The Blacklist

Chapter 146 The Most Dangerous Possibility

After Dak and his assistant took the body back to the Navy Department by helicopter, Carrie and Gibbs led their men to discuss the situation. The other people explained what they had learned, and the specific follow-up would be decided by the two supervisors.

Gibbs first said: "Although we haven't found out how the victim died, it is abnormal to use such a method to deal with the body. It must be homicide."

Kerry continued, "This is a naval base. The most convenient way to deal with a body is to throw it into the sea, add some heavy objects, and sink it to the bottom of the sea. It will not be discovered for a long time. However, the murderer took such a troublesome way and put the body in a barrel of hydrochloric acid. This shows that he not only wanted to hide the body, but also wanted to ensure that the identity would not be recognized after it was discovered!"

Elizabeth said, "Why do you want to hide the identity of the deceased? This is a naval base, and all personnel should be strictly managed. If someone is missing, it will be found out quickly!"

"No one is missing." McGee next to him followed up, "I asked the Logistics Management Office, and no one has been missing in the base in the past ten days."

Donald said, "Isn't that someone from the base?"

Tony has worked in NCIS for two years and is quite familiar with the navy. Hearing this, he said, "It shouldn't be possible. This is Norfolk, the largest base of the US Navy. The management is very strict. It is very unlikely for outsiders to sneak in."

"What if someone was killed and the body was brought in?" Donald still insisted.

Tony was stunned for a moment before he said, "That possibility is also extremely low. It's harder to bring a body in than to bring a living person in."

At this time, Gibbs looked at Kerry next to him and found that he was also looking at him, so he said, "Manager Kerry, do you think it is possible?"

"Very likely!" Carrie nodded.

What the two said left the other four people confused and they didn't know what was going on.

"Tony, McGee, go check which ships have left the port in the next two days?" Gibbs ordered, then looked at Carrie.

Kerry understood what he meant and added, "After confirming the departing ships, check the personnel list to see if there are any vacancies or leave. If not, bring back the personnel list and information."

After arranging this, all that was left was to wait. As for next, Carrie knew that Donald and Elizabeth would not be of much help here, so he sent them back to Washington, while he stayed and lived in the officers' dormitory at the base with Gibbs.
-
The next morning, Tony and McGee came to report to the two men that more than a dozen ships had left the port in the previous two days, involving nearly three thousand personnel. Although there were hundreds of people on leave, they were all normal rotating holidays, with no one suddenly asking for leave or missing.

Both of them felt a bit of a headache when talking about this. If there was a problem with anyone on these ships, it would be extremely difficult to investigate!

Gibbs frowned when he heard this. This situation was indeed troublesome. What should he do next?

Carrie said, "Gibbs, contact your forensic department to see if there are any new findings on the body."

Although Gibbs did not expect to find any new clues on the severely corroded body, it was difficult to refute his opinion, so he went to the base's communication room with a few people and called back via video. After the call was connected, Dak, who had just come to work, smiled on the screen and said, "Hey, Gibbs, Director Kerry, and Tony, you have a very good sense. I just found a possible clue here, and you called me..."

Hmm? Clues! Gibbs and the others immediately became alert and asked, "Duck, what clues?"

"Look!" Dak pointed the camera at a picture on the computer screen. "This is a photo of the corpse's arm. Although the skin on the wrist has been almost corroded, I still found a trace... Look, it's here! I asked the computer expert in the department to scan it and searched it in the database. Guess what they found?"

The people here stared at the blurry marks on the screen, but couldn't make out anything. Only Carrie asked, "It looks like a dolphin's tail?"

"Ha! Director Kerry, you really have a good eye!" Dak praised, "After comparing it with the database, the computer experts in the department found that this is part of a dolphin tattoo!"

"Submarine Force!" Gibbs said immediately, "This is a tattoo pattern commonly used by sailors in our submarine force. This means that the deceased was a submarine soldier."

"Ah, submarine sailors!" McGee immediately responded, "Boss, there is only one submarine out to sea these days!"

Philadelphia! This boat name popped up in the minds of several people.

"Philadelphia's crew information?" Gibbs asked immediately.

"Ah? Let me look for it..." McGee panicked and hurriedly searched on the table. He had clearly already received the list yesterday! Seeing his expression, Tony beside him also helped to look for it.

Kerry picked up a folder from the table in front of him, opened it, and couldn't help laughing. It was this one, so he said, "No need to look for it, I have this one..." As he spoke, he had already browsed through it, passed it to Gibbs, and said, "There is no missing or leave on this list. The Philadelphia is fully staffed! Gibbs, what do you think?"

Gibbs took the document, took a quick look at it, looked up at Carrie and said, "Impersonation!"

Kerry nodded and said, "This is a serious problem. This is a big deal!"

Gibbs understood what he meant. If his guess was correct, someone deliberately replaced the original crew member with another person on the boat. The conspiracy must be very serious!
But Carey added: "The Philadelphia is a nuclear attack submarine!"

Wow! Gibbs and Tony understood what was said and were stunned. Only McGee didn't understand what it meant and looked at them in astonishment.

Gibbs' face turned pale, and he immediately shouted, "Tony, contact the director immediately and ask him to... Never mind, I'll talk to him in person! Hurry up!"

"Yes!" Tony was also a little panicked and started to operate immediately.
-
An hour later, the four men showed up at the submarine detachment headquarters at the base. Gibbs had obtained the highest authorization from the Navy Department and immediately ordered the detachment commander, Colonel Veitch, to arrange for them to catch up with the Philadelphia nuclear submarine by military aircraft, and he had the right to dispose of all the crew members!
Although Colonel Veitch was very dissatisfied, he had to obey orders due to military orders. However, he repeatedly emphasized that the submarine forces under his management were all loyal and reliable sailors.

(End of this chapter)