"Rangers or Green Berets?" Reacher narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the two men in front of him with a hint of thought.
"Rangers." The woman in the black suit was short, a white woman in her early thirties. Her features were unremarkable, but despite her formal attire, she gave off the air of a female panther poised for action.
The other man in the black suit was equally short, but incredibly stocky. His hairstyle alone revealed him to be a formidable figure: the front of his head was shiny, with barely visible stubble at the back.
He ignored Jack and stood before Reacher, speaking impatiently.
"The Senator has a suggestion for you. Get in the car, just you."
"No," Reacher flatly refused. "He's my friend. Wherever I go, he goes."
The man and woman exchanged glances. It looked like the woman was indeed the one giving the orders. She carefully sized Jack up before nodding reluctantly. "Okay, you come along."
"No," Reacher still refused.
"Any questions, Mr. Reacher?" the woman frowned.
"Call me Reacher." Reacher felt a little uncomfortable with the "Mr." prefix.
"Okay, Reacher, any questions?" the woman said, puzzled.
"He's very rude." Reacher glanced at the bald man with a harsh tone.
"Okay, Hart, what's the magic word?" the woman looked at the bald man beside her.
Just as the bald man's face flickered with scorn, he noticed the woman's gaze, thick with warning.
He had to try hard to adjust his expression, respectfully extending his right hand. "Please get in."
Reacher smiled contentedly and walked to the already-opened GMC van in front and got in. Jack shook his head speechlessly and walked to the other door to get in.
He didn't know how Reacher had determined that the woman was from the Army, but the tattoo on the bald man's neck indicated he was a Navy SEAL, so it made sense that someone from the Army Military Police would suddenly become so fussy.
Two GMC vans drove into the Smithsonian National Zoo. It wasn't until the driver got out that Jack noticed he was Asian, sporting the same skull and crossbones tattoo on his neck. Like the bald man, he looked like a Navy SEAL.
The Navy SEALs and Clay's SEAL Team 6 were two completely different special forces units, akin to the Rangers and Delta Force—they weren't subordinate to each other, though most of the latter's members were drawn from the former.
SEAL Team 6 is now known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, and the acronym has changed from SEAL to DEVGRU.
Witnessing the conflict between the US Navy and the US Army firsthand, Jack wasn't sure whether to call it naive or vain. After all, he wasn't even a soldier, and now he was just an insignificant guest. He leisurely followed the others into a room behind the cages.
The smell was unpleasant, and the monkeys were quite noisy. A sign at the entrance read, "Primate Exhibit."
"Isn't it a bit much to meet in a place like this?" Reacher said, a half-smile on his face, surveying the empty cages.
"Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable with a gorilla as your companion." The bald man finally got his chance to use his rhetoric to avenge his earlier attack, then quickly retreated to the doorway, giving Reacher no chance to retaliate.
Just then, a figure flashed down the hallway on the other side of the room. A white-haired man in a black trench coat and shiny leather shoes emerged from the hallway, extending his hand enthusiastically to Reacher and Jack.
"Mr. Reacher, I'm Malcolm Lavoie."
"He prefers to be called Reacher," said the female Ranger, also standing at the door, performing bodyguard duties.
"No, he needs to be called 'Mr.'." Reacher made no attempt to shake the other's hand, standing there stiffly, his tone as if he were the taxpayer.
The senator, unfazed, naturally swung his extended right hand forward, as if for emphasis, and slipped it back into his trench coat pocket.
"Mr. Reacher, um, is this Mr. Ryan? I'm sorry to have you here in this manner."
Jack gave a false smile, his mustache twitching, but he didn't respond. The other person called him Ryan, indicating that he had done some research beforehand, though the information he'd found was slightly inaccurate.
"I suppose you chose this place because it's one of the few places in Washington, D.C. where you can avoid being seen?" Reacher said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Yes, you're quite clever, Mr. Reacher. That's exactly why I joined the board of this zoo." Senator Lavoie, despite his white hair, had almost no wrinkles on his forehead, his meticulously maintained features giving the illusion that he was simply experiencing premature graying.
He turned and snapped his fingers. The figure that emerged from the hallway was one Reacher was relatively familiar with; after all, they had met last night.
"Ah, I believe you still remember my legislative director, Mr. Boyd?"
"Of course, the one with the cocaine habit," Reacher sarcastically said.
The congressman still wore that false smile characteristic of politicians. "You know, when I learned about this, I contacted a friend of mine at the FBI.
Imagine Mr. Boyd's embarrassment and relief when he realized he'd revealed some of our little secrets to two people posing as federal agents.
So he made some small changes, and thankfully, the police surveillance didn't fail at the crucial moment like it often does. Through facial recognition software, we were able to match you with a military officer's file."
"Jack Reacher, West Point graduate, one Bronze Star, two Silver Stars, one Purple Star...blah blah blah." Daniel Boyd casually flipped through the files on his phone, completely devoid of the timidity of last night.
"Show some respect," the swashbuckling attitude of the rich kid earned him a mock reprimand from Malcolm Lavoie.
He turned to Reacher with an apologetic look. "That's quite an impressive resume. Thank you very much for your service to our country."
Reacher watched the two men's double act with an expressionless face, remaining silent.
"I'm sorry, but Boyd has conducted some private research without your permission. We don't know why the Major gave up his promising military career and disappeared.
But a few years ago, a strange incident in the town of Margrave, Georgia, came to our attention. Your brother Joey nearly lost his life while investigating a large-scale counterfeiting case there.
However, the entire criminal group collapsed, and all those involved were killed. Even the counterfeit factory was burned down.
