Police in America

"He took off with my car!" The back door of the police station slammed open, and Pat Mannan, with a bloody nose, stumbled in.

"That bastard stole my car."

Under the astonished gazes of the team, he grabbed the radio on the table and started calling, "This is Pat Mannan, all units be advised, we're pursuing Kisen Vaughn."

Seeing that the BAU team had all stopped what they were doing to look at him, Pat Mannan felt embarrassed. Hotchner, with a stern face, walked up to him.

"What happened? Weren't you supposed to be keeping an eye on him?"

Pat Mannan opened his mouth, his initial bravado faltering. After a moment of hesitation, he finally admitted dejectedly, "He ambushed me, knocked me out, and took my car keys."

"Bruce Owen must have recognized Douglas from the photo, which means he knows who the killer is. Now, he's unleashed a monster to find the person who killed his daughter," Rossi quickly deduced the "truth."

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I'm in deep shit now," Pat Mannan muttered, ignoring the need to confront Bruce Owen. He grabbed the radio he had just put down and ran out.

Fifteen minutes earlier, in the police station's rear parking lot, Jack, already seated in his Firebird, watched with a smile as Kisen Vaughn pretended to ask for a light for his cigarette and then swiftly knocked out Pat Mannan with a clean punch.

"Hiss," Jack winced on behalf of the federal marshal. That punch definitely carried some personal grudge.

Seeing Kisen rummaging through Mannan's pockets for the car keys and then eyeing his gun, Jack began to feel uneasy. Although Pat Mannan wasn't the brightest, he wasn't a bad guy, and he did his job well enough. If Kisen took his gun, it would really screw the guy over, possibly forcing him into early retirement.

Fortunately, Kisen hesitated and ultimately decided against taking the gun. He quickly got up and ran to the nondescript blue Mercury that Pat Mannan had driven.

Watching the Mercury leave the parking lot, Jack started his Firebird and slowly followed.

It had to be said, though this world didn't have the well-known TV show *Knight Rider* that Jack remembered from his previous life, the Firebird's appearance was still a bit too flashy for tailing someone. It wasn't exactly the ideal vehicle for this kind of work.

The two cars had been on the road for less than ten minutes when Jack was spotted. Not that he had been particularly discreet—he had practically announced his presence to the other driver.

The Mercury gradually pulled over to the side of the road, and Jack casually parked about ten meters behind it.

Kisen got out of his car and walked over to Jack, who had already lowered the window. He stood there, silently staring at him.

With a smile, Jack pulled out a Churchill cigar from his pocket and handed it to Kisen, joking, "You don't punch everyone who offers you a smoke, do you?"

Kisen took the cigar, still keeping a stern face. "You've been watching me this whole time?"

"Neither Bruce nor you were willing to talk, were you? What did you and Bruce discuss? Did you promise him you'd take out the guy who killed his daughter?" Jack fired off a series of questions.

"Are you going to stop me?" Kisen didn't answer directly.

"Only if you hurt innocents or go too far," Jack responded without hesitation.

"For example, if you'd taken that gun earlier, I wouldn't have stayed quietly in my car."

"So, this was all your plan, huh? Why are you so confident that you can control everything? Is it because of that big piece you're packing?" Kisen glanced disdainfully at the backup gun under Jack's arm.

Jack flashed a harmless smile, the kind you'd expect from someone who wasn't standing in front of a cold-blooded killer who relied on psychiatric drugs to suppress violent impulses. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

Despite the amiable expression on Jack's face, Kisen couldn't shake the chill that crept up his spine, as if a hyena on the African savanna had suddenly realized it was facing a hungry lion.

"Have you killed a lot of people?" Kisen was puzzled. This young FBI agent looked like he was barely in his twenties, so why did he exude more menace than he did?

"Well, I guess?" Jack squinted as he tried to recall. The terrorists on Hollow Island who were blown up by the Claymore mines shouldn't count as his kills, right?

"I've lost track. I've taken out quite a few, whether they count as people or not." He had a hard time keeping track of the numbers, especially since the crowd was so dense during the ambush and he had fired his Barrett from a distance, making the tally tricky.

As for those cannibals he had taken down in New Mexico, it was hard to say if they could still be considered human. But excluding those, his record wasn't particularly impressive, certainly not compared to some guy named Jimmy next door.

Kisen was left bewildered by Jack's answer, unsure whether he was joking or telling the truth.

"Are you sure you want to waste time here with me?" Jack pulled out his phone, pointing at the time displayed on the screen.

Seeing that Jack wasn't going to waste any more words, Kisen turned and walked away. Jack called out after him, "Don't go too far. Your daughter still needs you."

Kisen paused for a moment, raised his right hand in a wave, got into his car, and merged into the evening traffic.

Half an hour later, as the blue Mercury sedan pulled up to the back of a house, Jack took out his phone and called Hotchner.

"I'm at Jackson Street. I think we might need..."

But before he could finish, a gunshot shattered the silence.

"Fuck!" Jack cursed as he opened his car door, switching his phone to his left hand and drawing his Glock from his waistband.

"Call 911. I just heard a gunshot."

He also thought to himself, *Kisen didn't have a gun. Did he rush in and get killed instead? Surely this ex-gangster, who's been out of the game for ten years, won't get himself killed in a stupid way.*

Before he could get close, Kisen emerged from the house, carrying a Winchester M1887 lever-action shotgun.

Seeing Jack, Kisen casually holstered the gun behind his back. "I found out where my daughter is."

"Uh, and?" Jack was momentarily stunned, seeing Kisen acting like a scene straight out of *Terminator*, and wondered about the fate of the small-time thug inside.

"I just broke his leg. He and another guy named Ryan Phillips hid her in a school a couple of blocks away, Mayford High. Are you coming?"

Kisen, seeing Jack put away his gun, got into his car and headed toward his daughter's high school.

Since there hadn't been a murder, Jack didn't bother to go inside to check. He turned back to his Firebird, thinking someone else could handle the 911 call.

"Yes. Ryan Phillips is hiding in the high school where the girl attends. I'm on my way. Get there as soon as possible," Jack said, hanging up the phone and speeding toward the destination.

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