1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 123 Jack Likes Convertibles

The case analysis session sparked a great deal of discussion among the participants.

It quickly surpassed tactics lessons to become the trainees' favorite course.

Even after evening self-study ended, the discussions among the students could still be heard coming from various barracks.

Even after the lights were turned off, the discussion remained enthusiastic.

Supervisor Black had to go from barracks to barracks reminding the cadets to shut up and go to bed, just like a female instructor in a Boy Scout troop.

Saturday afternoon is free time.

Theodore and Bernie went to Blake's office to request permission to go out the next afternoon.

Not many students applied to go out; including the two of them, there were fewer than ten people.

The training has only been going on for four days, and the pressure is not too great yet. Most trainees prefer to stay in the barracks to rest.

The main problem is that there aren't many good places to relax and unwind around here.

Four days is enough time for the trainees to find out what kind of place Quantico is.

The most convenient source of information was the Marines at the base, separated only by a barbed wire fence.

Quantico is a highly militarized, closed community, bordered by the wide Potomac River to the east and dense forests to the west.

Outside the base is only the town of Quantico, with a population of less than 500. The town has some small shops, a train station and a post office, which are clearly the infrastructure prepared for the training base.

Hunting in the mountains or swamps, or fishing in the Potomac River, are clearly not good ways to relax.

Instead of going outside and freezing, it's better to do laundry and play basketball.

Unless there's something I need to do.

Blake did not have strict screening procedures, and all his applications to go out were approved.

Sunday afternoon.

Theodore and Bernie returned to DC.

They hitched a ride with Blake.

Blake needed to go home temporarily to take care of some personal matters, so he borrowed a car from the Marines next door, which gave them both a ride.

His family lives in Arlington.

Bernie and Blake talked the whole way.

When Blake learned that Bernie was planning to move here after his training, he even helped him find a few houses in the same community.

Upon arriving in Arlington, both parties agreed to meet at 7:00 AM in front of Blake's house for the return trip.

Before parting, Blackburn intended to remind the two not to be late, but his gaze lingered on Theodore for a moment, and then he swallowed back the words of advice.

Theodore and Bernie headed to the Department of Justice building.

Although it was the weekend, quite a few agents chose to work overtime, though most of them were not from the investigation department.

The large office of the investigation department was almost empty and unusually quiet.

Several hardworking detectives, who had neither dated girlfriends nor spent time with their families, each occupied a small meeting room, writing and drawing on the whiteboard to study the case.

Theodore handed a report to Ms. Gandy and asked her to pass it on to Hoover.

His main purpose for this trip was to produce this report.

The report contained some of his ideas for the team that was about to be formed.

He had originally planned to report to Hoover in person, but Hoover was not here today.

Before returning to Arlington to meet up with Black, Bernie bought two bottles of whiskey, put them in his pocket, and took them into the barracks.

This was brought to you by Billy Hockey.

On January 19, Theodore left Quantico.

He will be attending the presidential inauguration with Hoover tomorrow.

The weather has been bad these past few days; blizzards have caused many of the new president's planned ceremonies to be canceled, and the ceremony program and events have been changed repeatedly.

The Secret Service and the FBI also had to work overtime to check for security risks again and again.

Another blizzard hit DC tonight.

In the early hours of the morning, before dawn, thousands of volunteers and military personnel had to clear the Capitol, Pennsylvania Avenue, and the inauguration site once again to ensure the roads were clear.

In the morning, Jack and his wife Jacqueline attended Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral.

A large crowd gathered outside the church.

Although the church had been sealed off by the Secret Service and the FBI, they could see nothing but walls and pillars.

But this did not dampen people's enthusiasm.

After Mass, the Jacks met up with the former president, who had come from the White House to sign the final executive order.

The three rode together in a convertible along Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol Building, where crowds cheered.

The general president also became the first former president to attend the inauguration ceremony of the current president.

Theodore, Hoover, and Thorson rode in Hoover's black car, which was fitted with bulletproof glass and featured numerous cutting-edge technologies of the time, following behind the convoy.

Hoover had a tense expression and looked to be in a bad mood.

Even though Congress had restrained the brothers Jack and Robert, he couldn't be happy at all at the thought of working with them for four or even eight years.

Theodore looked out the window at Jack, who was smiling broadly and waving to the crowd from inside the convertible.

He confirmed one thing: Jack liked convertibles.

The motorcade arrived at the Capitol Building.

An inauguration platform had already been erected on the west side of the Capitol, surrounded by bulletproof glass. Approximately 2 spectators began to enter the venue.

At noon, under the chairmanship of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lyon was first sworn in as Vice President in the Senate chamber.

Twenty minutes later, under the supervision of the Chief Justice of the United States, Jack placed his hand on the Bible and was sworn in.