Officially, all of this seemed to be the work of a retired soldier, a private investigator recently fired from the NYPD, and two local town police officers. "
Not fired, I became a private investigator after I voluntarily resigned," Jack kindly corrected. Even though he'd made up the fake file himself, there was a huge difference between resigning and being fired.
"Sorry, my bad." Lavoie even gave Jack an apologetic smile, which sent a chill down his spine.
"Get to the point, this place reeks of monkey shit."
Reacher's patience was almost exhausted. He had never had a good impression of politicians, and now that the case was almost complete, he wouldn't have bothered to say anything more if Jack hadn't asked for his help in "taking out" the councilman in front of him.
"I know you guys did what happened in Margrave Town, Mr. Reacher, Mr. Ryan. I also know you just went to DHS and asked Joey Reacher for help.
In fact, I can offer similar assistance: intelligence, weapons, even human resources. I just hope you can repeat what you did in Margrave."
Lavoie finally dropped his phony political airs and turned serious.
"Why?" Reacher began to act out his words, subconsciously glancing at the three bodyguards at the door, as if he'd truly been caught with something.
If this guy hadn't been watching Jack fabricate the Margrave case file and helping fill in a lot of details, he'd almost believed it.
"Of course, it's because of what you said to Boyd in Boston. You suspect these weapons might have gotten out, right? I'm surprised that the directors of New Age Technologies, who only know how to count money, knew nothing about this.
So my people tracked down one of the junior directors in charge of the Denver plant and, with a simple trick, got him to confess everything."
Lavoie pulled a USB drive from his pocket and handed it to Reacher. "This guy, who's in a lot of gambling debts, accepted $2 million in bearer bonds and then installed GPS trackers on the vehicles transporting a batch of missiles."
Then I heard your men tried to intercept the hijacked truck en route, and they nearly succeeded.
I was very surprised, and I'm also pleased to see that your 110 Special Investigations Unit has been reorganized and remains as capable as ever, despite the tragic passing of some of its members.
Seeing Reacher's expression change, Congressman Lavoie, feeling he had taken the initiative, looked reserved and somewhat complacent. "Don't be so surprised, Mr. Reacher. I'm a senator, and I'm quite efficient."
Reacher's lips curled up slightly. "I'm surprised precisely because I didn't expect a congressman to be so efficient."
"Hahaha," Lavoie's complacency faded into self-deprecation. "In fact, I'm used to being criticized like this."
His expression turned serious again. "The key is to prevent these weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists. I think we agree on this point, don't you think?" "
Reacher sneered, "Of course, because the DHS has already noticed that this matter is related to terrorism, you may be able to cover it up for now, but once a domestic civilian airliner is attacked by such a missile, or such a weapon is discovered in our enemy country, someone will get to the bottom of it.
Then someone will find out that you have been involved in the shady transactions related to the "Little Wings" project from the beginning, and no one will be able to save you then."
"So kill the bad guys and let me get clean at the same time. This is what we call a win-win in Washington." Lavoie spread his hands, and his voice became very contagious, as if he was giving a speech on Capitol Hill.
"I did my best to give this country the powerful tools it needs to defend democracy. I just used a little trick in the process to avoid a lot of red tape. No one can question my motives."
"And make a fortune in the process, right?" Reacher snorted coldly.
"Again, this is also a win-win. Lavoie's face showed no shame. He even took a half-step forward, staring into Reacher's eyes.
"Let me be clear with you. I don't want to see innocent people killed by this weapon either. I'm a politician, not some psychopathic killer, Mr. Reacher.
And I'm not asking for your help, I'm offering it."
Lavoie pointed a finger at Reacher. "I know what kind of person you are. You're ruthless and relentless. Your military records and your actions in Margrave Town prove it.
I like your style. Keep it up. Take down those bad guys. You can always call me for help when you need it.
And I promise you that when this is over, all records will be erased, just like before.
Use your violence to destroy everything, smash everything to pieces, and wipe out the bad guys. Leave no evidence. Then you can continue to disappear. No one will pursue you, no one will try to find you, and your friends can return to their peaceful lives."
-
"Huh! "It was not until the two of them left the monkey exhibition area and blended into the crowd of zoo visitors that Reacher breathed a sigh of relief and raised his arm to look at his fist with bulging veins.
"Just a little bit, just a little bit. I almost couldn't help but punch that bastard to death."
"This is the first time I've seen a politician say such a long string of true words in one breath. What else are you dissatisfied with?" Jack teased and took out his cell phone to call Joey.
"How is the recording effect? OK, it is the job of you DHS to turn these recordings into legal wiretapping evidence.
In addition, the congressman also provided us with a new piece of evidence. The reason why 'AM' appeared in Denver has been found. He went to bribe a board member in charge of the factory.
The carjacking should have been arranged by him. This was the delivery method agreed upon by both parties in advance. Next, we just need to find the chips in Lanston's hands, or follow the missing missiles to find 'AM'. "
After the call, Jack counted on his fingers. "Dixon doesn't have any important relatives alive. O'Donnell's family is on vacation. Negley has an elderly father in poor health who can't be moved, but the FBI has already sent people to help protect him.
The Special Investigations Team is currently impeccable, but we are still missing an important witness. Perhaps she can help us solve the final mystery, especially the part about Tony Swan."
"Then call O'Donnell. It's time for us to go back to New York. I hope your two girlfriends are helpful enough and have found the whereabouts of Marlo Burns."
Reacher curled his lips, fished out a few coins from his pocket, and bought two ice cream cones for himself and Jack.
"Shut up, Jack. If you mention this again, I'll call Rosie to New York. I'm sure she'll be happy to come and help when she hears your name."
Jack bit off half of the cone viciously.
In order to fit the title, I can only write another long chapter. I almost changed the title secretly again. Brothers and sisters, please continue to vote for me.
(End of this Chapter)