Chapter 50 Chapter 50

They left the office area of ​​the J2 headquarters, turned left to Corridor 9, and took the elevator to the underground space.The underground space of the Pentagon is a confusing labyrinth connected by many pure white corridors. It is a place where there is no sunlight.A running joke at the Pentagon is that some of the employees recruited in the 1950s still wander around the basement like chickens trying to find their way out. The members of the J2 Intelligence Operations Office are all intelligence analysts and experts in the intelligence graphics system, with a total of 24 people.All kinds of military briefings that they compiled and distributed in an orderly manner were compiled into volumes every week.Intelligence comes not only from DIA itself, but also from other agencies such as the CIA and NSA.After they processed the intelligence, they presented it to the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who are in charge of intelligence work.The presentation adopts the popular PPT manuscript format, which is concise, straight to the point, and never sloppy.In the military, simplicity is an overriding virtue.

Intelligence Operations has both active-duty military and civilian personnel.So the people Puller encountered were dressed in a variety of camouflage uniforms, old-fashioned green uniforms, new blue military uniforms, slacks, button-down shirts, and the occasional suit.There are people working 24 hours here, and the night duty personnel who come to work wear POLO shirts.The dead Reynolds was the highest ranking officer here.Because the intelligence operations branch is located in an office area that handles sensitive and tightly controlled information, Puller and Bolling must lock their cell phones and other electronic devices into a closet outside the entrance.It is strictly forbidden to bring things with the function of taking pictures or communicating with the outside world in this building area.

After passing through the entrance, Puller looked around the reception area.Much like the rest of the Pentagon he'd seen.Personnel can only go through this passage, and there may be an emergency evacuation exit in case of special circumstances.At the end of the passage is an open work area. Intelligence analysts and intelligence graphics experts are busy in the small cubicles arranged here, making the work that General Carson will study carefully at 05:00 tomorrow morning. The product". The light here is dim, it should be brighter in the compartment.Still, within a year, half of those people sitting at their desks fighting terrorists in the dark will be wearing glasses, Pooler thought.

At present the supreme head here is a lieutenant colonel.After Puller and Bolling showed their credentials, they were allowed to question Reynolds' colleagues in a small conference room.According to the most common investigation method, each person will be questioned individually.Because even though people initially have different information and perspectives on things, once they sit together and are surveyed together, they tend to tell a similar story.Puller pointed out to these interviewees that he had the right to know everything, including top secret and sensitive tightly controlled information, and to use a lie detector, and that his investigation was fully justified.Bolling confirmed this on the sidelines.

In the field of crime detection and intelligence work, the opening statement mentioned above has picked many door locks and mouths. Those colleagues expressed far more shock and grief than his immediate boss at the death of Matthews Reynolds.However, they also failed to provide any useful information or clues as to why Reynolds was killed.They told Puller that, while classified, there was nothing about Reynolds' work that would have been linked to his killing.When Puller finished his interviews, his investigation had not progressed significantly from when he first walked into the building.

He then searched Reynolds' office.This office has been sealed since the Colonel went to West Virginia and was killed.From the point of view of design and management, the entire space of the Intelligence Operations Office is like a confidential warehouse, and anything placed here is safe anywhere.Even so, Puller thought there might still be a safe in Reynolds' office, which turned out not to be the case.In this office, too, Puller found nothing useful for the investigation.The house is very clean and there are not many office equipment. Puller inspected the computer on the desk in the presence of Bolling, and the files stored inside provided no clues.

Puller bid farewell to Intelligence Operations, opened a closet, retrieved his cell phone, and walked out one of the building's main doors with Bolling, where he parted ways with the DIA agent.He walked back to the spacious parking lot to his rented car.He didn't drive away immediately, but sat on the hood of the car and studied the pentagonal building carefully.It is the largest single office building in the world.On September 11, 2001, the Pentagon was battered by assailants, but it rose back stronger than ever. Since the late 1990s, the Pentagon, a nearly sixty-year-old building, has undergone a lengthy renovation project.Ironically, the American Airlines jumbo jet that briefly fell into the hands of the maniac hit the first area of ​​the renovation project that had just been completed.More than a decade later, the renovation of the Pentagon is almost complete.This is a test of America's ability to recover.

Puller looked the other way.Visible through the railing, children of building staff are playing happily in the daycare kindergarten built on the Pentagon site.Pooler believes that this is what soldiers have consistently fought for in war—the rights and liberties of the next generation.Watching the little boys and girls slide down the plastic slides and ride the rocking horses somehow made Pooler feel a little better.However, only a little.He was needed to catch the killer still at large, and Puller felt as far away as he had been when he first received the assignment. The phone vibrated.He pulls out his phone.A text message, very short and eye-catching:

He didn't know who sent the text message.The sender obviously knew how to reach him.He deliberated on the words of the text message for a while, then put away the phone.He checked his watch, it was enough time.There was one more thing he really wanted to do when he got back East.The matter became even more important to Puller through his encounters with the Cole family, who were struggling with communication. He stepped on the accelerator and said goodbye to the Pentagon in the rearview mirror.