Chapter 782: Survival by cutting off the tail

The topic of perversion ended here. Everyone found a hotel in Charlotte to sleep for one night, and then took Interstate 77 again the next day to drive back.

While the attack on a community church and the injury to the pastor received little attention, the incident in which a police task force was ambushed by gunmen predictably made national newspaper and television news.

Three police officers died and five others were injured. This can be called the largest police-involved shooting in recent years. Yesterday, the chief of the Charlotte Police Department whom Jack and the others met directly complained at the press conference, cursing the local judiciary. Systemic corruption.

After all, there are only district prosecutors, courts, prisons and bail loan companies in a certain gray interest chain. The local police department cannot get a dime of the benefits, but has to bear additional risks for this, and even suffers from artificially low prosecutions. Rates of funding cuts.

The three officers who died were two correctional officers from the North Carolina Department of Corrections and an officer from the Charlotte Police Department. Two detectives from the Federal Marshals Service were seriously injured, and three officers were slightly injured.

The President who likes to wear red scarves actually gave a speech about this, and as usual he cursed the Donkey Party's trash, and then promoted his view that everyone has a gun to prevent chaos.

As the most loyal supporter of the National Rifle Association (NRA), it is naturally impossible for him to propose any strict gun control bills. However, after he came to power, he has indeed always taken a tough stance on maintaining law and order and enhancing the police's law enforcement capabilities. Even The FBI also benefited greatly.

This has also caused the issue of zero-dollar purchases that had been prevalent in the United States to stop a lot. Unfortunately, although this person advocated anti-environmental protection and claimed to increase oil and gas drilling and re-upgrade the manufacturing industry, it was of no use and the economy was still sluggish. , the number of vagrants and vagrants on the streets increases every day.

That night, news came from Pennsboro, West Virginia. The local Sheriff's Office found an abandoned old Lincoln sedan near a gas station and confirmed that it was the one in which Pastor Jennings had been robbed.

When Jack and others rushed there overnight, Jubal and Alice also drove the command car from Marietta to join them.

The old Lincoln was parked in a lifeless community. The windows had been smashed and the body of the car was scratched in a mess. When Jack arrived with people, Jubal was asking a local sheriff to learn about the situation.

"What's going on in this neighborhood? It looks like a lot of people are away from home," Jubal asked.

"Because they can't repay their mortgages, many people have left their homes to work in the newly opened coal mines nearby, planning to put their money where their mouth is." The expression of the town sheriff was a little hard to explain.

This is a typical blue-collar community. The streets are well planned and the houses look quite new. It would not have been an exaggeration to call it a middle-class community twenty years ago.

Although it was no longer the golden age when there were four or five people in a family at that time. As long as the husband went to work in a factory to support the whole family and two dogs, and could go abroad for vacation every year, life was not too bad.

"The days will get better." Jubal sighed helplessly.

"At least the coal mines are open again, right? They have to let us take a breather." The Sheriff shrugged. Of course, he was talking about the banks that were collecting debts.

Jack didn't care about economic problems. He simply had a headache looking at the map of the town. There were hundreds of empty houses in one community and roads extending in all directions. And because it was night, the local Sheriff's Office (small town police station) only had two or three cats. However, at this moment, there were only two police cars and four people in total.

"First block the intersection leading to the highway, and then patrol from house to house, carefully checking the front and back doors for signs of being broken into. Mr. Jubal and the Sheriff will patrol the area with their cars to provide support at any time. Be careful not to turn on the police lights."

Jack didn't have much else to do. A clever woman couldn't make a living without rice. It would take at least an hour to dispatch people from the nearest state police, and by the time they arrived, the daylilies would be cold.

This is the current situation in the old industrial areas of the Rust Belt. Economic decline, increasing unemployment, population migration, deteriorating public security, and disrepair of supporting infrastructure have led to further economic decline. It is simply an almost irreversible vicious cycle.

"Don't turn on the flashlight. Pay attention to safety in pairs. Do not move alone. If you find anything unusual, call for reinforcements immediately. Remember, Ronnie has a Colt revolver."

