Three days later, as Jack and Brian's transport plane landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, Anna met her final moments.
"You can still use your old name, since there are girls named Anna everywhere, but it's best to change it," a powerful woman said as she handed her the file box.
If Jack were here, he would probably be surprised to see a familiar face: Catherine Zeta-Jones, now dressed in a general's uniform. It was none other than the Katya Petrovna Frank had mentioned earlier.
Seeing a hint of suspicion in the girl's eyes, the general opened the FSB system in front of her and entered Anna's former name.
Seeing the large "No Results" message on the screen, Anna felt as if all her strength had been drained away, and she collapsed.
"Trust me, erasing all traces of your existence from the FSB is much more difficult than just killing you outright," Katya Petrovna said, hiding a hint of envy in her eyes as she handed Anna a passport.
"That country in the East recently launched a 144-hour visa-free transit policy. You could visit the southernmost island. I heard the scenery there is as good as Hawaii."
Anna clutched her file box tightly, seemingly coming to her senses. She answered somewhat irrelevantly. "Am I really that thin? I heard there's a lot of delicious food there. I should be able to gain some weight."
Katya Petrovna frowned. "Then you could consider marrying someone there, or even having a child."
—Jack
spent two days in Los Angeles, mainly discussing the establishment of a security department with Chris and spending a night with Zoe.
Maureen, who had always been inseparable from her, was in San Francisco for a medical conference, giving them a rare moment alone.
However, the city councilwoman seemed a little uninterested during dinner, as if something was preoccupied.
"What's the trouble?" After clearing the table, Jack sat on the sofa and gently massaged her toes through her stockings.
"No, I just realized that without realizing it, my little man has become a hero." Zoe hugged his neck, her breath fragrant with orchids. Well, to be more precise, the aroma of wine. The two of them had just shared a bottle of Courvoisier cognac from France.
She drank a little too much, and her cheeks and neck were a beautiful rosy red.
Jack frowned at the silly girl and sighed, "If you don't want to continue in politics, forget it. I know how tiring it is to deal with those fat-headed politicians. You didn't need to wear high heels and smile every day before."
Zoe laughed and shook her head slightly, "Do you think I didn't need to deal with politics when I was in the police station? After becoming a police captain, I rarely have time to be on the front line, and I have to wear high heels most of the time."
As she said that, she took the initiative to get into Jack's arms, making it easier for this guy to continue to do bad things, "You are developing too fast. When I was in Washington, someone asked me who the boss behind Shangri-La was."
Jack's expression did not show much surprise, "This is expected. Haven't we been prepared for a long time? California has Hollywood and Silicon Valley, which are enough to provide us with all the resources we need for development. Many things are not urgent."
"You think too simply. Do you know how much capital is secretly eyeing Hollywood now? Whenever Maureen and I appear in Washington recently, both congressmen and senators will greet us with smiles."
A blush began to spread all over her body. Zoe took a deep breath with difficulty, trying not to make her voice sound strange.
Jack reluctantly lifted his head from the peak and asked with a smile, "Couldn't it be because they admire the beauty of you two?"
Zoe slapped him in annoyance. "You're right, there's indeed a bad guy who's trying to get both the money and the people. You'd better keep a close eye on Professor Cahill."
Jack finally came to his senses and, somewhat frustrated, lifted the silly girl from the sofa. "Have you discovered some new hobby? Why are we discussing such a depressing topic at this time? You're not going to give a campaign speech in bed later, are you?"
"Perhaps it's because you haven't been spending enough time with us lately," Zoe chuckled, hugging his neck.
--
Women in politics behave differently in a coquettish way. Zoe was just a disguised apology, as Chris had indeed been facing a lot of trouble recently.
This wasn't surprising to them. After all, the Anderson family was far from having absolute control over California, let alone the multinational capital that controlled Hollywood.
Fortunately, the biggest funding issue has been temporarily resolved. Furthermore, while Shangri-La is experiencing strong growth, its size is still there, and the challenges it's encountered are limited to initial testing and should be relatively easy to handle.
Jack's suggestion to Chris about a security department is timely. These low-level tests often involve dirty tactics, and Brian is particularly adept at dealing with such threats.
However, someone has inexplicably gained a new competitor: the villain Zoe mentioned, who's out to get both the money and the people. His full name is Senator Malcolm Lavoie.
After returning to New York, Jack researched him and discovered that Senator Lavoie is also from California, not yet 50, and holds one of California's two Senate seats.
This sparked a speculation: if they could eliminate him, wouldn't Zoe's rise to power be a natural progression?
Unfortunately, he had just made a big splash in Paris, incurring the wrath of Russian intelligence, making now a poor time for action.
Being a senator in the United States carries a far higher security risk than being president. Creating an unexpected incident without being traced back is incredibly difficult.
Furthermore, Lavoie's political stance is erratic, never embracing any strong opinions. He's solely focused on money, earning him the nickname "Paper Bag" in Washington, meaning he gets paid to get things done.
He has few political enemies, so framing him is out of the question unless they can find a psychopathic assassin, which they don't have the resources for right now. Besides, the situation isn't particularly pressing, so they'll have to put it on hold for now.
Meanwhile, Frank hasn't reappeared, seemingly vanishing again, leaving Cassel deeply frustrated.
While he didn't expect his parents to rekindle their love and live together after decades apart, as in the movies, he still hoped to spend some time with his spy father to reconcile the long-lost family bond.
One day, Jack brought him a book: Ian Fleming's Casino Royale. This finally brought him some relief.
However, Jack was unable to meet Frank. The book was sent to him by old Hunter, who also vaguely informed him that the matter in France was completely over.
