Sooho

When Ahn Soo Ho pointed up his middle finger to the sky, the people who were watching from hundreds of kilometers away laughed bitterly. They often felt that the man they were monitoring didn’t seem human.

“What about the call records?”

“I asked the NSA. I’m sure we’ll get it soon.”

“Why am I surprised? Their defense is solid.”

The Outerspace wasn’t supposed to be used for military purposes, but all the powerful countries owned military intelligence satellites. The spy satellites only saw and heard what they wanted to see and hear for their own advantage. When the national police decided to use drones, there was a lot of internal resistance.

That was because within intelligence agencies which had their foot in both the military and the civilians, there were conflicts that involved illegal acts. Unless something extreme happened like a terrorist attack, drone monitoring was definitely illegal. Americans stressed the importance of privacy, and the NSA was entirely illegal.

There was a wise phrase used among agents.

‘It’s okay as long as you don’t get caught!’

That meant they just had to get away with it. Illegal acts committed for profit gradually developed into a national mutual assistance system. And if the corruption within intelligence agencies was to get out, there was no way it would end with just a few heads cut off. That was because corruption within an organization with a strict protocol wasn’t being caused by just a single agent.

Not even the system that Americans trusted was able to get rid of corruption. One of the soldiers who left his seat to go to the washroom went to the end of the hall and took out his phone. It wasn’t his own but a pre-paid phone that anyone could buy.

“It’s me. That’s right. I sent you the access code. Sure.”

The soldier ended his call right away and then disappeared.

The New York terrorist attack kept the whole world awake, but no city was as busy as Washington D.C. After the Davis administration’s Sao Paolo incident, the presidential election 2 years from now looked promising for the Republicans. Seeing how the public, media, and the lobbyists were actively supporting the Republicans, they were definitely at an advantage.

After the Sao Paolo senate hearing, Senator Alexandro Stanish Fitzgerald held a press conference about the National Assembly before flying over to New York. The election had already started and if they wanted to keep their popularity, they had to keep the risks in mind.

“No matter how much our enemies harass our country, we will get back up no matter what! We always have, haven’t we? Lastly, I’d like to ask all of you to help New York and its citizens! God Bless America!”

The most searched phrase on the internet within the first 24 hours was “Pray for New York” and “God Bless America”. Fitzgerald waved his hand at his supporters who were still present even though it was already late at night. He then walked quickly in response to what his aide told him. He still kept a smile on his face, and then he frowned once he got into his car.

“Say that again?”

“Mr. Guardian is flipping New York upside down.”

“Why?”

“One of his men died during the chaos in New York.”

“Ugh!”

Fitzgerald yelled while plopping down in his chair. Ahn Soo Ho was famous for how much he loved his subordinates. There was even an interesting story going around about how when one of his watchmen in Venezuela got assaulted, he destroyed one of the cartels in all directions. What was funny was that the hostage negotiation still went through after that.

“Who was it?”

“Michael Le Devon. He was from Arkansas and used to be in the marines.”

“Is that also why he freed the hostages at Macy’s?”

“Yes, Sir. After checking the access code, my analysis tells me he’s going to get revenge on everyone responsible for today’s terrorist attack.”

“Access code? Did he call the NRO?”

“They called first…”

“Damn it!”

Fitzgerald screamed loudly.

“Destroy all related evidence!”

“Ye… yes, Sir.”

With his presidency approaching, he had to be wary of corruption. He became the star of the Senate hearing, but that also led him to make many enemies. Even the smallest abuse of his authority could call upon political backlash.

“I’m banning any kind of contact with an organization for the time being.”

“I apologize.”

Aides with loyalty were lacking in skill and those with skill had too much ambition. It was impossible to be satisfied with both. Since Fitzgerald first entered as an aide, he understood how intense their league was. Only one or two out of a hundred aides might have a chance to become a member of the assembly.

‘If greed gets ahead of everything else, you’ll fall before you get to run.’

He wasn’t overconfident about those below him.

“What about the turn of the handle?”

“It’s been taken care of.”

Fitzgerald’s aide cautiously looked at the driver and the guard before he quietly whispered. Fitzgerald nodded.

‘The New York terrorist attack is important, but so is this.’

One of the campaign managers got too greedy and caused an unwanted issue, but it ended surprisingly in a favorable manner.

‘Who knew Gina Davis would die like that?’

