Mason looked at Bill and Deputy Director Zion, then nodded quickly. "With you taking over, I can rest easy. I was just worrying about how to handle this case."
He turned to Nick with a smile. "Nick, let me introduce you. These are old friends from Miami's federal level security front. They'll be taking over your case from here. You should cooperate actively and help them solve it as soon as possible."
He picked up his small briefcase and said to Captain Robert, "Captain Robert, I'll leave things here to you. I'll have my men hand over the materials and the scene to you immediately."
"It's hard work for you. I have another case on my hands and need to rush there right away."
Without waiting for Robert to nod, Mason turned and walked out, his speed leaving everyone speechless.
For Mason, having the FBI take over this hot potato was a huge relief.
He had already felt that this case was far from simple. Now that federal authorities had stepped in, if he didn't slip away now, when would he? It was best to stay as far away from such matters as possible, after all, he had a homicide to deal with.
"This kid!"
Captain Robert shook his head, then turned to look at Nick. "Nick, right? I'm Robert Robertson. We'll be responsible for your case from now on."
"These two are special agent Bill Stein and Deputy Director Zion Wheeler."
Nick glanced at the two of them and nodded. "I think I saw them at the press conference. Nice to meet you both."
Nick greeted them, and the two nodded back without saying a word. Zion was fine, but Bill's expression was quite grim.
"Sit down, don't be nervous."
Robert gestured for him to sit and found a chair for himself. "Actually, I've known about you for a while. I was there the first time you demonstrated your technology to the businessmen."
"I just didn't expect at the time that your technology would be so extraordinary."
"After your technology press conference, we received relevant intelligence that unidentified foreign nationals were active in Miami. Recently, Miami's network nodes and several groups of servers have been subjected to attacks from unknown hackers."
"However, they didn't cause widespread destruction; instead, they were looking for something."
Robert looked at Nick and continued, "In the past few days, we've learned through special overseas channels that 'X', a member of the Russian Volkov Group, has arrived in Miami. Combining this information, we can determine that these people are definitely looking for something in Miami."
"You might not be familiar with Volkov Group. On the surface, it's a commercial information investigation firm, but in reality, it's a spy company engaged in stealing commercial secrets, reconnaissance, and intelligence gathering. Multiple pieces of evidence show the shadow of the Russian intelligence organization (SVR) behind it."
"With all this intelligence, we were certain these people were planning something in Miami, so we immediately heightened our vigilance."
"Just then, we received letters from Bill and Deputy Director Zion. Everything became clear then—these people were after your technology."
"So we immediately mobilized personnel to provide you with 24-hour continuous protection to prevent these people from harming you. We just didn't expect them to move so quickly."
"Don't worry, the target is already under our surveillance. It won't be long before your lost items are returned."
At this moment, Zion, who was sitting to the side, said to him, "Mr. Nicholas, since your technology debuted, Doctor Bill Dye and I have been following it closely."
"It's just that there were many people around you at the time, making it difficult to contact you directly. Additionally, we needed to conduct a systematic evaluation of your technology to determine its importance."
"After a joint assessment by the Atlanta Computer and Communication Technology Research Center and the Atlanta Military USTC drone Swarm Array Research Laboratory, your technology has met the Class I key technology standards and has reached cutting-edge standards in certain fields."
"To protect your personal safety and ensure this technology isn't stolen by foreign entities, we rushed over immediately and entrusted our comrades on Miami's security front to give you appropriate protection."
"We just didn't expect to be a step too late; they've already succeeded."
"Deputy Director Zion, don't worry. The target is within our monitoring range. As soon as he meets with his superior, we will immediately carry out the arrest."
"You must ensure the safety of the technical data. This technology cannot be stolen by foreign countries," Bill said with a heavy tone.
"Rest assured, we won't let these people have their way," Robert immediately nodded. He showed full respect to this highly esteemed doctor.
Having worked on the security front for a long time, he knew that technology which could make such a respected doctor rush over personally and repeatedly emphasize its importance must be extremely significant.
Therefore, he had also mobilized elite forces this time to ensure the entire operation was foolproof.
They could have prevented the theft when the group was carrying it out. However, the ones performing the action were just small fries; the one they wanted to catch was the mastermind behind the scenes, 'X', who had slipped into the country to command this operation.
Although this carried a huge risk, if they could wipe out this entire group in one go, it was definitely worth taking.
What made him even more determined to do this was intelligence showing that the one who entered the country this time was Volkov Group's senior commercial spy, 'X'. This fellow was extremely cunning and had previously carried out several technical information thefts targeting high-tech companies and research institutes in the Eastern region.
Robert and his team had attempted to arrest him several times, but the guy had managed to escape. This was an opportunity they didn't want to miss.
More importantly, this 'X' controlled the underground intelligence network in this region. If they could destroy it now, they would be able to clear out this underground network that had been operating for many years and safeguard national security.
Of course, the risk in doing so was also immense. This 'X' was insidious and crafty; once he got the items, he would likely disappear quickly, so the pressure on him this time was very high.
Hearing all this, Nick was a bit dazed. What on earth was going on? Just one piece of technology could actually cause so much trouble.
Fortunately, he had taken precautions in advance, otherwise, this group really would have succeeded this time.