After the divorce, I started to transfer

When Yasser first learned of his son's tragic death, he desperately wanted to fly back to Washington to see him.

But after that initial period of anxiety, sadness, and pain, he sat in the airplane cabin, listening to the roar of the engines, and his mood gradually calmed down.

He ultimately decided to proceed with the plan he had previously discussed with Kalim. After all, Chen Feng was a prime target in his eyes, and if he gave up now, it would be difficult to find another one later.

Moreover, given what happened to their son, the subsequent surgery and rehabilitation costs will be substantial. The medical system at Merica Healthcare is like a bottomless pit; even with insurance and future compensation, it's unlikely to fully cover all the expenses after their son's surgery.

Moreover, his son was seriously injured this time, and the damage to his spine and nerves means that his hope of continuing to be admitted to university through the recommendation system has been completely shattered.

Given his son's already mediocre academic performance, it was virtually impossible for him to get into a good university through academic subjects alone. Therefore, as a father, he needed more money to find another way for his son to make a living.

Not to mention his family of five, maintaining a comfortable life on this land requires money for everything. All these expenses have to be earned back by him, the father and husband, through hard work.

Therefore, after calmly thinking for two or three hours on the plane, he finally decided not to fly back to Washington immediately, but to continue the plan he had discussed with Karim and make some money in Los Angeles.

However, after he got off the plane, he sent two video call requests to his wife, but neither of them answered. He immediately had a bad feeling, so he dialed his wife's cell phone, but still no one answered until the call automatically ended.

He immediately became anxious, his brow furrowing. He quickly ran through his mind and realized he couldn't find a single suitable person to help him find his wife.

Because of the nature of his work and his status as a foreign immigrant, he didn't have any close neighbors in the community, and the couple didn't have any particularly good friends in the area.

As for their families, the situation was even more tragic. His parents had passed away years ago, his wife's mother had also died, and his father-in-law remained in their hometown in the Middle East. When he immigrated to the Americas, he only brought his wife and children with him.

His wife had been at the hospital. He had received a message from her confirming that his son was safe after his surgery. Less than an hour later, he suddenly couldn't reach her. After much thought, he immediately used his phone to find the hospital that had treated his son and called their service hotline.

After much difficulty, he finally found his son's hospital information, including the exact room number and the nurse in charge. Yasser pleaded with the front desk to help him contact the nurse on duty in his son's room and ask her to help find his wife. His wife had been with their son in the ward, and her sudden disappearance was causing him extreme anxiety.

After much pleading, he finally had to reveal that he was a Department of Homeland Security employee before the receptionist, under pressure, helped him. A few minutes later, the hospital receptionist told him that his wife couldn't be found and wasn't in his son's room at the moment. His son, although conscious, was unable to move his hands or even speak; his condition was not good.

Upon receiving this news, Ashley was immediately extremely anxious. He thought for a moment, but having no other choice, he called his superior, Julian. He told Julian the truth and hoped Julian could help him go to the hospital, find his wife, and find out what had happened.

“I can clearly call her, but no one answers. The nurses went to look for her but couldn’t find her. Logically, she should be at the hospital with her son. But now she’s disappeared.” Yasser’s voice trembled slightly, and subconsciously he already felt a sense of unease.

Julian had originally intended to ask Yasser on the phone about the premature leak of information regarding Chen Feng's arrest.

Now that Yasser has told him about this tragedy at home, it's difficult for him, as the boss, to immediately hold him accountable.

Moreover, Asier was, after all, a trusted subordinate who had followed him for several years and had done a lot of dirty and hard work for him. Julian was quite satisfied with and appreciated him.

Julian also knew Asier's wife and three children. Asier didn't have many relatives or friends in Merriam, and Julian, his superior, was arguably one of his friends. Moreover, the two had a life-or-death bond and had worked together for many years, making them close relatives. Besides, Asier was currently in Los Angeles on business, specifically there to carry out his mission.

Therefore, both for public and private reasons, Julian had to help with this.