Most people thought she committed suicide. But if one would dig deeper into it, she was actually murdered by a soldier’s family member. But what was funny was that before she took the call from that family member and got hit by a car on her way out of the church she was in, she had already written a will.

‘They say it’s a good method of overcoming sadness.’

In therapy, writing a will was one of its steps. It had something to do with looking at death right in the eye or something like that. President Davis couldn’t openly punish the culprit who killed his niece. That was because if he punished a soldier’s family member, his reputation and influence were bound to go down even further.

This case was concealed for the good of national security.

Fitzgerald knew about this for a pretty simple reason. The one who incited the soldier’s family member to take revenge was his own campaign manager. Fitzgerald had never given an order to do that, but for the Republicans who were aiming to tear down President Davis’ reputation, they were ready to do anything. But the campaign manager didn’t incite the murder directly. He just wanted to expose Gina Davis’ unsightly side to the media and put shame upon the White House.

‘It was Pandora’s Box.’

It was fatal for the White House who concealed it, but it was also fatal for Fitzgerald who ultimately ended up inciting the revenge. This was something that could never get out. He didn’t hate Ahn Soo Ho for no reason. America had enough to deal with because of the CIA, he wanted the throne of the intelligence world to stay empty.

His aide gave him the phone.

“It’s the White House, Sir.”

Fitzgerald smiled bitterly.

The president that he was just thinking about called, and he had no choice but to cooperate with him. If Scott Davis—The Shadow President—found out that his niece was murdered, they were going to see their allies turn into enemies.

Same went for Fitzgerald.

‘Scott Davis.’

He was the one who could help him win. He recently put down everything because of his daughter’s death, but making a skilled strategist into an enemy wouldn’t benefit him whatsoever.

“Hand it over.”

******

Ahn Soo Ho left New York and went to Philadelphia.

Once he received the authority to access America’s surveillance system and judicial system, he managed to find a secret weapon dealer with the help of Alexa. The number of illegal weapons with no serial numbers exceeded the number of those that were initially collected by 100-fold. For that reason, the scale of illegal weapon trade in America also expanded.

If one asked how many guns there were in America, only a few were able to answer it. Not even the ATF agents knew how many guns Americans had. The reason why it was hard to regulate the gun industry wasn’t just because of the money that gun lobbyists threw around. It was also because even if they created gun regulations, they knew that it would take forever to put them in action.

No one wanted to start something that would be doomed.

And even if someone had the right beliefs, they couldn’t do anything without political power. The reason why those who wanted to regulate guns couldn’t do so was because new politicians weren’t capable enough to handle the political struggles that came with it, while the more experienced politicians were too busy minding others and worrying about issues that were more important to them.

Most importantly, Americans loved guns.

“Guns is what made America succeed.”

As soon as Ahn Soo Ho left New York, James left Central Park. It was hard to leave certain boundaries under the Martial Law, but his special rank as a member of the advisory committee in the White House was useful this time around.

“Didn’t you want to restore central power?”

“No, I’m done with all that frustrating bureaucracy.”

Seeing things from the outside helped him see clearer.

“What a sight it was.”

Enforcing Martial Law was a mess from the very beginning. Since each organization and department was busy looking out for themselves, there was no way it was going to go smoothly. If the middlemen hadn’t made a negotiation beforehand, they wouldn’t have been able to restore anything.

“But who are you chasing?”

In response to James’ question, Ahn Soo Ho handed him a file.

“Tuvalo? He’s a weapons dealer in Washington Heights. Huh? An internal FBI agent?”

Investigative agencies put a blind eye to people’s crimes as long as they could use them as internal agents. Drug dealers, drug addicts, prostitutes, hackers, and gangsters were caught using these informants.

“If he’s an internal agent, he was probably the first to escape.”

Before the terrorist attack in New York, the very first gang to run was an illegal weapons dealer. Since the terrorists probably didn’t bring weapons in a legal manner, the investigation authorities already knew where to dig first. However, there was no way a small fry weapons dealer in the works could supply something as powerful as stinger missiles.

There were many weapon dealers in New York who snuck out to a nearby city outside of New York before going through California or Texas to hide in Mexico. They had to avoid being caught by the authorities before they could do anything else. Tuvalo was able to escape pretty easily thanks to the support of the FBI, but he was pretty much saying that he was an informant.

Philadelphia was just as messy as New York. The long night ended before dawn finally arrived. One day was way too short to figure out how destroyed New York was and how much damage they took. In the midst of all sorts of volunteers entering New York, the rest of the world held a memorial.

