Daley reclined in his seat in the carriage, his eyes closed.

As he himself declared, Daley was extremely passionate about his work, at the cost of always feeling that he was not sleeping enough.

Halfway through, his carriage stopped, and there was a slight knock on the window, and then a subordinate came up, a spy he had sent to Vichy.

It has been more than a year since the establishment of the secret police, and in the past year or so, his intelligence network has grown from scratch, from small to large, and has become more and more perfect, and it is time to make some gains.

Of course, the cost of this is huge, and it is not enough to rely on the allocation of funds from the Holy City.

But as his authority in Genoa increased, not only did the patrol police come under his jurisdiction, but the power of the secret police frightened many. So, with the tacit approval of his superiors and the governor, he cooperated with the tax company and the provincial tax bureau to get a piece of the pie in preventing smuggling and cracking down on tax evasion, in order to raise funds for the establishment of a secret intelligence network, and by the way, to bulge his own pockets.

"Viscount Connelly visited His Majesty the Pope at eleven o'clock the night before, and according to eyewitnesses, the Viscount had brought with him more than twenty men, each carrying a rifle......"

When Daley heard this information, he suddenly opened his eyes and sat up in shock:

"It shouldn't be, unless it's a madman, who would dare to do this to a pope, even though the Cult of the True God is in decline. Besides, I haven't heard of anyone dead or injured!"

"The Pope is probably very fond of Vichy, and has declared on more than one occasion that the climate there is good for his health. He rented a house in the town, because it was eleven o'clock in the evening, and the place was relatively remote, and not many people paid attention to it, and the viscount and his men left quickly and peacefully, less than an hour before and after, so nothing unexpected happened. I also saw the Pope appear this morning, but the situation is very suspicious. "Because the Pope declared that Viscount Connelly had donated to him 20,000 louis to support his mission, a large sum of money." ”

"It's really a lot of money, more than 20 people with rifles, just to force donations? I dare say there must be a deal in this, what would make the Viscount willing to risk offending Bishop Shakli?after all, in Bishop Shakli's eyes, it was nothing short of a betrayal, especially considering the Viscount's origins. Daley nodded, with many questions in his mind, "What else is there to do with the Viscount, and have you ever asked him the real reason for buying the Eagle Castle?"

Daley's series of questions made the spy immediately blindfolded.

Seeing that his subordinates couldn't answer, and that he was a little out of line, he waved his hand in annoyance and drove the other party out of the carriage.

Daly's intelligence network wasn't directed at Sean, to be precise, he targeted anyone, not even the Governor. The Governor was well aware of this, even though Daly had to obey his orders.

As one of the Empire's most loyal eagle dogs, Daly felt a great responsibility.

The carriage left the street, turned into a remote street and stopped, and suddenly a dozen grim-faced fellows appeared.

"Good morning, Mr. Director!"

Daley glanced at the spies and asked the guy in charge, "Raul, is the target still in the house?"

"Yes, the target came back last night, lives upstairs, and hasn't come out yet, and the target has a habit of sleeping lazy. "My men are ready to be captured at any time." ”

"Good, let's get moving. Daley nodded, "Be sure to catch it alive!"

Daley gave the order, and the spies scattered around surrounded the target's room from all directions, and some people spread out from a distance to look out for accidents.

It is an old house with a red roof, and a sign reading "Maxim's Job Agency" hangs at the door of the street. This place is relatively remote, and of course, such an agent cannot afford to rent a good façade room.

There are many such shops in Poitou, and they are generally in charge of labor agencies, introducing jobs to people who need jobs, and also providing labor to employers who need manpower, and collecting agency fees from them.

It was not yet nine o'clock in the morning, and two clerks were busy preparing their work, and they put up a bulletin board at the door with the number of hires required and the skills required, but usually the people who came here to look for work were illiterate, and they usually asked the clerk directly.

The spies rushed in and quickly restrained the two clerks who did not react, some of them were busy closing the door, and the others rushed upstairs.

Upstairs one is the office and the other is the boss's bedroom. The bedroom is slammed open by the spies, who pounce on the boss, Maxim Tray, who is still sleeping.

Maxim Tray cried out in horror: "Who are you? robber, I want to call the police." ”

"Shut up!" someone punched him in the cheek, "We're the police!"

Maxim was tightly tied, with a dirty rag on his mouth, and his two clerks were stuffed into a carriage and taken away.

The agents who remained in the store put up a sign that it was closed, closed the door, and then conducted a thorough search of the labor agency.

