Jimmy walked to the bar and took a seat, while the lady walked behind the counter. This lady looked to be in her thirties, quite beautiful, and carried herself with grace and poise. She was Caucasian, with long blond hair, seemingly lightly made-up, and had her hair simply tied back into a ponytail, though the ends were slightly curled, suggesting this was not her usual hairstyle.
The lady was also dressed in the standard bartender uniform, a white shirt, black vest, and slacks.
It seemed that not only was the information station disguised as a bar, but its contacts all had a certain style to them. Was this some sort of industry standard?
Lady: "What will you have?"
Jimmy: "Glenlivet 18. What's your name?"
Lady: "Mia. Here's your drink. Tell me, what can I help you with?"
Jimmy: "Thank you. I'm looking for information on a person, Kevin Hogan, who lives in Oakville, should be an accountant by profession. A murder occurred in his home, his wife was killed, and he and his daughter Mary Hogan are now missing."
Mia: "Is that all? What about his ID?"
Jimmy: "There's more about his daughter, Mary. She made a phone call to her biological father the day before yesterday, saying someone was after them, then no one answered the phone again, and it soon went off, probably ran out of battery. My target is Mary Hogan. I believe someone came to abduct Mary, and it should be related to her father."
Mia: "So you're not looking for Kevin Hogan, but for Mary Hogan, right?"
Jimmy: "Yes."
Mia: "How soon?"
Jimmy: "As soon as possible, Mary's biological father is very worried about her."
Mia: "Two coins."
Jimmy took out two coins and laid them on the bar, pushing them toward Mia with his finger.
Jimmy: "Call me when you have news, I'll come over as fast as I can."
Jimmy took a sip from his glass, Mia pocketed the coins without another word, just watching Jimmy drink. Jimmy wasn't there just for the drink; he finished the rest quickly, tucked some paper money under the glass, and turned to leave the bar.
The bar was near the airport, and there were plenty of hotels around. Jimmy picked a hotel that seemed decent and checked in.
It was unclear how long the information gathering would take, after all, Kevin was just an accountant, not a celebrity, and gathering information on short notice takes time.
Jimmy planned to stay here for at most three days. If there were still no leads by then, he'd have to go back to Little Rock.
Jimmy didn't know anyone in Memphis, and since he was waiting for information, he didn't dare to stray too far. He bought some clothes and sneakers from a nearby clothing store and a simple monocular from a hunting supply shop, then rested at the hotel for a day.
In the evening, Jimmy went straight to Mia's bar, thinking that even if no information came through, it would be a fine place to pass the time.
Jimmy didn't have to wait long; evidently, the information merchants in Memphis were quite capable. He had only been in the bar for a short while when Mia came over to notify him.
Jimmy followed Mia behind the bar to the staff area where, in the break room, he met a man who still wore sunglasses indoors.
The man with the sunglasses sat on a bench, with a hard-shell briefcase next to him, which reminded Jimmy of the time Justin had delivered information to John Wick, also carrying a hard-shell briefcase with documents.
Mia said to the man, "I've brought him, you guys talk."
She then left the break room.
The man with the sunglasses said to Jimmy, "Take a seat. I have the information you're looking for. Have a look." The man opened the briefcase and handed Jimmy a folder.
Jimmy opened the folder, the first things he saw were two photos clipped to the papers, a man and a girl—probably Kevin and Mary. Mary had changed a lot; the photos Jerry had shown him were already 7 years old, and teenage girls change far too much.
Jimmy looked at the information about Kevin next. Kevin was an accountant with his own small firm, comprised of just three accountants, handling finances for some small companies.
There appeared to be nothing amiss in this information, so Jimmy continued to look through the rest of the material.
The real bombshell was buried later in the documents. On the surface, Kevin was a normal accountant, but in reality, he was the person responsible for managing the gang's finances. This material made it clear that Kevin had long been on the radar of certain organizations, and Jimmy absolutely didn't believe an intelligence broker could have gathered all this material from scratch in a day.
What followed was some basic information about the gang and photos of its leaders.
The initial materials were printed, whereas those that followed were photocopies of handwritten materials, revealing the strong capabilities of their intelligence analysts.
Kevin had gone missing a few days before, and the gang he was responsible for had started looking for him even earlier, apparently due to some financial issues. Unable to find Kevin, the gangsters had taken his wife and daughter from their home. After questioning them to no avail, his wife was killed and his daughter was kidnapped and taken back to await Kevin's reappearance.
The gang's stronghold and the speculated location where Mary was being held were both marked, along with a map with three red stars indicating the suspected places.
Jimmy closed the intelligence files and said to the man in sunglasses, "Can I take this with me?"
The man in sunglasses replied, "Of course, you're sure there's no problem with the intelligence, right? Then, I wish you a pleasant collaboration."
Jimmy responded, "No problem, a pleasant collaboration."
The two shook hands, and Jimmy walked out of the lounge with the intelligence files, while the man in sunglasses stayed inside.
Jimmy approached the bar, signaled Mia to confirm that he had obtained the files, and then left the bar to return to his hotel.
Jimmy examined the three locations on the documents, compared them to a map of Memphis he got from the hotel reception, and eventually identified the closest stronghold to him, near a warehouse area south of the airport.
Still, Jimmy felt he needed to verify it himself. With his special ability, he could see into a place from the outside that others couldn't discern from the exterior.
Checking the time, it was not yet 10 o'clock. Jimmy changed out of his clothes into ones he purchased during the day along with sneakers and then drove to the vicinity of the target location.
He parked his car in a parking lot and started to stroll along the road. Jimmy had a clear objective; from his observation while passing by the stronghold earlier, he noted that it was not an open place, meaning he couldn't just walk in and had to observe from the roadside instead.
Pausing next to the stronghold, Jimmy pulled out a cigarette on the sidewalk. As he lit it, he kept an eye on the adjacent building.
This was an apartment building with only five floors. Jimmy's observation covered up to the fourth floor while he could only see a portion of the fifth floor, but that was enough. After all, people can't fly or hang from the ceiling, and a simple side-to-side movement allowed Jimmy to cover the entire building.
On the first floor at the building's entrance was an apartment manager's room, which, judging by the windows directly facing the door, contained three people. This was unusual; typical apartment managers work in shifts of two or three, not three at the same time—especially for such a small building, it was unwarranted.
Most of the other apartment rooms seemed ordinary, generally housing one or two persons. Only a few rooms were exceptions, perhaps with a couple of adults and children, appearing to be just normal families.
On the third floor, two apartments had an unusually high number of adults. One had six individuals gathered around a table, with no one else in the rest of the room. They reminded Jimmy of gamblers around a casino table as seen in movies—one sitting on one side with the other five facing the remaining sides. Jimmy decided this room could be disregarded, likely just a hidden gambling den.
The people count was slightly less in the other apartment, four adults, but none matching the physique of a teenage girl. Even if this place was a gang stronghold, it wasn't where Mary was being held.
Jimmy had been standing down below for a while, and after finishing his cigarette, he flicked it onto the ground and stamped it out. Without looking back, he headed straight to the parking lot and left the area.
Jimmy drove back to the hotel and spent the night resting properly. After having breakfast the next morning, he drove out of the hotel towards the second stronghold.
This second stronghold was a bit farther away, positioned next to Nokcona Creek on the south side of South Memphis, at a warehouse. According to the documents, this location served as a transit station for the gang's goods, whether coming to or going from the airport, the positioning was very convenient.
Not far from the airport and with few residents nearby, trucks could leave there, circle South Memphis, and either join the highway or head straight for the Port of Memphis on the Mississippi River, making inland shipping quite handy.