Jack didn't know the quality of the officers in the small town police station, but fortunately, after the command vehicle was in place and the communication mast was raised directly, the radio signal could easily cover the entire area. Each person would be given a wireless headset and the position would be reported every 5 minutes. There shouldn't be much of a safety issue.

It's actually not very late at this time, it's just after ten o'clock in the evening, but there are few houses with lights on in the entire community, and many street lights have been smashed, making it look like a ghost town. .

This situation is rare. You must know that as long as someone lives in a house in the United States, the porch light in front of the door will be on even when sleeping. The main purpose is to prevent theft.

If any American develops the habit of turning off the lights wherever they go like the Chinese, it is very likely that they just go out to the supermarket and find that their home is occupied by homeless people when they come back.

This is especially true for commercial places. Office buildings do not turn off the lights 24 hours a day, because the insurance company has a clause that stipulates that if the office building is stolen when the lights are turned off at night, no compensation will be paid.

Jack and Jiejie were in a group, wearing bulletproof vests and holding Sig Sauer P320-XTen in their hands. This is the daily weapon of the wanted criminal team. Jack also carried one equipped with a night vision scope. Noveske N4 assault rifle.

The two of them walked along the street and observed the signs in front and behind the houses of each household, paying special attention to those houses whose front and back yards looked like they had not been taken care of for a long time. No matter how crazy Ronnie and Lei Lin acted, they were still human beings, and they were human beings. It is inevitable to eat, drink, poop and sleep.

If the previous rape and murder cases were not enough to attract the attention of several neighboring states, then the vicious case of a cleric being almost killed and his relatives kidnapped was enough to make the police who were notified by the FBI feel like they had been whipped. It started spinning around the millstone like a lazy donkey.

"Group A, 50 Malcolm Circle, safe." Jack couldn't remember how many times he reported the location. The surroundings were extremely quiet. You couldn't even hear the chirping of cicadas in the summer. It was not much different from a ghost movie scene. .

"Group C, 61 Malcolm Circle, we may have discovered something." Aubrey's voice came from the channel, making people feel refreshed.

"We found signs of intrusion at the door." His partner was Hannah, she added immediately.

Jack and Jiejie looked at each other, turned on the tactical flashlight hanging under the pistol and quickly crossed the path between the two houses, trotting towards Aubrey's group. At the same time, the other end also turned on the flashlight and shook the light. , which was Team B composed of Clay and a local police officer.

"Help! Help!" A young girl's voice suddenly shouted for help from the direction of Group C, followed by Aubrey and Hannah's loud warnings.

"Stop! FBI!"

"Emma? Stop!"

"West, she ran to the west!" When the two of them went around to the street behind, Aubrey and Hannah stumbled out of the backyard of a house and chased them. In the dark, they were almost killed by a mess. tripping over debris.

"Have you seen her?" Jack and Jiejie rushed over and stretched out their hands to support them.

Aubrey was running out of breath and tried her best to rub her sore calf with her hands, "It should be her, it's Emma, ​​wearing a dark green hoodie."

Jack glanced at the two of them and saw that they were fine. He turned around and continued to chase in the direction of the sound. At the same time, he loudly announced the location to Clay and the two who were coming from the opposite side, "Clay, your three o'clock direction."

"Help! Help!" A petite figure flashed out from behind a house. When he saw Jack coming towards him, he turned around and went into the backyard of the house.

Jack easily climbed over a fence with one hand. After a lot of twists and turns, the flashlight in his hand finally successfully captured the figure. Aubrey's eyesight was good, and the figure was indeed wearing a dark green hooded sweatshirt. , but something is not quite right about my running posture.

"Be careful! The other party may not be Emma." Before Jack finished speaking, Clay jumped out of the thorn like an agile cheetah and threw the girl to the ground.

Clay turned over and pushed the girl to the ground with his knees. He reached out and grabbed her right arm and twisted it with his backhand, causing a switchblade to fall to the ground.

Jack stepped forward and took off the hood on her head, revealing her ear-length brown hair, "She is Lei Lin, and Emma is still in the other party's hands!"