PFC Chapter 3341 Bloody New City (9)
Chapter 3341 Bloody New City (9)
Chapter 3341 Bloody New City ()
Schiller was watching Patrick's show in his office in Arkham Asylum when his cell phone rang. When he picked it up, he heard Pavel's angry roar from the other end: "Rodriguez!! You dare to check me?!"
"Calm down, ma'am," Schiller said as he picked the coffee beans. "Of course you can continue to be angry, and that's your freedom. But if you can't calm down quickly, you'll miss a great opportunity to make further progress."
Pavel cursed several times before calming down. She took a deep breath and said, "My father is dead. No matter what happened back then, you can't use this as a handle to hinder me..."
"I have no intention of doing so, because it won't do me any good," Schiller said. "I investigated you because you investigated me. Since you didn't find out anything, even if I did, I wouldn't use it. After all, you can't harm me."
This sentence sounded a bit confusing, but Pavel still understood what he meant. Although she didn't know why the man opposite was so fearless, she still raised her vigilance as much as possible.
"Okay, ma'am, let's get down to business," Schiller continued. "You have a great opportunity to advance to another level, so don't waste your time speculating that I'm an alien or something."
"What do you mean?" Pavel asked.
"Do you know what Patrick's show is getting in the ratings? He's almost breaking records... he's already broken records. Tens of millions of people are watching him all over the East Coast right now. Do you know what that means?"
Pavel narrowed her eyes slightly. She stroked her fingertips and said, "Some people say you claim to be a psychiatrist, and my subordinates told me that Carter's mental state is not normal. Did you arrange this exciting chase?"
"I guess so." Schiller sighed helplessly, "People in Gotham prefer action scenes. But the effect is still good. What do you think?"
Even though he was full of fear, Pavel could not lie with his eyes open. The ratings were the best answer. This was indeed a very exciting chase.
"That's not the point, ma'am," Schiller continued. "The point is, do you think this demonstrates the IRS's deterrence and professionalism?"
"...What do you want to do?" Pavel asked.
"Now go talk to your boss and try to get this show on the most popular radio stations in several cities on the East Coast. He'll agree."
Pavel swallowed. She knew Schiller was right, and his boss would definitely agree, because this was the best opportunity to show off his muscles. But she didn't understand Schiller's purpose, so she didn't dare to agree easily.
"You must be wondering why I did this." Schiller seemed to see through his thoughts, "But if I may be frank, it's because you are so useless. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to go through so much trouble."
"What did you say?" Pavel's tone became somewhat unfriendly.
"I mean, the job that you, the IRS, do is really poor. It's really poor," Schiller said bluntly.
Before Pavel could say anything, Schiller said, "You must be asking me what qualifications I have to say this, but just like this time, if it weren't for those gamblers, you would have really let Carter get away. This is the difference between me and you - I understand ordinary people, stand with them, and am good at using them. This is what you should do."
"It's a good thing to conduct strict tax inspections, but if you spend all your energy on exploiting the poor, you will never achieve anything in your life."
"Investigating one rich person is worth hundreds of thousands of poor people, so of course you should target the rich. Of course you want to have both, but the fact is, it's better to use one to deal with the other. In other words, dealing with the rich is actually helping the poor. As long as you clearly show them this, there will be countless people willing to help you."
After Pavel hung up the phone, she was still thinking about what Schiller had said. She certainly understood what Schiller meant, but most Americans were afraid of them. Not to mention helping them, they would rather avoid them.
In the past they had always regarded this as a successful establishment of authority, but the fact was that their work had become increasingly difficult in recent years, and Pavel had not been promoted for a long time.
"Boss, the hotline has been flooded with calls." A head poked its head out from the other side of the door and said, "They are all reports about Carter Group's tax evasion. I screened it and found that there is quite a lot of useful information."
Pavel frowned and said, "Do you know who reported it?"
"Many of them are anonymous. Do you want me to check?"
"No, let's confirm the authenticity of the information first. If it's useful, send someone to check it out. Before the trial, the more evidence the better."
At dawn, Pavel looked at the thick stack of information in his hand and raised his eyebrows in surprise: "So much was found out in one night?"
"We didn't check it. Most of them were sent to us." The subordinate said, "Some people called to report, some people put information in mailboxes, and some people just sent things to the police station. We roughly sorted it out, and this is all."
Pavel simply flipped through the information and found that it was not hearsay. Most of them were very real crimes. Although they were not under the jurisdiction of the IRS, if they could be charged at the same time, Carter would definitely be guilty of several more crimes and would have no chance of recovery.
People in their line of work are most afraid of not getting their opponent killed after one lawsuit. As long as they can make the other party spend the rest of their lives in jail, they dare to do anything.
Pavel sighed and said, "Go call Chandler over. It's his turn to work."
