Chapter 141: Seducing the Prison Guard

Inside a room at Rikers Island Correctional Facility.

After listening to Roan’s words, Frederick Antonio’s eyes turned bloodshot, and he made no effort to hide the naked murderous intent in his gaze.

Augustus, standing to the side, took a deep breath and asked with a grim expression:

"Antonio, where is that guy Garcia right now?"

"Do you really think I’d tell you?"

Upon hearing Augustus, Antonio let out a mocking sneer. He crossed his legs, his face solemn, and stared intently at Augustus’s dark, stern face.

"And even if you manage to catch Garcia, I will keep finding others to finish the job until Verinis and the others are dead and buried."

With that, Antonio turned his gaze toward Roan and continued in a cold voice:

"Oh, and you. I have a piece of lucky news for you: you are also going to die by my hands."

Hearing this, a cold glint flashed in Roan’s eyes. He curled his lips into a smile, silently sentencing the man before him to death.

Seeing the smile on Roan’s face, the chill in Antonio’s eyes deepened. He brushed off his trousers, stood up, and looked down at Roan and Augustus.

"Alright, gentlemen, if I’m not mistaken, you’ve already had your people search my room. Can I go back now?"

Augustus took two deep breaths and stood up with a dark expression. He gave a signal to the prison guard nearby, who then led Antonio away.

Roan and Augustus exchanged a glance before leaving the room through a separate door.

As they emerged, Mona hurried over, holding up her phone. She didn’t look pleased.

"William and the others searched Antonio’s room thoroughly, but other than toiletries and a blanket, there was nothing."

"Yeah." Augustus rubbed his temples and said in a muffled voice, "Antonio knew we were coming, so he must have cleaned the room out beforehand."

"But Antonio has a connection to the outside world," Roan said, stroking his chin in thought before looking up. "Those so-called rumors he mentioned earlier prove it."

Mona tilted her head in confusion. "Then how did he manage it? Should we start vetting the prison guards who have had contact with Antonio?"

Before Augustus could nod in agreement, Roan shook his head.

"No, it’s highly unlikely that Antonio is using the prison guards to contact the outside world."

After all, Antonio was a prisoner serving a life sentence. Most of the time, American prison guards simply chose to ignore people like him. Especially since Antonio was a man. If he were a woman, he might have been able to seduce a guard. Wait, men could seduce male guards too...

Seeing the confused looks on Mona and Augustus’s faces, Roan quickly shook his head and asked with a grin:

"Do you remember how Antonio managed to get in touch with Garcia?"

Augustus suddenly realized, and Mona clapped her hands, catching on immediately.

"Garcia came to the high-security ward to scrub the floors!"

Ten minutes later, a burly white man in an orange prison jumpsuit was brought before Roan, Augustus, and the others.

The burly man was named Barton, and he was the one primarily responsible for cleaning the floors on Antonio’s level recently.

Without wasting words, Augustus stared directly into Barton’s eyes and said in a low voice:

"According to the prison records, you are the only inmate who has had access to Antonio."

"I’ve already said," Barton replied, shaking his head repeatedly, "I only mop the floors on that level. I never talk to the guys locked in the rooms."

"Is that so?" Roan, standing beside Augustus, lifted the file in his hand and smiled. "Barton, you were only sent to prison for injuring someone while drunk, and your sentence is only two and a half years. Lying to the FBI is a serious crime. Do you really want to spend several more years in this place just for Antonio?"

"I..." Seeing the file, Barton’s mouth twitched.

Augustus raised an eyebrow and continued, "I’ve already sent others to search your room. If you don’t speak now, but my people find something in your room that doesn't belong in this prison..."

Barton’s face turned ghastly pale. After a long silence, he took a deep breath, fixed his gaze on Roan and Augustus, and whispered:

"OK, I’ll tell you everything. But I have one condition: you have to transfer me out of this prison!"

"No problem."

Augustus nodded decisively. To them, this was a trivial matter.

Having received a firm promise, Barton let out a long sigh and confessed everything: "Antonio has a cell phone. It’s hidden with me right now."

At 10:30 PM, at the offices of the Fifth Investigation Team.

Roan took a sip of coffee; the bitter taste made him grimace, but it helped him snap into a state of alertness. He took a large bite of the burger Augustus had just bought and asked, looking at Mona and William who were busy at work:

"How is it? Did you find any leads from that phone?"

"Found some, but not everything," William said, nodding and shaking his head simultaneously. He displayed the information on his computer screen, took a bite of a fresh burger, and said with his mouth full:

"This phone has been in frequent contact with a specific number lately. The frequency increased before and after the bombing, so we can conclude the person on the other end is Garcia. We tracked the recent call logs, and using cell tower triangulation, we’ve successfully found the other party’s general location—right here in Brooklyn."

The reason it was only a "general location" was that the current cell tower triangulation technology had a significant margin of error, spanning a full two miles.

Hearing this, Roan furrowed his brow. The good news was that Garcia hadn’t left New York. The bad news was that a two-mile radius was too large; heaven only knew where Garcia was hiding now.

Just then, Mona’s excited voice rang out: "Roan! I found Garcia!"

Roan felt a surge of energy and quickly leaned over to Mona, handing her a burger.

Mona grabbed the burger, stuffed it into her mouth, and her fingers flew across the keyboard as she continued:

"The phone you recovered sent a message yesterday that contained only numbers. I checked the sequence and realized it was a bank account number. I suspect the money in that account was the payment Antonio gave Garcia. Sure enough, not long ago, that account made an $800 withdrawal, and the location was right here in Brooklyn!"

Looking at the surveillance footage on Mona’s screen, which showed Garcia—having barely disguised his appearance—walking into a budget street motel with two white women after withdrawing the cash, a smile spread across Roan’s face.

"William, contact SWAT! We’re going on a vice raid tonight!"