American Tax Officer

Upon hearing Eugene's words, Stevenson's expression darkened.

Indeed, IRS inspectors being corrupt and taking bribes was a huge blow to the agency's image. If they found out he was the one who leaked it to the media, the IRS might not directly retaliate against him, but they would certainly remember this grievance.

And his goal was to run for Senator or President after stepping down as Governor.

Being under constant scrutiny by the higher-ups in the IRS wouldn't be good for him in the long run.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"This matter can actually be maximized to our greatest benefit, of course, on the premise that you, the Governor, need to be patient for the time being."

"How so?"

Eugene organized his thoughts before saying, "It's simple. Although this information isn't enough to take David down completely, we've got a handle on him. Governor, you have only a few months left before you step down to aim for greater goals. We could use this to blackmail him, make him your faithful dog; release him when needed to bite your competitors.

That's far more valuable than dealing with him directly right now!"

Although they stood on different sides, Eugene honestly admired David's abilities.

Stevenson remained silent.

As a father, of course, he wanted to immediately destroy David.

But as a mature politician, he knew Eugene was right.

With David's capabilities, if he could act as his loyal dog, once he resigned to run for other positions, and if he encountered any competitors, letting this dog loose would certainly be enough to throw his opponents into turmoil.

"All right, let's do as you suggest!"

After weighing the pros and cons for a long time, Stevenson finally made a decision.

However, he was also secretly planning that once he stepped down and successfully ran for another position and drained David of all his value, he would dispose of this "dog" immediately!

Then, he would let David truly experience what despair was.

...

The next day, soon after David arrived at his office in the bureau, someone from the mail department came knocking on his door.

"Director David, you have a document."

"Just put it there, thank you!"

David thought it was case material sent over from Newtown District or another sub-branch and didn't pay it much mind.

It wasn't until 10 o'clock in the morning when he had finished dealing with other matters that he picked up the document, opened it, and started to look through it.

But as the content of the document gradually came into view, his expression grew darker and darker, and finally, he threw the document down on the desk.

Because this document was about his inspection team member, Poppy, taking bribes.

Under normal circumstances, that might not be an issue.

But now, in the midst of the fervent "deification" plan, if this document leaked, not to mention striving for the plan's success, escaping censure would already be lucky!

After all, the "god" of the deification plan was supposed to have a positive image. Now, with his leadership in armed actions and the personal prestige he had established in Sparks and Henderson, that positive image had indeed been erected.

But with this incident involving Poppy, it wouldn't be right to say his image was destroyed, but at least it would be tarnished.

If Bellamy Hattie and Brown Soros then took the chance to play this card, the outcome was predictable!

Gathering his thoughts, David forcefully suppressed the anger in his heart and picked up the file folder set aside to check.

Just as he had guessed.

This document had been sent from the state government.

In other words, it was still retaliation from Stevenson's side!

"That bastard..."

David couldn't help but curse.

But after cursing, he suddenly started to ponder a question.

Logically, if Stevenson had gotten hold of the document, the best way to get revenge would be to leak it to the press and let them attack him.

But now, Stevenson hadn't done so, and he wondered what that meant.

After much thought, David came up with two explanations.

First, if the document were to be leaked, not only would he be responsible as a leader, but it would also be a significant blow to the image of the IRS.

Perhaps Stevenson was wary of bearing a grudge from the higher-ups at the IRS.

Second, Stevenson wanted to use it as leverage to constrain or blackmail him!

Forget it, let's not worry about that now!

David felt the pressing matter was to deal with the document first, and immediately picked up the phone on his desk: "Get all the members of our team to my office."

Five minutes later, Bucky and the others pushed the door open and entered.

They thought that David had called them in to arrange the matter of the counterfeit money case transaction that was supposed to happen later.

But when they saw David's grim face, they suddenly felt something was amiss and dared not even breathe heavily.

At this time, David, using the function of Golden Finger, was scrutinizing each member of the team.

He hadn't scrutinized these people before, first because it was a waste of time, and second because there really had been no need.

But now, with the incident involving Poppy, he felt it necessary to pay attention, or else similar incidents could happen again.

What relieved him was that after reviewing the squad, aside from Poppy, there were no issues with the other seven members.

In the end, he could only fix his gaze on Poppy.

Under such scrutiny, Poppy was on edge, his heart filled with trepidation.

The other seven who were present also sensed something was wrong, but none dared to ask.

As the atmosphere turned increasingly tense, David finally spoke: "Poppy, I don't believe I've ever mistreated you, every time we complete a mission, you get the same share of tax achievements as everyone else."

Upon hearing this, Poppy was scared witless.

The others, too, realized the seriousness of David's words, and turned their gazes towards Poppy.

Nisen, who had the best relationship with David, mustered the courage to ask, "Director David, what's wrong with Poppy...?"

"See for yourselves!"

David picked up the document from the desk and threw it over.

Without any delay, Nisen and the others went forward to look.

Once they saw the content of the document, they all understood what was going on, and their faces grew somber.

Ariel, in particular, lashed out directly, "Poppy, as an inspector of the IRS, how could you take bribes from those criminals!"

"Poppy, you've not only harmed yourself but, critically, you've harmed our entire investigative team and Director David!"

"Poppy, the Director has given you a considerable share of tax achievements, and with those, you've been able to get handsome bonuses every appraisal period. Why would you take those few thousand US dollars?"

Bucky and Simmons both sternly rebuked him with great heaviness of heart.

But at that moment, Nisen, who had seen the sending address from the state government on the file bag, cursed angrily, "Damn it, it's that bastard Stevenson screwing with us again!"

Hearing this, Bucky Simmons and the others didn't bother to scold any further, and gathered around Nisen instead.

Indeed, the address on the file bag was from the state government.

For a while, everyone fell silent.

As for Poppy, he was resigned, but he still clenched his teeth and defended himself, "Director David, I was wrong. I shouldn't have been tempted by those two groups of criminals, I shouldn't have become greedy..."

When he took the money before, he really hadn't expected that someone would dare to investigate the IRS.