"By the way, where's that Nightwing?"
"He had a meeting with Batman."
"Batman?" Pavel frowned slowly.
"Yes, the Joker's archenemy."
"It's the Joker who kidnapped the rich people this time, right?"
"Right, so the two of them might be discussing how to deal with the clown."
Pavel stood up immediately: "Stop them! Quick!"
Gotham was still bustling in the early morning. A convoy of black SUVs from the IRS special operations team sped through the streets. The headlights cut through the rain, and the roar of the engines echoed in the empty streets, attracting the attention of pedestrians around.
"The target is moving towards the dock, keep your distance and don't let him get away!" Lake, the leader of the special operations team, shouted into the walkie-talkie, his eyes fixed on the black Batmobile in front of him. The jet engine at the rear of the car drew a streak of blue flame in the rainy night.
The motorcycle did a smooth tailspin and came to the side of the Batmobile. Nightwing gripped the handle tightly, lowered his body, and roared into the walkie-talkie: "Batman! Why are they chasing you?!"
"I think they're after you."
"How is that possible? I didn't evade taxes!"
"I do not have either."
"Well, it might be a GTO thing. That guy is still tracking down GTO funds."
"Then you take them away. I still have to go to the Joker's base."
"What if they catch up with me?!"
"I won't pay to bail you out."
Nightwing rolled his eyes and stepped on the accelerator to the floor. In front of a tax audit, life and death are determined by fate, wealth and honor are determined by God, and the slowest runners are in the front row!
"Batman! Stop right now! Batman!! I'm IRS Special Squad Agent Lake! Pull over right now!!!"
"Hey, they seem to be chasing you." Nightwing turned another corner and came to the other side of Batman and said, "You are not really evading taxes, are you?"
"I didn't." Batman denied again.
"Then why are they chasing you?"
“I’ve been thinking about that, too.”
Batman whispered back, a hint of impatience in his voice, and he turned the steering wheel sharply, causing the Batmobile to turn sharply and rush into a narrow alley.
Behind them, the IRS convoy followed closely. The agent's voice came from Lake's intercom: "Captain, he's entered the alley! Should we follow him in?"
"Follow him! Don't let him get away!" Lake said quickly. He took out his pistol and shot at the tail wing of the Batmobile.
"Looks like I have to bail you out." Nightwing said to Batman through the intercom, with a hint of teasing in his tone.
"Don't be distracted." Batman's voice remained calm, but he stepped on the accelerator even deeper.
His action this time was just to go to the Joker's base to test the truth, but the IRS appeared out of nowhere and chased them relentlessly. Batman was now thinking back to all the operations he had done since taking over the Wayne Group, making sure there was no place for them to catch him.
After thinking for a long time, Batman finally determined that he should not have any tax problems. He finally slowed down the car.
Batman paused. Riker said to Bavel over the intercom, "It seems like he's confident about his tax situation."
"Of course, who doesn't know that Wayne Group has the best tax team in the world?" Pavel snorted coldly and said, "Tell him we are not going to check his taxes."
"Then what's the reason for the stop?"
"GTO," Pavel replied. "He participated in the bidding for GTO investment. We are looking for him to collect evidence."
Lake nodded immediately, but still said with some concern: "This guy is a masked hero, what if he refuses to admit his true identity?"
"It won't work just because he denies it." Pavel paused and said, "It's not a good idea to offend Bruce Wayne, but if we want to do something with GTO, we have to confront him. There's no need to be so timid."
Lake nodded and said, "Okay, I get it. I'll be as vague as possible."
After that, he also pulled over, picked up the walkie-talkie and got out of the car. The agent behind him took out his gun and pointed it at Batman and Nightwing.
"Don't be nervous." Lake waved his hand and said, "We want to ask you a few questions about GTO. Do you have time to come with us?"
"No time," Batman said.
"Sorry, that's not a question." Lake took out his ID and said, "The IRS doesn't need to get anyone's consent. Go ahead, hero."
Batman narrowed his eyes. Lake did not rush forward, and the two of them remained in a stalemate.
Lake also felt that it was a bit tricky. Knowing Batman's true identity, he didn't want to confront him head-on when the other party didn't reveal any flaws, which might be very disadvantageous to him and his boss.
Just as he was thinking about whether to continue threatening, the intercom suddenly rang. Listening to the noise on the other end, Lake slowly opened his eyes.
After hanging up the phone, he took a step forward, not caring at all about Batman's hand on the dart.
However, this time, what he showed was not his ID, but handcuffs.
"I'm sorry, sir. Your official sponsor, Bruce Wayne, is suspected of illegally hacking into the Federal Reserve's back-end system. We suspect he is trying to modify the financial data for the Wayne Group to evade taxes. You are under arrest."
Bruce: There is no Federal Reserve in any universe that can escape my clutches.