After a ten-minute visit with John, Professor Cahill spent three full days assessing Jack's academic progress before finally, feeling satisfied, boarding a flight back to Washington, D.C.
Jack, after finishing a pile of reports, also boarded a flight back to New York.
After some careful reflection, someone decided to be as quiet as possible in the new year, primarily avoiding unnecessary travel to avoid unnecessary killings.
He vaguely remembered planning a road trip along the interstate, but now it seems he was quite naive back then. He
'd encountered corrupt cops before, having dealt with NYPD cops twice, but killing so many in one fell swoop was a new experience.
Of course, the main problem must be John, that was for sure.
Back in New York, Jack spent a few days attending to minor matters, such as delivering several autographed "domineering" novels by "Joan Doe" to the autistic sister of a girl in danger in Hawaii.
Although Jack had previously claimed to Julie in the jungle that he didn't know any "Joan Doe," obtaining these items wouldn't seem too difficult for an FBI agent and detective fiction writer.
This was the little surprise Jack had promised Julie.
This little surprise, however, brought him a minor, yet unbeknownst, complication. Although he used his left hand and meticulously imitated female handwriting, Hannah had accidentally noticed him while preparing to sign the two novels.
When Hannah first came across the two novels while cleaning Jack's room, the plastic was still sealed. But that afternoon, when she saw them on Jack's desk, she discovered a fresh signature on the title page.
The sweet girl was certain Jack hadn't been out that day or had any visitors, so simple deduction led to a seemingly unbelievable conclusion.
Naturally, Jiejie also learned this little secret. Coincidentally, she had some basic knowledge of document examination, and thus a small "task force" was formed.
The two girls bought every novel under the name "Joan Doe" and compared them word for word with Jack's only published work, "Jack Reacher."
Unlike the commonly accepted concept of "document forensics," "document forensics" isn't just about handwriting analysis; it also involves related fields like linguistics, philology, and psychology.
A person's idiomatic expressions and the order in which they organize their language are all traceable.
While the two girls were enthusiastically studying their newfound secret, the International Department's second mission arrived on the Most Wanted Squad.
When Rossi arrived at the Squad's office near Long Island with a middle-aged man whose hair was as meticulously combed as Rossi's, Jack, Aubrey, and Clay were tinkering with their newly acquired Audi R8 in the garage.
Jubal and Alice were practicing shooting at the small range next to the garage. The deafening thud of gunfire and engine noise mixed together, making the place feel like a gang's base.
"This is Jon Michaels, the new Director of International Affairs,"
Rossi winked as he introduced him. Both Jubal and Jack noticed he wasn't the easiest person to get along with, his face sullen from start to finish.
But that didn't matter to them. They weren't in the same department, and while Jon Michaels held a higher rank than Jubal, the director of the next-door department couldn't oversee them.
The chaos in International Affairs was far worse than before, and even some of Rossi's old friends were caught up in it, creating some tension.
This bothered Rossi somewhat. He had only intended to offer a favour, but in the end, he'd found himself in a difficult position.
However, power struggles were common, and for Rossi, it was merely a minor annoyance; it was nothing more than a few more words of comfort, like "Little Pumpkin" or "Little Cookie".
But for the members of the Most Wanted Criminals Squad, this case assigned by the International Department was a bit of a hassle. Of course, if it wasn't difficult, there was no need for external assistance, and the location was far away, and crucially, time was tight.
"Tanzania?" Jack's only impression of the country was that it was said to have one of the more formidable military forces in Africa, and the reason seemed well known.
Jubal was focused on the case itself. "Twenty-three American tourists are missing, all from a missionary church in Texas."
Rossi's brows knitted together as he discussed the details of the case.
"Garcia finally figured out their number. The locals seem to be insensitive to things like numbers. The specific identities of the missing persons are still being collected, but at least half of them don't seem to have social media accounts."
Jubal picked up the few thin sheets of information on the table and flipped through them. "The last eyewitness record was that they were volunteering in a small town and then took a train heading north together.
The train conductor said he saw them at 2:30 in the morning local time, uh."
He glanced at the global time zone table displayed on Alice's computer, calculated in his mind for a long time before continuing, "That is about 16 hours ago."
"Have the local police or the military searched the stations where the train stops?" Aubrey obviously didn't have much confidence in his question.
Rossi gave a ridiculous answer. "That's the problem. It's said the train didn't stop at all. Twenty-three people simply vanished from thin air while it was moving.
All the train staff claim the train never stopped and there was no unusual activity. And the local police are already trying to close the case on the grounds of 'ascension.'"
Everyone frowned at the word, and Clay even wondered if there was something wrong with his hearing. "Is the 'ascension' you're talking about the way I understand it? The kind that goes to heaven?"
"That's what I mean." Rossi shrugged with a wry smile.
"So our mission is to investigate under the assumption that this wasn't a divine manifestation taking away His followers. So how long do we have before the Vatican intervenes?"
Jack joked, but his smile quickly froze at Rossi's answer.
"Both governments have agreed to issue a media statement informing the public of the disappearance 24 hours later, starting from the time your plane lands."
Jack clutched his head, a touch of regret. Why had he let himself be seduced by Rossi, the devil, into signing an agreement to help the International Department handle five cases? He'd completely forgotten how he'd enthusiastically followed up on the Bombardier business jet's renovations not long ago.
Preparing the documentation took almost a day, and it was killing him.
(End of Chapter)