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

Chapter 1483 My Ex-Girlfriend's "Love" (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
By the time the FBI arrived at 780 Moser Street, NYPD officers had already evacuated most of the building and were waiting for the bomb squad to arrive so they could begin a floor-by-floor search.

The 21st floor of the building is a Level 5 Department of Defense facility. The computer virus laboratory here once created the "Stuxnet" virus, which was used to silently sabotage the centrifuges used in the "Persian Cat" nuclear program.

However, thanks to the previous president, the efficient operation of the Department of Efficiency in the past few years eliminated some "useless budgets" while also cutting off funding for some projects that were actually secret projects that were not to be known, under the guise of scientific research such as "studying the difference in the croaking of frogs in cities and rural areas".

Although there is a shortage of researchers and development projects have stalled, a large number of cyber virus weapons are still stored here; a 20TB hard drive is enough to pack all of these viruses together.

As Finch, who arrived to meet with the FBI agents, said, "If these viruses fall into the right hands, they could be used to shut down power grids around the world, paralyze communications, and even affect flight takeoffs and landings."

But Jack had a different opinion. He pulled Finch aside and looked at him seriously. "Are you sure Kara Stanton is after those cyber viruses?"

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, Jack.” Finch looked bewildered, but unfortunately his acting skills were as poor as his athletic ability. Not to mention compared to Root, even Detective “Bean” could easily beat him in this aspect.

Jack shoved Finch into the Saabban they had driven there without any ceremony, signaled the others to stand guard outside, turned around, closed the door, and stared at the guy with a serious expression.

"Whether it's a bomb vest or a cyber virus, no matter which one it is involved in, unless the 'machine' doesn't detect anything beforehand and the other party evades its detection, the 'related number' will be sent to the NSA and then passed on to the so-called 'Intelligence Support Operations Division'."

But now we're receiving Reese's message from an 'unrelated number,' don't you find that interesting?"

Finch was somewhat frightened by Jack's "fierce" glare and subconsciously swallowed. "Jack, I don't think now is the right time to discuss this."

"No, the timing is perfect. Why would Kara Stanton prepare a hard drive with a special interface in advance? If she was targeting some kind of virus, wouldn't it be more convenient to just remove the hard drive and leave?"

She used Reese and Mark Snow to break in there, not to take anything out, right? Quite the opposite, she wanted to put something in—let me guess, something related to what was on your old laptop.”

Jack's words made Finch's face turn pale and then red, and after a while he reluctantly nodded, "Perhaps you are right, Jack, but right now our most important thing is to save Mr. Reese."

Okay, I admit that after Nathan died, I knew perfectly well that the 'machine' had been entrusted to the wrong person, so I leaked some virus code specifically targeting it, which was on that laptop.

Seeing his awkward expression, Jack sighed. It was already quite an achievement to push Finch to this point. If the whole thing could be considered a puzzle, there weren't many pieces left now.

"So, apart from Rither's life being in danger, everything is going according to plan, right?"

To his surprise, Finch shook his head repeatedly. "No, you misunderstand, Jack. There's no plan. I just scattered enough bait into the sea. As for whether it will be an ordinary tuna, a giant whale, or a Kraken that eventually surfaces, I have no way of knowing."

The Kraken is a giant sea monster in Norse mythology, larger than a whale.

Jack vaguely remembered that the so-called virus code released by Finch was the key to whether the "machine" could eventually regain its freedom.

The 21st floor of the building is not only a computer virus research and development laboratory, but also a cyber warfare center, which means that it is connected to the main network communication backbone node in the New York area.

Uploading a virus here is like injecting toxins directly into a person's main blood vessels, bypassing most barriers and reaching the heart at the fastest speed.

This would be absolutely "fatal" to the "machine" with the highest network privileges in the New York area, at least in the eyes of the person who orchestrated Reese's former partner, Kara Stanton, to cause trouble.

Jack reopened the car door and began assigning tasks to his friends who were waiting outside.

