Chapter 142
"Okay."
Investigation wasn't exactly her forte.
But as Imperial City's Chief of Military Logistics, if Sherry wanted to dig up information on someone here, she could make it happen.
"Thanks."
Jack said to Sherry.
"Between you and me, do we really need to say thanks?" Sherry looked at Jack, her face breaking into a warm smile.
"It's getting late. You should get some rest."
"Good night." Jack nodded, bid Sherry good night, then headed back to his own room.
After Jack left, Sherry picked up the file he'd left on the table.
That woman who'd delivered it earlier—Sherry knew exactly who she was.
She was the head of the IRS office in Imperial City.
The IRS.
Sherry knew all too well just how powerful that agency was.
If there was one force that could make those powerful tycoons and corporate giants tremble in their boots, it wasn't the heavily armed gangs or the inscrutable politicians—it was the IRS.
As the head of the Imperial City IRS office, that woman's status was no lower than Sherry's own.
Yet someone of that standing had come here personally, respectfully delivering files to Jack.
What did that mean?
It meant Jack's position was even higher than hers.
Higher than the head of the Imperial City IRS.
Sherry didn't dare let her imagination run any further.
"Jack... what have you been doing all these years?" Sherry murmured softly.
She felt like Jack was wrapped in layer upon layer of impenetrable fog—a mist that shrouded him completely, making him impossible to read, impossible to grasp.
---
Inside his room, Jack dialed Victoria's number.
The moment the call connected, a sultry laugh came through from the other end.
"Jack, calling me this late—feeling lonely in the middle of the night?"
"Want to do a video call? I could show you something... interesting. I'm not wearing anything right now, you know."
On the other end of the line, in Sovereign City, Victoria's voice was lazy and sweet, laced with shameless seduction—as if she were reclining on a velvet couch right now, swirling a glass of red wine in her hand.
Victoria wasn't lying. At this moment, she truly wasn't wearing any clothes.
She had on only a wine-red silk robe, loosely draped over her body, exposing large expanses of smooth skin that gleamed enticingly under the warm glow of the wall lamps.
She lounged lazily on a wide leather sofa, her long legs casually crossed. In her hand, she swirled half a glass of crimson wine, the liquid catching the light in mesmerizing patterns.
Hearing Jack's silence on the other end, Victoria's lips curved into a playful smile.
She tilted her head back slightly, drained the glass in one smooth motion, then flicked her tongue out to catch a lingering drop of wine at the corner of her mouth.
"Why so quiet?" Her voice grew even more coquettish, laced with a hint of triumphant amusement. "Did I hit the mark? Are you picturing what I look like right now?"
Jack leaned back in his chair, his fingers idly flipping open and closed a lighter. The metallic click echoed crisply in the darkness.
"Victoria," he said, his voice calm as still water, devoid of any ripple. "I got the materials you sent."
There was a brief silence on the other end, followed by a soft laugh.
"You finished reading them already?" Victoria's tone remained flirtatious, but there was a trace of genuine seriousness now. "Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to dig up that information for you?"
"So, don't you think you owe me a proper 'thank you'?"
"Jack..."
Victoria's voice dropped deliberately lower, taking on a sweet, nasal quality—like a feather brushing lightly against Jack's eardrum from across the distance.
"I did you such a huge favor... aren't you going to give me a little 'reward' to savor?"
As she spoke, she deliberately tugged the neckline of her silk robe down further, revealing a view that would make anyone's blood race. She shifted slightly on the sofa, producing a faint, suggestive creak—as if she were adjusting into an even more provocative position on the other end of the line.
"If you just open the video right now..." Her voice dripped like honey, laced with fatal temptation. "You'll get to see some... wonderful things. I promise, it'll be far more interesting than that boring stack of papers."
On this end of the line, Jack listened to her seductive whispers, his fingers never once pausing in their rhythmic play with the lighter.
The crisp metallic clicks continued, cold and steady, in the quiet room.
Jack flicked the lighter open and lit a cigarette.
He took a slow drag, then exhaled a stream of smoke.
Then he spoke calmly.
"You still haven't given me the materials on Fidelity Tower Technologies."
"You're such a cold, ruthless man," Victoria's voice carried a hint of playful reproach.
"Do you have any idea how much it hurts a woman's feelings when you reject her generous invitation?" Victoria laughed softly.
But seeing that Jack wasn't biting, her tone immediately turned serious and businesslike.
"I can't get you the Fidelity Tower Technologies materials anytime soon. Do you have any idea how much effort it took me just to dig up Karina Tech's information?"
"Jack, the people you're going after this time—they're no joke."
"Even inside the IRS, they've got their people planted."
"You know, even though I'm the IRS Commissioner, I can't just investigate companies however I please—especially not ones with this kind of market value."
"Just investigating Karina Tech alone, I've already faced massive pushback internally."
Victoria's voice shed its earlier flirtatiousness, now heavy with suppressed gravity. "And that Fidelity Tower Technologies you mentioned—its financial trail is buried deep, tangled up with numerous foreign conglomerates. So deep that even the White House has to tread carefully around it. Fidelity Tower Technologies is just a front. Behind it lies something much bigger."
Jack's brow furrowed immediately.
He'd known Fidelity Tower Technologies wasn't as simple as it appeared on the surface.
But he hadn't expected that beneath this seemingly straightforward financial facade lurked a behemoth powerful enough to shake the machinery of the state itself.
"Got it," Jack said after a long silence.
His voice was low.
At that moment, Victoria's voice took on a note of genuine concern. "Jack, if possible, I hope you'll stop digging into this."
"This company's connections run too deep."
"It's too late," Jack said slowly, exhaling another smoke ring.
Ever since William died, there was no possibility of reconciliation between him and these people.
William's death—he had to get to the bottom of it.
No matter who they were, how rich, how powerful, how much influence they wielded—Jack would make them pay.