The Blacklist

Chapter 70 Tom's Triple Agent Identity
Reddington said: "Yes, this 'pretender' is Tom?"

Elizabeth took two deep breaths and tried to calm herself down. Gina came over and sat beside her, holding her hand, giving her support and strength. She looked at Gina gratefully, turned around and asked, "What is a 'pretender'?"

Reddington was a little happy because Elizabeth's performance was much better than he had expected. So he stood up and took the cup of tea handed over by Carrie. While drinking, he said, "The man called 'Major' was once an outstanding intelligence officer. After he left the government department, he began to adopt some young men and women with excellent personal conditions who ran away from home due to family conflicts. He trained them in all aspects, including knowledge, communication, makeup, performance, conversation skills, combat skills, etc., and trained them to be acting masters who can disguise themselves as any profession, any industry, and any personality at any time. Such people are called 'pretenders'!"

"Is Tom such a 'pretender'?" Elizabeth's voice calmed down.

"Yes, he is the best among the 'Pretenders', at least that's what the 'Major' said," said Reddington.

Elizabeth looked at him coldly and said in a chilling voice, "So, you sent this most outstanding 'pretender' to my side, to play the role of a perfect boyfriend, to meet all my expectations of a significant other, and then to successfully fall in love with me, marry me, and deceive me!"

"Things weren't like this at the beginning." Reddington was very grateful that Carrie and Gina were there at the moment. Otherwise, based on his understanding of Elizabeth, she would have been furious by now, and even slammed the door and left.

He continued, "My original intention in hiring Tom was to have him protect you in secret. I even warned the 'Major' to tell the 'Pretender' that he was only protecting you in secret and not interfering with your life and work... But for a period of time afterwards, I did not stay in the United States due to some special circumstances, and things changed during this period...

"More than a year ago, when I came back, I found out that you were already married! I was angry and helpless at the time, so I took people to find the 'Major', but the answer I got was that it was Tom you who took the initiative to pursue, and in order to complete the mission, Tom had to date you and get married..."

"Did Tom say that?" Elizabeth asked in surprise, not caring about being angry.

"No, it's the 'Major' who said that. I have never met Tom." said Reddington.

"This is not true, I don't know why they say that!" Elizabeth said angrily.

"I know, but there's no way to prove it." Reddington said, "I don't know where the mistake was made. I want to investigate, but I can't because of your relationship with Tom..."

"Fool, I've already calculated your reaction." Kerry, who was drinking tea nearby, couldn't help but say, "Old Lei, you're like an old father who loves his daughter but is extremely conservative. He found out that a rascal had deceived your precious daughter and wanted to kill him, but he was afraid that his daughter would be sad, so he could only stand there helplessly and furiously!"

His analogy made both Reddington and Elizabeth's hearts skip a beat and their faces changed.

Gina and Dembe also looked at him with strange expressions.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Carrie spread his hands and said with a smile: "Why are you looking at me? Isn't my metaphor vivid enough?" Reddington coughed twice before saying: "Richard, don't interrupt me. I'm talking about something important in Elizabeth!"

"OK, continue!" Carrie said, "Well, be more concise. You were too long-winded before!"

Reddington glared at him helplessly and continued, "It was not until the SER team was established that I met Richard. With his reminder, I realized that Tom must have been instructed by someone behind the scenes to do this. This person should not be the Major, because he has no interest in this regard!
"In order to find out the mastermind behind Tom, I arranged people to follow and monitor him, and the first thing we found was one of his safe houses... Well, you can take a look at this." As he said that, he handed over a stack of photos.

These photos were exactly the ones that Carrie had seen before. After seeing them, Elizabeth's face turned extremely ugly. As someone who already had rich experience in solving cases, she could certainly tell what the scenes in the photos represented.

Reddington continued, "Not long ago, a young woman appeared in Tom's life. Yes, this is her." He took out a few new photos and handed them to Elizabeth. "I investigated. This woman's original name was Lucy Brooks. She had committed many crimes in Europe and was wanted by several countries. But this time, she appeared next to Tom under the new identity of 'Julene Parker'..."

"I've seen this person!" Elizabeth exclaimed, "This is Tom's new substitute teacher in school..."

"Yes, that's her." Reddington nodded. "I was a little confused about her appearance at first, because as far as I know, the 'Pretender' basically acts alone when performing missions, so the appearance of Julianne is a little abnormal...

"Later, at Kerry's suggestion, I arranged for someone to follow and monitor Julianne...

"The last time Tom went to Orlando for a teachers' conference, Julianne was there too! Taking advantage of this opportunity, my people sneaked into Tom's safe house and Julianne's apartment... Well, that's how those photos you just saw were taken!

"My people found these things in Julianne's apartment..." As he said this, he handed over another stack of photos.

Carrey next to him was amused by his actions, it was as if Hitchcock was explaining how to solve a crime!

Reddington glared at him to express his dissatisfaction; but at this moment Elizabeth was completely attracted by the new photos in her hands - there were some things on them that she felt somewhat familiar: passports from several different countries, driver's licenses from several states, pistols, cash, etc.

"I specifically checked with the Major to confirm that Julianne is not his person," Reddington said. "If I hadn't stopped the Major, he would have already cleared the door by now! Because all these facts show that Tom is playing the role of a triple agent: he is the Major's person, and he accepted my employment, but he is actually serving a fourth party!

"I still don't understand the ultimate purpose, but I am sure that Tom is now under the command of Berlin!"

(End of this chapter)