"What are you talking about?" Danny couldn't believe his ears. "How is that possible? Comescu thought it was smallpox. He even tried to break the bottle to infect Karen."
"Someone must have switched the bottles." Jack hadn't expected his hunch to be so accurate. "It must be that missing doctor, the one who did the experiments for Comescu."
"I think so too. The CDC lab checked the surveillance footage from those labs. Although the man didn't show his face, Dr. Dusek thought his voice sounded very familiar.
So, following her suggestion, I found some public medical lecture videos and used voiceprint comparison to identify him."
"Hey, guys, I think we should go," Danny said as he walked, picking up Cheng Hao's phone. Karen glanced regretfully at the unfinished cold beer in her hand and put it back on the table.
"Kono, keep talking. Who was that guy?" Cheng Hao placed a few banknotes on the table and, without even saying hello to the shrimp cart owner, a 300-pound portly man, trotted over.
"His name is Jarod Broadman. He was once a respected epidemiologist. I just arrived at the base and am retrieving his information. You'd better come back quickly."
Kono hung up the phone after he finished speaking. Everyone here hurriedly got in the car and rushed to the "Five-O" headquarters.
Jack sat in Danny's Camaro, and Cheng Hao drove his F150 with two NCIS. As soon as the car started, Cheng Hao dialed the in-car communication.
"Comescu accidentally got the smallpox virus from Pennsylvania, but he and his men obviously did not have the ability to replicate and verify these viruses, so they found Broadman.
But why did Broadman betray his boss and secretly run away with the virus?"
"Maybe he was not satisfied with the little reward Comescu gave him, so he found a buyer himself?" Danny guessed.
At that moment, Kono contacted everyone again. "Guys, there's no need to come back. The TSA (Transportation Security Administration) just responded to the call. Broadman is scheduled to depart in fifteen minutes for Los Angeles."
Danny immediately activated his sirens and lights and steered. "Inform TSA to stop the plane from taking off, but don't disturb the waiting passengers until we arrive."
--
Twenty minutes later, everyone hurried to the Honolulu airport, where a TSA officer in a blue uniform came to greet them.
"We've delayed the flight under the guise of maintenance. All passengers should be waiting at the gate. We've confirmed in our system that the Broadman you're looking for checked in several hours ago, but we haven't found him yet."
As the group entered the terminal, Jack glanced at the photo Kono had sent him on his phone. It showed a man in his forties of Middle Eastern descent, with a slightly darker complexion, black hair, and blue eyes.
He scanned the seats near the gate, his heart sinking slightly. He didn't see any similar face.
"I didn't see him." Karen's eyesight was also quite good, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to clearly see Jack waving at her from over 300 meters away.
"Then let him come find us." Danny gestured for everyone to wait aside, confidently walked towards the information desk, and flirted with the Asian woman working there. "Sorry to interrupt you."
He glanced at the woman's name tag. "Arcee, right? I need you to call a passenger for me, in the name of providing a free upgrade."
The airport employee glanced at the badge on his waist with a slight surprise, then looked at the TSA officer who nodded slightly at him not far away, and nodded hesitantly, "Uh, okay."
"His name is Jarod Broadman, thank you." Danny said, turning his head and winking at the others, indicating that they should spread out and not stand out too much.
As the Asian beauty took the microphone, the announcement in the waiting room blared, "Attention passengers at the gate, Jarrod Broadman, please proceed to the information desk to process your seat upgrade."
The announcement was repeated twice, and a young white man, seemingly in his early twenties, stood up from his seat and walked towards the information desk.
"That's not Jarrod Broadman," Danny said over his shoulder, and everyone saw anxiety and unease in each other's eyes.
The young man seemed quite happy, holding his boarding pass and walking to the information desk to introduce himself. "Hello, I'm Jarrod Broadman."
"No, you're not." Jack and Danny, one on each side, moved the shelf to the side. Five pairs of eyes stared at him.
"You're not Broadman, who are you?"
Hannah's stature wasn't as intimidating as the bulky Reacher, but it was still incredibly intimidating to the average person, leaving the young man speechless.
"What? You're planning on making up another identity?"
Karen glared, further rattling him. "No, I... I just..."
Jack impatiently pulled his wallet from his back pocket and opened it. "Benjamin Gallagher, you've got yourself into a lot of trouble, you know that?"
"Come on, I knew this wasn't a good idea. Damn it, why would I..." The young man looked frustrated.
Danny scoffed. "No, no, no, Benjamin, right? Traveling under someone else's identity is a fantastic idea."
Hannah didn't bother to talk. "Where is Broadman himself?"
"I don't know." The young man, Benjamin, grew increasingly nervous as he was questioned by the others.
"You don't know? You took his ticket, and you're telling us you don't know him?" Karen clenched her fists.
Benjamin shuddered, his speech instantly becoming fluent.
"I swear I don't know that guy. He approached me in the terminal and asked me to switch flights. He was very touching, saying his girlfriend was on the previous flight and she was afraid to fly alone."
"What a kind soul! You mean he had a girlfriend with him?" Jack realized the key point.
"Yes, he gave me $500. The plane was about to take off, so I thought I'd do it as a favor. I could make $500 on the side, so why not? So, are the consequences serious?"
Everyone was too lazy to pay attention to this idiot and turned to the timetable. "Which flight was he on?"
"792."
"Hanalei Airlines flight 792." Jack glanced at the timetable, silently calculating the time, and his heart sank.
Flights from Hawaii to Los Angeles usually take about five to six hours. Judging by the time, the plane should be landing soon.
At the same time, Hannah had already taken out his cell phone and called back to the Los Angeles headquarters, "Eric, notify Heidi to send someone to Los Angeles International Airport immediately, Hanalei Airlines Flight 792, the passenger's alias is Benjamin Gallagher."
Jack was also on the phone. Although Los Angeles International Airport was not under the jurisdiction of the Wilshire Police Department, Los Angeles was his home base after all, and he had direct contact information for both the FBI and the LAPD.
The two put down their phones almost at the same time, their faces equally grim.
"What's wrong?" Danny asked hurriedly.
"We are in big trouble." Hannah's dark face was even darker at this time, "The plane landed 5 minutes ago."
The information Jack received was more detailed, "A female deceased was found in the bathroom on the plane. I have notified the LAPD to immediately dispatch the emergency response team. I hope everything is not in time."
(End of this chapter)