Reid had been busy for quite a while inside the burned-out building. With the help of John and a few LAPD officers, they managed to clear out quite a bit of Jack's belongings.
It was a small stroke of luck, or perhaps due to the quick arrival of the firefighters, that the fire didn't do much damage to Jack's study on the first floor. The RPG hadn't hit that area.
As a result, the Chinese books that Hannah had once gifted Jack, as well as the spaceship and large robot models carefully placed in the cabinets, remained intact.
Jack offered to let Reid take care of the two full cabinets of models, on the condition that he help clean the smoke and ash off of them. Reid was so thrilled that anyone who didn't know better might have thought the models were a gift for him.
Jack also asked Reid to help recover data from his laptop, which had been blown to pieces. It contained his nearly finished first detective novel, and he was only missing the final chapter. Losing it would have made him explode on the spot.
Some of the more sensitive items were moved by Reid to the basement and locked away. The Wolfe brothers were scheduled to come in the morning to handle the rest.
Jack was most heartbroken over other losses, like the rare spices he'd collected and several large jars of herbal and fruit liquors he used to entertain guests.
The mahjong table in the living room and the large bathtub in the bathroom were also destroyed. Jack had made both of them himself, and they were irreplaceable, holding great sentimental value.
Once everything was handled, it was nearly dawn. Jack returned to the wrecked bedroom on the second floor and opened a safe. Inside were his Glock, the FK7.5 pistol, his FBI badge, and valuable documents related to insurance and property.
He packed all the documents into a bag to carry with him. Leaving the house, Jack felt a wave of sadness. Technically, this house had been his first real home in this world, and now it was gone.
Fortunately, the garage had been spared, and Braxton's "Mammoth" was untouched. After saying temporary goodbyes to the others, Jack headed straight to Hannah's house.
With Doyle temporarily out of the picture, JJ took Emily home, and Hotchner assigned a special operations team to provide extra protection.
When Jack parked the car and quietly unlocked the front door, just like before, he found Hannah fast asleep on the couch in the living room.
He sniffed the burnt smell on his clothes and decided not to scoop her up and carry her to bed like usual. Instead, he gently covered her with a blanket and slipped into the bathroom.
Sure enough, as soon as he opened the bathroom door, there were fresh clothes laid out for him. Jack grinned, warmth filling his heart. Some things transcended cultural differences—true feelings between a man and a woman could be seen in the small details.
As the sound of water filled the bathroom, the door quietly opened, and a female "wolf" sneaked in, up to no good.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind the shower curtain, and Jack, who had been itching for action, pulled her into the shower and kissed her passionately.
Wait... something didn't feel right.
Jack instinctively squeezed again—this wasn't Hannah, nor was it Zoe or Maureen. Confused, he turned off the shower, wiped the water from his face, and finally saw the girl standing in front of him.
"Tyler Kelly! What are you doing here?"
Tyler, already weak, rested her head against Jack's chest, holding onto his neck to avoid collapsing.
"Why can't I be here? Hannah can be here, Anderson can be here, and that psychologist too. Do you really think I haven't noticed anything?"
Jack mentally cursed—this woman was a real talent, using her investigative reporter skills on this of all things.
Before Jack could say more, hurried footsteps echoed outside the bathroom, and Hannah stormed in, clearly furious.
"I'll leave this to you." Jack gently pushed Tyler into Hannah's arms, completely unconcerned about any misunderstandings. After all, he was the one who had been ambushed. There was no reason for him to feel guilty.
Hannah quickly dragged Tyler out, and soon, the living room echoed with Tyler's wails as she was punished.
By the time Jack finished his shower and came out to the living room, Tyler was still being held down on the couch as Hannah smacked her.
There was nothing they could do—millions of lonely men in Los Angeles looked forward to seeing Tyler's pretty face on the news every day, so a spanking was as far as it could go.
"Why is she at your place?" Jack asked with a smile, casually standing behind the couch to hide his own frustration.
"She's been tailing me all night. When I caught her, she said she had important intel for you and that she was in danger after digging for information. I had no choice but to bring her home."
Hannah, clearly still upset, held Tyler down, ignoring her attempts to surrender by slapping the couch. It had to be said—while watching crazy women fight wasn't interesting, watching two beautiful girls tussle was truly a sight to behold.
No wonder women's wrestling in Japan and women's football in America were so popular. There was definitely a reason.
Jack reached out to smooth back some of Hannah's disheveled hair from the intense activity, then turned his attention to Tyler.
"Do you have news about what I asked you to look into?"
"Can you let me up first? I'm about to pass out." Tyler, still pinned down, gasped, sounding like she was on the verge of fainting.
Even though Jack knew she was probably faking it, he still pulled Hannah off her, giving her a comforting kiss.
Tyler, soaked from earlier, got up, her nightgown clinging to her body, highlighting her graceful curves.
"Alright, let's get to business. You wanted to know who was suppressing the media coverage of the two cases in Orange County, right?"
She tied her wet blonde hair into a bun, her tone filled with a hint of bitterness.
"You've caused me so much trouble. Behind this is a multinational corporation called CWS. As soon as I started digging, their PR team came after me."
"Clearwater Security?" Jack realized.
In this world, there wasn't a "Blackwater" company like in popular culture. Most private military contractors (PMCs) operated under the radar. Jack only learned about them after joining the FBI.
CWS specialized in counterintelligence missions. Their clients ranged from the US State Department to ordinary businesses. Whether it was overseas counterespionage operations or handling corporate espionage, it was all within their scope of services.
The biggest advantage of such private contractors was that they weren't bound by the Geneva Conventions, allowing them to operate with impunity overseas. This meant that the team responsible for capturing Doyle was most likely from CWS.
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