Chapter 158: Major Crime

Upon hearing Janelle's words, Lacey hastily asked,
"What is it?"
"The house where they imprisoned us should not be far from the ocean."
Janelle stated that one night she had been blindfolded by John's men and taken to a seaside villa to service a client.
During a break, she had opened the villa's window and caught the unmistakable scent of the vast sea.
And that very scent was something Janelle could smell every single day in the house where she was held captive.
"Okay, Janelle, you're amazing."
Jotting down this crucial piece of information in her notebook, Lacey offered her a few words of low-voiced praise. After a few seconds of thought, Roan continued to ask:
"Janelle, was the man who attacked you in the deep pit by the sea the one you called John?"
"No, that man's name is Tony. He's one of John's most trusted subordinates."
Janelle shook her head, explaining that Tony took orders from no one except John.
It was also Tony's job to blindfold them and take them to meet clients every time.
Not only that, but Tony was mentally unstable, frequently rambling incoherently in daily conversation. When dealing with women who disobeyed his orders, rather than relying on verbal commands, he much preferred physical persuasion.
Upon hearing Janelle's account, Lacey's face instantly filled with disgust as she heavily scribbled a line in her notebook:
Extremely strong desire for control.
Roan's eyebrows twitched slightly. Tilting his head in thought, he briefly recounted how the medical examiner had discovered that several girls had undergone breast augmentation surgery, and then asked:
"Janelle, do you know anything about that surgery?"
"I do!"
Hearing about the surgery, Janelle nodded heavily, a glimmer of light flashing in her eyes:
"The breast augmentation surgery was performed in one of the rooms inside the house where we were imprisoned!
A sister from Ukraine who also underwent that procedure told me that the doctor was also Ukrainian. He was quite elderly, and before the surgery, he would wander with his hands all over her!"
Lacey, standing nearby, quickly recorded this information. Roan's eyes also lit up:
"Good, Janelle. The information you provided is extremely helpful!"
"As long as it's helpful."
A bitter smile appeared on Janelle's face:
"I just hope you can catch John and the others soon and rescue the sisters who are still imprisoned.
Because once someone falls ill or violates the rules, like asking a client for help, John will order Tony to kill her afterwards..."
Lacey looked up at Roan. Seeing this, Roan's brow twitched.
It was obvious that both of them had thought of the cause of death for Philomena's sister: using a client's mobile phone to call for help outside.

After chatting a bit longer and arranging for a sketch artist sent by the FBI New York Field Office to draw composite sketches of John, Tony, and the others based on her description, Roan and Lacey turned and left the hospital room.
"What a bunch of damned bastards."
Sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV, Lacey looked at the notes in her notebook, her face instantly filled with disgust and anger:
"Human traffickers really are the most disgusting creatures in the world. They deserve to be shot dead on the spot!"
Roan, sitting in the driver's seat, glanced sideways at Lacey. After a long silence, he took out his phone and called Mona.
The call was answered almost immediately, and Mona's questioning voice came through the receiver:
"Well, Roan, did you guys find any leads?"
"Of course."
Roan briefly recounted the doctor's lead found by the medical examiner, as well as the several clues Janelle had just provided, and finally asked in a deep voice:
"Mona, have you found the information on the client who called Philomena?"
Just like Lacey, after hearing Janelle's account, Mona burst into a string of angry curses.
Because of her habit of wandering through the databases of various departments using her computer skills, Mona knew a statistical fact: roughly one-fifth of women in the Federation had been victims of sexual assault.
And that fraction only accounted for women who had records and information within the federal government.
It didn't even include women like Janelle, who were coerced and whose identities weren't yet in the databases.
If those women were factored in, the one-fifth figure would only be higher, not lower.
However, now was not the time to dwell on such matters. Hearing Roan's question, Mona immediately replied in a serious tone:
"I've already found the guy.
His name is Jared Smith, a former FDNY firefighter. Records show he is currently unemployed and staying at home."
"Good."
Obtaining Jared's home address, Roan nodded with satisfaction, turned the key to start the SUV, and stepped hard on the gas pedal, surging forward.
——
An apartment building in East Queens.
"Listen, agents,"
Upon learning the purpose of Roan and Lacey's visit, Jared, shirtless, revealing his muscular physique and bearing an elongated face, spread his hands and said expressionlessly:
"I don't know what you're talking about. Please leave my home, thank you."
With that, Jared made a move to close the front door. Seeing this, Roan reached out, grabbed the edge of the door, and said with a faint smile:
"Jared, we've already come looking for you. Do you really think we're going to act like we know nothing?"
Feeling the strength emanating from the door, the former firefighter's expression shifted slightly. Instead of rushing to answer Roan's question, he exerted force once more to push the door shut.
Seeing this, Roan wore a half-smile in his eyes and quietly increased the strength with which he was pushing against the door.

The two began to increase their pressure while locking eyes, the strength in their hands growing steadily. The muscles on Jared's arms began to bulge bit by bit, taking on a somewhat menacing appearance.
Roan remained completely calm. The physical enhancement potions he drank every day weren't for nothing, combined with the residual strength lingering in his body from the previous strength potion he had consumed—so what if the other guy was a former firefighter? Even if a weightlifting champion showed up, he would still dare to arm-wrestle him.
Pouring strength into his arm, Roan increased his force once again. Jared's expression suddenly shifted as he felt Roan's strength suddenly surge significantly, pushing the door right back after he had managed to inch it closed.
Jared exerted force again, the veins on his arms bulging, his muscles tightly corded, and the thick tendons on his neck strained taut.
"Urgh~~~"
Hearing the sound resembling constipation coming from Jared's throat, Lacey—who had previously heard about Roan's terrifying strength from Ryder—rolled her eyes and muttered in a low voice:
"Roan, solving the case comes first."
"Okay."
Jared heard those words as well, but before he could react, right as Roan's reply to Lacey fell, an unimaginably massive force slammed violently from the opposite side.
Bang!
With a loud crash, the apartment door was slammed directly into the adjacent wall, and Jared was sent tumbling head over heels by the sudden, overwhelming force directly onto the living room sofa.
"Fu–k!"
Lacey, standing nearby, wore a look of utter shock.
She had indeed heard from Ryder that Roan was exceptionally strong, but she hadn't expected his strength to reach this kind of level.
Lacey blinked. If she wasn't mistaken, the door seemed to have left an indentation in the wall!
"Son of a bitch!"
Sitting on the sofa, Jared's pupils dilated, his face a mask of sheer disbelief.
Back when he was a firefighter, though his strength wasn't ranked number one among his colleagues, it easily placed in the top three.
Yet judging by what had just happened, even the colleague ranked number one definitely didn't possess as much strength as the FBI agent standing before him!
"I know what you're thinking, Jared. Going there was just about cutting straight to the chase—dating is such a hassle, right?"
Acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, Roan smiled, strolled into the room, and said calmly:
"I don't want to pass judgment on you. I just want to know where that place was, okay?"
Sitting on the sofa, Jared looked up at Roan's smiling face. After a long silence, he decisively chose to submit to the reality of the situation:
"Okay."