American Detective: Starting as a Rookie Cop in an American TV Show

Chapter 1476 Taking the Initiative (Part 2)

Jealousy is a universal phenomenon, and Jack had originally planned to discuss topics like washboards at the dinner table.

Although this thing is not commonly seen in the United States now, if we trace its origins, whether it is a wooden washboard with a wavy pattern or a modern washboard with a wavy metal plate inlaid in a wooden frame, it first appeared in Europe and America.

The original information for the latter can still be found in the archives of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

But considering that he was probably the most vulnerable of the men present to being attacked by the mob, Jack ultimately chose to keep quiet.

More than a week has passed since the last confession session, and everyone has been doing their own job, investigating intelligence related to the "machine" project.

Those who have already come to the public's attention include Reese's former superior in the CIA operations team, Mark Snow; Hersh, a suspected NSA agent; and a special prosecutor named Bolton.

This prosecutor was the same guy who sounded like he was giving orders when Fusco wiretapped Hersh's phone.

Fusco's earlier judgment was wrong. Hersh was not an NSA agent, but belonged to a department under the Pentagon called the "Intelligence Support Operations Office".

The "Machine" project had many code names used for cover, one of which was "Project Northern Lights." The "Intelligence Support Operations Office" was the secret department that initially led the project.

The nominal head of the "Intelligence Support Operations Division" is Special Prosecutor Bolton.

It is said that after the "Aurora Project" ended, this secret department successfully established a project called "Explorer," which provided a considerable amount of valuable counterterrorism intelligence to various intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI.

The Intelligence Support Operations Division claimed to other intelligence agencies that Project Explorer was a secret intelligence analysis division that was built upon years of experience and integrated from the many mathematicians and intelligence analysis teams within the NSA.

With the support of the CIA, they established dozens of specialized task forces around the world, which are essentially "assassination squads" that are dedicated to eliminating targets that pose a threat to the federal government under the guise of eliminating "terrorist threats."

It is now almost certain that this so-called "Explorer" project is actually just a cover for "the machine".

"This project has been going on for several years, and to be honest, some reports show that it has been very effective. The 'machine' has never made a mistake in its judgment, and the congressmen are very satisfied with it."

"Wait a minute, I remember Mark Snow was Reese's superior in the CIA, wasn't he? How did he get involved with the 'machine'?"

Detective "DouDou" may look a bit simple-minded with his strong build, but he often has moments of brilliance.

Jack glanced at Lancelot and noticed that his expression had changed when Jack mentioned "Project Aurora," while Finch, sitting opposite him, had an inscrutable look in his eyes, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

When Finch recruited Reese, he didn't just screen people on the "dark web" and randomly pick a seemingly capable former CIA agent to "save" the world.

Just then, Rither finished eating. He put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth with the napkin on his plate, placed his hands on the table, and sat upright, looking at Finch, who dared not meet his gaze.

"When I was on my last mission, Mark Snow sent my partner and me to Afghanistan to retrieve a laptop."

Finch remained silent, head bowed, as if the few green peas stir-fried with shrimp on his plate looked particularly handsome today.

Reese continued, "Alicia Cowen (the NSA officer who died at Root's hands), although I didn't know her name at the time, she was standing next to Mark Snow as an intelligence officer."

When discussing the mission objective, to emphasize its importance, she mentioned that the laptop we needed to retrieve contained an extremely dangerous computer virus related to the highly classified 'Aurora Project.'

So everyone's eyes turned to Finch, and even Root, who now seemed to have "recovered," unconsciously curled the corners of his mouth, revealing a sly smile that hadn't been seen for a while, looking like he was watching a good show.

“I still owe you an explanation and an apology, Mr. Riser,” Finch finally raised his head and said slowly.

"That laptop is indeed related to me, but I cannot disclose the specific reasons at this time. Moreover, I had no way of knowing about it at the time and could not have predicted the consequences."

Now all I can say is that although I never intended to hurt anyone at the time, I should have anticipated that someone might be harmed as a result.

As he spoke, he glanced gratefully at Jack, then looked at the figure in the yard—Jessica, who had gone to play with "Little Bear" in the yard because she didn't want to participate in this confidential conversation.

"I've been secretly relieved that this incident didn't lead to any irreversible tragedy in your life."

Although Finch's explanation was somewhat vague, everyone present roughly understood what had happened.

Reese's last mission nearly killed him, and although he escaped by chance, he was injured and worried about being hunted down. He traveled to many places around the world and it took him almost a year to return home, which also caused him to miss the opportunity to save his lover Jessica.

If Jack and Jenny hadn't impulsively decided to spend some time alone and driven back to New York from Miami, accidentally saving Jessica, then from a purely causal perspective, Finch would have indirectly changed Reese's entire life.

Of course, Riser originally didn't intend to question him at all. The time they spent together was enough for him to recognize the man's character. Even though Finch had his own unspeakable difficulties, he still chose to believe him.

Risser also looked at Jessica's figure in the courtyard, his expression slightly moved. "My life changed many years ago when I remained silent in front of her at the terminal (Chapter 1298). You have nothing to do with this."

Jessica can testify that in the initial days after we reunited, I woke up countless times from nightmares, making sure she was lying safely beside me.

The old man, who usually showed little emotion, looked at Jack with slightly reddened eyes. "I dreamt that I had lost her forever, and was living alone in this world like a walking corpse."

Jack "."

Who am I? Where am I? It feels terrifying to be gazed at so affectionately by a middle-aged man. Who can save me?

"Cough!" Gen coughed loudly, interrupting the scene that also gave her goosebumps.

"I thought we were discussing how to deal with the crisis and help the 'machines' gain freedom."

