Legendary FBI Detective-Chapter 278: LAPD Chief and FBI Team Leader

Mona handed the laptop to Luo An, containing several surveillance recordings.

The footage shows these people driving to the bank, captured by street surveillance cameras.

The people in the car wore black hoods from beginning to end, making their faces indiscernible.

However, tracing back from the first appearance of the vehicles in the surveillance footage, Mona successfully located last night's silver-grey sports car, along with the off-road vehicles, on an edge monitor outside a villa district in northeastern Los Angeles.

Not only that, when the sports car was attacked last night, several black cars of the same model driven by the second wave of people also drove out from this villa district.

Luo An finished watching the footage with narrowed eyes, confirming his suspicion that the robbers in the bank were indeed responsible for turning his Porsche into a fireball.

The second wave of people that appeared last night were also part of these robbers, likely protecting the robber leader, probably the guy called Jack.

The only remaining question was what the deal was with the mercenaries pursuing Jack.

However, Luo An immediately put that thought aside, knowing that when the robbers are caught, the reasoning behind their actions will naturally surface.

"Thanks for your hard work, Mona."

Luo An strode towards the Chief of LAPD and the Head of the Special Investigation Team, Potante Byrne, while Mona and Reesi, knowing there was no need to intrude into that circle, stayed put, ready to wait for the arrival of the bank personnel.

The Chief of LAPD and the FBI's Special Investigation Team leader Potante Byrne were the highest-ranking officials on the scene and naturally became the decision-makers for the case.

After hearing Detective Albert's account, both of their expressions were extremely solemn.

For the higher-ups, the fact that the robbers had bombs was not a big issue, and hostages were a problem, but there were ways to deal with that.

However, these robbers not only had both but also strapped bombs to the hostages, making the situation extremely troubling.

Especially since there were a bunch of reporters around the scene, eager for a scoop.

Given the ruthless nature of these reporters in pursuit of a headline, both the Chief of LAPD and Potante Byrne were sure that a few would rather see their operation fail, hostages harmed, and even better if the robbers managed to escape from right under their noses.

Seeing the Chief's brow slightly furrowed, a high-ranking police officer asked tentatively above Detective Albert's head:

"Chief, should we try a direct assault?

If we move quickly enough, we may be able to rescue a group of hostages before the enemy reacts."

Certainly, they couldn't just wait idly on the spot. Before the FBI personnel arrived, LAPD needed someone to offer suggestions.

A suggestion may not be useful, but it was necessary as a matter of stance.

"No!"

The LAPD Chief immediately frowned upon hearing the proposal, decisively rejecting:

"We must maintain LAPD's image; we can't have excessive casualties among both police and hostages."

If the victory in this bank robbery case was built on the cost of human lives, his tenure as Chief would be over.

"Chief, we could first meet the bank robbers' demands, and once they release the hostages, send in our elite forces to pursue..."

After the Chief rejected the first proposal, another LAPD officer immediately offered another idea.

"..."

The LAPD Chief remained silent.

This idea seemed the most prudent on the surface, but it also meant handing the initiative over to the robbers.

If the robbers ultimately didn't release the hostages, or managed to escape from the LAPD after the release... then his tenure as Chief likely wouldn't end well.

Luo An, now holding the laptop, walked over and offered proactively:

"Chief, I've found some clues related to this group of robbers."

The Chief of LAPD, seeing Luo An's face, was slightly taken aback and turned to question Potante Byrne, the team leader:

"Who is this?"

He had seen several team leaders from the FBI Los Angeles Branch, but this was his first time meeting Luo An.

"This is Luo An Greenwood, the newly transferred Deputy Group Leader of the Special Investigation Team at our FBI Los Angeles Branch."

Group Supervisor Potante Byrne answered the LAPD Chief's question with a stern face, asking:

"Luo An, what clues have you found?"

Hearing Potante Byrne's words, the expression on the LAPD Chief's face remained the same, but there was a hint of surprise in his eyes.

It's not common to see such a young Deputy Group Leader of an investigation team.

I wonder if this handsome young man rose through the ranks by his own abilities, or by some other means?

Feeling the serious gaze of Potante Byrne and the somewhat challenging look from the LAPD Chief, Luo An remained composed as he displayed his laptop to the others, narrating methodically:

"This is surveillance footage of the route the robbers took to this bank..."

Luo An briefly described the content of the surveillance footage, the grand battle on the streets of Los Angeles last night, his and Mona's opportunistic capture of an enemy, and the identity of that hacker, among other pieces of information.

After rapidly going through this information in one breath, Luo An paused for a few seconds and then seriously voiced his previous speculation:

"I suspect the robbers' target wasn't the gold or cash in the bank's vault, but the servers inside the bank!"

His conclusion didn't come out of thin air; he had concrete evidence in hand, and as he presented his case to the two superiors, it seemed logical and compelling.

"So the chaos from last night is actually related to this bank robbery!"

Detective Albert, who had also been involved in last night's containment, couldn't help but be astounded internally, while several senior officers at the LAPD felt their hearts skip a beat, thankful that the Chief hadn't just given any orders.

Judging from Luo An's narration, those robbers at the bank, capable of giving and taking blows with mercenaries, were clearly not ordinary people. If they had blindly resisted without knowing anything, there's no telling how many casualties there might have been.

The LAPD Chief glanced at Luo An, whose expression was unchanged, but secretly nodded in approval.

It's truly impressive that Luo An, so young, holds such a high position.

Group Supervisor Potante Byrne noticed another issue and, frowning, asked:

"What's the deal with that group of mercenaries?"

"Sorry, sir, I don't know."

Luo An closed his laptop, shook his head, then turned his gaze to the fourth investigation team's leader, Morton York, and said:

"The fourth team was in charge of last night's Los Angeles street battle case; they might know what's going on."

Upon hearing this, Group Supervisor Potante Byrne immediately turned to look at Morton York.

Morton York: "…"

He had just walked up while Luo An was showing the evidence on his laptop and had been listening in on Luo An's situation update. While internally shocked at Luo An's capabilities, he realized he had underestimated the man.

But as Luo An directed the conversation towards him, and since he still had no idea about the specifics of the group of mercenaries, Morton York suddenly felt frustrated.

Without any change in expression, he glanced at Luo An, mentally noted this down for later, and then took a deep breath replying:

"Sorry, sir, we are still investigating."

"Step up the investigation."

Potante Byrne's brows furrowed slightly, but he didn't say much. The immediate priority was still the bank robbery, so after a few seconds of pause, he looked at Luo An and Morton York, asking:

"Do either of you have any suggestions or ideas about the current situation?"

Morton York remained silent. The situation at hand was somewhat complicated, and he couldn't think of a good solution on the spot.

At this moment, Luo An, with a slight smile, opened his laptop again:

"Sir, please take a look, I have another clue here."

Morton York: ?