novelraw Chapter 1276 - 698: Failed Capture
Chapter 1276 - 698: Failed Capture
Jimmy and the team didn't wait for the Baltimore office to provide results. Instead, they began inquiring around based on the impression given by the auto repair shop manager and the image of that vehicle, saving considerable time. Once they received a call from the Baltimore agents, they set off again, continuing to search following the previous mobile tracking information. However, this time their target changed from a pickup truck to a station wagon.
Tracking the target based on how long the phone stayed in one place, as indicated by this auto repair shop, was proving to be an effective method. In fact, it was impossible for the target to stay in one place without a purpose. Thus, it was easy to deduce that staying in a location for an extended time meant something was going on there.
However, there were no subsequent call records associated with the target's phone number. The information provided by the NSA didn't cover this area, so they couldn't use call records to identify the corresponding person. Maybe they had another phone, but every cell tower had too much phone record information, making it too resource-intensive to identify which phones were together and confirm the existence of a second or third phone. Currently, they did not have the means to conduct such an analysis.
Soon, Jimmy and the team arrived at their second destination, Laurel, a small city. They looked around the parking lot of a suburban motel to see what they could find. The target only stayed here for two hours, indicating they didn't spend the night. They might have met someone or received something here.
Hope's phone had already received an image from road surveillance showing the two individuals leaving the auto repair shop. The time they provided was rather precise, making the investigation easier. However, entering the motel with the surveillance photo yielded no results.
Such suburban motels are synonymous with low-end places: no identity verification, no surveillance cameras, minimal staff, and no one cared what cars the guests arrived in.
After leaving Laurel, the phone quickly lost signal. Jimmy and Hope reached the last known location of the phone number, which was a wooded area in the suburbs. Finding clues in such an environment was extremely challenging.
Hope glanced around and asked, "Yang, what should we do next?"
Jimmy replied, "No rush to search further. Let's search around here first. If the phone they destroyed was thrown out, we might find it within a few dozen meters."
Hope nodded. The two split up along the edge of the woods to search. Finding a destroyed phone in this environment wasn't easy, especially since Jimmy wasn't sure how thoroughly the phone was destroyed. If it was just the screen and body snapped apart, it was easier to find. But if it was completely destroyed and thrown out, they had no hope.
Fortunately, they had some luck. Hope found the upper half of a flip phone and called Jimmy over. Together, they found a phone battery cover nearby, and after continued searching, they retrieved another piece of the body. It seemed their definition of destroying the phone was snapping it and tossing it out of the car, rather than complete destruction.
Although not certain, this phone seemed to be the most likely target they were looking for.
After securing the phone parts, Jimmy and the team headed directly to the FBI's Baltimore office. The lab there could extract fingerprints from the phone much faster than if they returned to the Washington, D.C. headquarters.
The phone wasn't severely damaged. Since they had contacted ahead of time, a forensic department member collected the phone upon their arrival. Despite the simplicity of revealing fingerprints, comparing the extracted fingerprints with the database required some time, which was a welcome break for Jimmy and Hope.
The road surveillance didn't capture any further traces of the station wagon. Without surveillance images of the two individuals, there was no way to issue a warrant for their arrest or have law enforcement nationwide pursue them. All they had were a few scattered clues collected by Jimmy and his team.
Finally, the forensic technicians successfully lifted several fingerprints from the phone. Three of these fingerprints matched a person named Frank Walsh.
Frank Walsh, a veteran and truck driver, was currently employed by a cold chain transport company in Baltimore. He had a record of imprisonment for speeding and fleeing from the police, not serious offenses, but enough to have relevant information in the fingerprint database.
This lined up with the fact that the Jenkins team in Washington, D.C. was involved in smuggling, and Baltimore was the closest major port city to Washington, D.C. Large amounts of cargo traveled between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and this cold chain transport company was likely Jenkins Team's front company in Baltimore.
Frank Walsh's photo was sent back to the Washington, D.C. headquarters. Arrested Bob confirmed that Frank was one of the two individuals he met.
Peter and the Baltimore office agents held a remote meeting. Based on current evidence, they couldn't investigate or raid the cold chain logistics company yet. However, they could pursue arresting Frank Walsh, as they had both testimonial and physical evidence. Applying for an arrest warrant wouldn't be difficult.
Jimmy and the team couldn't command the Baltimore office, but Peter could contact them to provide support. Quickly, two support teams were assembled. They would separately head to Frank's residence and the cold chain logistics company to prevent the target from escaping due to an exposed operation on one side.