Gilbert stood at the desk in front of the one-way window, looking through into the interrogation room where Lars was making Toris sit at a table. As Lars left the room, Gilbert looked down at his own desk in front of the window, where the USB drive and the letter sat, and read through the letter again.

Dear Gilbert,

This USB will allow you to find the operation bases of the Kohler crime gang and the Vargas crime family. It was originally made by the JCI R&D department, so feel free to call on Vash if you want a hand figuring out how it works.

Sincerely,

Mathilda Jones

Gilbert shook his head, still in disbelief. He had just flunked out of law school when Mathilda first made headlines by running away, and it inspired him to get enrolled in the police academy and become an officer. Although she could easily have been caught before he could work on her case, he was intrigued by the idea of hunting down the biggest criminals in the world. And now, just over two and a half years later, Mathilda Jones had specifically reached out to him, and boldly offered him the biggest piece of evidence yet in the mob cases.

The door opened beside him, and Roderich strolled into the room.

"Toris is ready to start, Sadiq is waiting for Vash Zwingli at reception," Roderich said, "You can begin the interrogation, Gilbert."

"You're actually letting me interrogate someone?" Gilbert checked.

"You've had an impact on the mobs lately, and Mathilda specifically wanted you involved," Roderich explained, "I'll be monitoring you from here, of course, but otherwise Toris is all yours. Impress me."

Gilbert walked around Roderich, went back into the hallway, and entered the interrogation room. Toris immediately looked up and smirked.

"Ah, hello again, Gilbert," Toris greeted, "I don't get to talk to your Lieutenant?"

"He's busy, so I get the chance to crack you open," Gilbert commented as he sat down, "Why don't we start with who sent the package? You said at reception that it was a bit complicated, how so?"

"The people who gave me the job were hiding their identities from me," Toris explained, "They were using blindfolds, one-way windows, and microphones with distortion filters to keep me from figuring out who they were."

"It was multiple people then? All hidden from you?"

"At least two people were hidden entirely from me. There was one other who did show his face."

"Who was that?"

"A colleague of mine, Ivan Simonov."

"What kind of colleague? Another mobster?"

"He also works for Mikkel Kohler, mainly as a hired gun."

"Was he there at the delivery truck heist? What does he look like?"

"Yes, he was the big burly one on our sides without glasses, with platinum blonde hair and purple eyes. The two of us kept Lovino Vargas from getting into the truck."

Gilbert frowned as he realized something.

"You told Sadiq at reception that Mikkel was a target for whoever sent the package," Gilbert repeated, "Do you have reason to believe that Ivan is working against Mikkel?"

"Ivan actually confirmed it. I was asked who I would be loyal to if I knew that Ivan could beat Mikkel in the race to have each other arrested."

"Why would Mikkel want Ivan arrested?"

"Mikkel informed me this morning that Ivan was hiding something from everyone, that he might be a traitor. I was ordered to spy on Ivan and see what he was doing, so I followed him to a warehouse by the harbour where I ended up in a trap."

"Which warehouse?"

"I don't remember seeing an exact address, but I highly doubt it's their base. They caught me on camera, and they had me shut my eyes while they blindfolded and cuffed me. I was put in a car and taken to another location."

"Damn," Gilbert grunted, "Sorry, please continue."

"As I said, they took me to another base. When the blindfold was taken off, I was in an interrogation room with Ivan, and his colleagues were hidden behind a one-way mirror. They used microphones equipped with distortion filters when they wanted to speak. They got me to explain why I was following Ivan, and they gave me the choice to either join them or die."

"They wanted you to betray Mikkel and join their group?"

"Yes, they offered me their protection in exchange for my loyalty and services."

"And you'd be dead if you refused?"

"They were prepared to shoot me on the spot."

"Delivering this package would be your first job for them then?"

"An audition, actually, they wanted to test me first. If I opened the package myself, or gave it to someone other than the police, they'd kill me by sunset."

