Jimmy: "There was a little problem, went out with Mark and the others this afternoon. Cheers."

Jimmy picked up his glass and clinked it with Ruiz, downing the whiskey in one gulp, then unbuttoned his suit and sat across from Ruiz: "Ruiz, let's skip the pleasantries. I want to know, what exactly are you guys doing?"

Ruiz: "Jimmy, have you ever gone undercover?"

Jimmy shook his head, "No, ever since I entered the bureau, I've been bouncing between different teams, never involved in any undercover mission. To this day, I don't even have the authority to issue an informant's fee."

Ruiz: "Undercover life is tough, living in constant fear, unable to contact people you used to know. Can't use the funds and salary provided by the bureau casually, fearing exposure."

Ruiz poured himself another drink as he spoke, slowly, without looking at Jimmy, just staring at the bottle in his hand, "Many have been through such days, myself included. I'm luckier than others because I was only undercover for a few months. Due to an accident, I was released from my original mission and returned to the bureau."

Ruiz looked at Jimmy, "Seventeen is one of the unlucky ones because his undercover work was long-term and he came to New York from elsewhere. He climbed from being a fringe member to management, providing us with a lot of important leads, but at a great cost."

Ruiz paused for a moment, playing with the glass in his hand, taking a sip, exhaling, "There's a lot one can't say. Some things everyone knows and can understand, as long as the appearance is kept up, some things don't need to be pursued."

Jimmy nodded, having considered this situation before and even approached Hughes to see if he might intervene when he thought Seventeen might get Ruiz involved. But now, Ruiz kept talking about Seventeen, unrelated to him?

Ruiz waited for a while, seeing Jimmy not respond, he continued: "Seventeen's previous contact wasn't me. I took over from someone else. Before that, Seventeen was already doing certain things, for himself and for others."

Ruiz stared at Jimmy, "Seventeen and other colleagues like him, a lot of what they do is still classified, not yet time for disclosure, so some matters shouldn't stir up noise, especially those unrelated to you or me."

Jimmy: "Do you trust him?"

Ruiz leaned back against the sofa: "Of course."

Jimmy smirked: "Then why'd you ask me to come along? Protection?"

Ruiz's eyes narrowed slightly, quickly returned to normal; Jimmy might not even have noticed unless he was watching closely. Taking small sips, after a while, Ruiz spoke: "It doesn't conflict, after all, it's outside of New York."

This time they're meeting Seventeen in New Jersey, indeed outside New York, but did it really require Jimmy for protection just because they're crossing regions?

Jimmy: "What about this batch, how are you handling it?"

Ruiz shook his head, "Seventeen will clean it up, won't implicate anyone."

Jimmy: "No, I'm not worried about him implicating you, I'm concerned about the drugs. You know how much I hate drug dealers. If... I mean if Seventeen turns around and sells this batch..."

Ruiz stared at Jimmy, with a bit of tension in his eyes: "He won't. If it's ordinary luxury items, he can handle them freely. Rest assured, he gets it."

Jimmy: "Don't worry about me. I can surely figure out their stuff, just make sure he wraps it up properly, avoid any loose ends."

Ruiz nodded, picked up the bottle to pour drinks for himself and Jimmy: "Cheers."

Jimmy understood, and it avoided a deep rift between them. Ruiz was one of the people in the bureau most familiar with Jimmy, knowing his character and attitude towards enemies better than anyone. Their bond was forged in life-and-death situations.

Moreover, does Ruiz really fully trust Seventeen? Not necessarily, or else there'd be no need for Jimmy to accompany him to meet Seventeen in New Jersey. There's trust, but full trust... not so sure.

A lot of what Seventeen is involved in, Ruiz only knows a part of. No one can guarantee Seventeen hasn't caused a major incident here, but facing Jimmy's inquiry, Ruiz has to speak for Seventeen, or the situation would be unmanageable.

Jimmy: "Oh, one more thing, those C4, Seventeen's conclusions have problems. You should be careful, usually for structural or underground demolition, PETN is used; rarely C4. If he's been misled, then there's a problem with the subsequent use of those explosives."

Ruiz wasn't familiar with bombing cases, frowning at Jimmy: "Are you sure?"

Jimmy: "Of course, I've handled quite a few bombing cases. Recently participated in a basement demolition, I'm very familiar with the types of explosives used."

Ruiz: "I'll talk to him."

With the main topics done, they relaxed a lot. Ruiz also knew about Jimmy taking on a godson. When he found out the godson was Elliot, whom Jimmy had previously rescued, it surprised him a bit. Jimmy also mentioned bringing Elliot to the office to meet them, practically family.

In the following days, Ruiz didn't call Jimmy again, nor did he see Seventeen, and he wasn't sure how they were handling things on their end.

He checked the recent case lists but didn't notice any unexpected death cases. Of course, people die every day, generally with standard death certificates. What he focused on were vendetta or assassination cases.

He could somewhat guess Seventeen's style of doing things; that cripple Todd was probably in trouble, and if he didn't make it through, he'd likely end up on that unexpected death list.

However, no news came out, and instead, his investigation made Mark and Julia tense. They even sought out Jimmy to see if they had overlooked any clues in their cases, but now Jimmy was covering for them...

Jimmy reassured them, telling them to continue their normal case investigations, what he's looking into was unrelated to their cases.

Finally, on the weekend, Jimmy received a call from Ruiz, asking to meet at the abandoned Brooklyn shipyard.

Jimmy visited for the first time, seeing Ruiz's car outside, with Ruiz and Seventeen already inside. Jimmy didn't call them, just walked over to their location.

"Is this their submarine dock?"

Jimmy stood at a dock outside, looking down into a pit where Seventeen and Ruiz were standing.

Ruiz glanced up at Jimmy, gesturing him to come down.

It was indeed quite hidden, with a platform above blocking the view, an expanded waterway below, and a simple retractable dock that could extend over the waterway. If it were a submarine, it should just fit on the access point above.

Jimmy: "Is this what they've set up? Looks almost done."

Ruiz nodded: "Yes, right here. The place they plan to blast is over there, preparing to create more warehouse space."

Jimmy: "Seventeen, I have a question, who does this place belong to? They're going through all this trouble to make a submarine dock, surely they don't expect the government to redevelop this spot within just a few months?"

Seventeen: "Of course not, developing here isn't easy. The military, Ministry of Defense, and the shipyard are all negotiating. For the city government to wholly take over and revamp this place would take a long time, enough for them to make a huge sum."

Jimmy: "So, why did you ask me to come over?"