Chapter 782: Cut Off the Tail to Survive

The topic of perversion ended here. Everyone found a hotel in Charlotte to sleep for one night, and the next day they drove back on Interstate 77.

The attack on the community church and the injury of the pastor did not receive much attention, but the ambush of the police task force by the gunman was reported in newspapers and television news nationwide.

The death of three police officers and the injury of five people can be called the largest police-related shooting in recent years. The chief of the Charlotte Police Department, who Jack and his friends met yesterday, directly opened fire at the press conference and cursed the corruption of the local judicial system.

After all, there are only district prosecutors, courts, prisons and bail loan companies in a certain gray interest chain. The local police department can't get a penny of benefit, but has to bear additional risks for it, and even has its funding cut because of the artificially created low prosecution rate.

The three police officers who died were two prison guards from the North Carolina Department of Corrections and a police officer from the Charlotte City Police Department. Two detectives from the Federal Marshals Service were seriously injured, and three police officers were slightly injured.

The president who likes to wear a red scarf really gave a speech for this. As usual, he scolded the donkey party and then promoted his view that only when everyone has a gun can there be no chaos.

This is the most loyal supporter of the National Rifle Association (NRA). Naturally, he could not propose any strict gun control bills. However, after he came to power, he did always take a tough stance on maintaining public order and enhancing the police's law enforcement capabilities, and even the FBI benefited a lot.

This also led to a lot of cessation of the zero-dollar purchase problem that was rampant in the United States. Unfortunately, although this person advocated anti-environmental protection and claimed to increase oil and gas drilling and re-enhance the manufacturing industry, it was useless. The economy was still sluggish, and the number of streetwalkers and homeless people on the street increased every day.

That night, news came from Pennsboro, West Virginia that the local sheriff's office found an abandoned old Lincoln sedan near a gas station, which was confirmed to be the one that Pastor Jennings was robbed of.

When Jack and his men rushed there overnight, Jubal and Alice also drove the command car from Marietta to meet them.

The old Lincoln was parked in a lifeless community, the windows had been broken, and the body was scratched all over. When Jack and his men arrived, Jubal was asking a local sheriff about the situation.

"What's wrong with this community? It seems that many people are not at home." Jubal asked.

"Because they can't pay their mortgages, many people left home to work in the newly opened coal mines nearby, intending to go all out." The expression of the small town sheriff was a little hard to describe.

This is a typical blue-collar community, with well-organized streets and new houses. It would not be an exaggeration to call it a middle-class community 20 years ago.

Although it was no longer the golden age when a family of four or five people could support the whole family and two dogs as long as the husband went to work in the factory alone, and could go abroad for a vacation every year, life was not too bad.

"Life will get better." Jubal sighed helplessly.

"At least the coal mine is open again, right? They should give us a break." The sheriff shrugged. The "they" he was talking about were of course the banks that were collecting debts.

Jack didn't care about the economic problems. He was simply looking at the town map and having a headache. There were hundreds of empty houses in a community, and the roads were connected in all directions. And because it was night, the local sheriff's office (town police station) only had two or three kittens, and there were only two police cars and four people at this time.

"First block the intersection leading to the highway, and then patrol from house to house. Check carefully whether there are signs of intrusion at the front and back doors. Jubal and the sheriff will patrol nearby and provide support at any time. Be careful not to turn on the police lights."

Jack didn't have any good ideas. A good cook can't cook without rice. It would take at least an hour to transfer people from the nearest state police. By the time they arrived, the daylily would be cold.

This is the current situation of the old industrial areas in the Rust Belt. The economy is declining, unemployment is increasing, the population is migrating, public security is deteriorating, and the supporting infrastructure is in disrepair, leading to further economic decline. It is simply an almost irreversible vicious cycle.

"Don't turn on the flashlight, work in groups of two and pay attention to safety. It is forbidden to act alone. If you find anything abnormal, call for reinforcements directly. Remember, Ronnie has a Colt revolver."