Daley sat in the carriage and looked at his pocket watch, which took less than seven minutes and barely attracted the attention of others.

He was pleased with the performance of his subordinates.

In the afternoon of the next day, he listened to his subordinates report on the progress in his office:

"Maxime Traj, male, 42 years old, resident of the Alençon neighborhood of the city. His father was a senior accountant in the municipality, and after his father's death, Maxim Tray became a trainee accountant in the municipality. But this happened 20 years ago, when he was fired on suspicion of embezzlement. ”

"Well, this is a tainted person. Daley nodded.

The man was a young man who was idle, got into a gambling habit, and squandered his father's modest inheritance, so he started to make public money, but he embezzled little, so the municipal officials at the time confiscated his property and swept him away. ”

"Gambling is a terrible vice!" said Daley, "gambling, alcoholism, and drugs, and the scoundrels have at least one or all three." Hmm, you go on. ”

Maxime Tray disappeared from public view until ten years ago, when he returned to Poitou. No one knows where he has gone in the past ten years, I heard that he went to the north, but he came back well-dressed, and at least he could afford to hire someone to open the agency.

It is this that raises our little suspicions. Please note that this is only a minor suspicion, Mr. Director. The subordinate continued.

"Then you say, I'll listen. Daley said.

"You know, Mr. Director, the Tulip Tavern is a tavern run by our own people, and about this time last year, there was a time when Maxim Tray drank a little too much. He is usually very cautious, but he is more greedy. After drinking too much, he was a little open-mouthed, and he said one thing to a good person, and this good person was our informant. ”

Daley's intelligence network is very extensive, and his informants and peripheral personnel are very complex, involving various industries, which will have to throw money. That's why he always felt that there was a lack of funds.

The subordinate continued: "This time last year, Viscount Sean Connery was facing the same accusations ......"

Once again, Daley expressed his surprise: "I know that there were people who wanted to remove him from his position as military adviser to the CDF. But now that I think about it, Viscount Connelly resigned very simply, and instead got more. ”

"Maxim Tray was essentially a man of vanity, and he threatened that he was just unlucky, otherwise if he had been as lucky as Viscount Connelly and had been hit by a knighthood's hat, he would have become a high-class man long ago. He also ridiculed Viscount Connelly for not being very clever and about to be knocked out of office. The subordinate said.

Daley felt that the information was more than a year late, and he still remembers Sean's angry look when he resigned. It's ironic that Sean, who was knocked out of power, finally saved Genoa, and still had the strength to go north to participate in the counterinsurgency and win a very high honor.

However, he will not feel any guilt for Sean because of the late arrival of this piece of information.

In hindsight, Daley did not reprimand his subordinates for delaying this piece of information in person, after all, the intelligence network had just been established at that time, and there was a shortage of people who were good at analyzing intelligence, and everything was very imperfect.

But this incident also gave him a warning that it was necessary to strengthen his intelligence analysis capabilities in the future.

"What caught our attention was that our informant stumbled upon a 'Zodiac Rat' mask in his coat pocket last month and didn't alarm him at the time. Under normal circumstances, a 42-year-old man, who has no children and does not interact with relatives, carries such a mask with him, which cannot but make us suspicious. And yesterday, we thoroughly searched the bedroom upstairs of his shop, and the mask was also found at the scene. ”

"Very well!" Daley was excited, "It's a big fish! I'm going to reward you!"

"Thank you, Mr. Director, it is our honor to serve a chief like you!" the subordinate complimented with joy, and added, "The more we investigate, the more we feel that this guy is very suspicious, since the beginning of this year, he has only done five businesses, and introduced jobs to a total of twenty laborers, which is not enough to cover the salary he paid to two clerks, not to mention the rent of the store, and his own squandering on women." And this person always likes to go out, which is too suspicious. ”

Daley held his chin with one hand and rhythmically tapped the table with the other:

"When the Civil Defence Force was just being established, there were people who resold arms, and this was a bit strange at the time. But the evidence was conclusive, and even Viscount Connelly had nothing to say. Although the captured soldiers admit that someone bought them off, and the mastermind behind them has not been caught, you have to interrogate this guy named Maxim, who may be the head of intelligence of the True God Party in Poitou, and this has a lot to do with it.

You can check his social dealings, and all those who are close to him should be investigated, but you must be careful to keep it secret and be fast, otherwise his accomplices will slip away. It would be better if all the members of the rebel party in Poitou were uprooted. Also, beware, there is at least one bloodthirsty among our opponents, which is quite dangerous. ”

"Yes!"