She paused, glancing at Jack. "Well, I mean, since countless malicious hands are reaching for the 'machine,' trying to seize control of it, what is our response?" "There is no response, Ms. Root." Finch glanced at Root, seemingly only reverting to her previous obsessive self when discussing the "machine."

"The 'machine' is currently safe. Whether it's the NSA or the secret intelligence agency Jack mentioned, their goal is to maintain the stability of the counterterrorism intelligence network and eliminate all possible threats."

Any rash action will attract unnecessary attention, and that is the real threat to the 'machine'.

Gen immediately retorted, "Yes, so Mr. 'Pretentious' and Mr. 'Suit Man' won't attract attention by dedicating themselves to saving 'irrelevant numbers' every day, right?"

What would be the reaction of those secret agencies if they discovered that you used backdoor access to obtain 'irrelevant numbers' from 'machines'?
You think hiding in some old library will keep you safe? You'd probably blow that secret FBI base to smithereens too.

Although Root's tone was somewhat sarcastic, there was really nothing wrong with what she said this time, and everyone felt that Finch's attitude was a bit strange.

Only Jack could vaguely guess that Finch was so "calm" because he had prepared a backup plan long ago, but judging from his current attitude, he obviously did not want to reveal his hand in advance.

Jack knew perfectly well that despite Finch's outwardly composed demeanor, he knew the guy was waiting for the right opportunity.

The first satellite under the Shangri-La Group has been launched into space. Although it has been done in a very low-key manner without any publicity, the news has already spread throughout the financial circle.

Countless people lamented how terrifyingly high the stock price would have soared, like a satellite reaching the sky, if this were a publicly listed company.

Finch has been transferring assets to "Shangri-La" in a very covert manner, such as purchasing corporate bonds from "Shangri-La" through multiple fund trust institutions, exchanging cross-shareholdings, or even acquiring high-quality corporate assets at low prices.

According to Chris's estimate, the total amount of these funds exceeded $40 billion, and according to their private agreement, the vast majority of this $40 billion was used to build new data centers and launch the three geostationary orbit satellites.

Needless to say, this is Finch preparing a new home for the "machine" baby.

Jack didn't know exactly what he planned to do, but since Finch said he wanted to wait and see, there was no reason for him to object at this time.

Of course, it's unrealistic to do nothing and just wait, as Finch suggested, since Jack already has a long list of dead.

Besides NSA officials Alicia Cowen and former CIA deputy director Denton Weeks, who died at Root's hands, dozens of other names, including a nuclear power plant engineer named Daniel Aquino, are believed to be linked to "Project Aurora Borealis".

Although federal secret intelligence agencies, including the CIA, have always been ruthless and killing to silence witnesses is commonplace, as seen in Reese's past experience.

However, in most cases, things don't need to be done so extremely. For example, the top mathematicians and analysts involved in the NSA's series of surveillance programs were themselves kept in a highly confidential state.

When a secret project is exposed, the questioning will fall on the Federal Congress, the President, or a department head who is pulled out to take the blame.

Take, for example, Jack's infamous "PRISM program" in his previous life. Although the government authorities were severely criticized, no government officials involved in the program faced criminal prosecution.

The necessary reviews and questions should be conducted, and in the end, everyone will be happy. It's all for the sake of national security. We were forced to cross the line a little, so how can we let this discourage the "righteous people"?

To this end, Jack specifically consulted with several of his "professionals," and the conclusion was that someone had indeed appropriated the "machine" project to some extent.

This person may not be a specific individual, but a group of people or an interest group.

This aligns with their current investigation; the "machine" itself was disguised as a comprehensive secret intelligence analysis department, which is what the "Intelligence Support Operations Office" publicly calls the "Explorer."

Almost everyone who had ever come into contact with the "machine," including but not limited to the team of engineers and related personnel who disassembled and transported the server to a secret location, built that secret location, and reconfigured the server, was wiped out.

Even though most of them probably have no idea what they did.

Rossi and Zoe were surprisingly in agreement: a group of scheming individuals were using the "machine" to gain personal credit and political achievements.

Denton Weeks, the former deputy director of the CIA, was one of them. Finch once said that he had people try to hack into and control the "machine" as early as when it was completed, before it was handed over.

They even suspected that this Denton Weeks might be a member of "Desima".

One of Jack's fathers-in-law, Harry Tasker (Arnold), who is equally muscular and intelligent, now leads the "Omega" division, which has been secretly investigating "Desima," a private intelligence organization disguised as a technology company.

Although Greer, the leader of "Desima," was accidentally caught up in the "nuclear crisis" and was shot dead by Jack while trying to trade "red mercury nuclear bombs" with Dr. Edward Bailey (Chapter 1340), the secret organization did not disappear.

The Intelligence Support Operations Unit was likely infiltrated by Desima long ago, and veteran MI6 agent Greer exploited the personal desires of some of its members to create the current situation.

Thinking of this, Jack gave Finch a deep look, then gestured to Root to calm down. "We'll discuss the issue of freeing the 'machines' later, depending on the situation, but right now there is an urgent crisis that needs to be addressed."

Waiting for the enemy to come to us is never the best strategy. Now that we have some information, we might as well launch a proper attack.

"First, there's Reese's former boss, Mark Snow, who's been missing for almost a month."

Faced with everyone's gaze fixed on him, Risser shrugged helplessly. "I didn't do it. I swear it has nothing to do with me."

"In any case, I hope you will pay attention to your former boss; he is clearly after you."

Jack continued, "Then there's the suspected head of the 'Intelligence Support Operations Unit,' Special Prosecutor Bolton. We need an undercover agent to infiltrate his inner circle, Ms. Root. What do you think?"

Gen, who was singled out, seemed somewhat surprised. "Are you sure?"

(End of this chapter)