Jack didn't know the quality of the police officers in the small town police station, but fortunately, the command vehicle was in place. After the communication mast was raised directly, the radio signal could easily cover the entire area. Each person sent a wireless headset and reported the position every 5 minutes. There should be no big safety problems.

It was not very late at this time. It was just past ten o'clock in the evening, but there were almost no lights on in the entire community. Many street lights were also smashed, which looked extremely creepy like a ghost town.

This situation is not common. You must know that as long as someone lives in an American house, the porch lights in front of the door will be turned on even when sleeping. The main purpose is to prevent theft.

If any American family develops the habit of turning off the lights when they go out like the Chinese, they may just go out to the supermarket and come back to find that their home has been occupied by homeless people.

This is even more true for commercial places. Office buildings do not turn off the lights 24 hours a day because insurance companies have a clause that stipulates that no compensation will be paid for thefts in office buildings during the night when the lights are turned off.

Jack and Jiejie were in a group, wearing bulletproof vests and holding SIG Sauer P320-XTen, which is the daily sidearm for the wanted criminal team. Jack also carried a Noveske N4 assault rifle equipped with a night vision scope.

The two of them walked along the street to observe the traces in front of and behind the houses of each household, especially those houses whose front and back yards had not been taken care of for a long time. No matter how crazy Ronnie and Leilin acted, they were still human beings, and human beings had to eat, drink, defecate, urinate and sleep.

If the previous rape and murder cases were not enough to attract the attention of several neighboring states, then the vicious case of a clergyman being almost killed and his relatives being kidnapped was enough to make the police who received the FBI notice turn around the millstone like a lazy donkey being whipped.

"Team A, 50 Malcolm Circle, safe." Jack couldn't remember how many times he had reported his position. The surroundings were extremely quiet, and even the sound of cicadas in summer could not be heard. It was not much different from the scene of a horror movie.

"Team C, 61 Malcolm Circle, we may have found something." Aubrey's voice came from the channel, which made people feel refreshed.

"We found signs of intrusion at the door." Hannah, who was working with him, added immediately.

Jack and Jiejie looked at each other, turned on the tactical flashlight hanging under the pistol and quickly crossed the path between the two houses, trotting towards the direction of Aubrey's team. At the same time, the other side also turned on the flashlight and shook the light. It was Team B composed of Clay and a local police officer.

"Help! Help!" A young girl suddenly shouted for help from the direction of Team C, followed by Aubrey and Hannah's loud warnings.

"Stop! FBI!"

"Emma? Stop!"

"West, she ran west!" When the two went around the back street, Aubrey and Hannah stumbled out of the backyard of a house. In the dark, the two were almost tripped by a pile of messy debris.

"Did you see her?" Jack and Jiejie, who had just arrived, reached out and held the two of them.

Aubrey ran out of breath and rubbed his calf desperately with his hands. "It should be her, Emma, ​​wearing a dark green hoodie."

Jack looked at the two people and thought they should be fine. He turned his head and continued to chase in the direction of the sound. At the same time, he loudly informed Clay and the other two who were rushing from the opposite side of the location, "Clay, your three o'clock direction."

"Help! Help!" A petite figure flashed out from behind a house, saw Jack coming towards him, turned around and went into the backyard of the house.

Jack easily climbed over a fence with one hand, and after a lot of twists and turns, the flashlight in his hand finally successfully captured the figure. Aubrey's eyesight was good. The other party was indeed wearing a dark green hoodie, but the running posture was a little wrong.

"Be careful! The other party may not be Emma." Before Jack finished speaking, Clay rushed out from the side like an agile cheetah and threw the girl to the ground directly.

Clay flipped over and pushed the girl to the ground with his knees. He reached out and grabbed her right arm and twisted it, causing a switchblade to fall to the ground.

Jack stepped forward and took off her hood, revealing a head of short brown hair. "She is Raylin, and Emma is still in the other person's hands!"