In his inaugural address, Jack famously said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

His inaugural address lasted only 14 minutes, which is not long compared to other presidents, but the quality of the speech was extremely high, with many memorable quotes, creating an ideal image of a president for the people.

He is enthusiastic, energetic, young, confident, and passionate.

The response at the scene was enthusiastic.

Jack officially became America's new president.

NBC and CBS broadcast the inauguration ceremony with color cameras for the first time, and millions of viewers witnessed history on television.

Following the congressional luncheon, the Jacks participated in the inaugural parade, reviewing military formations and cultural performances.

This is the first time that Hollywood stars, poets, and other cultural figures have been invited to the inauguration ceremony.

Jack made entertaining and secular changes to the transfer of supreme power to Emily, making it less solemn and meticulous.

Five official celebratory balls were held in different venues in DC that evening. The Jacks appeared at all five venues and made brief stops.

It is said that a private celebratory banquet follows the official celebratory ball.

Naturally, Hoover did not receive an invitation to a private celebration party.

At the evening dance, Theodore followed Hoover and met a whole host of middle-aged and older men.

This senator, that representative, this judge, that minister...

One legislator, assuming Theodore had returned home after more than a year of being away, immediately offered him an assistant and suggested he come for an interview the next day.

Theodore glanced at Hoover and politely declined.

After the ball ended, Hoover and Theodore got into the car and simultaneously let out a long sigh of relief.

There was a moment of silence in the car, then Theodore was forced out by Hoover.

He assigned another car to take Theodore back to Quantico.

…………

The sixth week of selection and training.

The training period is halfway through.

With a constant stream of new knowledge, each lesson began to feel unfamiliar to the students.

Students live in dormitories, are not allowed to drink alcohol, share bathrooms, and are not allowed to stay overnight. They also undergo high-intensity physical training.

The training pressure is already at its maximum.

Even a normally energetic guy like Billy Hawke started to become listless, collapsing into bed as soon as he got back to the barracks every day.

Under such high pressure and intensity, the trainees began to find ways to relieve stress.

More and more students are applying to go out on weekends.

Most of them just wanted to escape the training base; even just wandering around the entrance a couple of times without doing anything would be fine.

More people will choose to call their family members and draw strength from their loved ones.

When going out fails to relieve stress and the support of family members becomes less and less effective, many students begin to feel stuck.

Another group of trainees targeted the supervisor, Black.

The trainees seemed to have completely regressed to single-digit-year-old toddlers, constantly finding ways to torment Blake.

Blake looked serious and cold, like someone you shouldn't mess with.

After six weeks of getting to know each other, the students already understood what kind of person he was.

Everyone knows that Blake is a cold-faced but soft-hearted guy who takes care of them in every way every day.

Blake was driven to the brink of madness by their torment.

Starting from the seventh week, the law and forensic science courses ended, and the course was replaced by interrogation skills and cross-departmental collaboration.

The former professor taught some interrogation paradigms summarized by the FBI.

The senior detective who gave the lecture was like a ruthless reading machine, reading the manual aloud and then asking the trainees to practice in groups.

The principles behind these paradigms are not taught in class; students can only memorize them by rote.

The latter's overwhelming and dazzling array of department names elicited groans of despair from all the trainees.

Ronald was right when he said that the FBI is definitely not something that local police stations can compare to.

The resources available to the FBI far exceed the trainees' expectations.

This course teaches people how to mobilize these resources.

After each course, the students had very mixed feelings.

They admired the FBI's vast resources and marveled at how FBI agents could obtain cooperation from almost any department if necessary.

On one hand, they complain about why so many departments are set up, and why the same thing has to be divided into two, three, or even four or five departments for management.

Theodore valued this course highly, studying it even more diligently than his tactics course.

Unlike other trainees, in addition to memorizing the functions and roles of each department, he also mentally identified the middle-aged and elderly men he knew from Hoover and matched them with the departments one by one.

Theodore envies Ronald for having personal connections he can leverage wherever he goes, and he wants to learn from Ronald and build his own personal network.

In March, international tensions escalated further.

Racial tensions within America are escalating, creating an atmosphere of tension across the states.

The FBI canceled vacations twice, requiring all personnel to be on standby.

On one occasion, during an interrogation class, the instructor was called away by Blake halfway through the lesson.

The trainees discussed it animatedly for a while, but it was quickly forgotten by everyone.

As the deadline for selection and training approached, the atmosphere at the training base became tense and anxious.

The trainees were under immense pressure, spending their days either banging their heads against the wall or tormenting Blake.

In the final week, supervisor Black began talking to each trainee individually.

This is a form of implicit solicitation of allocation intentions.

This inquiry into intent pushed the tense atmosphere to its peak.

The trainees finally had no time to mess with Blake.

