The Blacklist

Chapter 423 Key Ceremony and Counter-Ambush
The ICANN organization, located in the middle of 50th Street in Manhattan, has a special room for key ceremonies. It is equipped with a Faraday cage that can block all wireless signals. There are independent security personnel outside. All people entering the room must undergo strict inspection and their weapons and communication tools will be confiscated. Of course, non-relevant personnel will not be allowed to enter even if they do not bring weapons or mobile phones.

When Tom, Matt, Nez and Kumon arrived at ICANN, they had a standoff with the security personnel. No matter what they said, the guards would not let them in. Just when they were about to pull out their guns and force their way in, Carrie and Gina walked in!

"I'll take care of the rest!" Kerry nodded to Tom and Matt, then turned and showed his ID to the security personnel. "I'm Richard Kerry, deputy director of CTU headquarters. I'm taking over the command here. I hope you can obey our orders, otherwise I will deal with you in the name of endangering national security!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gina, Tom and Matt immediately drew their guns, and Nez and Kumon paused before following.

The four guards looked at each other and indicated that they accepted the order and would follow the command.
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At this time, in the key room, seven security officers were preparing for a meeting. Jamie Wallace, the new security officer who replaced Max Adler, suddenly got angry and snatched the pistol of the ICANN guard next to him. He ordered the others to hand over the key, opened the door, and let in Brian Mayhew, who had already been outside the door...

A moment later, Carrie and his men came to the key room and saw Brian using the key to control an unknown server and downloading the data from it...

Wallace was very nervous and pointed his gun at the people who came in. Carrie didn't even take out his gun. After looking at him, he ignored him and looked at Brian who was sitting in front of the laptop and said, "Brian, is the downloading done? Don't worry, I can wait for you to finish."

Brian was stunned, smiled bitterly, and said, "Thank you, sir. I'll finish it soon." Then he said to Wallace next to him, "Jamie, put down the gun. You've done well enough. Don't take any more risks for me!"

Wallace hesitated for a moment, put down his gun, raised his hands in surrender, and was arrested by the ICANN guards who followed him!
At this time, the head of ICANN came and was shocked after seeing the situation on the scene. Carrie had a brief conversation with him and asked him and the guards to take the other six security guards out. They would have to re-elect a substitute security guard and hold a meeting again to determine the new root key. There was no point staying here now!

As for Wallace, Matt took him under control and prepared to take him away when they left. How to deal with him later would depend on the situation.

After a moment, Brian pulled out the USB drive that had been used to download the data, held it in his hand, and asked, "Sir, may I know which department you are from?" without getting up.

"Of course." Carrie said, and showed him her CTU ID. "See clearly, I'm from CTU. What else do you want to know?"

"No more." Brian stood up and handed the USB flash drive to Kerry. "Director Kerry, this is the backup data I downloaded from the NSA's secret server. It can prove my innocence. I was arrested and imprisoned because of the NSA's frame-up. The reason I escaped from prison was to collect evidence!"

Carrie weighed the USB flash drive in his hand and said, "You planned the jailbreak and tried to sneak into the key meeting just to download these things from the NSA's confidential server. Are you sure these things can clear your name?"

"I'm sure." Brian said, "This is the evidence that the NSA framed me!" At this moment, Tom received a call from the company, saying that another Halcyon team had captured another fugitive at the Staten Island Ferry. In other words, if Tom took Brian back now, it would mean that Halcyon had successfully completed the CIA's commission.

Tom told the situation, but Carrie said, "Well, Tom, you take Wallace back, and I'll take Brian away."

Of course Tom nodded in agreement, but Nez and Kumon were stunned and wanted to speak, while Matt next to them said nothing and directly pulled the handcuffed Wallace out.

Gina walked out with Tom, whispered a few words to him, and walked to a place where she couldn't see the door from behind. She took out a handbag and handed it to him!
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On the way to escort Wallace back to the company, Tom and his team's car was blocked from front and back by two large SUVs. There were eight armed men in front and back, three with pistols and five with M4A1 assault rifles. Nez, who was driving, reacted quickly and drove the car into an abandoned warehouse on the side of the road...

Nez and Kumon felt enormous pressure. The four of them only had pistols, and they definitely could not withstand the attack of five assault rifles. Just as they were getting anxious, Tom dragged out a handbag from under the back seat of the car, opened it, and threw an MP5 submachine gun to each of them. There were still more than a dozen fully loaded magazines and several assault grenades left in the bag!

All four of them were well-trained fighters. With suitable close-combat automatic weapons, their combat effectiveness suddenly increased significantly. They used sudden counterattacks to kill four militants in one go!
Without four M4A1s, the militants' firepower was reduced by more than half. Just when they wanted to retreat, a black SUV suddenly rushed into the warehouse, and a G3A4 assault rifle and a P90 submachine gun opened fire fiercely, almost instantly killing the remaining four militants on the spot!
Tom and his three companions, as well as Wallace who was hiding in the back seat of the car, all breathed a sigh of relief. This time it was really thrilling!
Kerry got out of the car and walked in front of everyone, saying with a smile: "Tom, Matt, how are you, are you not scared?"

Tom also smiled and said, "Boss, to be honest, when Gina told me that there was a high probability of encountering armed attacks on the return trip, I was really a little worried, but the bag of weapons and ammunition she gave me instantly gave me confidence!"

Only then did Nez and Kumon realize what had happened, and their understanding of Director Kerry deepened.

At this time, the previous gunfights on the highway and in the warehouse attracted a large number of NYPD police cars, but before the police could seal off the scene, the CTU State Bureau Field Operations Team, which had received a call from Gina for reinforcement, arrived and took over the scene with their excellent law enforcement skills.

Carrie said to Tom, "I will take Brian and Wallace back to Washington. When you go back, tell them it was my idea. If Susan or the CIA is interested, let them come to me!"

"Understood!" Tom nodded immediately, then thought of something and pulled Kerry aside, "Boss, there is something I want to tell you..."

(End of this chapter)