The real life of an American police officer: Winning over others with virtue

Chapter 345 Obeying Orders
Eric looked over and saw a rather conspicuous jeep approaching and pulling over to the side of the road.

The car lights go out.

A lean-fitting man wearing a casual jacket emerged from the car door.

It was Ben. As he walked over, his gaze swept over the two people under the porch, lingering particularly on Eric for a while.

He already knew from Reese that it was this young man who saved Lauren and Jenny; otherwise, it would have been truly frightening.
“Reece”.

“Ben.” Reese nodded, introducing the two parties.

“This is Detective Eric Stevens; he is trustworthy.”

"Ah."

Ben looked at Eric and nodded, saying, "Thank you, Detective, you saved Lauren and Jenny!"

Having met so many veteran CIA agents, Eric could sense the distinctive aura of a CIA agent emanating from them.

Cautious, suspicious, and constantly evaluating.

However, the other person's demeanor was too decadent. He was dressed sloppily, with unkempt hair and beard, and was not at all as composed as the old CIA officers he had met.

Eric remained relaxed, not extending his hand, but simply nodding slightly.
“It was nothing.” Eric’s gaze lingered for a moment on the folder in his hand.

"Did Reese tell you everything?"

"I've given you a general overview." Ben said succinctly, handing the folder to Rhys and getting straight to the point.

"Where is the man?"

Rhys took the folder and stubbed out his cigarette: "In the garage."

“OK!” Ben shrugged.

"You guys look at the documents first, leave the person to me."

Rhys and Eric exchanged a glance and both nodded.

-

Thus, each had their own division of labor.

Tifa and Lauren were talking. It has to be said that Tifa is a master of psychological manipulation. Even Lauren, who was frightened, started laughing.

Hon went to the garage alone. He saw the attacker tied to the pillar, his face gloomy and exuding a dangerous aura. He silently tugged at his cuffs, closed the door, and shut it out, cutting off all noise.

Eric and Reese returned to the open courtyard and, by the dim light of the courtyard lamps, began to peruse the documents they had brought.

The courtyard at night is completely different from the daytime. The sky above is as dark as ink, with a few cold stars peeking through the thin clouds.

Reese reads it first, then passes it on to Eric.

The two remained silent, but their expressions were completely different.

In contrast to the gloomy look on Rhys's face, Eric remained completely unmoved.

Eric glanced at Lance's tense profile, then looked back at the paper in his hand, already understanding the situation.

Things went exactly as he predicted.

From the moment Rhys's team received the wrong intelligence, their fate was sealed.

Importantly, as he thought, any underhanded dealings in the intelligence field should be directly attributed to the CIA.

The documents and materials brought here also confirm this point.

The text emphasizes that a CIA field agent provided Tabari Musa with false intelligence, which, after several transfers, eventually ended up in the hands of Reese's SEAL team.

This information was no big deal to Eric.

What really caught his attention was the description of this field agent in the file.

In Ben's words, this guy is connected to a highly classified CIA project, and his background is highly suspicious.

Despite using all available channels, he was unable to uncover any substantial details of the plan, only confirming that this classified plan was of paramount importance to the CIA.

What's even more troublesome is that Ben seems to have been exposed after discovering this clue.

Eric tapped his fingertips lightly on the paper, his gaze calm.

One thing he couldn't understand was how Rhys's team got involved.

Thinking of this, Eric looked up at Reese, who seemed to have a headache again, and frowned.

"Rhys, do you have any clue?"

Rhys pinched the bridge of his nose, then shook his head as he stared at the photo.

"Never seen it before."

Eric asked, "Who exactly is your target, Dr. Jahan Kahanni? Can you tell me about the situation?"

Rhys was silent for a moment, then finally nodded and said something.

As Reese recounted the story, Eric became increasingly convinced that Dr. Jahan Kahani was merely a decoy.

There are many suspicious points.

Eric sorted through the clues in his mind. The whole thing was like a rusty lock, only lacking the most crucial trigger to completely uncover the truth.

“Two directions: find that field agent or see what we got out of him,” Eric said.

Reese's gaze remained fixed on the Mexican address at the end of the document, and he nodded upon hearing this.

“I have some reliable connections in Mexico.”

Eric raised an eyebrow; this guy, who looked like a Navy SEAL lieutenant, actually had some guts.

He instinctively thought of Bill, the old CIA agent. Bill was able to stir up trouble in France, so his connections must be stronger than Ben's.

