The Blacklist

Chapter 131 This New Case Is a Little Weird

Not long after, Reddington came back from Central Asia and heard about the Air Force One case. He felt a little unbelievable, because with his influence in the underground world, he didn't hear any news about it beforehand!
This is very abnormal. On the one hand, it shows the secrecy of al-Qaeda's operation. On the other hand, it also made Reddington realize his shortcomings in information collection. So in the following period of time, he was busy updating and strengthening his intelligence system, and he did not show up for many days.

On September 9, Reddington invited Carrie and Elizabeth to dinner, during which he mentioned a man named Justin Kenyon.

"I know this guy!" Elizabeth said immediately, "This Kenyon is a guy who uses religion to spread his perverse ideas, but he has enough money to hire many senior lawyers, making it impossible for government departments to deal with him. He also obtained a protected area from the local government to develop his own family... I heard that he is very evil!"

Reddington said, "The intelligence the FBI obtained is only superficial. In addition to satisfying his own desires, Kenyon's real purpose in running a cult is to use the protected area to build secret underground warehouses to provide storage services for criminals. That's why he was able to obtain huge amounts of funds..."

"Why did you mention this person?" Carrie asked. Today's dish was Mexican food, which he didn't like, so he asked Dembe to fry a steak and make a large portion of pasta. He absolutely refused to eat tortillas, which made everyone laugh.

"It's been three days since Kenyon suddenly disappeared," Reddington said. "Now the cargo owners can't contact him, which makes many people very nervous. They are ready to take action in two days. The FBI will be busy by then!"

Carrie's eyes turned, thinking of this plot, but Elizabeth became nervous. She knew that if this matter got out, it would definitely be a big deal, so she hurriedly got up and left to report to Cooper.
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The next day was Monday, and Cooper proposed to the DOJ to use federal police force to search the Kenyon Reservation in Sevier County, Tennessee, in order to find this person as soon as possible, solve the underground storage problem, and avoid greater adverse incidents: but the DOJ rejected his application for reasons of religious protection and avoiding armed conflict between the federal government and civilian groups!

Deputy Minister Wright came in person to explain to Cooper that the department had refused because the previous Waco incidents and Ruby Ridge incidents (both bloody conflicts between official agencies and civilian groups) had extremely bad impacts, and the federal government could not risk provoking conflicts again; moreover, the Kenyon Reservation was more than 200 square miles of virgin forest. If police or troops were sent in, they might face a tactical nightmare, and the possible losses to both sides were incalculable. Therefore, the DOJ could not take the risk and could not afford another political risk.

Although Cooper was angry about the department's decision, he also expressed his understanding. He could only ask Elizabeth to tell Reddington that SER could not take over this matter, but an unexpected incident that followed changed the course of events.
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Late that night, on Interstate 65 in Huntsville County, Alabama, patrol officers spotted a van parked on the side of the road. When they approached to inquire, the vehicle suddenly exploded, killing two patrol officers on the spot!
The local FBI branch found out that the car belonged to the Kenyon Church, but the license plate was stolen from a parking lot not far from the Kenyon Sanctuary. Moreover, according to the German recorder left in the police car, the driver of the explosive vehicle was a teen-year-old child who also died in the explosion! At the same time, the FBI also found that another license plate lost in the parking lot was hanging on a car heading to Washington...

Using a child to drive a car bomb to attack state police was undoubtedly an extremely serious terrorist act. DOJ could no longer remain silent and immediately ordered SER to take over the case. It also applied for a search warrant from the federal court to investigate the Kenyon Reservation.

Cooper ordered Mira and Nawabi to track down another suspected car bomb, and asked Kerry for help to send the SLR field operation team to follow Donald, Elizabeth and others to search the Kenyon Reserve to increase the action force... Kerry hated cults from the bottom of his heart, and hated people like Justin Kenyon, but he knew that this guy should be dead by now. Now it was a group of children who were causing trouble, which gave him a headache. He didn't know whether to take ruthless action. In order to control the situation on the scene, he decided to lead the team himself.
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In the afternoon, Carrie, SER, and SLR arrived in Sevier County, Tennessee, joined up with operatives from the local FBI branch and county police department, took over command, cut the barbed wire fence, and entered the Kenyon Reservation.

After searching for a while, they found no one from the Kenyon family. Then when they entered the church in the center of the reserve, they found that the door was locked from the outside! After breaking the door, they saw a bloody scene inside - all 53 registered adult believers were slaughtered, and Kenyon himself and 26 children were nowhere to be seen!

After searching each basement, they found that they were completely emptied and all the items stored there by the criminals and underground organizations were missing... Judging from the inventory list found, there were a large number of weapons, ammunition, explosives and other military weapons among the missing items!

They found a surviving girl in a cabinet in the basement, but she couldn't say anything. She just kept looking at the woods nervously and said there was a "watcher" inside, which made everyone confused.

However, after careful consideration, Carrie issued an order, having forensic personnel from the FBI branch and the local police inspect the crime scene at the church. All other teams were equipped with night vision goggles and infrared detectors, and searched the surrounding mountains and forests overnight... and made it clear: If attacked, fight back immediately and be sure to protect yourself!

He was the only one at the scene who knew that although those so-called "Watchers" were still just children, they had become like beasts after being indoctrinated by the Kenyon cult for a long time and being driven out and wandering in the jungle for several years. It was unrealistic to expect them to awaken themselves and return to normal!
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On the other hand, the suspected vehicle was found on the highway in Burtonsville, Maryland - the FBI branch and local police set up a roadblock and stopped the van with the stolen license plate.

When Mira and Nawabi arrived at the scene, they found that the driver was still a child about ten years old, and he was holding a detonator in his hand - based on the investigation of the last car explosion, it was confirmed that the trunk was full of explosives!

Seeing the child's innocent face, Nawabi couldn't bear it and decided to try to save him. So, despite other people's dissuasion, she walked to the van alone and persuaded the child with gentle words to put down the detonator and get off the car, thus resolving the explosion crisis.

(End of this chapter)