Law America, the Devil's Agent

Chapter 96 Conflict Escalates, Hunt Continues

Outside a bathroom on the top floor of the Montier Private Hotel, two guards stood watch on either side of the door.

Something behind that door seemed to have been smashed.

Then came a series of muffled thuds, mixed with a man's deep growl and a woman's faint cries.

After the banquet ended, everyone left, leaving only Hughes and a few people from the Sacred Heart Church in the private room.

Everyone sensed that something was wrong.

The field was deathly silent.

After receiving the call, Hughes sat on the sofa in silence for nearly an hour.

He didn't respond to anyone's attempts to speak to him, only staring at the silent walkie-talkie on the coffee table in front of him with his bloodshot eyes.

Just as everyone decided to find out what was going on...

Then he stood up, grabbed one of the girls' wrists, and dragged her into the bathroom next door.

The door slammed shut behind me.

The girl's scream squeezed through the crack in the door, followed by the sharp sound of a slap hitting skin, and then a duller thud—

Everyone who knows Hughes knows that this is their boss venting his anger.

After a long while, the door was finally pushed open again.

Hughes emerged from inside, his shirt collar open, his tie askew, a fine layer of sweat beading on his forehead, and a few drops of blood on the back of his right hand.

His breathing was still heavy and disordered, but the uncontrollable rage and mania on his face had gradually subsided.

Instead, there was deep resentment and incomprehension.

He tilted his head slightly towards one of the guards.

The two henchmen rushed into the bathroom and, moments later, carried away a disheveled girl with bruises and tear stains all over her face.

Hughes stood in the corridor, straightened his collar, and then turned around and pushed open the door to the private room again.

Only Ferran, Crawford, and a few others remained in the private room.

The remaining few people sat on the edge of the sofa, their wine glasses pushed to the corner of the table, and the ashtray was piled high with cigarette butts.

Their faces showed no trace of the flush from alcohol, only pallor and silence.

As Hughes walked in, the group looked up simultaneously. Ferran was the first to speak, his anxiety now undisguised.

"Mr. Hughes, how is the situation now?"

Hughes walked to the sofa, sat down, picked up the half-empty bottle of whiskey from the table, took a swig, and finally whispered, "My man Bunch is dead."

My team returned empty-handed.

The lawyer is still alive, and his men have reunited with him.

We failed—

"We failed—"

"We failed—"

The calm sound echoed in the space, only making the room seem even quieter.

"So, now—what—what should we do?"

Crawford's voice was hoarse and trembling.

Mosley also raised his head, his lips moving but no sound came out.

Ferran didn't look at them; he simply closed his eyes, and in the silence where no one dared to speak, he suddenly felt a long-forgotten fear.

He looked at Hughes again:

The security company owner, who had been so confident in his manpower at the banquet, now slumped against the sofa, looking like a gambler who had lost all his bets.

The two men next to him, Crawford and Mosley, were still basking in the wine of the banquet and the good news he brought, thinking they could continue to do as they pleased within the walls of the Sacred Heart Cathedral and the primary school.

Now their hands are shaking, and they can't even finish a sentence.

Ferran's mind was racing, but at this point, he couldn't come up with any better solutions.

"Keep killing him."

A voice came from the door of the private room, startling everyone who looked up at the same time.

Following the sound, everyone turned to look:

Tom Gallagher was standing in the doorway.

He was wearing a well-tailored white suit, and his silver-white hair was neatly combed back.

He walked slowly into the private room, and the door behind him was gently closed by his attendant.

Hughes stood up from the sofa, quickly straightened his collar, and bowed his head in greeting.

"Boss."

Ferran, Crawford, and Mosley also stood up and bowed.

"Mr. Gallagher."

The visitor was none other than Tom Gallagher, the current councilor of the Furbrook community, near the Sacred Heart Church, and the backer of Hughes' Flamingo Security Company.

He is also one of the shareholders of Sacred Heart Primary School.

He was also a rival of Andrew's father, Patrick Donovan.

But Tom Gallagher did not sit down.

He didn't exchange many pleasantries, but continued, "Regarding Link's case, we must not let him target Sacred Heart Church and the primary school. We cannot allow him to have any chance of going to court."