"Did they know you would be arrested on the spot?"

"I warned them it was probable, but they assured me I had nothing to fear. I hadn't been told enough about their group to spill the beans on anything, so they said I was free to cooperate and tell you everything. As long as I completed the delivery, I would be accepted into their group and have their protection."

"How exactly will they give you protection if you're already in jail?"

"I'm not entirely sure about that part."

Gilbert stood from his chair and started to pace the room as he processed everything in his mind.

"Okay, Toris, let's see if I have this right," the Sergeant spoke aloud, "Mikkel found out something about Ivan that made him doubt the Russian's loyalty and trustworthiness. Kohler ordered you to spy on Ivan, which you did to the point where you got caught red-handed. You were then taken to an interrogation room where Ivan and his unidentified colleagues got you to spill the beans. They gave you the choice to either work for them or die, and delivering this package to me was the audition for joining them and earning their protection."

"Yes, that is correct."

The door opened before anything else could be said, and Gilbert turned to see Roderich enter the room with a tablet in his hand.

"Everything alright?" Gilbert asked, halting his pacing and standing at attention.

"Yes, you're doing well so far, Gilbert." Roderich replied, "I have a question for you, Toris. What do you know about Mathilda Jones-Kirkland?"

"She is the JCI heiress that ran away," Toris divulged, "All I know for sure is what was on the news, about how she broke some major laws, cheated on her husband, and disappeared with millions of dollars."

"Have you had any interaction with her?" Roderich inquired.

"Not that I'm aware of," Toris admitted.

"So you genuinely had no idea that the package you delivered includes a letter signed by her?" Roderich checked.

"Holy shit, really?" Toris gasped, leaning forward in his chair.

"What about this man, do you know who he is?" Roderich asked, showing Toris whatever was on the tablet.

"Yes, that's Ivan," Toris verified.

"And you said his last name is Simonov?"

Toris nodded, and Gilbert frowned as he looked at Roderich in confusion.

"What of this other man, do you know him?" Roderich moved on, swiping on the tablet to show something else before letting Toris see it again.

"Yes, he works for the Vargas family," Toris attested, "Antonio Esposito, I think his name was."

"Are you aware that Ivan Simonov and Antonio Esposito are both using fake last names?" Roderich inquired.

Toris leaned back in his chair, speechless for a moment, allowing Gilbert to realize the Lithuanian truly had no clue what Roderich was talking about.

"So, what is Ivan's real last name, then?" Toris finally asked.

"I'm afraid that is highly classified information, Mr. Laurinaitis, your cooperation on the matter is appreciated," Roderich refused, "What you need to worry about is the numerous other crimes we have on your file, and the fact that we will send you to prison as soon as we can arrange it. If you will please excuse us for a moment."

Roderich motioned for Gilbert to follow him out of the room, and the Sergeant was careful to lock the door shut after him. They went back into the other room where Sadiq had been listening with Arthur Kirkland, Alfred Jones and Vash Zwingli.

"So it's true then?" Alfred immediately asked, "He's had direct contact with them?"

"Only Ivan and Antonio are confirmed, Mathilda would be indirect contact at best." Roderich corrected as he placed the tablet on the table.

"Would someone please tell me what is going on?" Gilbert demanded, "Since I'm the one this information is going through, I'd like to understand what this is all about."

Everyone hesitated and stared at him for a moment, before Roderich gave a small huff, picked the tablet up again, and passed it over.

"Gilbert, do you remember seeing these men at the delivery truck heist?" Roderich asked, allowing Gilbert to swipe between the two ID pictures on the screen.

"Yes, I saw them both there," Gilbert vouched, "The blond dragged Lovino Vargas away from the truck, while the brunette jumped into the brawl to help Vargas before Toris tried to pull him away. Why do you ask?"

"The blond is Ivan Braginski, former researcher in JCI's R&D department," Roderich revealed, "The brunette is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, Mathilda's personal bodyguard."