Vasiliev's position was replaced by Frank's former lover, Katya. Anna and another agent present at the scene, named Chenkov, were eliminated.
The former's death was faked, while the latter was beaten to a pulp at the execution ground.
The FSB then launched a bloody retaliation against the CIA, wiping out a CIA team in Paris. The FSB's assassination squad spared everyone from the director to the office cleaner.
This CIA team's demise was actually quite justified, as they were the same CIA agents who orchestrated Vasiliev's assassination in the original series. The director who threatened Anna with becoming a double agent was unaware of his scapegoat until his death.
Anna reportedly traveled to a major Eastern country for recuperation and minor plastic surgery. After all, she had previously been a somewhat famous model in Paris, and a cosmetic change was essential for her future career in the United States.
Jack wasn't worried. As long as Anna wasn't stupid, she would realize that staying with him was the safest option, unless she truly wanted to find a remote place, live in anonymity, marry, and have children.
This year's Halloween went uneventfully. The Most Wanted squad had crossed two names off their wanted list within a month, but the rate of new names was far outstripping the rate of new ones.
Then, someone else started to worry. After Halloween, it was Christmas, and Alexis definitely wasn't going to Paris again, let alone Europe anytime soon.
So, between a deserted island survival adventure and a trip to Hawaii to soak up the sun, the girl chose the latter. The reason there were two options was because Hannah had suggested the former, who was recently obsessed with a survival reality show.
Just as Jack was worrying about whether taking Hannah and Jiejie to Hawaii would cause misunderstandings among his former family, Stella Bonasiella, now Mike Taylor's replacement as head of CSI's New York lab, approached him.
"How do you manage to live such a hermit-like life in the bustling New York metropolis?" Stella asked curiously, watching Jack, wearing a cowboy hat and wielding a scythe, mowing vegetables in his backyard.
"Maybe it's just plain greed. Do you know how hard it is to find safe food in this country? Sometimes it's not just a matter of money."
Jack finished mowing the last crop of autumn spinach and picked up his hoe to dig the soil. Spinach can be harvested year-round, but New York's winters are so cold that they need to be covered with mulch. He's constantly traveling abroad these days, and one old Mexican gardener can't possibly handle it all.
Stella was clearly here to get a free meal, otherwise she wouldn't have chosen dinner time. The girls went shopping together, leaving Jack alone. He simply prepared three dishes and a soup, and the two of them chatted as they ate.
There's a saying that the reason the Dongda State Banquet focuses on Huaiyang cuisine, besides its beautiful presentation, is because of its light flavors. It might not be to everyone's taste, but it's accessible to everyone, especially the elderly and foreigners.
Stella, who prefers lighter flavors, was particularly impressed by the crab meat and lion's head dish. Jack added chopped water chestnuts to it, and the unique sweetness perfectly balanced the greasiness of the meat filling.
After enjoying their meal, Stella finally spoke about her visit. She'd recently taken on a strange case involving a body found by several tourists in the Catskill Mountains.
The CSI lab had uncovered numerous suspicious points, leading to Stella's visit. "The local police department has fewer than 20 officers, so I'm hoping the FBI will handle the case."
Jack took the case file and flipped through it, his brow furrowing as he read. "Falling from a height? This looks like more than just a simple murder."
The case file indicated the body was found in a forested area, with no cliffs nearby. However, the autopsy revealed fractures and other injuries caused by a fall of at least a kilometer.
"Yes," Stella nodded. "We also found signs of torture. His stomach was empty, indicating severe dehydration. We suspect he was thrown from a plane before he died."
"It was most likely a helicopter. If it was a fixed-wing aircraft, unless it was a military transport with an open tail hatch, throwing someone from high altitude would likely impact the wings or even the propellers,"
Jack recalled his own skydiving experiences.
"There are also signs of leg fractures. Our medical examiner says these were inflicted at least 24 hours prior to death." Stella pulled out a few photos from a stack of files.
Jack flipped through the blood test results. "High concentrations of free histamine? A fall from a kilometer would normally kill a person almost instantly. Do you suspect he experienced brutal torture and interrogation within the last 72 hours?"
Histamine is a highly irritating vasoactive amine, primarily synthesized in the liver and partially produced and released by vascular endothelial cells. It is primarily involved in allergic and inflammatory responses in the body.
Free histamine in the blood has a half-life of approximately five hours, and its concentration remains high for approximately 72 hours. Jack's forensic expertise isn't enough to determine how long the victim had been tortured, but judging by the concentration alone, he was likely nearing shock before being thrown from a height.
"At least half of the injuries on the victim's body are inconsistent with a fall from a height. Our technicians also found ferrous oxide on his trouser legs." Stella pulled out another photo.
"So both of his legs were broken by a rusty iron bar?" Jack muttered to himself. "That means he was either tortured out of revenge, or the killer wanted to get something out of him."
"And that's why I want the FBI involved." Stella pulled a folded A4 sheet of paper from her pocket.
"Our database turned up a bunch of question marks, so I asked a friend in the military and learned the exact identity of the deceased. But the Army said he retired a long time ago, and DCIS (Defense Criminal Investigative Service) doesn't care, so I thought the FBI might be interested."
"Calvin Franz, an Army sergeant, was a member of the Army Military Police's 110th Special Investigations Unit." Jack's face changed drastically.
Stella asked curiously, "Do you know him?"
Jack shook his head. "I've never heard of this Franz, but as far as I know, the Military Police's 110th Special Investigations Unit only existed for three years, and their sole leader was a huge man weighing nearly 250 pounds."
(End of this chapter)