This is our fundamental bottom line!

Hughes nodded repeatedly.

Ferran and the others also breathed a sigh of relief, like drowning people finally grabbing a rope.

But Ferran couldn't help but ask the question that was hanging in everyone's mind.

"Mr. Gallagher, but Hughes has already used up most of his manpower, and the remaining forces are probably not enough to organize another operation of the same level for the time being."

Are we—

Is there another way?

For example, try to bribe him, or exert pressure through other channels —

"It's impossible."

Gallagher extended his hand, and an attendant handed him a tablet computer.

He placed the tablet on the coffee table; the screen displayed a screenshot from a surveillance video.

In the photo, a Chinese man in a suit is standing in the shadows of the stadium stands, holding a cell phone with the camera pointed towards the dormitory corridor.

His profile was clearly defined; it was Link.

In the direction his camera was pointed, a priest in a black robe was bending down, with one hand on the shoulder of a red-haired boy.

"After Ferran identified the lawyer through Costello, I had the surveillance footage from Sacred Heart Elementary School retrieved."

This is footage of him being filmed a few days ago when he disguised himself as a parent to enter the school.

Gallagher tapped the screen lightly, zooming in on the image, his fingertip resting on Link's silhouette.

"He saw Andrew. He not only saw Andrew, but also took pictures of Crawford interacting with Andrew at that time."

Then Andrew dropped out of school.

This happened right after Link visited the Irish community.

Crawford's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but only a muffled hiss came out of his throat.

Gallagher's voice became loud and intense: "He found Andrew and disrupted my plans against the Donovan family."

He must have already met Patrick Donovan, which is why Andrew left school suddenly without any warning.

This is no longer just about a single mother who makes pornographic videos seeking a lawyer for her son who is being bullied.

He's becoming Patrick Donovan's weapon, and once he gets his hands on it, he'll use it to stab me.

He paused for a moment, flipped the tablet over so the screen was facing down, then placed his hands on the coffee table and leaned forward slightly.

"If Link continues his investigation, he will soon uncover my connection with the Sacred Heart Cathedral."

He will discover that I am not only a shareholder of Sacred Heart Elementary School and an investor in Flamingo Company, but also a partner in your entire chain of interests.

We're all finished.

What do you think he can destroy?

Is it just a school signboard?

He destroyed the network on which we all depend for survival.

Without the cover provided by their parliamentary status, how long do you think those things at Sacred Heart Elementary School can be suppressed?

What you did in the church, the dormitories, and the classrooms, those suppressed complaints, those locked in the AOI filing cabinets

Evidence inside —

They will all rush out like a dam breaking, drowning us all.

Those suppressed voices, those deliberately erased records, those frozen archives—everything will be unearthed again.

Everyone stood up, their eyes fixed on Link's back in the photo on the tablet.

If we say...

Previously, he had only exposed and attacked individual priests' scandals, and the impact was still localized.

The most likely outcome is that they won't be able to save one or two people in the Sacred Heart Cathedral.

It has no impact on the overall situation.

But once elections are involved, political power attacks, and even collusion between public and religious authorities—

This is called breaking the balance and tearing off the mask.

Without their respectable status and righteous facade, countless people who covet their positions and interests will surely rise up against them.

They all have to die!

But they didn't want to die; the one who had to die was—

Link!

"But, sir."

Hughes broke the silence, his voice now calm but tinged with helplessness: "I've already reported this to you."

We really can't do anything about him right now.

Tom Gallagher did not answer immediately upon hearing this.

Then he turned around, a smile slowly appearing on his lips.

"Your driving skills are excellent, making you difficult to handle on the ground, right?"

Everyone looked up in confusion.

Hughes looked at his boss, puzzled.

Gallagher walked up to Hughes, put a hand on his shoulder, and continued in a calm tone, "Take your men and go to the roof. My supplies will be here soon."

Hughes paused for a moment, then he heard a sound coming from outside the window.

It wasn't the sound of an engine, nor a siren, but a deeper, more powerful roar that pressed down from above—the sound of a propeller.

The hunt continues.