‘Pray for New York!’

‘God Bless America!’

This could actually be an opportunity for the Davis Administration. In the midst of such a crisis, not many were going to think about the Sao Paolo scandal. If President Davis could display some proper showmanship at this time, he could earn enough points to redeem himself.

“Are you going to keep following me?”

“I didn’t see or hear anything.”

What Ahn Soo Ho was planning to do was illegal, but James was going to pretend like he didn’t hear anything. If this was before, he wouldn’t have done this.

“You used to hate the CIA, but now you’re acting just like them.”

“I realized that there are different types of patriotism.”

“An unemployed man’s realization… How disgraceful.”

Ahn Soo Ho kept making fun of James, but he just shrugged his shoulders. When they arrived at a motel near Philadelphia, a guest was already waiting for them. She was wearing a uniform that said FBI on it. Ahn Soo Ho gave James a side glance, but he just made a gesture expressing the feeling of being wronged.

“Agent?”

“I’m special agent Emily Karen.”

She had the same name as someone he knew in Korea. But the one in Korea was Australian and looked about 10 years younger. They didn’t ask to see her ID, but she showed it to them anyway. As soon as he heard her name, he knew why she was there.

“You’re the agent in charge of Tuvalo.”

“We received a strange report from Sugar Hill. Something about a black-haired devil going around killing gangsters.”

Emily talked about something else.

“I’ve heard all about your reputation, Mr. Guardian. Or should I call you Code Name Wizard?”

“Soo Ho is fine, Special Agent Karen.”

“Just call me Emily.”

Americans always acted too friendly with each other.

“Emily, did the deputy director send you here to monitor me?”

“That’s half the reason why. I came here on my own will.”

“Why?”

“Because Tuvalo is a pretty good agent.”

Ahn Soo Ho gave James another side glance, and he just looked wrong again.

“I needed Adam’s help to enter the judicial system. I had no choice.”

The FBI was a bigger organization than people imagined, and no one could explain America’s surveillance system besides the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“So?”

“We’ll give you something in return for Tuvalo.”

“You want to make a deal, huh? Was it Adam’s orders?”

“No. This is 100% my own will.”

“Adam won’t like this if he finds out.”

“Whether he likes it or not, he doesn’t care about my career anyway. So I’m going to take care of myself from now on.”

She was a strong woman.

Ahn Soo Ho didn’t want to make special agent Emily Karen sympathize with him. He also wanted to make a fair deal. In the middle of thinking about what to ask for, his phone started vibrating. Ahn Soo Ho excused himself and answered.

“Alexa. Yeah. Really? Okay. You can stop there. Great. Good work.”

Ahn Soo Ho hung up and looked at Emily’s sparkling eyes.

“There’s a group that supported the New York terrorist attack.”

“If it’s the IS, we can…”

“Don’t jump to conclusions.”

“Then who is it?”

“Among the targeted regions of the New York terrorist attack, trace if there are any buildings or art with insurance that hasn’t been renewed or has been put off in the last three months. For example… Manchester House?”

Emily tilted her head and then nodded with sparkling eyes. Ahn Soo Ho shook her hand and then stopped her from leaving.

“I’m warning you, Emily. There’s no such thing as a bigger line. Your enemy is just your enemy, and bad people are just bad people.”

No matter how many agents like Tuvalo they used, the world wouldn’t get any better. Emily dropped her head and then left.

“Manchester House? Credit House? That Huxley Group’s insurance company?”

“That’s right.”

“What about it?”

In response to James’ question, Ahn Soo Ho answered while walking over to the motel. Manchester Credit House was a worldwide insurance company based in England.

“People gather around where they can profit, and where people gather is where incidents happen.”

The information that Alexa obtained wasn’t that significant. However, depending on how one would look at it, information differed just like a woman with her makeup off. And that clean face was always covered up by a makeup artist and that—was profit.

“Once you become the money queen, you can not only obtain investment information, but you can fabricate it, too.”

That’s how money controlled the world.

‘The queen of finance, Barbara Huxley.’

Not even the best investment programs could invest a hundred times and have it all come out with a profit. But Barbara Huxley could do just that. Was she just that talented? People believed that, but not Ahn Soo Ho.

‘Alpha organism.’

She wasn’t the magician, but she was able to do things that looked just like magic. It had been a long time since he dealt with someone with advanced capabilities.

“This will be fun.”

< Protect – Episode 119 – Philligan [1] > The end.