Jack noticed dried blood on the girl's palms and knees.
Despite his experience with numerous cases, he still found it hard to imagine the tragic experience of a ten-year-old girl happily returning home only to find her mother lying in a pool of blood.
"Is this your fort, soldier? Did you build it yourself?" Jack knelt before the girl, trying to act like a kind, older brother.
The girl's wariness finally faded, and she responded, "My dad built it for me. Have you found him yet?"
Jack pretended to check the time. Their arrival was in vain, and NCIS was still busy searching for survivors and salvaging data servers in the half-collapsed building.
In other words, they couldn't provide any help at the moment.
Normally, if the Most Wanted team contacted the state police or local police directly, things would have been much simpler.
At least they wouldn't have been in the dark, as they had been when they arrived from New York, having gained no useful information beyond the crime scene address.
Fortunately, it was only a brief moment of wasted time. As soon as they got off the plane, Alice headed straight to the local police station.
In fact, not to mention the FBI, even the local state and town police were bewildered. They'd clearly stated that NCIS would take over the case because of the suspected Marine and his family, but now it was the FBI.
After a round of reconfirmation of jurisdiction, Alice finally settled into a conference room at the police station just as Jack and Jubal finished questioning the neighbors.
"Don't worry, we'll get you to him soon." Jack still hadn't figured out which branch or unit the girl's father, Lieutenant Commander Barnes, belonged to.
But he didn't want to lie to a ten-year-old, so he resorted to a more euphemistic approach.
This little girl, Rachel, was much smarter and more mature than Jack had imagined. The light that had just brightened in her eyes dimmed again at this.
"Please don't let me leave here," the little girl pleaded softly. "I'll be safe hiding here. Even if they come back, they can't hurt me."
"Who are 'them'? Rachel," Jubal asked hurriedly, his face darkening.
"Those bad guys who wanted to kill my dad." The little girl's innocent eyes were filled with fear.
--In
the small town police station's conference room, Clay and Hannah arrived late.
"The victim, Valerie Barnes, is a clinical psychologist at a counseling center in Richmond. She's kind of a colleague of you and Jack."
Hannah took the water Jiejie handed her and, without even a thank you, downed the bottle in a few gulps.
"After Clay and I asked around the neighbors, we went to her workplace and talked to her colleagues.
Valerie's colleagues said she was a nice person, and no one, including her patients, had had any problems with her recently."
"I'm here to contact the judge. I need to get all of her medical records," Jubal volunteered.
"Where is her husband, Commander Barnes? Has the Navy declassified the files?" Jack looked at Alice who was busy with her work with her head down.
They waited until the child welfare department arrived and took the little girl, Rachel, away before leaving. Alice's work was still not going smoothly; the Navy hadn't synchronized the data.
Without looking up, Alice replied, "Just received the information. Ryan Barnes is a Navy SEAL commander. More information will take time to synchronize.
He's currently undergoing survival training with a counter-terrorism team. I've notified him, and he should be here tonight."
She used the word "SEAL," implying that Commander Barnes was a SEAL in the traditional sense, belonging to the Naval Special Warfare Group, not Clay's former SEAL Team Six.
Clay's face showed no surprise; only special forces members' identities would require such a long delay before being declassified.
The printer squeaked out a few sheets of A4 paper. Aubrey picked them up and quickly flipped through them, his expression a bit odd. "Another highly decorated commander, who successfully completed nearly 20 missions during his time as a SEAL."
"Put aside those offensive thoughts," Clay glared at the boy dangerously. "Not every SEAL is a murderer. Our guns are always pointed at the enemy."
"That's not what I meant. I respect all soldiers who serve their country." What truly intimidated Aubrey wasn't Clay's fierce glare, but his muscular arms, veins bulging.
Three of the seven members of the team were women, and Jubal was the commander and older. Therefore, during training, Jack and Aubrey were the only two true rivals for Clay.
In this instance, Aubrey was on equal footing with Jack. After all, one was unbeatable, and the other was also unbeatable.
Naturally, he took the most punches from Clay, even though they were both wearing protective gear.
It's just that the first case they'd handled for NCIS not long ago involved a retired Navy SEAL. It's no wonder Aubrey's expression was so strange.
Jubal thought of another possibility. "Could the killer's real target be Lieutenant Colonel Barnes? Did he kill his wife simply to vent his anger?"
Everyone immediately thought of the little girl's words. Jack inquired further, but unfortunately, one couldn't expect a ten-year-old to know too much.
Rachel told the FBI that she'd learned from her parents' conversation that her father had recently received some kind of threat regarding his "work," and her mother had been deeply concerned.
Jack looked at Clay, who frowned and remained silent, also unsure. "Given the method of murder, it's unlikely, but it can't be ruled out."
"I'll go prepare a safe house right away," Clay agreed.
"I think your theory makes sense," Alice suddenly said.
"While I was waiting for NCIS to sync the files, I looked up Ryan Barnes' name online and easily found his identity as a Navy SEAL."
"That's impossible! Whether it's SEAL Team 6 or just regular SEALs, the identities of every member are strictly confidential." Clay quickly walked behind Alice and looked at the computer screen in front of her.
(End of this chapter)