North America Gunman Detective

Chapter 1519 - 815: Capture (Part 2)

Jimmy frowned and thought for a moment: "Lower the drone a bit to the side to confirm, there should be about a dozen people in that chicken farm."

"Okay, I'll give it a try."

How strange, Gus hasn't returned, why would they suddenly all leave together?

Checking the time, Jimmy decided to forgo rest and head out immediately. He knew the locations of Mike and Jesse's homes, having visited them before. Now was the perfect time to confirm.

As Jimmy expected, both houses were in darkness, with no one inside. Clearly, after going to Mexico with Gus, something unexpected had happened, and they hadn't even managed to send a message back. It couldn't be a getaway; they wouldn't flee the United States so decisively without an absolute threat. Perhaps it was related to the coordinates he got from Eladio; they must have gone there.

Jimmy rushed overnight to the chicken farm and found the surveillance van a little over a kilometer away. These three members of the surveillance team had been working tirelessly for days. Fortunately, they would soon have a break, as this level of work intensity couldn't be sustained.

Jimmy had them check the earlier surveillance footage and handed them the video screenshots he obtained. He then hurried to the chicken farm to investigate. The surveillance team's judgment appeared accurate; not a single person was left, and they vacated promptly. After thinking for a bit, he headed to the warehouse he'd seen earlier. There was still a pile of barrels there; they hadn't been moved entirely, but he wasn't sure if all the barrels contained goods.

The drone in the sky was still operational. Jimmy didn't enter the warehouse but simply looked around from the outside. He quickly returned to the surveillance team, arranged for them to rest, and asked them to process the identification results for him later. Then he returned to the hotel to rest.

The image recognition results came quickly. Early the next morning, Jimmy received a message: the bald-headed man was the duty manager of the laundry factory. As an employee of a surface-level enterprise, his identity was easy to trace.

Without delay, Jimmy hurried to the laundry factory, where he found the man in the workshop. Unexpectedly, the manager informed him that if Gus didn't contact him or reappear within two days, he was to give the coordinates to Jimmy. He knew nothing else, only being a factory manager.

Jimmy glanced at the underground lab, which was empty. He nodded and then left the laundry factory.

It was suspicious; if something indeed happened to Gus, why was his most important laundry factory unaffected?

The Cartel should have easily taken over Gus's enterprises and channels. All the people at the chicken farm left yesterday, suggesting a problem, possibly with someone in Mexico planning to seize their territory. But the laundry factory appeared normal, adding a twist to Jimmy's speculation.

He headed to Walter's place but received no news. Walter hadn't been to the underground laboratory for two days. Completing all the meth production steps alone was too challenging. Previously, there were others to assist him, but now he was the only one in the lab.

Jimmy thought for a moment and directly went to Gomez's home: "Gomez, I need you to help contact your cousin."

Gomez widened his eyes at Jimmy: "What? Alejandro?"

Jimmy nodded and handed him a newly bought anonymous phone number. Gomez nodded without questioning why.

That evening, Jimmy received a call from Alejandro. The efficiency was impressive.

"Hi, you looking for me?"

Alright, Alejandro didn't even dare mention his name. If the voice hadn't been so familiar, Jimmy might have thought he was receiving a scam call.

"Yes, I need you to help with something. I need a real-time satellite map of a certain coordinate near the Mexican border."

"Now?"

"As soon as possible."

"OK, give me the coordinates and an email."

Just like that, Alejandro didn't probe for a reason, and Jimmy didn't mind whether he would tell him or not if he asked. The way he obtained the coordinates meant it could never become evidence. Clearly, to thoroughly resolve certain matters, a fallback plan was necessary, and acquiring the satellite map of the coordinates and surrounding area was his fallback plan.

Gus might be uncatchable. To ensure the past month's efforts weren't in vain, he needed to achieve some results at least.

It's been five days since Gus went to Mexico. Jimmy sat in the surveillance van, frowning at the drone footage. Someone had entered the chicken farm again, but they weren't Gus's previous people.

"Have you seen these people before?"

"No, I can confirm these few people are new. None of the people in the chicken farm are from before."

"Reach out to others and see if the people at the laundry factory and fried chicken place have changed too. I suspect there's an issue with Gus's team, and this is the drug cartel replacing them."

"Understood, we've been photographing them these past days. It shouldn't take long to confirm."

Jimmy nodded, stepped aside to let the surveillance team work, and got out of the van to smoke.

Gus was no simple man. Meticulous, capable, and very authoritarian over his men. For years, he disguised his drug empire behind the facade of a successful businessman, never discovered or betrayed. In that aspect, he was truly talented. What reason would the Cartel have to replace all his forces? They didn't even kill them, only swapped personnel. This would prevent the new people from normally utilizing the channels he established.

"Agent Yang, we just confirmed that the restaurant Gus frequented has a new manager, but the rest of the staff is unchanged."

There it was. Quietly replacing everyone under Gus was undoubtedly orchestrated by the Cartel. It suggested two potential scenarios: either Gus was still alive and tortured for all information by the Cartel, or his team harbored a traitor, and when Gus was killed, they promptly arranged for people from Mexico to take over his entire operation.

In either scenario, Gus was finished. Officially, this period of Jimmy's intensive efforts was bound to end in failure.

Jimmy sighed, took out his phone, and called Hank: "Hank, Gus might already be dead in Mexico. I think maybe it's time we start wrapping things up."

Hank: "You sure?"

Jimmy: "I saw them leave from El Paso, it's been five days with no news. Moreover, the surveillance team confirmed that Gus's bases have been replaced with people they've never seen before. It's likely the Cartel arranged personnel from Mexico to take over their channels."

Hank was silent for a moment, "It's your call."

Jimmy: "Okay, we'll move in once they start trafficking operations. I need you to help liaise with the action team."

Hank: "Give me some time."

Jimmy hung up, returned to the surveillance van, and synchronized his decision with the team. It was up to them to decide the operation's timing. Jimmy already shared Gus's transportation model with them. Once the chicken farm began loading goods from the third row of the warehouse, they'd initiate the capture operation.

The DEA had a tactical team. Involving multiple locations and many individuals, this was a large-scale operation.

On the seventh day after Gus's disappearance, the chicken farm finally began shipping goods. The surveillance team informed Jimmy once they confirmed the truck was loading from the third row warehouse. After the truck hit the road, Albuquerque police blocked the roads in and out of the chicken farm. The tactical team swiftly raided it. Brief gunfire ensued, and all individuals at the chicken farm were captured.

The fried chicken place and laundry factory were simultaneously targeted. With Walter acting as an inside agent within the lab, two DEA agent teams forcefully entered the laundry factory and underground lab. The factory manager and workers were all apprehended, and a batch of completed blue meth was seized from the lab.

The fried chicken place faced a similar fate, even Gus's home was breached by a tactical team, including the neighboring house connected by a tunnel. All these clues were directly provided by Jimmy. Who knows what the tactical team thought upon discovering the tunnel. Regardless, Jimmy supplied clues, not evidence.