Julian readily agreed and quickly called the hospital. He directly used his official authority to exert pressure; after all, Asier was now a member of the Department of Homeland Security, and his wife's sudden disappearance from the hospital was a serious matter, and Julian certainly had the right to mobilize resources to investigate.

Some large hospitals in the Merriam area are staffed with police. After receiving Julian's request for assistance in the investigation, they did not dare to delay and immediately began investigating the disappearance of Asier's wife.

The simplest and most convenient method, of course, was to check the surveillance footage. The investigation quickly revealed that Yasser's wife had gone to the restroom at the end of the corridor about half an hour earlier and hadn't emerged since. Hospital police immediately searched the restroom and found Yasser's wife unconscious in one of the stalls.

The hospital immediately rushed his wife to the emergency room for treatment. Regarding the specifics of Yasser's wife's condition, the doctor stated that further examination and observation are needed, and a definitive diagnosis has not yet been made.

Upon learning the news, Julian immediately informed Asier and reassured him over the phone that he would go to the hospital to keep an eye on things. He assured Asier that he would be informed as soon as the results were available and that he shouldn't worry about his work in Los Angeles.

How could Yasser not be worried? His son had just undergone major surgery and was in danger of becoming paralyzed. Then his wife inexplicably fainted in the hospital and was currently being treated for her life.

He was far away, with two other daughters at home. His eldest daughter, Hana, was 15 years old, but in his eyes she was still a child; and his youngest daughter, Lulu, was only six years old and still needed to be taken care of by adults.

Having no other option, Yasser had to swallow his pride and ask his superior, Julian, for help again, requesting that he arrange for someone to look after his two children. Julian readily agreed. Furthermore, Julian sternly instructed him on the phone to return from Los Angeles as soon as possible. After all, such a major crisis had occurred at home, and the previous plan to arrest Chen Feng had been cancelled.

Although Yasser verbally agreed, he had no intention of flying back to Washington immediately. He still wanted to continue with his previous plan and extort some money from Chen Feng.

After all, such a huge change had happened in the family, especially for his wife, who, as a full-time housewife, didn't have health insurance. The costs of her initial medical visit and subsequent treatment had to be paid entirely out of pocket. And as everyone knows, bills at Merica Hospital without insurance coverage are astronomical and extremely expensive. Therefore, he needed to earn money more than ever before, even by any means necessary.

After ending the call with Julian, he managed to calm himself down and took a few deep breaths. Then he picked up his phone again and called his eldest daughter, who was at school.

His eldest daughter is going through puberty and has become very rebellious. Her relationship with her parents had been strained before, mainly because Asier and his wife are devout traditional believers who don't allow their eldest daughter to dress extravagantly in public or attend disreputable parties. Having a boyfriend is strictly forbidden at home.

Their eldest daughter, Hannah, received her education in a similar environment, growing up immersed in a free and open culture. Therefore, she was very resistant and dissatisfied with her parents' various prohibitions and lectures. Coupled with being in her adolescence, this naturally led to a strained relationship with her parents.

The phone rang for a while before being answered. "What is it?" the eldest daughter asked in a somewhat cold tone.

Yasser resisted the urge to scold the other person and asked in a low voice, "Shouldn't you be out of school by now?"

My eldest daughter is currently in middle school. In Washington, D.C., schools usually let out at 3:30 PM. It's currently 3:45 PM there.

"Yes, I just got out of school. What's up? If not, I'm hanging up. I have plans with a friend."

His eldest daughter's nonchalant attitude nearly made Yasser's anger explode, but he could only suppress it and quickly said, "Listen, your brother was seriously injured in a football game today and just had surgery at the hospital. Your mother has to stay with him there. I'm currently on a business trip in Los Angeles and can't go back. Your sister Lulu is still at school and needs you to pick her up."

The eldest daughter paused visibly on the other end of the phone for a moment, then her tone became tense as she bombarded him with questions: "How did my brother get hurt? Is it serious? I have to go see him. Will he be alright?"

Seeing that his eldest daughter still cared about her family, Yasser felt somewhat relieved. He softened his tone and said, "He's mostly recovered, but your mother will probably need to stay at the hospital for the next couple of days. So Lulu needs you to pick her up and take her home. Take good care of her there. If your mother isn't back by tomorrow, you'll also be responsible for taking her to school and making her breakfast and dinner. I'll be home as early as tomorrow."

