Chapter 339: Suspect Tracking
Howard initially didn't believe it, until Rajesh held up his phone, showing the evidence he'd secretly photographed. Howard was stunned.
Ron covered his face. He remembered that when he and Hope were practicing difficult gymnastic poses by the window, there had indeed been a camera flash from below. He hadn't paid attention at the time, thinking it was just some random creep.
So what if he was photographed? That infamous Anthony Weiner scandal went viral! How could he have imagined that creep was Rajesh?!
Ron glared fiercely at Rajesh, who shrank back in fear.
"Howard, let me explain. That woman isn't Bernadette at all. She's another gymnast I know. You might have seen her on ESPN. She just happens to look a lot like Bernadette. Look, I even have photos. Bernadette could never do that move, right?"
Ron handed over his phone, which contained photos of him and Hope working out together at the gym.
"Phew!" Howard, after examining it for a while, finally realized that although they looked very similar, they were definitely not the same person, and breathed a sigh of relief: "I knew it, Ron. You would never be the kind of guy to make a move on your buddy's girl. You scared the crap out of me."
"Wait, why don't you ask Ron why he's hooking up with a woman who looks like Bernadette?"
Rajesh's pointed question made Howard freeze again. Ron was now so angry he wanted to strangle someone. Seriously, if you can't help, just shut up.
"Howard, let me explain..."
In a remote valley not far from Los Angeles, California, at a military installation, Hobbs was brought here after he, like the Nameless One, proposed building a new system that could monitor everyone.
The above-ground part of this military base looked no different from other installations, but the main facility was far more complex than it appeared. It was located beneath a lake in the valley.
Hundreds of massive server racks, like filing cabinets, were submerged at the bottom of the lake, cooled by the lake water to operate normally. This setup was even larger than the Microsoft data center that Hobbs had visited before!
However, before Hobbs could voice his many questions, the Nameless One, as if having already anticipated them, spoke first: "Look, this is the true form of the Samaritan system."
"How is that possible? If this is Samaritan, then what was it that we retrieved from the terrorists? Didn't Ramsey say he created it?"
The Nameless One's words only confused Hobbs more.
"You don't really think that such a tiny chip can control and calculate all the satellites, computers, smartphones, and all terminals in the world, do you?"
The Nameless One looked at Hobbs with some exasperation. To be honest, if she could, she really wouldn't want such a dense subordinate. She preferred someone sharper like Ron, but unfortunately, Ron didn't play ball.
Of course, Hobbs's lack of intelligence wasn't entirely his fault. According to the Nameless One, it was probably due to genetic limitations.
Even without mentioning Ron, the achievements of the other members of the Cooper family alone were enough to utterly eclipse Hobbs.
George Jr., the older brother who controls the entire tire distribution network across Texas; Sheldon, a physicist hailed by the scientific community as the most likely to win a Nobel Prize;
and even Missy, the seemingly unremarkable youngest daughter in the Cooper family, who, beneath her ordinary waitress exterior, is the de facto owner of the Meemaw's Texas BBQ restaurant chain.
But there was no way around it; Ron had his own agenda, and Hobbs was more compliant in comparison.
"The Samaritan system has always been a top-secret project of the US government. The story goes that the project originated from a brilliant MIT grad who planned to develop it to track terrorist communications. However, she only provided the algorithms; the actual construction was handled by two other genius engineers."
"The chip Ramsey accidentally created is merely the access key needed to log into this system. Due to the advanced quantum encryption, even without the key, we cannot use the system."
"But didn't you just say we built it ourselves? Don't we have the key?"
"We did have it, but it was destroyed by the machine's creators. Those two engineers developed extreme hostility towards us for reasons we still don't fully understand. One of them is dead, but the other is still missing. I need you to find him."
The Nameless One handed Hobbs a file folder: "This is his information—Dr. Harold Finch. He has severe paranoia, and coupled with his understanding of the system itself, he knows very well how to evade the machine's surveillance, so we still haven't been able to locate him."
"Then why do you think I can?"
"Because of this," the Nameless One pulled a stack of crime scene photos from the folder in Hobbs's hand. "Mr. Finch is a man with a strong sense of justice. He's very interested in another capability the machine discovered during operation: predicting crimes.
He suggested using the predicted information to prevent those crimes, but we all know that the machine's primary purpose is to deal with those terrorist scumbags, which is the main source of our disagreement."
"Although Mr. Finch intercepted all the predicted information through a backdoor, we at least know when it sent out the information, and the most recent transmission was last week. These cases are all from the past week."
The Nameless One emphasized, "Hobbs, I need you to find the one Dr. Finch was involved in from these crimes, and then follow the breadcrumbs to find that person."
"Yes, ma'am." Hobbs snapped to attention, but immediately fell into confusion again. "But which one should I start with?"
"I think this drug case would be a good starting point." The Nameless One pulled one of the photos from the stack.
At the same time, Ron said the exact same thing in his office.
"I think this drug case would be a perfect opportunity," Ron tossed the photos on the table. "We've been spending too much lately, and if we don't find a way to collect some revenue, our bonuses this quarter will be toast."
Carl raised his hand. "Then why don't we go after Silicon Valley? All those tech companies are loaded; we're sure to rake in a ton."
"My poor sweet summer child," Ron ruffled Carl's hair. "Trust me, those tech bros in Silicon Valley will use every imaginable loophole to legally dodge taxes. Just dealing with their army of lawyers would take at least a quarter; I don't have that kind of time.
Compared to that, these muscle-bound drug dealers are obviously way easier targets."
(End of Chapter)
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