"I object. This is too dangerous. Why involve Cassel? I can be a hostage. Bracken wanted to kill me before."
After hearing Jack's fantastical proposal, Frank, the father, hadn't said anything before Beckett, eager to protect her husband, jumped up.
Yeah, let you be a hostage and then let the CIA silence you? Jack rolled his eyes silently.
Of course, he couldn't just say that out loud. He had to present facts and reason. "You and Frank are both bait. We have to expose your previous relationship to each other to lure them in. Both
Denning and Cynthia are CIA agents. No matter how much evidence we gather, it'll be difficult to completely bring them down. Fortunately, we have friends in the CIA. They'll act when the time is right, but only if..." "
Only if we can establish a fait accompli. Only after we've eliminated them all will those 'friends' be willing to come forward to help clean up the mess."
Frank stated bluntly. He knew Jack had gone to Cooper last night, but he wasn't aware that Jack actually had other helpers within the CIA: Michael Weston and those behind him who were at odds with Cynthia.
But a retired agent with easy access to the CIA's secret archives didn't just know one aging archivist.
Those who labeled Frank's files "R.E.D." might not necessarily be his friends, but they certainly knew him well.
These people wouldn't necessarily help Frank in his time of trouble—after all, it's human nature to sit back and watch a tiger fight—but they also wouldn't mind doing him a favor later.
Frank, after all, was only retired, not too old to handle a gun, so his favor was still valuable.
Unfortunately, even if his own father agreed with the plan, Beckett refused to approve.
Meanwhile, Cassel had just taken advantage of the situation and slept with him, and now, even trying to stand up straight was impossible, spurred on by a glare from the female detective.
Finally, a drunken Russian couldn't stand it anymore and slammed the table, standing up, startling everyone.
Ivan grabbed Cassel and
said, "Hey, kid, let me show you something." In front of everyone present, he pulled down his collar, revealing three circular scars arranged in a triangular pattern near his right collarbone.
"This is the mark left by the love of my life," the old man said, looking at Victoria, his eyes bright.
"Oh, Ivan, don't be like this." The old woman covered her forehead with her hands and moaned softly, a blush spreading from her cheeks to her earlobes.
Ivan narrated affectionately, "Our love was a little inappropriate back then, but now she sits beside me again, drinking vodka."
Cassel was a little confused, but Anna, sitting next to Jack, immediately thought of the story Victoria had told her earlier that day.
"She shot me three times in the chest, but when I came back to life, I knew she still loved me, otherwise she would have only shot me once in the head.
This was a crazy adventure, not only for me, but for her as well, but at that time we were both willing to take risks for our love."
He hugged Cassel tightly, "If you love her, don't be afraid of loving her, young man."
Then Ivan looked at Beckett again, stretched out his hand and waved vigorously towards everyone present, "Don't worry, little girl, with us here, believe me, there is nothing we can't do."
-
"So, this is actually a plan you had thought of a long time ago?"
It was still the dark corner garden next to Cooper's house, but this time there were three cigar smokers instead of two. Cooper frowned as he looked at Castle, who was puffing his chest out and pretending to be ready to die.
"He was the one you asked me to guarantee his safety yesterday?"
"Yes, that's right." Jack, feeling a little embarrassed, forced himself to look wise and profound.
God knows he hadn't expected this to happen yesterday. He was just worried that during the operation today, due to plot inertia or other trivial things, something might go wrong and lead to old lady Victoria or Anna being captured by the CIA, so he casually gave a warning.
Not intending to dwell on the topic any further, Jack casually asked about the day's events. "Have you identified the two gunmen we killed outside Alexander Denning's villa today?"
"Huh?" Cooper paused, thinking for a moment before answering. "Cynthia won't let me investigate further, but I suspect they might be men sent by Bracken to monitor or even kill Denning.
Both are retired soldiers with years of experience as professional assassins, matching the profiles of the assassins Bracken personally hired."
"So, they're not all on the same page," Jack's eyes lit up, feeling that this made some things more plausible.
Bracken, the "master of silencing," not only wanted to eliminate Frank and Marvin, but also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to eliminate Denning. Only then could his actions in Guatemala be completely covered up.
"Bracken has a fundraising dinner in Chicago tomorrow. You need to find a reason for Cynthia to arrange you into the security team protecting Bracken.
As for the relationship between Cassel, Frank and Beckett, you also need a source that can stand up to scrutiny to avoid arousing their suspicion."
Listening to Jack's arrangements, Cooper couldn't help but frowned, "I remember that I didn't seem to promise to help you."
Seeing the two people opposite him were stunned, a little sense of revenge surged in his heart, and Cooper smiled, "Someone emphasized in front of me last night that he is a good person and will not threaten me with my family.
So the question is, why should I help you?"
Although he knew that the kid was joking, Jack still snorted coldly and pretended to be unhappy, "Then what do you want?"
"Fight me again after this is over, in the boxing ring." Cooper subconsciously touched his right hand that had been unbandaged.
Jack almost couldn't hold back his laughter. This guy was the first to offer a deal and invite a fight. "It's a deal!"
"It's a deal!"
—
"This doesn't make any sense. Why did they go looking for Browning Orvis (Alexander Denning)? Why were two unidentified snipers killed outside his villa?
And what did they learn from Browning Orvis? Why did Frank just threaten to kill Councillor Bracken?"
Ignoring Cynthia's grim expression, Cooper stormed into her office early in the morning and silenced her with a barrage of questions.
(End of Chapter)