The Blacklist

Chapter 234 Palmer's Doubt and Shock
At this point, Palmer saw the look in Kerry's eyes and said with a wry smile: "I know that everyone who knows about this will think that this is not a coincidence, and Dr. Ferragamo must have been silenced!
"To be honest, I thought so too. But I knew I didn't ask anyone to do it, so I suspected it was Carl who did it! At that time, I was very angry and asked him to question him, but I didn't expect that Carl would threaten me: If I hand him over, he would put the blame for the deaths of Gibson and Ferragamo on Keith!"

Palmer was helpless when he said this. "Another point is that Carl has very good relationships with many big businessmen who donated money to my campaign. His attitude will affect the donors... No, I should say that it has already had an impact!"

Kerry said, "But you still spoke about what happened seven years ago in your breakfast speech at the Saint Rose Power Plant, and said that the matter would be handled by the police and the court, and that you believed in the justice of the law... This surprised and impressed me. David, you are awesome!"

Because he understood the interests involved, he was able to imagine that, due to Palmer's self-exposure, those large donors who had a good relationship with Carl would give up their continued support for him because they were not optimistic about his prospects; of course, there was another important reason - those business people found that Palmer's character was too tough and "inflexible", and he was not someone who could be easily controlled!
Taking all these into consideration, Kerry truly admires Palmer. As for the fairness of American law, that's "haha"! But no matter what, the man in front of him can be said to be an extremely upright person, which is a very rare quality among American politicians, so he is ready to help him.

"David, don't worry about the campaign funds. I will help you find a way." Carrie said, "You should know that my main job is to collect taxes. I know a lot of rich people, so it shouldn't be a problem to persuade a few people to donate some funds."

Palmer hadn't thought of this, but when he heard this, his first reaction was: "Richard, don't mess around with this. I won't accept those unknown funds!"

"Don't worry! It will all be clean money that complies with legal regulations." Kerry assured. With the system's capabilities, it would not be a problem to set up a few legal companies, properly input his own funds into them, and then legally donate to support Palmer's campaign. It just so happened that he didn't know what to do with the large amount of money he had deposited in the system mall!

Palmer didn't expect to have such an unexpected gain from having dinner with his new friend. Seeing that the other party was so confident, he certainly couldn't discourage him, but he didn't hold out too much hope either. He even decided in his heart that if he really received campaign funds from the other party, he would carefully verify the source before accepting it.

Skipping this topic, Carrey talked to Palmer about the assassination...

"David, an assassination occurred at the breakfast meeting. The Secret Service captured an agent from the CIA Los Angeles Counter-Terrorism Group named Jack Bauer. Do you remember him?" Carrie asked.

"When I heard the name, I had some impression of it, but the Secret Service arranged for me to leave urgently, so I didn't have time to think about it..." Palmer said, "Why, should I know this person?"

Kerry nodded and said, "Two years ago today, in Kosovo, Eastern Europe, 'Operation Dark Night'!"

"Ah, I remember now. This Jack was the frontline commander of Operation Dark Night!" Palmer's eyes lit up and he said, "I've seen his name on the document, but we've never met before... Oh, he came to assassinate me. Is he seeking revenge for the five subordinates who died in that operation?"

When he said the last sentence, his eyes turned into a look of regret, "If it is because of this reason, then it is understandable! Richard, I will plead for him..."

Carrie did not respond to this sentence, but said: "It seems that the Secret Service did not tell you that after you left the breakfast meeting, this Jack escaped during the escort and is now wanted by various law enforcement agencies.

"David, I'm not begging for him, but I want to tell you why he participated in your assassination!" Just before you received the call from that reporter in the early morning, the Los Angeles Counter-Terrorism Group received intelligence from the NSA that someone would assassinate you today, so they began to investigate..."

"I know about this," Palmer said. "The Secret Service has also received a warning and has specially sent a group of agents to strengthen my security."

"Jack was the chief of operations for the CTU and was the main person in charge of the investigation, especially after the head of the CTU was shot at 2 a.m. He was actually leading the investigation from then until the breakfast meeting," said Carrie.

Palmer asked in surprise: "The leader of the counter-terrorism team was shot dead?"

"A technical engineer was also killed at the same time." Carrie said, "Jack was coerced and used to help the real killer bring weapons into the venue, but he still took advantage of the opportunity and snatched the guards' guns to trigger the security measures in advance, allowing you to evacuate in time."

"You mean, Jack was coerced? And his actions at that time were actually to save me?" Palmer was a little unbelievable, "How was he coerced?"

"While you were worrying about your child, Jack's daughter and wife were kidnapped one after another!" Carrie said simply, "The kidnappers threatened him to join the assassination with the lives of his wife and daughter..."

Palmer could no longer sit still after hearing this. He stood up and walked around twice. Suddenly he stopped, turned around and asked, "Richard, Mel introduced you to me. He said that you were in charge of a special department of the IRS and were the deputy director of a field operations agency under the DOJ. But I don't understand how you know so much about my assassination and Jack's situation." As he spoke, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.

Kerry knew that the other party was overthinking, so he took out a few documents and handed them to him, saying, "David, don't let your imagination run wild. The reason I know all this is because I am now in charge of investigating the assassination, and Jack has become my subordinate now."

Palmer took the documents and checked them one by one with a look of surprise. He had never imagined that this new friend he had just met had so many law enforcement identities. Only then did he understand why Hawkins asked him to meet him.

“Director of the IRS Special Audit Division and the SLR Special Operations Team;
“DOJ Special Agent (Level 4 Clearance), Senior Deputy Director of the SER Special Operations Group;

“Director of the Special Operations Division of the CTU General Administration, concurrently serving as Director of the California Bureau;
"USSS Special Advisor (Deputy Director, Level 5 Authority), qualified to act independently."

(End of this chapter)