the Case

Chapter 471: Chapter 471: The Greater Hidden Circumstances Behind the Case

Southern Los Angeles, at a subway station platform.

Nearly a hundred bystanders stood to both sides, forming two walls of people, their attention focused on the two individuals in FBI bulletproof vests, especially Luo An who was making a phone call.

Moments before, Luo An’s punches landed with meaty thuds against Ernest, a scene that made many men in the audience stare with shocked expressions.

The women present were even more excited than the men—Luo An had moved like a cheetah to get in front of Ernest and punched him until he fell unconscious, eliciting screams from many female spectators.

Looking at Luo An’s handsome face, the younger girls wished they could take the place of the blonde woman Luo An was holding.

While the more mature women in the audience were already quietly making their way toward Luo An and Chenier, plotting how to get his contact information.

Chenier: "..."

Luo An ignored the stares of the bystanders. He was more concerned about what Reesi had just said over the phone, and he asked solemnly in a low voice:

"What exactly is going on with Potante Byrne’s suspension? Can you find out the details?"

"Sorry, I can’t."

Reesi looked somewhat anxious; she had just heard of this news from the mouths of certain people inside the FBI Los Angeles, confirming it as true, but she also didn’t know the specific details.

At this moment, Chenier, who had just handcuffed Ernest, suddenly heard her phone ringing in her pocket.

She pressed the answer key and her face turned serious instantly when she heard the voice inside, and then she looked up at Luo An and said:

"Luo An, it’s for you."

Luo An frowned slightly, gently placing the blonde girl on the ground, he walked over to Chenier and asked in a low voice:

"Who is it?"

Chenier didn’t make a sound, just formed a word with her lips:

"Chief."

Seeing this, Luo An’s mind became flooded with thoughts, but he kept a composed face and took Chenier’s phone, clearing his throat lightly, he said:

"This is Luo An."

"I’m the Los Angeles Branch Chief of the FBI."

The voice on the other end was stern and not entirely unfamiliar to Luo An. Without mincing words, the division chief said:

"Leave the scene to the Special Investigation Team, and return to the branch building immediately—come to my office."

"Understood, Chief."

Getting a positive response, the division chief hung up the phone. Luo An’s eyes narrowed slightly as he handed the phone back to Chenier. After pondering for a few seconds, he said softly:

"Chenier, later on, you, along with Winslow and Reesi, will escort Ernest to the hospital.

Also, I need you to do something else..."

Luo An whispered a few words into Chenier’s ear. She was silent for a few seconds, not saying a word, just nodding solemnly.

"Good."

After patting Chenier on the shoulder, an ambulance and Winslow and others arrived at the scene minutes later, Luo An immediately drove back alone, ahead of the others, to the FBI Los Angeles Branch building.

Nasim Hernandez—Chief of the FBI Los Angeles Branch, a white male, slightly overweight, 63 years old this year.

This was not Luo An’s first encounter with the branch chief.

Previously, during the investigation of the "First Lady’s Auction Explosion Case," a villa in Beverly Hills had two bombs placed in it, and the branch chief was also at that reception (Chapter 231).

After successfully defusing the bomb threat, the branch chief took the opportunity to introduce the identities of the various guests at the banquet to Luo An, with words full of praise for him.

Arriving at the chief’s office, Luo An knocked on the door, and after getting permission, he pushed the door open:

"Good evening, Chief."

"Good evening. Come here to the chair, sit down."

Behind his desk, the branch chief raised his head with a faint smile, waved at Luo An, and gestured for him to sit in the chair in front of the desk.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the branch chief asked directly:

"The murderer who killed the Linden Osborne family, you have led the team to catch him, haven’t you?"

"Yes, Director."

"Good."

With Luo An’s affirmative reply, the branch chief nodded in satisfaction, then pulled out a folded piece of paper from his desk and handed it to Luo An, adding:

"Potante Byrne is on temporary suspension; as long as no issues are found upon review, he will return to his original position."

Hearing this, Luo An’s expression remained unchanged; he said nothing more, silently unfolding the paper to take a look.

At the top of the paper was a list of English names. Luo An quickly counted approximately 30 names.

Below the 30 names were the written words of former supervisor Linden Osborne before his official retirement.

The content of the writing was not complex. Before Supervisor Linden Osborne officially retired, he led the handling of a case during which the undercover agent he had dispatched was inexplicably discovered by a crime boss and brutally murdered; the crime boss also accidentally died from a stray bullet during subsequent FBI action.

Undercover agents being exposed and killed was an event that happened every year.

As usual, Supervisor Linden Osborne expressed his apologies to the family of the undercover agent and offered some compensation.

Having sat in the position of supervisor for so many years, Linden Osborne had become somewhat indifferent and accustomed to such matters.

Later, while organizing the undercover agent’s personal files, Linden Osborne suddenly discovered an anomaly.

Speaking of which, it was somewhat cruel, but inside the FBI, there was an annual "death quota" for undercover agents after being discovered.

The purpose of this quota was to assess the performance and job evaluations of the management layer who sent out undercover agents based on the number of undercover deaths each year, with the quota reviewed every six months.

Upon close comparison with other team supervisors and other management personnel who needed to dispatch undercover agents on cases, Linden Osborne discovered:

Every year, there would be incidents where undercover agents were inexplicably detected and murdered by the crime bosses, and then the crime bosses would die for various reasons.

Initially, Linden Osborne didn’t think much of it, assuming it was just coincidence. However, as he delved deeper into the investigation, he noticed a bizarre pattern:

If the number of deaths of undercover agents dispatched by a management person in that year was still significantly short of the annual "undercover death quota."

Then the undercover agents subsequently dispatched by that management person had a one hundred percent certainty of being inexplicably exposed to their true identities and murdered by the crime syndicate bosses.

The crime bosses responsible for killing these undercover agents would also strangely die for various reasons afterward.

Conversely, if a member of the management layer had already exceeded the "undercover death quota" with the number of undercover agents who had died that year.

Then the undercover agents sent out by this management person in subsequent cases had a sixty percent chance to survive safely, but there was a one hundred percent certainty that the incident of their identities being bizarrely exposed would not occur.

Linden Osborne also discovered that these cases of undercover agent deaths would occur on 1-2 management officials each year, with 1-2 occurrences and a 5-6 months interval between each.

One time is an accident, two times is a coincidence, but what is three times?

What’s more, this kind of case had already reached double digits, over a period of more than 6 years!

Looking at the situation he had uncovered, Linden Osborne’s face turned pale, feeling a chill from head to toe.

The only explanation he could think of was that inside the Los Angeles Branch of the FBI, there was a cautious and cunning mole who continuously exposed the identities of undercover agents and held a position that was definitely not low!

After much deliberation, Linden Osborne finally reported his findings to the Director of the FBI Los Angeles Branch, Nasim Hernandez.

To be on the safe side, before reporting this matter to the Director, Linden Osborne also secretly told Potante Byrne.

Because Potante Byrne had a good relationship with Linden Osborne and had been at the FBI Los Angeles Branch for less than two years, previously always working externally to the Federation, he could not possibly be the mastermind behind this case.

If something happened to him, Linden Osborne also believed in Potante Byrne’s absolute ability to investigate the true nature of the case and avenge him.

"..."

After reading the contents of the paper, Luo An’s brow twitched; his only thought was:

Being an undercover agent is indeed a huge pitfall.