The eldest daughter was much more obedient this time, and didn't talk back. She obediently agreed, "I know, I'll go pick her up right now."

“Okay. Just take good care of Lulu. Hanna, you’ve grown up now and need to do your part for our family,” Yasser said earnestly.

"Okay." The eldest daughter sounded a little impatient again.

Yasser could only suppress the urge to continue lecturing, and after briefly saying goodbye to his daughter, he hung up the phone.

After putting down his phone, he stood there for a while, mentally preparing himself before calming down his somewhat agitated and desperate feelings.

He walked out of the airport exit and hailed a taxi. Once in the car, he used the encrypted communication software to send a message to Kalim, indicating that he had arrived in Los Angeles and urging him to help locate Chen Feng's exact position.

Given his position, Yasser could have easily used advanced technology within the Department of Homeland Security to track Chen Feng's phone in real time. However, he had recently spoken with his superior, Julian, who had clearly informed him that the department's plan to arrest Chen Feng had been canceled. He could no longer feign ignorance, nor could he continue to arbitrarily utilize official resources from the Los Angeles branch. Otherwise, if he left any traces or loose ends, he would face dire consequences if discovered.

Although Kalim seemed somewhat reluctant in his reply, he ultimately agreed out of respect for "Franklin." After all, as the sheriff, he naturally had the right to conduct background checks and locate suspects, especially foreigners.

He immediately called the branch office's technical department and asked the technicians to locate the mobile phone number registered by Chen Feng.

Unfortunately, after making the call, Chen Feng turned his phone off again as a precaution, and even removed the SIM card. The technical team couldn't locate the signal using conventional methods.

Of course, more advanced investigative methods could be used to locate Chen Feng, but that would first require reviewing citywide surveillance footage and retrieving more sensitive information. This would necessitate a very formal legal authorization. After all, they are the police department, and many things must be done according to procedures and laws; otherwise, it would be a violation or even a crime.

Comparatively speaking, it's much simpler for the Department of Homeland Security to investigate someone; sometimes they don't even need to go through those cumbersome procedures.

So Kalim immediately contacted Yasser and asked Yasser to find out Chen Feng's exact location.

Having no other option, Yasser logged onto a secret website, posted a bounty, and chose to pay with cryptocurrency, demanding that the other party determine Chen Feng's exact location within two hours.

Soon, someone accepted the order in the backend. This kind of location tracking order might only take half an hour, but it could also take two or three hours, or even longer. Two hours is very much a matter of luck; of course, if the other party has exceptional technical skills, that's a different story, but the probability of that is very small.

This left Yasser feeling somewhat anxious and helpless. If he could directly utilize the resources of the Department of Homeland Security, he wouldn't have wasted this money. He believed he could also quickly pinpoint Chen Feng's exact location.

He wanted to squeeze some money out of Chen Feng as soon as possible so he could return to Washington.

Yasser told the taxi driver to find a cheap motel nearby. He needed money everywhere, and he had to be frugal where possible.

About ten minutes later, the taxi driver took him to a remote motel. It was noisy, but cheap enough.

Upon entering the hotel room, he didn't bother to wash up and immediately collapsed onto the bed, exhausted.

He checked his phone every now and then, hoping the bounty hunter would complete the task soon. If he could catch Chen Feng quickly, he could collect the money sooner and fly back to Washington to be with his family.

It was midday in Los Angeles, and the sun was blinding. Actually, after all that running around, he was starving, but he had no appetite for lunch. He lay on his bed, staring broodingly at his phone screen.

About half an hour later, his phone suddenly vibrated violently. The screen displayed his eldest daughter Hana's phone number.

He immediately pressed the answer button and asked, "Hana, has Lulu been brought home yet?"

Instead, a deep and unfamiliar male voice came from the other end of the phone: "Hello, are you the owner of this phone, the girl's father?"

Yasser's expression changed, and he immediately asked sharply, "Who are you? Where is Hana?" (End of Chapter)