Everyone focused entirely on the assessment. The training course concluded on March 18th, and the assessment began the following day.

The assessment order is consistent with the teaching order, and the assessment will be conducted over two days in two modes: closed-book written test and practical assessment.

The first day's exams covered legal procedures, forensic techniques, shooting, and physical fitness.

Legal procedures mainly test case analysis and the application of legal provisions.

Many people in the examination room were scratching their heads and looking miserable, such as Detective Harold Wilson.

Many others, like Bernie and Billy Hawke, were confident and wrote furiously.

Billy Hawke's exceptional learning ability has exceeded many people's expectations.

Theodore remained calm and answered the questions one by one, replying to any questions he was unsure about with "consult the legal counsel's office".

The physical evidence technology assessment focuses on on-site investigation and evidence collection, requiring that the contamination rate of on-site evidence not exceed 5%.

This is a very difficult assessment question.

The scene setup was so despicable that even experienced detectives found it infuriating.

The first thing you see when you enter is a large pool of blood with signs of dragging.

The pool of blood was wide enough that trainees had to step into it to enter the room.

Upon entering, the scene was as if a storm had swept through.

The furniture was lying haphazardly on the floor, and there were bloodstains everywhere on the walls, furniture, and floor.

The cabinets and drawers were all ransacked, and their contents were scattered all over the floor.

There was a mannequin under the overturned sofa, serving as a corpse.

The description states that this is the scene of a home invasion robbery.

All the detectives present had handled burglary cases, but none of them had ever seen a crime scene like this.

Many detectives stood at the door, looking around blankly, completely unsure of how to proceed.

Theodore was the first to enter.

He put on shoe covers, gloves, a hat, and a mask, first standing at the door to take photos, and then stepping directly into the room through the pool of blood.

Skip the dragging bloodstains and continue taking photos.

He photographed every inch of the bloodstains, bloodstains, overturned cabinets, shifted furniture, broken plates, scattered books, and so on.

After filming, Theodore took a powder box and a brush and started scrubbing the drawer doors, successfully extracting several fingerprints.

After making the fingerprint card, he lifted the sofa and continued taking photos.

After photographing the corpse, he continued to scrub the knife stuck in it.

From the moment they went in to the moment they came out, it took less than ten minutes, which made the instructor's eyes twitch.

After Theodore came out, he stood in front of the instructor, looked at the instructor who had given him a perfect score, and nodded in satisfaction.

In fact, this task only requires wearing protective gear correctly, photographing the bloodstains and the body, and extracting fingerprints.

He acted as if he were actually facing a real case, taking it all too seriously, which was far too comprehensive.

Bernie was the second to enter.

He was much slower than Theodore, but he still made it through easily.

In the afternoon, Theodore participated in shooting and physical fitness tests.

He practiced these two skills diligently, and although his test results weren't the best, they were still in the upper-middle range.

This made him very happy.

The second day's case analysis assessment required trainees to simulate a complete case investigation process, including everything from a search warrant to a case closure report.

The assessment will last all day, and trainees can revise and submit their work repeatedly, but must not exceed the deadline.

This is a comprehensive assessment of all subjects in the entire selection and training process.

Theodore was somewhat stunned when he received the questions.

The assessment topic was a cold case that the local police station had requested assistance with.

The case was not solved at the time, but the FBI reopened it six months later.

Trainees are responsible for leading the reopening of cases, completing the internal and external documentation required for reopening the cases, coordinating with relevant departments based on clues, collaborating with local police stations to jointly solve cases, and writing and archiving case closure reports.

Theodore felt the question looked familiar.

They seem familiar.

Theodore wrote furiously and handed in his paper at noon.

Back then, he and Bernie encountered numerous obstacles when they were conducting a private investigation, and they even had to go through the formal procedures and wait for five days.

Although Bernie handled most of the procedural documents, Theodore wasn't idle either.

Not long after Theodore returned to the barracks, Bernie also came out.

As evening approached, Billy Hawke came out third, grinning from ear to ear.

Soon after, more and more students began to emerge.

This assessment is like a threshold.

Even if you didn't pass yesterday's assessment, you still have the opportunity to extend your training and retake the test.

If you don't pass it, you'll be eliminated no matter how good your performance was yesterday.

The people who came out of the examination hall were not in the mood to talk. They ate their own meals and returned to their barracks to wait.

As lights out approached, the assessment ended, and everyone returned to the barracks.

The assessment results were released a day later.

The trainees in this selection and training session were of very high quality; only 10 were eliminated.

The same three trucks that had brought them there took them back to the Department of Justice building.

Trainees who passed the assessment lined up to go to the personnel department to receive their assignments.

They will also have a four-week internship.

During the first week, they will be arranged to observe court proceedings, and for the next three weeks, they will participate in the investigation of the actual case.

