"Boom!"
A glittering mushroom cloud rolled into the sky, and car alarms blared across most of Manhattan.
Danny's arms, supporting himself on the ground, trembled slightly. As a veteran, he knew the basic prone position.
The prone position is similar to a plank, using elbows to support the ground and keep the chest at a certain distance from the ground. Otherwise, the shockwave from the explosion, transmitted through the earth, could directly damage the internal organs, causing an extremely painful death.
Fragments caught in the shockwave struck the side of the police car Danny was driving, making a crackling sound. Although six or seven hundred meters away, the heat wave from the center of the explosion could still be felt.
Jack scrambled to his feet, not even bothering to shake off the glass shards, and opened the rear door, whose window had been shattered, to pull Danny, who was still stunned on the ground, inside.
A moment later, the roof crackled again, the sound of falling debris echoing from the car's roof. It was the wreckage of the ambulance and debris that had been lifted into the air, returning to the earth under the force of gravity.
Jack had experienced bomb explosions before, but this was his first time seeing a proper mushroom cloud. It was a pity it was too dark to see clearly; in daylight, the scene would have been spectacular.
Danny flicked his lighter, taking a drag on his cigar amid the thick smell of gunpowder. He felt like he was back in the battlefields of Afghanistan, nearly giving himself a PTSD attack. Silence
returned only moments later when the blaring of sirens echoed. Dozens of fire trucks, standing by nearby, rushed into Central Park and began spraying water on the burning trees around the explosion's epicenter.
"New Yorkers will have nowhere to sunbathe and picnic this year. Bethesda Fountain is gone too. I wonder what will become of the animals at the zoo? My sons will hate me," Danny muttered, looking at the explosion site.
Jack shrugged. "And the Burns and Columbus statues probably can't be saved either; they're too close. The Beethoven statue won't be a problem, but the carousel will definitely need major repairs."
Danny slapped his face and lamented, "Thank goodness the kids are all grown up. Sean rode the carousel there every week until he was five."
"Hope no homeless people get hurt," Jack blew out a smoke ring, his pounding heart finally slowing down.
The NYPD was quite effective. By the time he drove into Central Park, officers had already completed the emergency evacuation and marked off an area to minimize damage.
It was a small, flat, grassy area called Sheep Meadow, a favorite spot for New Yorkers to picnic and sunbathe from May to October.
As Jack drove the ambulance loaded with explosives into the South Gate of Central Park, Danny, who was already waiting there, gestured ahead and led the way.
The two drove to Sheep Meadows, Jack abandoning the ambulance and scrambling into Danny's police car. They then turned and began a desperate escape, pulling over behind a small mound just before the explosion.
The entire scene wasn't as thrilling as depicted in Hollywood blockbusters, but it was still terrifying enough. Many New Yorkers would likely be jolted awake by the devastating explosion tonight, and who knows how many plants and flowers would be destroyed by the shrapnel raining down from the sky.
It wasn't that Jack didn't want to plunge into the lake in Central Park, the Hudson River, or even drive onto the pier and into the sea—that's possible in movies, but at the speed he was driving, even if he could have jumped out at the last minute, he probably wouldn't have escaped the blast radius.
C4 is indeed very stable, supposedly indestructible even by direct fire. But Jack only saw a portion of it. Who knows if the metal-encased substance beneath the tangled mess of wiring is actually C4 or a more unstable oxidizing chemical explosive?
A 155mm grenade contains approximately 10 kilograms of TNT, with a detonation radius exceeding 50 meters on flat ground. Even without considering the fragmentation, the shockwave is enough to shred lightly armored targets within three meters, or destroy a multi-story brick wall within ten meters.
If the ambulance exploded the moment it hit the water, Jack would have no idea how he died.
Several Suburbans followed the NYPD squad car convoy into Central Park. A group of FBI agents emerged from the cars. Hannah dove into Jack's arms like a fawn, hugging him tightly. Jiejie, following behind, didn't look as excited, but she also wore a look of resentment.
Jack sighed and reached out to embrace her, causing Danny's eyes to widen.
After comforting his two sisters, before Jack could react, Emily, with a smirk, joined in the fun, leaving several red lipstick marks on his face. Even his female boss couldn't help but embrace him, giving him a big hug.
"We better get out of here," Rossi, seemingly the calmest person at the scene, gestured toward the long convoy approaching in the distance. The sound of helicopter propellers could be heard from the sky—not just the police helicopter, but also those from various TV news channels.
"Director Reagan, the Mayor, and some other important figures should be arriving soon. Of course, Detective Reagan must stay. New York City needs a hero who can show his face."
"Me?" Danny pointed at himself in surprise, unsure whether to laugh or cry. He still hadn't grasped what had happened, but he was complicit in the destruction of half of Central Park.
"Just tell the truth. After all, you risked your life, didn't you? Of course, Jack wouldn't want you to reveal his name." Rossi opened the driver's door of a Suburban, offering to drive for once.
"Anyway, I still hope the FBI will use a variety of models in the future. Not always Suburbans, and preferably not always black SUVs."
Jack sat in the back seat, enveloped by two beautiful women on either side. His mind was racing. The long-overdue sequelae had returned with a vengeance, and he could only try to distract himself and start making small talk.
"What do you mean?" Dana Moger, who was sitting in the passenger seat, ignored the three people's embrace and the way they were hugging each other, and asked without turning her head.
"The attack on Hotchner and Joyner was probably just an accident. The other party was targeting the federal agents, but not them. It's just that the Suburban with federal license plates is too easy to identify."
Although Jack's goal was to divert attention, it was not completely aimless.
The location chosen by the planner was roughly determined, as long as the nearest emergency hospital was St. Barkley, but the person chosen was random. As long as they were federal agents or special agents, they would be fine, whether from the FBI, DHS, or even the NSA.
Because St. Barkley had been blocked by the Secret Service, only those with federal agent status could pass through.
Even if Jack was not driving at the time and did not know the Secret Service Director Joey Reacher, as long as there was a seriously injured federal agent in the car, it would be enough.
For this purpose, the other party even prepared nitroglycerin for treating angina pectoris in advance, so that they could create the illusion that the injured were about to die of their injuries at any time. It can be said that they had planned everything out.
So Hotchner and Joyner were chosen by the other party purely because of their official vehicles. Except for the oddballs like Jack, the vehicles of FBI field agents are basically Suburbans or large black SUVs with federal government license plates.
After creating the illusion of an impending large-scale terrorist attack, the other party only had to wait in front of the office doors of several nearby related agencies that night.
20 minutes later, when Jack, surrounded by everyone, stepped into the combat center again, he was greeted by everyone standing up and warm applause.
After someone had experienced the embarrassment of digging their toes into the ground for what seemed like half a century, Hotchner, who had hurried back from the hospital, gathered everyone in the small office. Although everyone had roughly figured out what was going on, the details still needed to be confirmed.
(End of chapter)