Jimmy: "It's written, I'll send it to you when you start work."

Hughes: "Bring it over now."

Jimmy: "Alright."

Jimmy checked his watch and picked up the printed report as he left the office.

In Hughes's office, Hughes took Jimmy's report, "Sit, let me take a look first."

Jimmy unbuttoned his jacket and sat across from Hughes, saying nothing more.

The report wasn't long. Hughes scanned through it once and then looked at Jimmy, "Has the identity of the gunman who attacked you been confirmed?"

Jimmy: "Not yet, the NYPD compared her fingerprints with no results, we'll have to wait until she wakes up to interrogate her. But they've already collected her blood, so once we match it with the blood trail from when she fled today, we can confirm she's the gunman. That way, we can also solve the armed robbery and murder case. Detective Chuck already has a lead, just waiting for the crime lab to give us results today."

Hughes: "Have you found the gun?"

Jimmy: "The assassin's gun hasn't been found, but as long as the DNA is confirmed, the evidence is sufficient."

Hughes: "Did you upset anyone recently?"

Jimmy: "It's not about me, it's Nia. She got hit in a car crash, you know about that. She was investigating a murder case, and I was helping her out, then found clues about an assassin. Yesterday at dawn, someone broke into my apartment, but they escaped when I chased them, I suspect it was this assassin."

Hughes: "Any leads?"

Jimmy nodded: "The Poison Snake Gang in Hell's Kitchen, a suspect among their restaurant staff was whom I first investigated. I'll have Chuck contact the Poison Snake Gang today to check if the woman shot is that waitress."

Hughes threw the report on the table: "Too arrogant. Take action, uproot them, I'll communicate with those above."

Jimmy nodded: "Who's taking over this case?"

Hughes: "I'll arrange for Mahong to coordinate with the NYPD, you go talk to Mrs. Mason first."

Jimmy: "Alright, I'll head back now."

Hughes is a very old-school field supervisor, and whether it's Jimmy or other detectives, being shot on the street is a big deal that requires strong retaliation. Although Jimmy can be excessive, he hasn't crossed Hughes's line. As long as things can be smoothed over publicly, Hughes is willing to appease higher-ups.

After Jimmy left, Hughes walked to the window, gazed at the busy street outside, pondered for a moment, then turned back to his chair, grabbed his jacket, took Jimmy's report, and went upstairs to find Dave.

How Hughes handles things on his side, Jimmy doesn't know. He returned to his office and saw that Mrs. Mason hadn't arrived yet, so he had no choice but to wait in his office.

Strangely, Mrs. Mason was late today; over an hour passed before she walked in from outside. As she passed Jimmy's office, she waved at him, and Jimmy got up and followed her into her office.

Mrs. Mason: "Alright, what's going on?"

Jimmy: "My apartment was broken into at dawn yesterday, the intruder escaped without being caught. At noon, someone attacked me on the street, the NYPD is aiding us in investigating the gunman. In the evening, the NYPD received a report of a missing fire truck and two firefighters. Later they found a fire truck with fake plates, I was at my fiancée's place at the time. My father-in-law Kevin is an NYPD Deputy Commissioner, due to the severity of the case, he asked me to assist the NYPD in investigating the fire truck incident.

The gunman who attacked me at noon was shot, and we suspect the missing fire truck was used to take the gunman to the hospital for surgery, so we trailed the fire truck to the dock by the Queens shore. When they were wheeling a gurney towards the shore, I noticed there was someone there to meet them, so the NYPD supported a raid to capture them. During the capture, a shootout ensued, and I killed two hijackers of the fire truck and two on the boat assisting them. The female gunman is still unconscious, so we managed to capture the survivors."

Mrs. Mason: "Is her identity confirmed?"

Jimmy: "We have to wait for the crime lab to match the DNA today. The gunwoman was wounded when she attacked me, and there's blood on both her car and the hijacked vehicle. A match will confirm her identity and also solve the armed carjacking and a murder case."

Mrs. Mason: "What's Hughes saying?"

Jimmy was caught off guard by Mrs. Mason's straightforwardness, "He wants me to continue helping them thoroughly investigate the case and capture the gunwoman's team. They have fire truck hijackers and people on the water assisting, which shows significant backing."

Mrs. Mason nodded: "Go do it, submit a complete report to me afterward."

Jimmy nodded: "Thank you, Mrs. Mason."

Mrs. Mason waved her hand, and Jimmy turned and left her office.

Before Mrs. Mason came to the office, she had already visited Dave's office. Dave, the deputy director, has been a major force behind Jimmy joining the public affairs office. In Mrs. Mason's view, Jimmy is Dave's protégé. In the field department, everyone acknowledged how Hughes looked out for him, so from any angle, Hughes and Dave were aligned, at least on Jimmy's matters.

Dave had no doubts about Jimmy's capabilities. In the morning at his office, Dave had expressed the same views: although Jimmy was in public affairs, this attack targeting Jimmy should ideally be handled by him personally.

Due to his position, Hughes and the others naturally had to be at the forefront, and Jimmy would join the investigation as supportive personnel from the field office.

Regarding the report, with influential backing, as long as it wasn't absurd or insulting to intelligence, it would suffice.

In fact, the situation with Jimmy had the attention of several bigwigs; minor issues might be ignored, but a street attack of this magnitude required them to find out more, and perhaps Dave received more informal intel than others.

After receiving Dave's hint, Mrs. Mason decided to fully liberate Jimmy, even though it didn't relate to public affairs office duties, the identity complexities were troublesome.

Now, with unmistakable authorization given to Jimmy, he could pursue matters within the field department's remit. Essentially, Jimmy had practically regained senior field agent powers in most scenarios.

Jimmy tidied up in his office, went downstairs to drive home to change clothes, and headed straight to the NYPD detective bureau to gather intel.

Chuck was already at work, despite overtime from last night, he arrived early today at the precinct, organizing evidence verification. Because the NYPD submits so much evidence to the crime lab every day, waiting for this case to be processed could take ages under normal circumstances, so someone had to arrange priority processing.

Chuck came in early to organize the evidence list and liaise with Kevin to make a call for priority processing. The crime lab isn't an NYPD subordinate; their relationship is merely cooperative. So, Kevin could only contact lab management for priority processing. A random detective trying to arrange priority processing would truly be delusional.

Jimmy sat next to Chuck waiting for news, also taking a moment to rest. After a while, Chuck came over to Jimmy, "Jimmy, doesn't your team plan to take back the case for investigation?"

Jimmy looked puzzled at Chuck: "Why?"

Chuck: "No one has contacted me, you should check."

Jimmy nodded, took out his phone and called Mahong, "Mahong, should my case be taken back?"

Mahong: "Hold on, I'll head to the precinct, just need to go through the formalities at the bureau."

Jimmy: "OK."

Jimmy glanced at Chuck: "Mahong will come by later to take over this case, prepare the documents. How's the hospital situation?"

Chuck: "She's awake but hasn't said a word. We can't interrogate until she's discharged from the hospital."

Jimmy: "Once Mahong takes over, we'll arrange protection for her, then pull the officers back."

Chuck: "No problem, I've arranged four people at the hospital. I'll call them when your team arrives."