New Gods of North America.

Chapter 594 Briefing

Curiosity is curiosity,
In fact, once it was confirmed that Connor and his group were safe and sound, the matter of the arms depot was no longer relevant to the detective agency.

Judging from the archival records and the scale of its construction, that arms depot was secretly used for quite some time.

Inessa's ability to spot the clues so quickly is undoubtedly due to her skill, but conversely, it also suggests that the place wasn't so well hidden; some clues were still discernible.
Even if the church, city hall, state government, and local intelligence agencies were a little slow to react, it's impossible that they all remained completely unaware for so long, which indirectly proves that the place "justifiably exists."

—If their existence is "reasonable," then the detective agency sneaking over to investigate in the middle of the night and causing such a commotion is "unreasonable."

So now that he has successfully escaped last night, even if Wayne is still interested in that place, there is no reason for him to confess and provide clues without being asked. He should at least wait until things calm down. Right now, it is more important to take care of the detective agency's own business.

After completing all the necessary procedures, Wayne returned to the workshop. Lina was sitting on the floor of the archives, looking back and forth at a large pile of old newspapers, with several other stacks piled up around her.

Upon noticing Wayne's presence, she straightened up and pointed to several sheets of paper on the table. "The briefings for the last two days are out. After you've read them, put them back or give them to Inessa. Doug will then file them as usual."

To be fair, after Lina, with her "softening" tactics, began to systematically collect and summarize intelligence,
While the detective agency may not actually have obtained much more useful information, seeing the reports being compiled regularly still gives one a sense of "I'm a boss, at least."

The sources of this information are actually similar to what detective agencies used to do, such as "inquiring at bars," "chatting with residents," or "honestly buying newspapers," with the only slight additions of "informants" like street children and street vendors.

Although this approach doesn't reveal any secrets yet, and the veracity of some rumors may not withstand factual verification, the information density and breadth in the briefing are already significantly higher than in the local newspaper, and the news arrives more promptly.
In addition, since the specific data collection process has been handled by others, Wayne and his team no longer need to run around. They only need to read the briefings every day to get a general understanding of the latest situation in Richmond without leaving home. They can even compare briefings from different dates to get a preliminary idea of ​​the development trend of some things.

Once you get used to it, it's actually quite convenient.

Wayne quickly skimmed through the briefing, making casual comments as he turned the pages:
"Another change of pastors. The cathedral has recently reshuffled the pastors in many dioceses in Virginia... Bishop Tyrell seems to be focusing his energy on the church at the moment, no wonder he hasn't been paying much attention to us lately."

Lina shrugged beside her. “It’s better that I haven’t had time to deal with it. But normally, the parishes of the pastors shouldn’t be changing so quickly. I’m going through previous news reports to see what details I need to arrange to ‘soften’ them so they can keep digging.”

Lina, having worked in a professional organization, was more detailed in her understanding of job requirements, even if it was just copying them verbatim, than a layperson could come up with on their own.
For example, she would have them "soften" the information sources in the briefings, such as the news about the pastors' adjustments coming from newspaper reports. This kind of public information that is not confidential can be seen at a glance and there is no need to question it.

Due to her professional instincts, Lina would also comprehensively assess the existing information and then point out the general direction for their investigation, essentially having an experienced guide from the very beginning. This prevented the group from wandering aimlessly like headless flies. Apart from occasionally paying attention to various gossip, her instructions were never too outrageous.
The "softening" team, comprised of peripheral members of a local intelligence organization, was already highly skilled in execution. Combining the two sides required almost no adjustment period; they were able to get started almost immediately. The dock area remained the detective agency's primary focus. With a consensus reached, the "softening" team had recently been conducting a thorough investigation of the gangs with territories, understanding their internal dynamics and the animosities between them.
There are no official sources for these things. Relying on rumors from residents is not necessarily reliable, and the information provided by informants may also be partially distorted. For example, stories such as "two gangs once had a fight involving a total of a certain number of people" are often exaggerated in terms of the number of people involved.

Some gangs are rumored to be very powerful; everyone says they are "not to be messed with," and the examples they give are quite convincing.

However, battle reports may lie, but battle lines do not. The changes in territory among gangs in recent years are very objective. No matter how much they boast, nothing is more credible than the actual expansion and contraction of territory.

The briefing in Wayne's hand had already been reviewed by Lina, so it still bore her annotations. Two of them were highlighted and marked "Inform Willie".
This is another benefit of the division of labor and cooperation. It "softens" their focus on intelligence gathering, making them more concerned with breadth and timeliness. If some information is found to be of practical value after being filtered out, it will be provided to Willie for follow-up, to verify the facts and find clues and witnesses, and then turn it into evidence in court.

Each person performs their own duties, which saves effort for everyone.

After temporarily letting James Damody go, the detective agency is now focusing on the "Sailor Gang," who have recently caused trouble for Wayne. They've almost perfectly replicated the previous journalist case, so the chances of them catching Wayne are slim, but the intimidation message is strong.

Therefore, following the detective agency's advice, the "softening" side has recently focused a lot of attention on matters related to them. This includes both following Inessa's idea to let Willie punish them through legal means, and letting Lina do as she pleases to help spread old stories that could incite hostility towards them from other gangs.

—You don’t even need to spread fake news; you can just bring up some of the things they’ve done and make an example of them.

However elaborate the imagination may be, in the real world, confrontations ultimately require the support of real strength.

The "softening" part was relatively discreet, but Willie's assistance to the prosecutor was an open secret. If the detective agency itself couldn't stand up for itself, they might encounter an "accident" sooner or later. So after reading the briefing, Wayne went to check on the onboarding training of several new members.

Well……

Standing by the arena, Wayne looked at the drenched "drowned rat" lying there and asked, "Connell, what happened to you?"

Connor continued spitting out water, seemingly exasperated. Two more "water monkeys" were swimming and fighting in the river a short distance away. "Boss, I still prefer the arena over at Georgeberg's..."

(End of this chapter)