Although someone had already deeply understood the saying that misfortunes never come singly, it didn't mean he could calmly accept the constant stream of bad news.
It was already evening when Jack and Danny returned to the office. Before they could sit down and catch their breath, Kono returned from the crime lab with extremely bad news.
The large bag of clothing sent to the crime lab had been confirmed to be contaminated with the smallpox virus. Researchers were carefully handling these dangerous items, hoping to extract enough hair and other biological samples for DNA comparison.
However, some things could be determined without testing, such as the sizes of clothes and pants. Researchers confirmed at least four different sizes in the large bag of clothing, and also found four smashed cell phones.
Kono's ability to find these things based on Palmer's phone was somewhat lucky, as his phone only had a smashed screen, not a complete destruction.
"That means we have at least three more victims, and they might still be alive."
Danny was practically exasperated. The real head of "Five-O" was Steve McGarrett, and as his assistant, he was only covering for the moment; otherwise, he wouldn't have dragged his injured "nephew" around with him.
After a day of investigating the case, the specter of a "bioterrorism attack" still loomed, and now three more potential victims had surfaced, their fate unknown.
Oahu might not be a large island, but it held over two-thirds of the entire state of Hawaii's population, with nearly a million residents, not counting tourists.
Finding three people who might have been infected with smallpox in such a short time was no easy task.
"Don't panic," Jack said, trying to calm Danny down. "Brian Palmer's sudden appearance was obviously an accident. Even the murderer didn't anticipate it, so he hastily disposed of Ken Tanner, who knew the truth.
The other three may have been used as virus test subjects and are under the control of the murderer.
The most urgent task now is to find out their identities. Waiting for DNA comparison is obviously not a good idea. Let the crime lab prioritize testing the SIM cards in the damaged phones. This is the fastest way.
And those fingerprints extracted from Ken Tanner's home, are there any comparison results now?"
He asked the second half of the sentence to Cheng Hao, who was busy at the computer in place of Kono. The latter was frowning at the screen at this time. He seemed to wake up from a dream when he heard this and quickly clicked the print button with his mouse.
"I didn't find any information in the local criminal database, but just now, your colleague in New York found the owner of this fingerprint in the federal database."
As he spoke, the printer had already started to work, spitting out many A4 papers.
"It's all here. This guy has a strange name, Dracula Comescu?"
Danny had just taken the information and slapped his forehead when he heard the name before he even read it. "So, in addition to the ancient deadly virus, we now have to deal with ancient vampires, right?"
"Maybe. Anyway, it says here that this guy is Romanian." Cheng Hao shrugged.
Jack did not participate in the two people's antics. His attention was attracted by the information Cheng Hao put on the screen. The information was not very detailed, but a note on it caught his attention.
"This name is actually marked by NCIS?"
"What do you mean this name is marked by NCIS?" Danny stopped looking at the information and curiously leaned over to join the discussion.
Jack was about to say something when his cell phone rang. He thought it was his friend in New York calling him, but it turned out to be an unfamiliar landline number, and judging by the area code, it was from Los Angeles.
Could it be that Chris wanted to talk to him about something? Thinking of this, he pressed the call button directly, but the unfamiliar voice coming from the other end of the phone startled him.
"Hello, Agent Jack Tawaller, I am Heidi Lange, the operations director of the Special Projects Office of the NCIS. I heard that you were unfortunately injured not long ago. I was wondering if this will affect your future work."
"Uh..." Hearing this slightly old female voice, the image of a thin and small old lady instantly appeared in front of Jack's eyes, and he shuddered involuntarily.
"Hello, Director Heidi Lange. I'm honored to receive your concern. I'm fine and almost recovered."
He hadn't expected that before he'd even met the renowned NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service), his first encounter would be with OSP, a specialized branch within NCIS.
In Jack's past life, there was an NCIS spin-off called NCIS: Los Angeles, which at first sounded like a local NCIS office in Los Angeles.
But in reality, as the caller had just introduced themselves, this Los Angeles-based NCIS branch is known as the Office of Special Projects, or OSP for short. Together, they're NCIS-OSP.
OSP specializes in cases involving highly classified Navy personnel, and their security level is perhaps even higher than that of regular NCIS agents.
Of course, that wasn't the reason Jack was being so respectful. After all, the FBI and NCIS are generally considered two completely separate entities.
NCIS is affiliated with the Pentagon and investigates any crime with even a shred of evidence linking Navy and Marine Corps personnel.
While some interactions might occur under certain circumstances, the division of labor would be based solely on the specific circumstances of the case at hand. Case A might be led by NCIS, while Case B might be led by the FBI. There was no hierarchical relationship of any significance.
The real reason Jack was so overwhelmed was the Heidi Lange on the other end of the line. In the original series, this elderly woman was a mysterious figure of immense prestige, even commanding the respect of the Secretary of the Navy.
Judging by her age and seniority, she was a contemporary of veteran CIA agent Joe Mason. In terms of seniority alone, she was perhaps even older than the bald Frank, a legendary spy who had truly survived the Cold War.
While Jack had never met this legendary woman in this world, he knew she was one of Joe Mason's few remaining friends, and with whom
he still kept in touch. This alone justified his solemnity.
Heidi Lange on the other end of the line didn't seem surprised that Jack seemed to recognize her, and even let out a few raspy laughs.
"You're a little too nervous, young man. I've heard about your exploits and I really hope to have an agent as good as you under my command, but Rossi seems to be keeping a close eye on you."
Well, from this sentence, Jack can at least be sure of one thing: this old lady is probably not some "little XX" of his teacher.
(End of this chapter)