I Do Not Agree

Bang!

Four bullets fired from Lake’s pistol, two hitting the front tires of the white van at irregular angles, and the other two hitting the rear tires.

The tires instantly exploded.

Immediately after.

The white van flew into the air, flipped, and then slammed hard onto the ground.

Lake, Jack, and the others got out of their vehicles.

"Leave, leave."

"Get away!"

Jack led the team, directing the trained civilians on the roadside to clear the area, then cautiously surrounded the overturned white van.

Just then.

Two bloody individuals crawled out of the white van.

Jack’s gaze fell on one of the men’s hands, his eyes widening: "Gun, gun, gun!"

As he spoke.

Gunshots rang out.

Instantly.

The bloody man who had crawled out with a gun was riddled with bullets.

In the land of the free, if you can shoot, you don’t need to talk. First, they tried to escape by car, then they refused to stop, and then they came out with a gun. If you don’t kill them, who will you kill?

Three minutes later.

The NYPD arrived, and several patrol officers began setting up a cordon.

The van’s doors were opened.

Inside was a comatose girl and a white man, bleeding from his chest while holding his hand up. This was the same white man who had just gotten out and drugged the girl.

"Don’t move!"

"Don’t move!"

"Don’t shoot, don’t shoot."

"Get down!"

"Get down, now, immediately!"

"Okay, okay."

Under the muzzles of assault rifles, the white man, clearly injured in the chest, wanted to say he was going to the hospital, but he could only endure the pain and comply.

Lake was chatting with George, who had just arrived at the scene.

George glanced at the two bodies by the white van and then looked at Lake: "So, a big operation?"

Lake, hands in his pockets, turned and looked at the white man being loaded into a vehicle and the target individual being loaded into an ambulance. He smiled and said to George, "It’s been over three months since I’ve been active. It’s good to get out and move around."

George asked, "Leaving the scene to your Department of Homeland Security?"

Lake looked at the NYPD officers on the scene: "Let the guys work a bit harder and help clean up the scene. I’m heading to the hospital first."

George nodded: "Alright."

It’s common knowledge that local law enforcement agencies and federal law enforcement agencies don’t always get along.

But Lake and the NYPD were different.

After all, Lake had ties to the NYPD. He knew all three captains and had interacted with these officers to varying degrees.

New Amsterdam Hospital.

As a designated hospital for law enforcement agencies, the unconscious girl and the injured white man were both brought to the hospital.

The white man was taken to the emergency room.

After an examination, the unconscious girl was determined to have only superficial injuries with no internal bleeding. She was then moved to a private observation room.

David Bass also received the news and rushed over.

"What happened?"

"A shootout."

Lake stood by Megan Walsh’s bedside, glanced at David Bass, and then pointed to Megan Walsh on the bed: "And a suspect is in the ER."

David Bass wiped his face: "What’s the situation now?"

Lake’s expression was impassive as he pointed to Megan Walsh: "A professional assassin. Forged identity, forged documents, smuggled into the federation. We just received word that we were going to bring her in for questioning, and then we found some kidnappers who had drugged her."

David Bass fell silent after hearing this.

After a moment.

David Bass suggested to Lake, "Want to go for a smoke?"

Lake glanced at David and nodded.

He walked out.

"Jack!"

Lake called out to Jack, who was chatting with his wife not far away. When Jack approached, Lake said, "Find two team members to keep an eye on things. No one is allowed in this room except doctors and nurses. If a group of agents claiming to be from the FBI shows up later, I don’t care what paperwork or excuses they have, stop them."

Since he already knew David had a murky connection with S.H.I.E.L.D., who knew if David was trying to get him transferred so that those people, who had no legal authority on federal soil and didn’t even deserve to be named, could take the person away.

Jack nodded, "Understood."

After speaking, Lake turned to David beside him and said, "The stairwell, you can smoke over there."

It was common knowledge that smoking was prohibited in hospitals, but the stairwell was tacitly permitted for smoking – a hidden rule. Even posted signs were useless.

In the corridor.

Lake took out a cigarette, offered one to David, and lit it before taking a puff.

David exhaled, thought for a moment, and then said, "Can this case be dropped?"

Lake was not surprised at all. He merely glanced at David and asked, "Reason?"

David thought for a moment and said, "The woman in the bed isn’t a killer. She’s an orphan who grew up in a special school. During a mission…"

Lake interrupted directly, "Are you saying this Megan Walsh is from some kind of Department of Homeland Security?"

David raised an eyebrow, "You know?"

Lake chuckled. Although Hydra hadn’t provided this information, he could guess it.

As for David.

Lake looked at David, "When they asked you to put in a good word, did they tell you anything else?"

On the surface, the United States seemed like a society that didn’t rely on personal connections.

But…

The United States was a society that relied on personal connections even more than China.

Friends and friends.

Alumni and alumni.

These relationships, at many times, could bring more convenience and benefits.

David was stunned, "Anything else?"

Lake let out a cold laugh, "They probably didn’t dare to tell you. If you knew, you’d know that I was on the front page of the New York media last year, right?"

David nodded.

Since he knew Lake was his partner, he naturally did some research. Thus, he knew about the incident in New York last year that almost led to a conflict between the authorities and the underworld.

The corner of Lake’s mouth turned up, "What if I told you that they were the ones who schemed against me behind the scenes?"

"What?" David was somewhat incredulous, "Why?"

Lake said, "Why else? They took a liking to me, intending to use this method to cause my social death, and then step in to show mercy, making me grateful to them and willing to do their bidding forever."

David fell silent.

It wasn’t that he didn’t dare, but that he didn’t want to.

Lake had already stated his intentions so clearly. If he insisted on Lake dropping the case, although there was a chance of success, it wasn’t worth it. Lake hadn’t interfered with his cases in any way, yet he was asking Lake to drop his own case.

Was that appropriate?

David opened his mouth, then sighed, "What are you planning to do?"

Lake extinguished his cigarette butt, his eyes flashing, "On American soil, there will never be an enforcement agency more powerful than the Department of Homeland Security."

David: "…"

Fourth update, seeking subscriptions, full subscriptions, and next month’s tickets, sob sob sob