Joe Reacher recovered quickly and was transferred from the ICU to a regular double room, where he shared a room with Chris, who had been shot in the leg.
However, in Jack's eyes, there was a difference in their treatnt. Dana, whom he hadn't seen in a long ti, was feeding Chris fruit by his bedside, while Joe, all alone, looked much more pitiful in comparison.
The Hunters didn't go into the hospital; the two elderly people took the two children from the Hubble family directly to a hotel not far from the hospital to rest. Charlie followed the others into the ward.
Dana seed much more confident than before, dressed in a black business suit. Jack keenly observed that she was also carrying a gun.
"Dana is now an analyst for the IRS. Before Director Ray King arrived, she was the plenipotentiary representative," Hannah introduced in a low voice after greeting everyone. Jack was sowhat dazed; how long had it been? Did the IRS not even train people for recruitnt?
"Joe!" The Reacher brothers, reunited after a long separation, saw their brother in the hospital bed wearing an oxygen mask. Jack Reacher was no longer the tough guy he always was; his eyes instantly reddened.
"Hey, brother." A weak Joe greeted him softly.
"I didn't expect to actually see you here. We were talking about Blind Blake, I just knew you liked blues, maybe I'll visit that town soday."
Jack Reacher crouched down beside the bed like a bear, tightly gripping Joe's hand.
"You should have asked for help. Have you forgotten Mom's dying words? You can't carry everything alone."
A bitter smile appeared on Joe's face. "Now I'm lying here and can't do anything, the rest is up to you. Help take down the Kleiner family."
The two brothers didn't say much, catching up briefly before getting straight to the point.
Jack stepped forward and briefly introduced himself. Joe had been unconscious, so this was their first formal eting.
"Those two ladies told your purpose while they were taking care of ." Joe's gaze swept over Hannah and Zoe behind him.
"I asked them to help contact my colleague at the Secret Service, Mollybeth Gordon, who is on her way to Atlanta with the information."
"Excuse for being blunt, but the Kleiner family once had a congressman backing them, and they have infiltrated various law enforcent agencies."
Jack didn't mince words; after all, there was definitely more to Joe's situation than ets the eye, and soone who knew his identity must have tipped off the Kleiner family.
Joe smiled. "I know, but Molly is trustworthy, and we're very close."
Seeing his younger brother, Joe revealed everything he had investigated, and everyone finally understood the Kleiner family's true nature.
Joe was the director of the Secret Service's Investigations Office, primarily responsible for combating counterfeit currency. He spent three years, through executive orders and related procedures, completely halting the production of counterfeit currency in the United States.
He didn't elaborate, but Jack could guess that it involved controlling the sale of acid-free paper and implenting procedures for tracing the entire process from production to sale.
Afterward, Joe devoted himself to investigating international counterfeit currency production.
"Unlike smaller bills, 80% of the currency in the international market is in $100 bills, circulating through underground transactions such as drugs, weapons, and human trafficking."
"Through my collaborative research with two economics professors from Columbia University, we discovered that in the past decade, nearly $10 billion worth of currency has flowed out of Venezuela to all parts of the world, and even after I blocked the supply of raw materials, it didn't decrease. So I did sothing."
Seeing Joe cough lightly twice, Jack Reacher quickly took a cup from the cabinet next to him, moistened his lips with a cotton swab.
"I never thought I'd be taken care of by you one day, little brother," Joe said with a wry smile.
"I persuaded the higher-ups to increase the Coast Guard's funding. They maintained tight patrols along the southeast coast for six months, and as a result, the shipnt of counterfeit currency from Venezuela has almost stopped for the past six months."
"After that, a group of South Arican rcenaries started frequently crossing the border. I followed the clues and ca to Margrave."
Jack nodded repeatedly. This was a smart move, with each step carefully planned and making full use of available resources. If the Kleiner family hadn't ultimately acted without any regard for ethics and overturned the table, Joe might have been able to dismantle the entire chain of interests on his own.
"So, you suspect these counterfeit bills originated in Margrave, Georgia."
Joe nodded. "Yes, and I've figured out how they made them."
"They collected a large number of small denomination bills, used a special technique to bleach off the ink, and then reprinted them as old versions of pre-1990s $100 bills. This way, they didn't need to worry about security features; they could just age them directly."
"Unfortunately, the truck driver who was willing to be a witness and transport the counterfeit bills to Florida for them was killed when he t with ."
"And although I previously used so thods to prevent them from obtaining small denomination bills from the retail industry, for so reason, they seem to have found new channels in the past few months."
Hearing this, Jack invited Paul Hubble's wife, Charlie, over. "I think she can explain the source of these new channels."
Having witnessed the previous chase and overheard the conversation, Charlie fully understood the current situation and no longer concealed anything. She explained that Paul had been coerced into cooperating with the Kleiner family to collect small denomination bills through the banking industry.
"When you see a man, nailed to the wall and castrated right in front of you, you can only obediently do as they say. Paul was forced. Kleiner completely ruined our family."
Charlie finished speaking, tears streaming down her face.
Now everything connected, especially the Jacks, who exchanged a knowing glance, each with their own plans.
[A/n: I don't if is just , but that glance sounded gay. No offence, but it is a harem fanfic.]
Only Hannah still had so questions, asking, "Then how does all this relate to the murder of my parents and that EPA investigator?"
Seeing that Joe, who was growing weaker after speaking for so long, was about to speak, Jack Reacher spoke for his brother.
"Sewage. Washing ink produces a lot of industrial wastewater."
Jack nodded. "Yes, the Kleiner family originally printed counterfeit money in Texas. The wastewater polluted the river near your house. They murdered the investigator and your parents and moved the factory to Margrave."
Hannah gritted her teeth, remaining silent, trembling with anger. Zoe tenderly embraced her, whispering a few words of comfort, and then asked, "Then why isn't there a sewage pollution problem here? I checked the map, and there isn't even a decent river or lake nearby."
"The ranch... they purify the sewage." Roscoe, who had been listening, suddenly realized.
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