Theodore and Bernie were also among the trainees.

Several familiar detectives passed by and greeted them.

After the detectives left, many people looked at the two of them.

Billy Hawke, who was standing right behind them, nudged Theodore and whispered, "How do you know them?"

Theodore glanced at him in surprise.

Bernie turned around and explained in a low voice that he and Theodore had been recruited by the FBI in advance.

Billy Hawke's eyes widened, and he muttered under his breath, "So we're all going to the selection process, and you two are going to the training."

Harold Wilson, who was in front, turned around and asked in surprise, "Don't you recognize them?"

This time, it was Theodore and Bernie's turn to be stunned.

Bernie asked Harold Wilson, "What do you know about us?"

Harold Wilson pointed at Theodore: "The youngest sergeant in the Felton Police Department in Texas, who was promoted to sergeant in less than a year."

He then pointed to Bernie: "The Felton media calls them the 'Twin Detectives'."

He thought for a moment, then said uncertainly, "I think there's a local Felton newspaper, a big one, that specializes in their story..."

Theodore secretly resolved to inquire about the acquisition of the Felton Star at noon.

Bernie glanced at Theodore with a smug look, then pulled Harold Wilson aside and whispered his explanation.

He never expected that the Star's reputation would even reach Chicago.

Billy Hawke curiously leaned over and asked Theodore about the "Gemini Man" and the newspaper.

Theodore thought for a moment and answered the second question first: "It was a third-rate tabloid, not as big as Harold Wilson said."

"That newspaper likes to write nonsense, report falsehoods, and often distort the facts."

Theodore racked his brains, piling up a large number of negative words on the Felton Star before preparing to give a fair and objective explanation of the origin of the 'Twin Detectives'.

He paused for a moment, then slowly recalled that the "Gemini Detectives" story seemed to originate from a report in the Felton Star.

The third-rate tabloid initially called them "psychic detectives," but later changed it to "the psychic twin detectives."

Bernie, who was whispering with Harold Wilson, kept a close eye on everything and pulled Billy Hawke over as well:
"At first, they called us 'psychic detectives' because..."

Bernie, with great tact, downplayed the seriousness of the situation and recounted their experiences in Felton from the perspective of the Felton Star.

When it was their turn in line, he was still a little reluctant to leave.

Today, Dawson, the head of the personnel department, was also there. He warmly helped Theodore and Bernie complete their onboarding procedures.

Theodore and Bernie finally received their official sidearms and equipment, FBI badges, and most importantly, leather identification folders.

This thing is like a police badge.

With it, they can legitimately shout 'FBI! Open the door!'...

At noon, Theodore was called away by Hoover.

He came back specifically from the White House.

Hoover looked tired and his complexion wasn't good.

With the international situation becoming increasingly tense, he is very busy now.

The two had a quick lunch and then returned to headquarters.

Hoover called Theodore into his office and handed him a gold-plated pistol.

Theodore, holding a pistol, was bewildered.

Hoover snorted: "Your graduation gift."

He thought of Theodore's graduation ceremony, and his expression darkened further.

Theodore glanced at Hoover suspiciously and put the gun away.

Hoover snorted again, took out the report that Theodore had submitted in January, placed it on the table, and tapped it.

This report presents preliminary ideas regarding the composition and future direction of the investigation team.

Theodore provided a more detailed explanation of the report.

Contrary to Hoover's expectations, Theodore did not intend to fill the team all at once.

He told Hoover that what he needed at this stage was an agent in charge of internal affairs.

Internal affairs agents need to be familiar with paperwork, be able to help them contact various departments to coordinate investigations, and also have a certain level of mathematical skills.

Hoover's temples throbbed with pleasure.

Theodore then elaborated on his vision for the development of the investigation team.

He also suggested providing security training to key financial institutions or high-value individuals to enhance their awareness of crime prevention and reduce the likelihood of robberies and kidnappings, thereby achieving the goal of crime prevention.

Finally, Theodore steered the conversation back to reality: "I need office space."

Theodore said, "Bernie and I are still using the small conference room to work. We need our own office space."

Hoover tapped the table, but couldn't conjure up an office space for him.

The FBI headquarters is crammed into the Department of Justice building, and many departments are facing a shortage of office space, with no available office space at all.

He turned the question directly to Tolson, telling Theodore that the investigation team was led by Deputy Director Tolson.

Tolson would arrange office space for him, and his insider agent, whose very name sounded like a headache.

Theodore asked where Deputy Director Hoover Thorsen was.

Hoover paused for a moment, then waved for Theodore to leave.

Given the current tense international situation, the White House cannot function without the FBI for a moment. With him back, Tolson naturally remained at the White House.

Thank you for the donation!
Thank you, boss~（づ￣3￣）づ╭～

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(End of this chapter)