The Blacklist

Chapter 233 Private Request to Help David
At 11:05, Carrey received an unexpected call, "Richard, my friend, this is Mel Hawkins, did I disturb your work?"

"No, I always give priority to answering calls from friends." Kerry said, "What's wrong, Mel, are you checking my position in the name of the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee?"

"Haha, of course not." Hawkins said, "I know you are in Los Angeles now, so I have something to ask you, it's very important!"

"OK, go ahead." Ever since they developed the other party into a quasi-combat partner, they have never worked together or faced anything together. The other party's request at this time was obviously unusual, so Carrie naturally had to listen to what the other party said.

"David Palmer, the most promising presidential candidate in our party, is participating in the party primary in Los Angeles, but now he's in trouble..." Hawkins said, "Richard, I really can't trust anyone else, so I can only turn to you - Palmer is very important to us, we can't let anything happen to him or his family... So, I'd like to ask you for help!"

Kerry pretended to hesitate for a moment before saying, "Okay, tell me, what can I do for you?"
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Twenty minutes later, Gina came over to report that a special envoy from the USSS had arrived and asked to see Kerry, saying that there were confidential documents delivered.

A few minutes later, Kerry had an extra document and a new certificate in his hand: USSS Special Advisor (Deputy Director level, Level 5 confidentiality authority), who works independently and has the right to participate in, formulate, and implement major security operations of the National Secret Service. He is responsible to the Director for matters related to the Secret Service's security work and reports directly to the President when necessary.

After looking at the documents and certificates, he shook his head speechlessly. Hawkins and the Democratic Party had invested a lot of money to put themselves on the stage. He could not ignore this matter, so he said, "Gina, contact Palmer's campaign team and tell them that I want to invite the senator to dinner."

Then, he picked up the phone and called a friend he hadn't contacted for a long time. "Deputy Director Taylor, this is Richard Carey from SLR. I don't want to disturb you at work, but I want to know about the campaign security of Democratic candidate David Palmer... In addition, there is another matter that needs your help..."

A few minutes later, he put down the phone and said to Gina, "Ask Liz if there's any new information about Palmer. Also, try to find Jack's latest contact information. You can ask Nina. If she says she doesn't know, notify Abby and start checking from the last place he appeared..."

"Don't worry, I know what to do," Gina replied, and immediately took out her cell phone to make a call.

Five minutes later, Gina came back and said, "Lee, Palmer said he wants to have lunch with you?"

"Okay!" Carrie was happy, "Reply to him, I'll treat him to a barbecue at the rooftop of Century Hotel in ten minutes!"
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At 11:35, Kerry arrived at the rooftop of the Century Hotel on time. There were no rules that could not be overcome. A few minutes later, when Senator Palmer came up, the charcoal fire in the barbecue grill was already burning red!

This was the first time the two met. Palmer was a tall, strong black man in his early fifties. When he stepped onto the rooftop and saw Kerry setting up a barbecue stall, he immediately strode over and said from a distance: "Director Kerry, right? I'm David Palmer, nice to meet you!"

Sitting in front of the grill, Kerry asked loudly, "Mr. Senator, do you like spicy food?"

The USSS agent who was protecting Palmer was blocked at the stairs by Gina holding Carrie's ID. Only the senator himself stepped onto the rooftop, and he didn't care at all.

"A little bit is fine, but more is unbearable." Palmer was also very graceful and responded immediately after hearing this.

"Then let's make it slightly spicy!" Carrie said with a smile, "Actually, I can't eat spicy food. I didn't expect that it didn't scare you!" "Hahaha... Great!" Palmer laughed happily. He didn't expect that the notorious criminal nemesis introduced by Hawkins would be so interesting.

BBQ and beer, the more you drink, the happier you are! After chatting and eating for a while, the two of them became familiar with each other and then started to get down to business.

Kerry asked, "David, can you tell me about the trouble you are facing now?"

Since he had already accepted Hawkins' help and used his connections to privately investigate Director Kerry's background, Palmer no longer concealed anything and told the whole story.

"One day seven years ago, I went to a meeting out of town for work, and my wife and children stayed at home in Washington, D.C." Palmer said, "My daughter, Nicole, was raped by a white youth, and that night, this 19-year-old youth named Gibson committed suicide by jumping off a building...

"This incident brought great harm to my family, and it took several years to recover. This incident has become a pain that we never want to touch again!

"But at 1am this morning, I received a call from ABC reporter Maureen Kingsley, who said someone had revealed to her that Gibson did not commit suicide, but was thrown from a building, and accused my son Keith of being the murderer, and that there was evidence...

"As a friend for many years, Maureen decided to give me a heads up before exposing this matter to the media, but at the same time made it clear that she would never help me suppress this matter."

Hearing this, Carrie asked, "Do you think this is true?"

Palmer was silent for a moment before he said, "I asked my son about this matter. Keith said that he did go to Gibson that night and had an argument. The other party took out a knife to threaten him. During the argument, the other party accidentally fell from the building...

"Because I was not at home at the time, Keith, his mother Shirley, and sister Nicole all agreed to let my personal security consultant Carl handle the matter, and concealed the fact that Keith was at the scene...well, even hid it from me!"

Carrie said: "Today is the first day of the most important primary election. It is no coincidence that someone revealed this incident seven years ago in the early hours of this morning."

"Yes, I thought so too," Palmer said. "So, I went to meet Carl alone at around 2 a.m. and asked him to investigate who was behind this. I hate this kind of dirty political tactics!
"Carl found out that it was Keith's former psychiatrist, George Ferragamo, who revealed the matter to Maureen...

"I called Ferragamo specifically to find out who asked him to do this, but he thought I was threatening him and refused to talk to me. So I went to find him in person, but when I arrived downstairs at his clinic, I saw a gas explosion in his office..."

(End of this chapter)