Joe Ga believed that the FBI wasn't intentionally targeting him; the agents trailing him were just doing their routine duty, following him to prevent him from doing anything extreme.
After all, Joe's criminal record was a mile long!
The agents trailing him had no malice, but you can't discount the faction within the FBI associated with Rashiri.
These people were using the FBI's resources to keep tabs on Joe and his team, then relaying the intel to mercenaries for premeditated ambushes.
Joe and his crew had already developed countermeasures for situations like this—keep changing their route.
After the same tactic was employed twice, the other side would act exactly as anticipated, heading to a 'bottleneck' location for a planned ambush.
Normally, driving from Los Angeles to Sacramento wouldn't take that long, but Joe and the crew didn't arrive at the luxurious hotel they'd reserved until midnight.
