Chapter 945 NYPD’s Discovery and DHS’s Mistake
"So, is the FBI ready to take over next?" On the way back to New York from Atlantic City, Reacher remained silent until the car entered the city.
"That depends on how far you want to go." Jack's answer surprised him a little.
"This case involves terrorist acts. Not only will the FBI be involved, but DHS has also joined in. They have marked all the aliases listed in Franz's USB drive.
We are sure to stop this deal, but it is still unknown whether we can bring all the people involved in this case to justice, especially some powerful guys who may exist, and this must include the people who killed your friend."
Although Jack is also a member of the FBI, it is precisely because of this that he knows better when the agency he is in will strike hard without hesitation, and when facing whom it will be submissive.
Reacher wants revenge for his friend, but the FBI only wants credit.
Whether the military bosses or congressmen are behind "New Age Technology", it means big trouble. The FBI and DHS are not necessarily afraid of trouble, but the premise is that there must be enough income and hedge.
Because it is related to terrorist acts, the investigation must continue, but in the current situation of incomplete information, Jack is not sure to what extent the FBI and DHS investigation will proceed.
Based on his understanding of Reacher, if the forces behind "New Age Technology" are also involved in the operation to silence the special investigators, or even ordered by them, the big guy will never give up.
But for the officials, as long as the arms deal that may involve terrorist acts is stopped in time, the goal is achieved. As for the culprit, sorry, no one cares whether it can be caught in one fell swoop.
As long as any problem touches the political level, transactions and compromises are always the main theme. A certain bearded man who created 911 was originally a force supported by the US government. Have you ever seen anyone in the US take responsibility for this?
After killing the bearded man who created 911, everything seems to have settled down, and the same is true now.
Whether it is the FBI or the DHS, once they start investigating "New Age Technology" with great fanfare, and the big pot of terrorism is put down, smart people will quickly cut ties with it.
Once the big man behind the scenes realizes that the situation is not good, he will throw out two bodies of people who were shot eight times in the back and committed suicide out of fear of crime, and then explain it.
Sometimes the truth is not important, and the FBI and DHS will not continue to investigate unless there are more interests hidden in it, or there is political strife.
"You can choose to wait and see for the time being, wait for the official investigation results, analyze whether there is a real culprit behind the scenes, and then find a way to deal with them.
Or continue to investigate privately to see what kind of big fish is hidden under the water."
Jack gave a choice. In order not to over-stimulate the big man behind the scenes, it is the best strategy for "nobody" like Reacher to stir up the water and let him emerge and then act according to the situation.
"I prefer to avenge our friend personally, turn him upside down first, and see who the big man who worries you is." Reacher chose the latter without thinking.
He fully understood Jack's intentions, but the former choice meant that the special investigators would completely lose the initiative, and there would inevitably be fish that slipped through the net. At that time, if they wanted to take revenge, they would have to resort to extraordinary means, such as assassination.
Reacher was alone and could care nothing, but Negley, O'Donnell and Dixon were different. They all had families and it was impossible for them to risk everything for this.
He also didn't want to drag Jack into a massacre like he did in Margrave Town before. The opponent was very clear that time, and the IRS helped to cover the bottom.
This time the opponent was unknown, and Jack was a formal FBI agent. It was not the style of the big guy to drag his friends into the water.
Although they might encounter great risks in the latter choice, and might end up like Franz, Sanchez, Orozco, and even Swan, the advantage was that they could always take the initiative and would not alarm the opponent too much.
After finding out the mastermind behind the scenes, the special investigators could plan calmly and take advantage of the opportunity to fish in troubled waters.
"OK, let's go to this place before we go back." Jack showed a location on his phone to Negley who was driving.
"NYPD headquarters?" Sister Hei widened her eyes in surprise.
——
"Shane Lanston, former superintendent of the NYPD Third Precinct, 8 years ago, he and his men were investigated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but as they resigned one after another, some of the charges were left unresolved."
In the NYPD chief's office, Frank Reagan pushed a thick stack of materials in front of Jack with a dark face.
"Lanston? Director of the security department of 'New Age Technology', Swan's immediate superior?" Reacher had an excellent memory and immediately thought of the employee list that Jack had shown him before.
"Not just Lanston." Jack flipped through the documents one by one, and finally concluded, "Those who resigned are now working in the security department of 'New Age Technology'.
In fact, it should be more appropriate to say the other way around. The security department of this company is composed of black police officers from the NYPD Third Precinct, all of them, except Swan."
"Although I was not the chief of NYPD at that time, I don't want to shirk responsibility. According to the internal investigation, a New York City council member intervened in the matter.
Lanston used some old connections to look up your information in the NYPD system, including your fake identity of Jack Ryan. The relevant personnel have been controlled. This is what they said."
Frank put another interrogation record in front of the two.
"Don't alarm them for the time being." Jack looked through the record and put it away, then stood up and prepared to leave.
"Contact me anytime if you need anything." Frank extended his hand to the two with an apologetic expression, although this matter strictly speaking had nothing to do with him.
When the two Jacks walked out of the NYPD headquarters, Reacher was still a little dazed, "The voice on the phone last night was probably Langston, but why was the chief of NYPD so..."
"Cooperative?" Jack finished his words for him, and then continued in a pretentious manner, "Maybe it's because he owes me some favors."
They joined the other three people waiting in the parking lot, and Negley continued to drive towards Long Island.
Soon Jack met another person who owed him a favor. Joey Reacher, dressed in a black suit, was waiting with two DHS agents dressed similarly in the office building of the Most Wanted Criminals Team on Long Island.
After the Reacher brothers greeted each other, Jack arranged for everyone to sit in the conference room. The older of the two agents behind Joey spoke with a bit of uneasiness.
"Sorry, our people made a mistake."
According to Agent Omar Karim, after the FBI handed over the list of aliases to DHS, they immediately marked it in the system.
Then they found that one of the names, Adrian Mount, had entered from Los Angeles two days ago and disappeared without a trace. On the same day, two ex-convicts who were good at forging passports were found dead under an overpass.
That afternoon, another alias on the list, Alan McBride, took a flight from Los Angeles to Denver.
Last night, they found that "AM" continued to use the name Alan McBride to book a flight from Denver to New York at noon today, so they set up surveillance at the Denver airport.
But it is not clear whether "AM" noticed the abnormality or for other reasons, and never showed up.
"Why don't you set up surveillance at the New York airport and arrest him when he gets off the plane? You don't have a real photo of him, right?"
Nigley asked angrily. If the other party noticed the DHS agents ambushing at the airport and turned around and left the airport directly, it also means that they have completely lost the whereabouts of "AM" and can no longer track him based on this alias list.