"They're the ones who helped Mathilda escape, aren't they?" Gilbert clued in.

"They certainly are, and thanks to Toris, we now know that they're hiding in the mobs," Arthur added on, "We can finally catch that wife-stealing Russian and Spanish scumbag."

"What about Mathilda, though?" Alfred interrupted, "I thought you said something about her interacting with Toris, and yet he didn't seem to have a clue about it."

"Toris brought in that envelope this afternoon," Sadiq explained, pointing to the evidence on the counter, "The letter is signed with Mathilda's name, and claims that Vash can help us figure out what is on the USB in order to shut down the mobs."

Vash left the side of his superiors, picked up the USB drive and inspected it.

"This USB was definitely originally made by JCI, possibly by Ivan himself before he helped Mathilda with the supercomputer," Vash analyzed, "Considering the note, I think I know what program will be on it. Roderich, do you mind if I plug it into my computer?"

"Go ahead," Roderich permitted, and Vash pulled a laptop computer out of his shoulderbag.

"If I may ask, what is this supercomputer you mentioned?" Gilbert pried.

Arthur raised his eyebrow in suspicion at the Commissioner, only to receive a nod in response.

"He's involved now, he can know more," Roderich certified.

"While Mathilda was managing the R&D department, she and Ivan built a supercomputer that could hack, corrupt and destroy all JCI and government databases," Alfred explained, "They were very protective of it, and we didn't think anything of their precautions. That is, until the national nuclear missile launching protocols were hacked, and the government traced it back to their project."

"When Vash tried to track down security recording of the hacking being done, we found footage of Mathilda and Ivan shagging in her office," Arthur added bitterly, "As her bodyguard, Antonio was helping to protect their secrets, and he arranged her escape after we discovered her activities."

"This USB has a JCI GPS-tracking program, just like I thought," Vash reported, ending the story where it was at, "This USB holds the master program, and traces the location of any other USB that is paired to it. Once a paired USB is plugged into any computer, the program on this one can trace its exact location, down to the specific corner of a room in a 40-storey building. It can even track the amount of time the paired USB is plugged in for, in case it is unplugged before we find it."

"If this is the master, then Mathilda must have sent a paired USB to one of the mob bases," Gilbert caught on.

"Both their bases, actually," Vash corrected, "This one has two USBs paired with it, and there's even a legend for the colour-coding. I already have a grey dot showing me where the Kohler base must be, while the red dot for the Vargas base has yet to show up."

"Did you just say we know where to find Mikkel Kohler?" Sadiq repeated.

"You should mount an operation right now, then," Arthur suggested, "Catch Ivan while he is still at the base."

"I don't think you'll find Ivan there," Gilbert warned.

"Why not, Gilbert?" Alfred queried.

"Mathilda's the one who sent this USB to us, so she must need someone to get into each base to plant the paired USBs," Gilbert determined, "That's what Antonio and Ivan are there for. She would've told the boys what the USBs are for, and instructed them to leave their bases as quickly as possible after the job is done. In other words, whether or not we use Mathilda's method to shut down the mobs, Ivan and Antonio will escape."

"Gilbert's right, we won't catch the boys this way," Vash supported, "Like Mathilda said in her letter, this plan is specifically for shutting down the Vargas and Kohler mobs."

"What of the Dragon Triad?" Sadiq asked, "Are they connected to this at all?"

"Doesn't look like it, she would've paired a third USB if that were the case," Vash dissented, "I'd wager they focused on the ones causing the most trouble."

"Gilbert, Sadiq, round a team up and prepare to storm the Kohler base," Roderich commanded, "Vash, if you wouldn't mind sticking around, I'll have you help us track the paired USBs at both bases."

"What about Toris?" Gilbert asked, motioning at the Lithuanian still waiting for them in the interrogation room.

"I'll have Lars return him to the holding cell," Roderich dismissed, "We can send him to the county prison tomorrow morning."