Chapter 700: Runs In the Family and a “Blacklist”

Somewhere in Africa, a four-year-old girl looked at the image on the screen and gave a “wow.” “Brother, brother, is he one of us?”

Standing next to her was a young black man in his twenties.

He observed for a long while before he shook his head. “No, the technology used in this suit is very different from ours.”

The little girl hummed a song as she swiped the screen. Suddenly, she cheered. “Haha, I found him! Look, brother!”

The young black man looked at the black man on the screen and frowned. “Search our database.”

“No similar targets.” The results were soon displayed on the screen.

The little girl bounced around the room and poked at the black man on the screen. “He’s even better-looking than you, brother.”

The young black man asked, “Are you sure?”

The little girl said, “It’s true. Even if we calculate it with the computer, his features are still prettier than yours.”

The young black man said, “…Let’s go, Shuri. It’s time for class.”

The little girl giggled. “Wow, you’re angry, you’re angry.”

The young man followed her helplessly. “How can that be, I’m not that petty…”

…

Luke’s first day back in Los Angeles was peaceful.

The next day, Selina went to work alone and Luke took the secondhand Ford to the police academy.

Before he had even done two rounds around the training field, Remick called him over.

“Luke, are you done with your list?” Remick’s hair was a mess and he had eyebags. He had probably been working overtime a lot recently.

The police department was urging him to hurry up. It hadn’t even been three weeks, and they were already planning to drag the rookies out on duty to mitigate the lack of police officers in Los Angeles.

Luke said, “Why the rush? I have a preliminary list. You can have that first.”

Remick was relieved.

While one less name list wasn’t a big deal, he still hoped that there would be some more talents on Luke’s list.

Compared with the lists from the other detectives, he had higher expectations for Luke’s list.

When he accepted Luke’s personal notebook and read the names in it, Remick raised his head in surprise. “So many?”

The other detectives only had twenty to thirty people on their lists, but Luke had more than fifty.

Even if there were more than six hundred trainees, that was still too many.

Luke coughed and said, “It’s probably only the twenty or so on the first page that meet your requirements, while the ones on the second page…”

Bang!

The door to Remick’s office was flung open and a black baldie walked in.

“Dogsh*t, this is all dogsh*t! Our SWAT isn’t an ordinary patrol team. How are we supposed to know which students are suitable?” the black baldie yelled into the phone he was holding.

Looking at their expressions, he said helplessly, “Okay, let’s talk later.”

The black baldie was none other than Harrison, the SWAT captain.

After hanging up, he yelled at Remick, “What are you doing? We’re SWAT officers, not patrol officers. Are you going to be able to use the people I pick?”

More importantly, he himself couldn’t use the people he had an eye on.

SWAT had always selected elites from the L.A. police force, but these students weren’t even official police officers.

After they became official police officers, they would have to work for at least another two to three years before they could enter SWAT’s candidate list.

Remick said, “Harrison, everybody has to submit a list. It’s not like we’re picking a team for you.”

Harrison snorted.

That was exactly what he was most unhappy about. He was going to all this trouble and got nothing out of it himself. SWAT had been under even more pressure recently.

Harrison had been talking to the teams recently, and all of them were asking HQ for reinforcements.

Naturally, all these requests for manpower were running up against a wall.

Luke chuckled. “You need some people? Let me recommend some good seedlings.”

Harrison was surprised. “Are you serious? These are students.”

Luke picked up the notebook that Remick had placed on the table. “Take a look at the second page. I don’t think they’re suitable candidates for detectives, but you might be able to use some of them.”

Harrison read the notebook for a moment, and his eyes lit up. “There are people like these?”

Luke nodded with a smile. “What do you think? Getting people to help you is one thing, but some of them are good enough for logistics and support, and don’t have to follow you out in a rain of bullets.”

Harrison read the descriptions over and over again and nodded repeatedly. “Yes, I can apply for them to become regular interns at our control center. If there’s a mission, we can get them to be logistics support. As long as there are eight or ten we can use, they can take over the work of three or five official members.”

Saying that, he raised his head and looked at Remick. “I’ve been helping you out with the training for so long. It’s your turn now, old buddy.”

Remick put his hand to his forehead. “That’s against the rules, Harrison.”

Harrison gave him the universal hand signal. “Cut the crap! Are you going to give them to me or not?”

Remick hesitated for a few seconds before he lowered his head in despair. “You go and handle the transfer procedures yourself. I’m just a training supervisor, okay?”

Harrison sneered and tore out the second page of Luke’s notebook. He folded it carefully and put it in his pocket. “Remember, you never saw this list, okay?”

Remick: “…Okay.”

He was already in his forties, and the list was gone; only a ghost would remember those thirty or so names.

Something like this wouldn’t affect Remick’s relationship with Harrison.

The L.A. police department would always be short of manpower; one had to be shameless if they wanted to grab people for their own.

An old guy making a scene in his boss’s office to get the person he wanted was a very common thing.

And generally speaking, a boss wouldn’t do anything to a capable veteran who could get things done, much less refuse to give his subordinate any support!

Harrison firmly believed in Luke’s eye. He was in desperate need of help, so he was quick to take Luke’s “blacklist.”

The people on the list had more shortcomings than strengths, but those strengths really stood out.

Harrison was a professional captain who had trained newbies for more than ten years. He could definitely squeeze out their value.

At that moment, Luke asked Remick, “Is Claire Coulson on any of the other lists?”

Remick was stumped for a moment before he understood. “She’s yours?”

“Sister.” Luke gave him an affirmative answer. “She already has an acceptance letter from USC, so…”

Remick naturally understood, but he still sighed. “Your sister’s name is on everyone’s lists. Did you teach her?”

Luke was amused. “You’ll have to ask her father that. He’s been a town sheriff for more than ten years.”

Remick was enlightened. “It runs in the family. No wonder!” He became even more friendly after that.