American Tax Officer

"Haha, David, we moved up to 156!"

David leaned over to look and saw that their total tax performance was 1,476,868 US dollars, indeed moving up to 156.

If they could only deal with Lynch, that antique money launderer, and get his tax performance of over 1.6 million into their pocket, breaking into the national top 100 should be a sure thing!

Just as he was deep in thought, the ringtone from his phone snapped him back to reality. Seeing that it was Lewis's number, he quickly answered, "Chief Tax Officer."

"Come to my office!"

"Alright!"

Seven or eight minutes later, David arrived at the door of the Chief Tax Officer's office on the fourth floor. After knocking, he entered and asked, "Chief Tax Officer, you wanted to see me?"

Lewis stared at him intently, as if trying to see through him, and after a long while, he spoke with a hint of astonishment in his voice, "I've come to realize, this black tax law seems to have been made just for you!"

A few days ago, handing those three cases over to David, he had been somewhat worried about 'missing the opportunity.'

But unexpectedly, in just a few days, David had settled these three cases cleanly.

The most important point was that each case had brought in tax revenue that was two or three times more than their estimations, which had genuinely surprised him again.

David replied, "You're exaggerating, Chief Tax Officer. I'm currently ranked at 156. There are many inspectors better than me in the country."

Lewis disagreed with this statement, responding, "That's not an exaggeration. The inspectors better than you are all in those top cities. I think if you were given the same platform, you wouldn't be much worse off than them!"

David shrugged his shoulders without comment.

Lewis continued, "You, my boy, solve cases faster than I can select them, really giving me a headache. Take a rest first, and let me go to the intelligence department…"

"There's no need, Chief Tax Officer. I've found a case myself!"

"Oh?"

Lewis seemed surprised and asked, "What case? Is it reliable, and what's the difficulty level?"

"Do you know a person named Lynch Aldridge?"

"Lynch Aldridge... Are you referring to that businessman who owns an auction house here in the Lake District?"

Since the enactment of the black tax law, tax bureaus across the country had started fresh investigations in their jurisdictions to identify tax evaders.

Well-known businessmen like him were the focus of these investigations.

So Lewis had indeed heard the name.

"That's him!"

"What about him?"

"On the surface, he appears to be a businessman, an antique collector, but according to my investigations, he's been money laundering by buying low and selling high, inflating the prices of antiques, profiting up to 4 million US dollars a month!"

"What did you say!"

Lewis almost flew out of his chair, staring at David in shock.

"I'm saying, his true identity is an antique money launderer!"

"Is your source reliable?"

Lewis was still somewhat disbelieving.

Their intelligence department had already investigated Lynch but hadn't found anything unusual, and to profit 4 million US dollars was no small sum.

After all, their intelligence department's estimation of Dieter's income was only 3 million US dollars.

"Absolutely reliable!"

Seeing David's serious demeanor, Lewis was convinced to a large degree and slowly sat back down.

Although the intelligence department had not found anything on Lynch, it didn't mean they were certainly correct.

On the contrary, every time David was dealing with cases passed on by the intelligence department, he managed to collect many times the estimated taxes, further proving his capability.

4 million in illegal profits!

If they could collect these taxes, that would amount to over 1.6 million!

With this tax revenue, their Lake District Sub-Bureau would definitely clinch the number one position in tax performance within the Las Vegas branches again.

Moreover, with David's team breaking into the national top 100, advancing on their existing ranking of 89 seemed a sure bet!

Thinking of all the implications, Lewis felt motivated. He looked at David and said, "In that case, go ahead and investigate this case boldly. Notify me anytime if you need help!"

"Understood!"

...

After leaving the office, David was initially planning to immediately start investigating the case involving Lynch.

But unexpectedly, he received a call from Koffdale.

Koffdale informed him that they had just received notification from a spy, and a transaction would take place tomorrow morning.

He had to let it go and decided to handle the spy case tomorrow first.

The next day.

Nisen had arrived early at David's place, looking refreshed and eager after a night's rest.

Soon 9 o'clock came around.

After receiving Koffdale's call, David turned to Nisen and said, "Let's go, we're heading to the Lake District Train Station!"

"The transaction spot is at the Lake District Train Station?"

Nisen was somewhat astonished.

In his view, spies, typically averse to exposure and skittish, would choose secluded areas for transactions, wouldn't they?

Why would they pick a train station with such a heavy flow of people and police patrols?

"Who knows, maybe the spy thinks the most dangerous place could be the safest," David remarked.

Finding some logic in those words, Nisen asked no further and immediately went downstairs to start the car, driving towards the Lake District Train Station.

...

By the time they arrived at the Lake District Train Station, 20 minutes had passed.

Americans typically travel long distances by plane and for short distances, everyone has a car. Plus, it was the morning, so the train station wasn't crowded.

Passengers were dragging their luggage for ticket checks; some were reading books while sitting on benches. Everyone there seemed normal.

No matter how much David and Nisen observed, they couldn't find any trace of the spy.

After randomly picking a spot to sit for about five minutes, David's phone buzzed in his pocket. He looked at the message.

[East Area, locker number 46!]

"Let's go!"

David immediately stood up and headed towards the East Area.

On the way, he grabbed two free newspapers, handing one to Nisen, and once they arrived at the side of the locker, they sat down and pretended to read the newspapers seriously.

About 10 minutes later, Koffdale showed up first.