When Jack and Reacher returned to New York, Hannah and Jiejie had already brought Marlo Burns and her daughter back to the Most Wanted Unit's office building.
The mother and daughter didn't get far, hiding in Newburgh, 70 kilometers north of New York, on the upper Hudson River.
It seems Langston and his men weren't that powerful; they relied solely on some connections they had within the NYPD.
Now, with Commissioner Frank Reagan intervening, not only was it difficult to find Marlo Burns and her daughter, who had thrown away their phones and fled, but even finding the whereabouts of Reacher and his Special Investigations Unit members was difficult.
Jack suggested protecting the families of the Special Investigations Unit members not because he was worried about Langston and his gang getting desperate, but because he was guarding against the ulterior motives of a certain congressman.
"So, you're really not one of Langston's gang?" Jack pushed his coffee cup toward the frightened middle-aged woman.
"Of course not. When he stuffed that big bag of money into my pocket, I knew I couldn't stay home any longer. I had to protect my daughter."
Marlo Burns looked awful. European and American women's skin usually doesn't look good after they turn 40. She'd obviously neglected to maintain her appearance when she fled, and now, without makeup, she looked completely different from her photos.
"So, that cash in your house was actually forced upon you by Lanston, but you could have refused and called the police." Dixon sniffed the aroma of passion fruit tea.
She discovered that Jack's large refrigerator in the kitchen was a treasure trove; he could easily pull out a glass jar and mix a drink that the girls couldn't put down.
Marlo Burns was completely broken by her lighthearted words, and tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Lanston is a former cop. He served as a lieutenant in the NYPD for over 20 years. He's helped many unscrupulous individuals escape prison, and they now work for him, like a vicious professional killer and his crew."
The special investigators exchanged glances, and Reacher said calmly, "We took them out in Atlantic City."
Marlo Burns paused, then continued, "Some professional gunmen."
"Only two survived Green-Wood Cemetery and are being protected in a New Jersey hospital," Danny added.
"And an entire motorcycle gang." The woman choked again.
"I don't know how many survived, but federal prison is their future," Jubal added with a smile.
"But I'm just one man. The things he threatened to do to me and my daughter... God, I can't even begin to recount them, so I ran away in fear."
Thrill and fear made Marlo Burns tremble, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Okay, but you're safe now. We've got the FBI, the righteous NYPD detectives, and a bunch of ex-soldiers who want Langston's blood back."
Jack handed her a whole pack of wet wipes and soothed her. "Let's talk about Tony Swan first. What role did he play in all this? Langston's accomplice? Or..."
Marlo Burns, who had just quietly thanked Jack, widened her eyes in surprise at the question.
"Of course not. He was the one trying to stop it all. If you knew Swan, you'd know he would never be involved in such a despicable act."
"Yes, some of us have always believed that." Reacher glared at his teammates, and several special investigators awkwardly avoided his gaze.
"We know it was you who placed Swan in New Era's security department. Can you explain why?" Jack continued.
"Yes, that's right. That was over a year ago. I hired Swan and made him Langston's deputy because New Era's security team was virtually unbroken.
They're all former NYPD officers, and from the same precinct, and almost everyone obeys Lanston's orders."
Hearing her say this, Hannah gave Jiejie a slightly smug sign of "V." This was not much different from the analysis she had made earlier when the three of them searched Marlo Burns's house.
"So you think the security department shouldn't be kept out of the company's control, and you arranged for Swann to conduct a private investigation into the security department, and then discovered something amiss with the 'Little Wings' project?"
Jiejie's question surprised Marlo Burns. "How did you know?"
"We know about the 'Little Wings' project, those portable air defense missiles, and even Councilman Lavoie,"
Jack said, spreading out the strange data he had printed out earlier from Franz's USB drive in front of her. "Do you know what these numbers mean?"
"Of course." The woman recognized them at a glance. "These are statistics on defective missile chips. Swann found that in the testing of chips equipped with the 'Little Wings' software, the number of chips with quality problems exceeded the normal range, especially in recent months.
I asked the quality control department, but they couldn't figure out the reason either. The CEO and the board told me not to worry about the details; as long as we could complete this order on time, nothing else mattered.
Given the missiles' excellent performance in actual testing, we attributed it to processing issues rather than design flaws. We simply increased the number of chips purchased to ensure we had enough qualified products. "
Of course, these missiles were just mockups; we just had to get by," Reacher said coldly .
Marlo Burns was momentarily speechless with surprise. Clearly, as the operations director, she knew something about the shady dealings of the "Little Wings" project.
"Go on, so what's Swan's opinion?" Reacher pressed.
"Swan believes someone in engineering deliberately manipulated the engineering test boards, randomly marking some properly functioning chips as defective."
Marlo Burns hugged her head and burst into tears again. "I tried my best. I reported these issues to my superiors, but no one cared. The board was more concerned with the R&D team and the upcoming defense contract."
I told Swan to be careful, and he assured me that he would find a few colleagues in the army whom he trusted to help, and then we lost contact. "
"Yes." O'Donnell, who had been listening, wiped his eyes, looking depressed and frustrated, "They are our friends too."
Negley put his hand on his shoulder and shook it hard to comfort him, "We will avenge them. With
the final piece of the puzzle provided by Marlo Burns, the whole story essentially fell into place.
New Era Technologies had developed "Little Wings," a promising piece of military software, or so they believed.
To ensure sufficient funding for the project's continued success, they had designed a seemingly functional portable air defense missile.
As a relatively new defense company, New Era Technologies clearly didn't have the resources to compete with established companies in other key military projects.
So, they took a different approach and created this eye-catching "black technology" product.
Perhaps the demonstration was a bit over the top, and this "black technology" individual air defense missile caught the eye of some unknown small nation or power, leading to the subsequent series of incidents.
(End of Chapter)