Chapter 573 Caught in the act
Jack didn't expect to convince Helton to let Chloe go directly. Before helping him find his daughter, Chloe was his only life-saving straw.
But Jubal, who stayed at the scene, could actually do a lot, such as gradually building mutual trust by informing Helton of the progress of the investigation.
Another example is to let Helton relax as much as possible through conversation, and then guide him to empathize with Chloe.
What Jack is really worried about is not that he can't find Stephanie, but that three weeks have passed. If they only find a body in the end, will the collapsed Helton give himself a shot in the head, or will he die first? Killing Chloe with one shot is really hard to say.
If the program didn't allow it, he even wanted to install two cameras directly on him and Hannah to broadcast their progress to Helton. He believed that when he saw himself speeding up to nearly 60 miles in the rush hour traffic in New York, , you must believe the sincerity of the FBI.
Analysts from the operations center made another meritorious service. They performed image processing on the driving recorder video combined with surveillance along the way, and obtained part of the license plate number. Combined with the model, they successfully found the original owner of the car.
Jack and Hannah were on their way to Brooklyn. The original owner of the car was Alfonso Gomez, who was over sixty years old.
Although his age obviously does not match the younger man who kidnapped Stephanie in the video, analysts have not found any records of the car being stolen, so there is a high probability that this person is related to the kidnapper.
Jack turned off the Dodge Hellcat's siren and hidden lights two blocks away from his destination. This was the advantage of the plainclothes police car, which would not arouse any unnecessary suspicion.
After knocking on a room on the top floor of the apartment building, an old white man appeared at the door. It was Alfonso Gomez, the original owner of the car used by the kidnappers.
After hearing that the two FBI agents explained their intention, the old man looked embarrassed and said, "About a month ago, I sold that car to a young man named Sergio.
He originally rented a room with me, but later I found out that he was actually a drug addict and was secretly in the room. I kicked him out the same day."
Hannah didn't talk nonsense to him about why he didn't transfer the car when he sold it (most likely to save some handling fees), and interrupted him directly.
"Sir, please tell us how to find this Sergio. This is really important. Does he have any acquaintances here or somewhere he frequents?"
The old man seemed a little unhappy after being interrupted, but he still said, "If you are so anxious to find him, just wait downstairs for a while. He will come here at this time every day."
"What are you doing here?" Jack raised his eyebrows. Didn't the old man say that Sergio was kicked out by him?
"He has a pigeonhouse on the roof of the building. Although I don't understand why a drug addict would still keep pigeons, but maybe this is some kind of psychological comfort for him, so he let him keep it. Who knows, maybe this can help Help him detoxify." The old man rambled again.
"Well, the FBI thanks you for your cooperation." Jack and Hannah left quickly. It wasn't that they were rude, but they just didn't have the time.
When going downstairs, Hannah finally couldn't help but complained to Jack, "I still can't imagine why the NYPD ignored Helton's case like this."
Since coming to New York, whether it was her personal experience, or hearing Jack talk about the Reagan family dinner he attended, or even eating the story of Beckett and Cassel together, she could not compare it with Hull. connected with the unfair treatment they encountered.
Jack, on the other hand, was not as resentful as Hannah. When he was at the LAPD, he had already seen how Smiddy, the old salty fish, treated ordinary people who came to report crimes when he was sitting at the front desk.
Among the grassroots police officers, there are very few who can reach the level of the old rookie John. This is determined by the special police system of the United States.
Because the system of this country determines that there cannot be a police headquarters in the federation itself, and there is no unified state police department in each state. State police are under the control of the governor. In municipalities like New York, the police are under the control of the mayor or council.
Further down, the police at the town level are under the jurisdiction of the town mayor, a typical small government model.
Therefore, the police in various parts of the United States are different from the police uniforms to the police badges. Everyone is usually in a state of autonomy. Even the FBI, as a federal police, must "discuss" with the local police when handling local cases. Come on.
Why did Hannah sympathize with Helton's situation? Maybe she didn't even realize in her heart that her childhood experience was actually somewhat similar to Helton's current situation.
The police in that country on the other side of the ocean are managed from the central government down to the next level. If there is a problem, you can theoretically file a complaint all the way up. Of course, the theory mentioned here does not rule out the possibility of some "village sages" covering the sky with one hand, but this kind of On the contrary, the situation is relatively rare.
But in this country, if there is a problem with the town police, and the local police chief and the town mayor are colluding, there is really no room for explanation.
So when Jack was preparing to avenge Hannah, he didn't consider other legitimate means at all, precisely because he knew the joints very well.
This is also the reason why Jack has been insecure since he came to this world. An ordinary person who has lived under the big government model since he was a child, suddenly came from a country where the police's duty is to "protect the safety of people's lives and property". To such a world.
It was like a little lamb was thrown into the dark jungle. Before he got used to the laws of this jungle, he could only curl up as much as possible. This is what many people in the previous life would joke about, the Chinese who came to the United States. This is one of the reasons why he is particularly "honest".
It is conceivable that when this case is over, even if the FBI discloses the details of the case to the media, the police officer who took over the case will most likely not be punished too severely.
Because from a process perspective, he didn't do anything wrong. The only fault was Helton himself because he didn't "work hard" enough to become a rich and powerful man like Chloe's father and be able to marry his daughter. As soon as something happened, call the deputy director of the FBI.
This is the law of this society, so although everyone knows deep down in their hearts that this is an injustice, they will only say that this is the reality instead of even complaining verbally about it.
Only someone like Hannah, who has experienced personal pain, would instinctively think that this was wrong, but she might not be able to tell what went wrong.
Of course, it was not convenient to go into details at this time. Some things could only be said after returning home. The two of them hid in bed and chatted privately. Jack made a call back to the command center and asked them to check the information about Sergio with the NYPD.
Although they only got one name, since the other person was a drug addict, he probably had a criminal record. Plus the video that had been processed for high definition should be enough to lock down this guy's identity.
After hanging up the phone, he put his arms around Hannah, pretending to be a couple in love, and stood at the entrance of the apartment, seemingly kissing me, but in fact he was always paying attention to what was going on around him.
Although the old man Alfonso Gomez chattered a little, what he told was all true. After waiting for less than ten minutes, a short young man yawned and shook his legs and walked over from across the street.
"Is it him?" Hannah put her arms around Jack's neck, tried hard to restrain the subconscious movement of crossing her legs around his waist, and whispered in his ear.
"It looks right." Jack noticed her movement, suppressed his laughter, turned his head quietly, and kissed her on the face.
The two continued to maintain an intimate posture, and just as Sergio passed by them, Jack reached out and grabbed the other's neck.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaae, what do you want to do?" Sergio was caught off guard. He felt as if his neck was tightly clamped by an iron vise. He screamed in pain and fell to his knees involuntarily.