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

Chapter 1486 Finch's Last Secret
No one knows what Mark Snow was thinking in the final moments of his life.

Perhaps it was Reese's last-minute reminder that made him face the reality that he couldn't defuse the bomb, and he ultimately chose to die together with Kara Stanton.

In Risser's view, this approach was quite in line with his impression of his former superior.

Jack was initially worried that there might be a trap involved, such as Kara Stanton faking her death to escape.

However, all these doubts vanished after the DNA test results from the CSI laboratory came out.

Reese had DNA samples from both of them on him, and Jack extracted Mark Snow's blood sample from his gloves because the two had fought in the lab.

As for the source of Carla Stanton's DNA sample, that's one of the reasons Jessica was jealous, such as the hickey on her neck and the hair left on her clothes.

Although he said that he was already married at that time, it was his freedom to sleep with whomever he wanted.

However, it's impossible for Jessica not to have some reservations about the fact that she confessed her feelings to Reese when they met at the airport terminal years ago, and that she was willing to continue waiting if he asked her to. It's impossible for her not to have some lingering doubts about Reese's decision to back down and make what he called "the best choice for both of them."

Fortunately, a beautiful engagement ring eventually dispelled all of Jessica's dissatisfaction.

Jack still has a considerable stock of gemstones, including some beautiful tanzanite he brought back from Africa, as well as some valuable items he secretly hid while dealing with drug dealers in Mexico with the seals.

After thoroughly enjoying a meal of melons, Jack instructed Jessica to take good care of Reese, then turned and went to the old library to find Finch.

Before the explosion, Finch mentioned that he had intercepted a recording of a phone call between Kara Stanton and someone, but after everything was over, he seemed to have forgotten about it and never mentioned it again in the following days.

But his silence doesn't mean Jack will ignore it. Besides, Kara Stanton's hard drive containing the virus has been under his control for several days, so it's time for Finch to reveal the truth.

"The encryption level of what Kara Stanton uploaded is quite high. I haven't been able to crack it all yet, and I can only confirm for the time being that it is a new type of attack software."

After receiving another "treatment" from Jack, Finch took the initiative to talk about the hard drive.

"Targeting 'machines'?" Jack, not wanting to beat around the bush, went straight to the point.

“You previously admitted that after Nathan’s death, you deliberately leaked a laptop containing a virus program specifically targeting the core code of the ‘machine’. The ‘suicide mission’ carried out by Reese and Kara Stanton was to retrieve that laptop.”

Jack has almost figured out the whole story in the past few days, and now all that's left is for Finch to answer a few key questions.

"However, that mission was actually a failure. Although the Intelligence Support Operations Division, which was in charge of the 'Aurora Project,' carried out the assassination operation, it was itself infiltrated by 'Desima,' so I can reasonably guess that the program eventually fell into their hands."

"Desima obtained that program and saved Kara Stanton, and the malware you're seeing now is actually the complete version of that program you leaked back then."

Seeing Finch's mouth slightly open, Jack simply smiled and shrugged. "The phone call Kara Stanton made before she died, the other end must have been one of Desima's people, right?"

“Your keen intuition has always been impressive,” Finch complimented, then limped back to his computer and sat down, opening an audio recording. The recording was less than a minute long, and the conversation was quite simple: Kara Stanton reported the completion of a mission to someone and then asked the other party to fulfill a certain promise.

The voice on the other end sounded quite young and had a slight African American accent. "The person who sold that computer back then, which led to your 'unfortunate trip to Afghanistan,' is named Harold Finch."

But I'm afraid all I can give you is a name. This person doesn't exist in any database. Before 'Desima' was destroyed, this was the only name that could be found.

"I hope your luck continues, Ms. Stanton. We need talent like you right now, and our cooperation agreement will remain in effect."

The call ended shortly afterward, but it made Jack frown. What did he mean by "Desima" being finished? And who was the guy who was talking to Kara Stanton?
“I don’t know. Don’t look at me like that, Jack. I admit I’ve planned some things, but even ‘machines’ aren’t omniscient or omnipotent, let alone me.”

As Finch spoke, he got up, limped toward a bookshelf, and took a book from it.

"Ghosts in the Machines," by Arthur Koestler. Jack scoffed at the title. He has always been wary of philosophical and psychological works, and his only impression of this book was that a certain anime had borrowed the title from it.

Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell, created in the late 80s, is titled The Soul in the Machine, and it discusses the relationship between the body and the soul, while also paying homage to the book.

Finch turned to the last page of the book, revealing a photograph tucked inside—a picture of two young people.

One was handsome and had a sunny smile, while the other looked a bit dull, wearing round-framed glasses, the kind of person who could easily cosplay Harry Potter if he put on a wizard's robe.

Jack naturally recognized it as a photo of Finch and his friend Nathan from years ago. He flipped the photo over and found a line of text on it: "The very beginning" and Nathan Ingram's initials.

“I know you two were good friends in college.” He looked at Finch with a puzzled expression, not understanding the point of showing him this photo at this time.

“This is just a memento, could you lend me a hand, Jack?” Finch reached out and tried to move all the books off the shelf.

Jack helped him put the book aside, and Finch pulled open the panel behind the bookshelf, revealing a hidden safe.

"My last secret is hidden in here." Finch turned the combination lock, and after making a soft "click," he took a half step back, indicating that the next steps would be left to Jack.

"Are these all Nathan's belongings?" Jack took out a stack of enlarged ID photos, each with a sticky note with a social security number written on it.

“Some of them were added later by me; these were people Nathan and I tried to save, but who did not survive.”

Finch smiled wryly and picked out a photo from the pile. It was Jessica on it. "Of course, you can help return this photo to Mr. Reese. You managed to fool me that time, but unfortunately, others weren't so lucky."

He finally reached into the safe, took out a map, and said to Jack, "This is the answer you need."

(End of this chapter)