Dar es Salaam is Tanzania's largest city and former capital, with a population of just under 5 million, representing approximately one-tenth of the country's total population.
The nominal capital is the small inland city of Dodoma, with a population of only 400,000. Aside from Tanzanians, almost all other countries and regions consider Dar es Salaam to be the country's true capital.
The story begins in the 1970s, when a certain Eastern power sought out some friendly African comrades in Africa and told them that, as fellow Third World nations, they should show mutual respect.
What happened next is well known: the Eastern Power and some African nations naturally came together to support each other.
During his first visit to Tanzania, the then-Prime Minister of the Eastern Power casually mentioned the war, stating that Dar es Salaam's location on the Indian Ocean and its difficult terrain made it virtually indefensible and vulnerable to invasion.
Due to various other considerations, Tanzania decided to relocate its capital to the inland city of Dodoma in 1973. However, a subsequent war with Uganda, though won, depleted Tanzania's already limited resources.
The 1979 oil crisis, which completely depleted the country's foreign exchange reserves, coupled with the uninhibited nature of Tanzanian citizens, delayed the capital relocation for nearly half a century.
Even today, while some administrative departments have relocated to Dodoma, infrastructure deficiencies have forced nearly all foreign diplomatic missions in Tanzania to remain in Dar es Salaam.
There are no direct flights from New York to Dar es Salaam; the fastest requires a stopover in Dubai, a journey of nearly 20 hours. As usual ,
the FBI arranged a military C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft for the group, but the journey was ultimately arduous, ultimately landing at Kilimanjaro International Airport.
By the time the group arrived at Arusha Railway Station, where the missing American tourists were supposed to be, a day and a half had passed since the incident.
Arusha, Tanzania's third-largest city and Africa's most famous tourist destination, is the source of most people's stereotypes about Africa.
Here, you'll find wildebeest crossing crocodile rivers during the Great Migration, African elephants that can crush a car with a single foot, tribal warriors wearing only a blue cloth tied around their waists and armed with spears, and the majestic Uhuru Peak, the highest peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.
A slightly overweight local police officer, wearing a black beret and a tan-khaki uniform, greeted Jack and his group.
"I'm Detective Pollino."
Detective Pollino spoke excellent English, and his manner was neither arrogant nor ingratiating. Yet, for some reason, Jack felt a strange sense of familiarity about him.
He and Jubal exchanged a glance and breathed a sigh of relief. After all, it was a good start. In such an unfamiliar place, having a local police officer with whom he could communicate smoothly and was willing to cooperate was more important than anything else.
Jubal introduced himself first, then briefly explained the identities of the people who had emerged from the two Humvees.
There were five people on this trip to Africa. Jiejie and Alice stayed in New York. When the transport plane carrying Jack and his companions left New York, the BAU team led by Hotchner had just entered the office in Long Island.
Time was tight and the task was heavy. Rossi sent Jack and his companions and also recruited the BAU team. They were responsible for comforting and questioning the families of the missing tourists. There
were 23 missing people in total, which meant there were likely more families. This work was both tedious and extremely important. Even Jiejie, no matter how capable she was, was unable to handle it all.
Although Tanzania is considered a middle-income country in Africa, its infrastructure does conform to the public's stereotype of underdeveloped areas in Africa. When people went there, not only was there no internet, but the cell phone signal was also intermittent.
Therefore, Alice was left in New York to investigate the background information of the missing persons.
Although some aspects of the local area are more advanced than those in the United States—the ticket window in Dar es Salaam, the train's departure station, even accepts electronic payment—the identities of more than half of the American tourists remain unknown because they purchased their tickets in cash.
Information about the missing persons and the identities of some of the tourists was provided by the pastor of the small town church where they had previously volunteered.
"Detectives, please follow me," Detective Pollino said after a brief greeting, waving his hand as he got straight to the point, gesturing towards a train car parked on a side track.
"My officers have checked the car and found no signs of forced entry. I also noticed that the passengers' luggage appears to have been left on board."
Jack glanced at the gray carriage, and a sense of familiarity washed over him. He had ridden this kind of train as a child, not in this world, but in a past life.
This was a typical green train car with a 3+2 seating layout, slightly different from what Jack remembered, primarily the interior color scheme. The upper windows were fixed shut, leaving only the lower windows open, which made him smile knowingly.
The interior was cleaner than Jack had expected, with no unusual odors, but a bit cluttered.
An old, standard green train car could seat 118 passengers. According to information provided by the Tanzanian side, this car was considered a private compartment, and with only the 23 American passengers, they had plenty of space.
Besides the twenty or so suitcases crammed into the overhead bins, there were also bags, briefcases, various souvenirs, and even water bottles left on the seats.
Since Detective Pollino had said he and his men had already checked everything, and didn't expect to use any modern forensic technology in such a place, everyone simply forgot to wear gloves. Clay reached directly from the luggage rack and opened it.
Passports, laptops, tablets, cameras, and even some valuables were found. Everyone opened several suitcases, frowning at the sight.
"What kind of kidnappers would abandon valuables and even leave behind passports that could prove the hostages' identities?"
Clay, a former member of the Special Forces, had participated in many overseas operations involving hostage rescue missions, and was quite familiar with similar kidnapping procedures.
"Kidnappers with a certain degree of organization? Perhaps what the conductor said is true, and the train didn't stop midway, so the limited window of opportunity didn't allow them to waste too much time?" Aubrey speculated.
"Perhaps, the benefit of taking one more hostage is indeed much greater than keeping these valuables." Jack was noncommittal.
"Or perhaps the kidnappers are experienced enough." Hannah pulled out a pile of mobile phones from under a seat, a total of 23, not one missing.
"In that case, we can't count on tracking through GPS positioning."
(End of this chapter)