"Notify the NYPD to stop the floor-by-floor search and evacuate everyone who can be evacuated. As for the 21st floor, a highly classified defense facility, it is impossible to clear out the personnel inside just because of a so-called bomb threat."

Everyone here changed into plainclothes and dispersed to various exits of the building to monitor the situation, while also notifying NYPD officers not to stop anyone coming out of the building.

Hannah went to set up sniper positions nearby, ensuring at least two snipers with good visibility were on standby at each exit, but firing was strictly prohibited without orders.

Just then, a heavy pickup truck painted with striking blue and white stripes, towing a huge thing that looked like a cement tank, stopped on the side of the road. Danny and Fusco jumped out of the high cab.

"This is a military-grade heavy-duty explosion-proof container specially made by the NYPD. It can easily handle the explosive equivalent of less than 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of TNT. It was also specially equipped with a Ford F450 for easy transportation."

Danny proudly introduced the big guy behind him.

The Ford F450 is probably considered top-of-the-line among pickup trucks. Although Jack's Dodge Mammoth in Los Angeles easily surpasses the former in off-road and acceleration performance, it falls far short in professional areas such as heavy load and towing.

Simply put, if the Dodge Mammoth is a "performance beast disguised as a pickup truck," then the Ford F450 is a "muscular hauler."

The former is suitable for playing, while the latter has always been a good partner for wealthy farmers who don't care about money.

"Park it downstairs and then evacuate the crowd." Jack said, then hoisted the heavy safety rope onto his shoulder, while Clay carried the equally heavy toolbox.

"Are you sure you don't need us to come along?" Fusco asked, looking uneasy.

"The elevator has stopped for safety reasons, so we'll have to take the emergency stairs." Jack dismissed someone's idea of ​​following with just one sentence.

In his previous life, Jack played a game called "Real Men Climb 100 Floors." The safety rope he was carrying was a static rope used in fire fighting and industry, and its weight was about 10 kilograms for a hundred meters.

In addition, the two also carried equipment just in case, including bulletproof vests, an MDX508 short-barreled assault rifle, and some other miscellaneous items. The total weight they carried was only slightly lighter than that of a PLA fully equipped off-road vehicle.

Among the group, only Clay, who was born a seal, could barely keep up with Jack's speed, but even he felt a bit weak in the legs when they reached the 21st floor.

As expected, after the two arrived at this special floor, they were met with a specially designed security door, which was now wide open.

Jack opened the door and looked at the lock, noticing it looked like it had been forcibly broken from the outside. He exchanged a puzzled look with Clay.

According to a previous report from NYPD officers, after the bomb threat alarm sounded in the building, they began an emergency evacuation of residents as planned. Two ATF agents were indeed present at the time. However, the two took the elevator directly, meaning the security door was breached from the outside. This can only mean one thing: a third person broke in, and it's highly likely that it was Kara Stanton herself.

There is more than one emergency exit in the building. Jack and Clay chose the one closest to the elevator. As soon as they entered, they saw two corpses lying on the floor.

The bodies were all bound hand and foot, with tape over their mouths, and bullets in their foreheads, looking like they died with their eyes open. Judging from their clothes, they were probably security personnel responsible for this place.

“They retreated from the Delta.” Clay pulled open the collar of one of the men’s shirts and glanced at the tattoos, a hint of pity flashing in his eyes.

“It wasn’t Rither who did it.” Jack knew what he was thinking and explained in a low voice, “I mean, the people who subdued them might have been Rither and Snow, but since they were handcuffed, there was no need to finish them off, right? The one who did it must have been the guy who came in through the security door.”

Clay's expression softened a little. He and Reese were both former special forces soldiers. Although they weren't particularly close, they did have some mutual respect for each other.

If Reese kills innocent people here, even if it's forced upon him, it means that all their friendship is over and they will no longer be on the same side.

In comparison, Jack understands someone better than Clay. "Riser might just want to figure out what his former partner is up to, otherwise even strapping a bomb vest to him wouldn't help."

Furthermore, even if he were tied to Jessica, he would not be coerced into harming innocent people.