This was the network of connections he could currently leverage. But Eric quickly suppressed the fleeting thought; since Rhys had connections, he'd better assess the situation before making any decisions.

The scene fell silent again, but after a moment, Eric looked in the direction of the noise.

The bag came out, but the cuffs were still damp and hadn't dried completely, so it looked like it had been cleaned up before coming over.

"Judging from your expressions, I can tell there's been no progress." Ben walked in, pulling out a chair and sitting down, a sardonic smile playing on his lips. His movements carried the lingering menace of the interrogation.

“But I did make a discovery,” Ben said, pushing a crumpled piece of paper to the center of the table before looking at Reese.

"That guy gave a name, Robbie Becker, and he said that this guy sent them to kill Reese."

“Robbie Becker?” Rees repeated.

"Who?"

“Brother, don’t ask me, I don’t know either. We’ll have to look into it,” Ben said, shrugging and looking at Eric.

Eric calmly replied, "If even a CIA agent like you doesn't know, how could a mere detective like me possibly know?"

These words made Ben's lips curl into a slight smile. Before coming, he had already investigated Eric.

He was promoted to Police Officer III+1 in less than two years as a patrol officer, ignoring all conventional restrictions.

Then, due to violations that caused significant financial losses, he was demoted.

Not long after, he was promoted to trainee detective.

Based solely on the official body camera footage, there are over twenty official videos of this guy.

Although there was some protective blurring, he could still tell it was Eric.

Moreover, Eric is only twenty-five years old, which is quite an exaggeration even by his standards.

However, what he admired most was that Eric mostly killed people who deserved to die, and even gained widespread approval among the people in his jurisdiction.

This suited his taste perfectly; he, trapped in darkness, liked people like this.

“Finding him shouldn’t be difficult; I’ll leave this to you,” Ben said.

"Because I have to leave soon. Someone has been investigating me recently, and I can't bring trouble here."

As he spoke, Ben nodded to Eric, stood up, and patted Reese on the shoulder.

"I'll take the killer in the garage with me."

As Reese watched Ben's departing figure, he said, "Ben, you'll be attending the funeral, won't you?"

“Of course, see you tomorrow, Reese.” Ben stopped and continued walking.

"Be careful, Ben." Reese watched Ben wave goodbye and leave, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and sat up straight, holding his hands behind his head.

Eric, seeing how uncomfortable he looked, suggested, "Why don't you go to the hospital to get it checked out?"

Rhys opened his eyes and shook his head: "It's nothing, just a headache, I'll be fine after a rest. What are you planning to do next?"

Eric calmly replied, "Naturally, we're waiting for your news while observing how the situation develops. The operation here failed, and they should have received the news by now."

After saying that, Eric stood up and indicated that he was also leaving.

“Police officers are not specifically designed to protect people, and there will inevitably be oversights. For Lauren and Jenny’s safety, you’d better make arrangements in advance. No one knows what they might do if the operation fails.”

And you should also be careful; it's best to find somewhere to hide.

And so, I'm leaving. Contact me if you need anything.

Reese nodded and said earnestly, "Thanks, Eric!"

Eric shrugged and left the open courtyard. Reese was clearly an experienced man and knew he was important now. There was no need for him to protect him like a babysitter; that would be underestimating him.

Now that information is synchronized, the importance of Riesling's location has become somewhat less significant.

-

Walk through the veranda towards the living room.

Tifa was sitting next to Lauren and Jenny, and the three of them were chatting and laughing.

Jenny even stood next to her, clutching a piece of candy in her hand, occasionally rustling the candy wrapper.

“We have to go,” Eric said with a smile, stopping a few steps away, drawing the attention of the three men.

Tifa looked up at the sound, nodded slightly to him, and then turned to Lauren: "Get some rest. Contact me if you need anything. You know my phone number."

"Thank you!" Lauren smiled, her voice slightly choked.

Tifa touched Jenny's hair again, and the little girl immediately slipped the candy into her palm.

Tifa smiled and said, "Jenny, please take good care of your mother, okay?"

The little girl nodded seriously.

Tifa's smile remained unchanged as she got up, walked over to Eric, and took the coat he offered.

Eric nodded to Lauren and her daughter, and walked out the door side by side with Tifa under their watchful eyes.

"Any progress?" Tifa asked quietly as she put on her coat and stepped out of the living room.

Eric opened the front door, the night breeze blowing in his face, and whispered.

"A good harvest, I'll talk about it when I get back."

Tifa immediately took Eric's arm, pressed herself against him, and laughed:

"As ordered!"

(End of this chapter)