Chapter 1047: First Arrival (Patreon)

Dar es Salaam is Tanzania’s largest city and its former capital, with a population of just under five million—about one-tenth of the national total. While the official capital is the inland city of Dodoma, which has a population of only 400,000, virtually every country and region still regards Dar es Salaam as the de facto capital due to its significance and infrastructure.

The story goes back to the 1970s, when a certain Eastern power found some friendly black brothers in Africa and told them, “As fellow Third World countries, we should sympathize with each other.”

What followed is well known: the Eastern power and several African countries naturally banded together for mutual support.

During the Tanzanian Prime Minister's first visit from the East, in a discussion about war strategy, he casually remarked that Dar es Salaam, being located on the Indian Ocean with difficult terrain and few natural defenses, was highly vulnerable to foreign invasion.

Combined with other factors, Tanzania decided in 1973 to move the capital inland to Dodoma. But after a major war with Uganda—though they won—Tanzania expended what little vitality it had left.

Then came the 1979 oil crisis, which completely drained the country’s foreign currency reserves. Coupled with the laid-back and carefree nature of the local people, the capital relocation plan dragged on for nearly half a century.

Even now, although some administrative departments have moved to Dodoma, nearly all foreign diplomatic missions remain in Dar es Salaam due to the poor infrastructure.

There are no direct flights from New York to Dar es Salaam. The fastest route requires a layover in Dubai and takes nearly 20 hours.

As usual, the FBI arranged a military C-17 “Globemaster III” transport aircraft for the team. After some difficulties, it finally landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport.

By the time the group reached Arusha Railway Station—where the missing American tourists were supposed to arrive—a day and a half had passed since the incident.

Arusha is Tanzania’s third-largest city and one of Africa’s most famous tourist destinations. Much of the world’s stereotypical impression of Africa comes from here.

Here, one finds wildebeest crossing crocodile-infested rivers during the great migration, African elephants that can crush sedans with one foot, tribal warriors wearing only a blue cloth around their waists and holding spears, and the towering Uhuru Peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.

A slightly overweight local officer, wearing a brownish khaki uniform and a black beret, greeted Jack and the others.

“I’m Detective Paulino.”

Detective Paulino spoke excellent English, neither arrogant nor obsequious. For some reason, his demeanor struck Jack as oddly familiar.

He exchanged a glance with Jubal and quietly exhaled in relief. All things considered, this was a good start. In an unfamiliar place, having a cooperative local officer who communicates smoothly was invaluable.

Jubal introduced himself and then briefly identified the people who had disembarked from the two Humvees.

Five people made the trip to Africa. JJ and Alice remained in New York. As Jack’s transport plane left New York, the BAU team led by Hotchner had just entered the office on Long Island.

Given the tight schedule and heavy workload, Rossi had dispatched Jack’s team while also summoning the BAU unit to comfort and interview the families of the missing tourists.

With 23 missing individuals, the number of affected family members could easily be higher. This task was both complex and critical, and no matter how capable JJ was, she couldn’t handle it all alone.

Though Tanzania is considered a middle-income country by African standards, its infrastructure fits the stereotype of underdeveloped regions—there wasn’t even consistent cellphone signal, let alone reliable internet access in many places.

That’s why Alice remained in New York to handle the background checks on the missing persons. Oddly enough, some local aspects were more advanced than those in the U.S.—for instance, the Dar es Salaam train station had electronic payment systems. But since the Americans had paid in cash, over half of their identities were still unconfirmed.

The information about the number of missing persons and partial identity details came from a pastor at a small-town church where they had volunteered.

“Officers, please follow me.” After a brief exchange, Detective Paulino got straight to the point and gestured for the group to follow him toward a train car parked on a side track.

“My team inspected the car. There were no signs of forced entry. And I also noticed something—looks like all the passengers' luggage was left behind.”

Jack glanced at the dull gray train car and was struck by another wave of déjà vu. He had ridden this type of train before—not in this world, but in his previous life as a child.

It was a typical green hard-seat train car with a 3+2 seat configuration. The only difference was the color scheme inside. He couldn’t help but smile at the half-window design that only allowed the bottom half to be opened.

The interior was cleaner than Jack expected and didn’t smell, but it was somewhat messy.

A standard old-fashioned green train car could seat 118 passengers. According to Tanzanian authorities, this particular car had been reserved for the 23 Americans, so they had plenty of space.

Besides over twenty suitcases stuffed into the overhead racks, there were travel bags, purses, souvenirs, and even water bottles left on the seats.

Given that Detective Paulino and his team had already examined the car, and knowing that modern forensic technology was unlikely to be applicable here, no one bothered with gloves. Clay just reached up and grabbed a suitcase off the rack and opened it.

Inside were passports, laptops, tablets, cameras, and even some valuables. After checking several suitcases, everyone frowned.

“What kind of kidnapper leaves behind valuables, even passports that could verify the hostages’ identities?”

As a former special forces member with numerous overseas hostage rescue missions under his belt, Clay was very familiar with standard kidnapping procedures.

“Maybe it was a relatively organized group? Or maybe the train crew’s story is true—the train didn’t stop en route, so the kidnappers had a very short window and didn’t have time to take anything else?” Aubrey speculated.

“Maybe. Taking one more hostage is definitely more profitable than worrying about this stuff,” Jack replied noncommittally.

“Or maybe the kidnappers were just that experienced,” Hannah said as she pulled out a pile of phones from under a seat—twenty-three in total, not one missing.

“That rules out GPS tracking.”