A large pot of fragrant egg fried rice was brought to the table, and Jack divided some into a stainless steel basin.
With the command "eat" in Dutch, the dog "Little Bear", who had been waiting eagerly with drooling mouth, didn't mind the heat and couldn't wait to eat with his cheeks shaking, and the rice grains were scattered all over the floor.
"Shouldn't we buy him some dog food?" Finch looked at the golden fried rice in his bowl and made a weak suggestion.
"Jiejie and Hannah have already fed him. This is considered as afternoon tea for 'Little Bear'." Jack smiled and touched the dog's head.
The few people who returned to the small building of the base had missed the meal time, and Jack didn't feel like making a big meal. He cracked a few eggs, fried egg fried rice with the leftover rice in the refrigerator, and dug out a piece of leftover barbecue from the freezer. He simply heated it up and poured some sauce on it as a dish.
Reese wasn't as particular as Finch. Although he'd been busy trying to find someone to rescue someone, he'd been exercising constantly, and he was already starving. He ate as fast as Little Bear under the table.
Gen, still bound in his restraints, looked as limp as a frost-bitten eggplant.
Jiejie fed her with a spoon. She opened her mouth when the food reached her, then mechanically chewed a few times before swallowing. Her eyes darted maliciously at the faces of the people in front of her, as if she wanted to memorize every face.
After a rather unpleasant lunch, Jack quickly cleared the table and gathered everyone in the living room, a more suitable place for conversation.
Everyone's cell phone was collected, turned off, and then Aubrey placed them in a metal box in the center of the table.
Alice appeared at the staircase leading to the basement garage and said to Jack, "The servers downstairs are down, and the backup power supply is offline. Shall we turn off the main breaker now?"
Seeing Jack nod slightly, Alice gestured downwards. With a humming sound, the room was flooded with only the natural light streaming in from the windows.
Clay, who was in charge of turning off the main power breaker, came upstairs carrying a box. Inside, he opened it and found neatly arranged candles.
As the thick curtains were drawn and the tiny candles lit up one by one, Aubrey said rather dismally, "Drawing a pentagram on the table makes it look more like a cult ritual."
Everyone glanced at Gen, bound in a restraint suit. It really did feel like putting him on the long table.
However, the whole commotion wasn't really about him. Seeing everyone's eyes turn to him after they took their seats, Finch, who had been pinned to the main seat by Jack, shifted uncomfortably and looked pitifully at Reese.
Unfortunately, Reese simply avoided his pleading glance and said expressionlessly, "I'd give you the sodium thiopental straight away, but Jack says you'll cooperate this time and tell the truth."
Unlike Finch, who wore a scowl, Gen, upon seeing the crowd's attitude, regained some of his despair, even his eyes brightening.
Seeing someone still trying to "defy the odds," Jack coughed softly and made an opening statement.
"Harold, um, excuse me, or perhaps we should respectfully address you as Mr. Finch.
Humanity's moral exemplar, a living saint, the almighty creator, the architect of humanity's bright future, the protector of anxious and helpless little lambs, the great savior."
The cadence of the aria and the forced heaping of flowery rhetoric gave Finch goosebumps, and he fidgeted uncomfortably as if a thorn had grown under his butt.
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"Jack, I just wanted to know Ms. Gen's true intentions, and I finally activated the locator just in time."
Jack slammed the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol Gen had used onto the table. He expertly unloaded the magazine and ejected the golden bullets one by one. "
I don't want to say that a bad guy's life is life too. Denton Weeks's death may be his own fault, but considering we were already involved in this, shouldn't you have sent out a distress signal sooner?
You may think Reese and I are invincible, but this is a train station. The five bullets left in this magazine could mean an innocent life."
Jack's tone was a little harsh, but intentional. He was
genuinely angry. No matter what Finch's intentions, he should have activated his locator the moment he was kidnapped by Gen,
instead of waiting until someone died and realized the situation was beyond his expectations before resorting to such a tactic.
In fact, it wasn't just Jack; even Reese, who had spent more time with Finch and had built a considerable trust, was a little annoyed by this.
As the saying goes, "I look to the moon, but it shines only in the ditch." While Finch is a wealthy and compassionate man, hiring people out of his own pocket and even personally saving the lives of strangers,
Reese isn't really in this mess just for the money. After all, with his skills, a single bust at any drug den would provide for him and Jessica's retirement.
Moreover, compared to a truly broke NYPD detective with a mortgage, Finch's salary is several times higher than Detective "Beans"'s part-time salary.
However, Reese, aside from the small sum he keeps to cover his and Jessica's living expenses, donates most of it to various charities.
In other words, while Finch is Reese's employer in name only, the two are more of a partner, a partnership, and, of course, friends.
And as for Jack, the uninvited intruder, there's also the Wanted Squad and the NYPD, all of whom are also aware of this.
Everyone had provided selfless help to the "POI" duo in some of their previous actions, for no other reason than that they agreed with Finch's ideas.
But with the exception of Jack, who had the help of memories from his past life, almost everyone knew nothing about the specific details of the "machine." Finch kept this secret secret.
Reese had been furious with the so-called "emergency plan" arranged by Finch. It turned out that as the only contact person for the "machine," the backup plan he had prepared after the incident was not to rescue him, but to directly make Reese the "successor to the business."
"My fault." After hesitating for a while, Finch leaned back in his chair dejectedly. "I watched Denton Weeks being tortured by Ms. Root until he was finally shot. I did have some dark thoughts hidden in my heart."
Jack felt relieved that he had just spoken. He didn't expect Finch to tell him everything, but at least he could say something to repair the trust between them.
(End of this chapter)