As if to confirm his judgment, just as the two finished examining the body and stood up, a researcher in a white coat rushed out from the corridor next door in a panic.

"Stand still and don't move."

As soon as Jack finished speaking, the other person slammed on the brakes and stopped in place, obediently raising their hands, "Don't kill me, I'm willing to cooperate."

This guy seemed pretty familiar with things. Jack first pointed to the letters on his bulletproof vest to identify himself, "FBI, what exactly happened here?"

"Someone broke into the sensitive information isolation server room. Two men wearing bomb vests, one of whom tried to download the virus inside, and the other deliberately triggered the protection function, directly wiping all the hard drives."

Although neither Jack nor Clay pointed their guns at him, the researcher still didn't dare to lower his raised hands.

"What's in there?" Clay asked quickly.

"Various computer viruses, military-grade attack software, the kind that could paralyze the entire Internet if leaked, but that tall man in a suit stopped it all and even got into a fight with another person."

Hearing this answer eased Clay's expression slightly, and he quickly followed up, "And then? Where did they go?"

“I don’t know, maybe it was the backup elevator. Then a woman came and forced me to open the network monitoring room. She uploaded something there, maybe some kind of virus, but I’m not sure what it was.”

The researcher seemed to have finally confirmed that the two people in FBI gear were not hostile to him, so he lowered his raised hands and pointed to the elevator behind them.

"May I leave here first? Although I may lose my job, I still want to live. That woman activated the bombs on them before she left."

"The elevator still works?" Clay asked in surprise.

"I just activated the backup power; all I need to do is enter the password." The researcher said, carefully walking around the corpse on the ground, running to the elevator door and frantically pressing the buttons. Sure enough, the elevator door opened successfully.

"Where is the backup elevator?" Jack asked hurriedly before he entered the elevator. "And where is the passageway to the roof?"

"Just turn left along the corridor, and then turn right at the end; it's all in the same direction."

Before the elevator doors closed, the researcher kindly called out, "You don't have much time. I heard the shorter man mention something about a safe house; if you go there, you can figure out how to defuse the bomb, but the taller man said there's not enough time."

The researcher's voice disappeared behind the closed elevator doors. Jack and Clay exchanged a glance, then grabbed their respective equipment and rushed into the corridor.

As soon as the two turned a corner, they heard the sound of a silenced pistol firing and the clanging of bullets against metal coming from ahead.

Jack kicked open the security door in front of him, only to be met with a dark gun barrel.

"Riser! Are you alright?" He turned to look at the backup elevator that was descending, then looked at Riser lying on the ground.

Judging from the bullet holes in the elevator door, it's easy to tell that he was shooting at the backup elevator. The noise of him kicking the door made Reese instinctively point his gun in this direction.

"You must leave here immediately!" Rither, his face bruised and swollen, struggled to his feet and turned to walk towards the steps at the other end of the corridor, which should lead to the rooftop.

Jack had no time for idle chatter. He grabbed Jack's shoulder tightly and said, "You have two choices: either cooperate, or I'll knock you out and start defusing the bomb."

The moment his shoulder blades were locked, the tingling and numb sensation made Rither's body go limp on one side. He only managed to stay upright on one knee thanks to sheer willpower.

It had been less than 24 hours since he was hit by the car. He was already weak, and even if he wasn't, he wouldn't be much better. Normally, he couldn't even beat Clay in the boxing ring.

Clay put down the toolbox he was carrying, stepped forward and, in a very "domineering" manner, ripped open Reese's shirt, popping the buttons off and revealing the bomb vest underneath.

“4块M112型标准包装C4爆破装药，每块1.25磅（567克），你前女友对你的爱意可真够火爆的。”

As expected, a smartphone was fixed to the front of the bomb vest, which thoughtfully displayed a red countdown timer with less than 10 minutes remaining.

“Wait a minute.” Rither grabbed Clay’s arm. “Don’t pull the fuse right away. Kara (Stanton) has received professional military training just like me. She knows how to set up booby traps.”

(End of this chapter)