The only unlocked item at the scene was a child's phone. Hannah flipped through it and found a bunch of playful selfies in the album.
"This should belong to Nicholas, the youngest of the 23 missing. He's only seven years old, the son of single mother Rebecca. The local town priest was deeply impressed by him."
"This mother is truly courageous, bringing her child all the way from the United States to Africa," Aubrey exclaimed.
Clay's assessment was even more pointed, "It's irresponsible, really."
Ever since the Most Wanted team agreed to the International Division's mission several months ago, all members have been receiving various vaccinations, including but not limited to various types of hepatitis, yellow fever, measles-mumps-rubella, meningitis, and more.
Even so, they received a cholera shot before boarding the plane and prepared a host of effective anti-malarial drugs, including artemisinin, quinine, mefloquine, artemether, and primaquine, as well as other commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs and a large amount of mosquito repellent.
Africa is said to be one of the birthplaces of humanity, but it's also home to a wide range of deadly bacteria and viruses.
Over 4.6 million children under the age of five die here each year. Besides the well-known malnutrition caused by hunger, infectious diseases are also a major cause.
It's unclear whether Rebecca, the single mother, had vaccinated her son before the trip, but even with preparation, malaria is unpreventable.
Currently, there's only one malaria vaccine for children, but it's only partially effective.
Even today, a child dies every minute in this region from a high fever or other complications caused by malaria.
Furthermore, the child is likely now a hostage. Considering the high child mortality rate in kidnappings and the fact that the incident has been over 36 hours, everyone's expressions darken.
"They're traveling with the church, so they can be considered a large family. Maybe that's a little better," Hannah muttered, somewhat self-consolingly.
"That's the problem. I'm afraid they trust their own gods more than science and medicine."
Jack sighed and said nothing more. Those American churches are just like that. Those who understand, understand.
In that free land, anyone, human or demon, can register a small church and become its own leader. The size of the church can range from a few members to tens of thousands, with almost no restrictions.
Generally speaking, as long as they don't do anything harmful or resort to mass suicide, no one will care about these isolated groups. Even so, there are over 1,000 sects designated as cults in the United States.
The number of cults on the FBI's suspect list exceeds 5,000. These cults all follow a similar model in their early stages, presenting themselves as harmless charitable organizations.
Just sorting out the missing persons' belongings would take considerable time. They first collected all the electronics at the scene and packed them up. Someone would then ship them to New York as quickly as possible.
Although Rossi only gave them 24 hours, they still had to proceed step by step.
This 24-hour deadline doesn't mean Jack and his team must leave after that time, but rather the time it takes for the authorities to issue a public statement.
In theory, Tanzania is considered a remarkably stable region in Africa. In fact, in some ways,
it's far more secure than South Africa, where ethnic tensions are rife. However, small local armed groups still exist. To the northeast of Tanzania, Somalia lies separated only by the small, chaotic nation of Kenya, while to the west lies the war-torn Congo.
As soon as the disappearance of 23 Americans in Africa makes world news, it's almost certain that numerous factions, large and small, will emerge and intervene. Simply sorting out those who claim responsibility and use the incident to demand ransom will require a tremendous amount of effort.
This situation won't just be a matter for the FBI; intelligence agencies like the CIA will undoubtedly be involved, and the cost of this would likely more than cover the cost of buying several brand-new Bombardier business jets.
Jack walked to the end of the train and pulled the aisle door, only to find it wouldn't open. He turned to the black detective who had been observing them with interest since they boarded the train.
"Detective Pollino, did you lock this door, or has it always been like this?"
The locks on these aisle doors, though simple, were deliberately clunky and bulky, typically requiring a special key.
A quick inspection revealed signs of tampering, not to open the door, but to damage the lock cylinder, preventing it from being opened from the other end.
"Perhaps you should talk to the train conductor who alerted the police after discovering the incident. The devout believer who kept muttering 'ascension' has been very cooperative.
But the help he can offer is limited to gibberish. I hope you can extract more useful information."
Jack felt overwhelmed at this. Believers were the most troublesome, so he turned directly to Jubal, the only one among the group who attended church weekly.
Jubal knew the character of his men and took on the task without hesitation.
Jack continued to talk to the black officer, "I'd like to speak with the search and rescue team you've organized."
"They should be arriving soon," Detective Pollino checked the time on his Swiss Plum watch. "Also, I've dispatched officers to search the route, but there's been no news yet.
Our main purpose in asking for your help is to narrow the search area as much as possible."
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Thirty-six hours had passed, and not even a search and rescue team had been organized. It seemed that in terms of laxity, the French were only second.
Jack had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and continue to ask the detective about the situation.
Detective Pollino seemed quite pleased with the FBI agents' work ethic, and as his cooperation improved, he began to speak more.
"This train was originally an overnight train, supposed to depart at 8 PM and arrive in Arusha the next morning. However, due to delays, it stopped in the town at 2 AM. The tourists boarded, and the train then made no further stops." "
Six hours late?" Aubrey, who was helping with packing, looked up in surprise.
"Well, it wasn't like that twenty years ago. Back then, railway workers were rigorously trained, and no one dared to steal the cables connecting the signal lights."
Detective Pollino's eyes grew strange, a mixture of pride and embarrassment. Everyone else was confused, but Jack seemed to understand what he was talking about.
Tanzania is renowned in Africa for its tourism industry, with one-third of its land area designated as national parks, game reserves, and forest reserves. While the country is also rich in mineral resources, it pales in comparison to its neighbors.
Southwest of Tanzania lies Zambia. Beneath its 750,000 square kilometers lies 2.8% of the world's copper reserves.
This vast copper belt stretches 220 kilometers long and 65 kilometers wide, with 150 discovered deposits alone and numerous other mineralized locations awaiting further exploration.
However, Zambia is landlocked, and South Africa, to its south, was still a de facto white nation at the time. Therefore, Zambia was forced to seek a sea outlet for its copper resources northeastward.
Thus, the renowned Tanzania-Zambia Railway was born. Although the East African Republic was impoverished at the time, despite its isolation in international politics, it gritted its teeth and aided the construction of this 1,860-kilometer railway.
However, the East African Republic overestimated the operational capabilities of its African partners, and the railway suffered losses from the very beginning. At its peak, its designed annual capacity of 2 million tons only saw 1.27 million tons, ultimately falling to just 600,000 to 700,000 tons.
After the apprentices, hand-in-hand with the experts from the University of Tokyo, retired one after another, the railway became increasingly prone to accidents, entering a vicious cycle.
While the railway Jack and his crew were currently on wasn't the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, the situation was the same: a lack of education led to a talent shortage, and without talent, there was nothing.
Garcia had previously spent hours communicating simply to count the number of missing persons following a single incident. Rossi explained this by citing the locals' insensitivity to numbers, a testament to this.
From these signs, Jack had already sensed the implausibility of relying on large-scale searches along the route to locate the missing persons; he needed a different approach.
"So, are there any armed groups or similar forces along the railway?" Jack didn't bother to beat around the bush. Some things were ingrained and could only be adapted to. Fortunately, the black police officer before him was surprisingly cooperative.
"There are some legendary figures around here, but they only commit petty thefts targeting tourists, claiming to rob the rich and give to the poor. Kidnappings and the like have never happened,"
Detective Pollino muttered a few words in Swahili, not wanting Jack to understand. It was nothing more than a bunch of cowards.
(End of chapter)