Half an hour later, Harten arrived at the bar, still dressed in a gray casual suit, wearing glasses, and carrying a briefcase, looking every bit the office worker. The last time Jimmy had seen Harten at the bar, he was dressed the same way. Either it was his personal style or it was the FBI's preferred method of disguise.
Harten sat down in the chair to Jimmy's right, knocked on the bar, and said to the bartender, "McLaren, thanks." He then took out his wallet, pulled out a bill, and placed it on the bar.
When Jimmy heard Harten's voice, he turned his head to take a look. Harten, turning slightly towards him, said, "Hi, Jimmy, long time no see."
Jimmy also turned his body toward Harten, "Good evening, Harten. You don't contact me much. What's up?"
At that moment, the bartender brought the drink over, "Sir, your McLaren."
Harten reached for the glass and clinked it with Jimmy's, "Cheers."
Jimmy picked up his glass with his left hand from the bar, clinked it with Harten's, then finished off the remaining drink in his glass. "Paul, another one, please." The bartender, Paul, took out Jimmy's drink from the cabinet, topped him off, and added some ice cubes.
Harten: "No rush, let's finish our drinks and then go talk."
Jimmy: "Haha, there must be something going on. Let's go, we can talk in the guest room. It's quieter there."
Jimmy had guessed that there was something going on when Harten called him; he had already informed Justin in advance. The guest room was not open to the public, accessible only to Justin's circles and Jimmy could use it too, being treated as a regular, so to speak.
Of course, the main reason was that Jimmy was well-acquainted with the people at the bar, and he managed things smoothly, without causing any trouble.
Jimmy and Harten went to the guest room next to the bar, closed the door, and were met by silence without any outside noise leaking in. The room was specially soundproofed, with an air vent above to ensure good ventilation.
Jimmy and Harten took their seats and placed their glasses on the coffee table. Harten was the first to speak.
Harten: "Jimmy, how's life at the county police?"
Jimmy: "Not bad, work's manageable, I can still find time to slack a bit. You didn't come to me just to ask this, did you? What's going on?"
Harten: "Alright, I see you're still impatient. You already know about the incident; it's made a big commotion. All of our guys have had their leaves canceled as we're starting to investigate terrorist activities."
Jimmy: "Yeah, don't even mention federal agents. We police have been called in as well. I was on vacation out of state and still got summoned back. It's been a busy few days; luckily, I can rest tomorrow."
Harten: "Word on the street, unconfirmed, is that the FBI is looking to expand its ranks. Are you interested?"
Jimmy: "Don't you always recruit from the FBI Academy?"
Harten: "Correct, typically we select based on applications and then train them at the FBI Academy. After completing the training, they're assigned to different departments. However, we also have special recruitment channels, although not many people go through them."
Jimmy: "So, it looks like I meet your criteria?"
Harten: "Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm only recommending you. If you agree, specialized personnel will contact you for communication and to conduct a background check."
Jimmy: "If I go through this channel, will I become an agent directly? Is training still required?"
Harten: "Training is necessary, but the process will be shorter. Normal academy training lasts 20 weeks, five months. The special channel won't take that long."
Jimmy: "Sounds good, but let me think about it."
Harten: "Of course, you can take your time to think about it, but it's best not to take too long."
Jimmy: "Hmm, I'll give you a call if there's any news."
Harten: "Alright, now that the serious talk is over, let's discuss something minor."
Jimmy laughed heartily, indeed, if it were just for recruiting to the FBI, Harten would have plenty of time to contact him, why bother after work.
Jimmy picked up his glass and clinked it with Harten's.
Harten: "Hmm, a little personal matter of mine. There were a few murder cases before that have been shelved due to lack of clues.
Not long ago, we got a tip from an informant about a very small church whose Bible is a distorted NC Bible, and we suspect that their church is connected to those cases.
However, because we're all busy dealing with terrorist attacks right now, these cases have been put on hold for the time being. If you have some free time, could you help look into it?"
Jimmy: "I thought I heard you mention the NC Bible, right? What is that?"
Harten: "Yes, the NC Bible. It's said to be a version of the Bible that was altered by Hitler himself before World War II, where many of God's quotes were changed to brainwash the believers with NC ideology. It was very popular in Germany at the time and had a large print run.
After World War II ended, the Allies and the Vatican should have arranged for it to be wiped out, but now there's been word about it again, seems like it wasn't thoroughly dealt with at the time."
Jimmy: "Of course it wasn't thoroughly dealt with. After World War II, who knows how many scientists and other personnel were secretly moved into the country by the government, not to mention taking a Bible with them wouldn't have been too difficult.
Speaking of Nazis, I think I know which cases you're talking about. Last Christmas, there were two murders in Little Rock, where the victims were arranged in the shape of inverted swastikas, right? And there was one victim laid out in the Triskelion pattern. Are those the three cases?"
Harten: "You know about this case too, huh? You're right, but it's not three cases, it's four. Two inverted swastikas in Little Rock, one Triskelion, and one inverted swastika in Fayetteville.
This series of cases was originally in the hands of the LRPD, later taken over by the State Police, and then transferred to the FBI's Little Rock office. These cases are obviously related, not by the same person, but by a team. Relatively speaking, we have more experience."
Jimmy: "Hmm, I've got a rough idea. Where is this small church located? Any leads?"
Harten: "What we know so far is that it's inside a villa on the bank of the Arkansas River. But the informant's knowledge is limited, we haven't pinpointed the exact location of the villa yet. What we can be sure of is that the villa is in a forest, so definitely not inside Little Rock, probably in the eastern suburbs."
Jimmy: "Just this clue isn't enough to zero in on the target. I don't know the exact numbers, but the Arkansas River is so long, even if we're just talking about the riverbanks within Plaskey County, it's not something that can be found in a short time."
Harten: "That's why I said, if you have the time, help look into it. You don't need to go out of your way. Once we have some people available, we'll still need to deal with the case.
Actually, there's an unpleasant speculation. Last Christmas, the victims were all killed around midnight. If it really is a cult, then it's very likely that the same will happen this Christmas. There are just over three months left now; if we can't get rid of them in advance, who knows how many more will fall victim this year."
Jimmy: "You send a copy of the case file over to the police department, I'll have a look when I've got the time. Anything else?"
Harten: "That's all for now. Remember to let me know in advance when you make a decision about joining the FBI. I'm not sure if the procedures have changed, so we might need to check with headquarters when the time comes."
Jimmy: "Understood. Let's go; we're heading out."
Jimmy and Harten left the reception room and returned to the bar, where it was now quite crowded. They didn't sit at the bar to drink but went their separate ways to enjoy themselves.