Chapter 1052: Division of Tasks and Clues from New York (Patreon)

Seeing Jack return safely alongside Old Muto, albeit with a strange look on his face, everyone finally relaxed.

Compared to before, a new jeep had arrived nearby, and two local policemen, dressed in the same style of uniform as Detective Paulino, were collecting the remains.

They had spread a large waterproof sheet on the ground and were carefully gathering the scattered bones and remains.

"Did you find anything up there?" Jubal asked, spraying himself with another layer of mosquito repellent.

Mosquitoes are Africa's most infamous and deadly killers, transmitting malaria, yellow fever, dengue, West Nile virus, and more.

Tanzania has two rainy seasons: November–December (the short rains) and March–May (the long rains). The rest of the year is dry, which means fewer mosquitoes. 

Even though it was February—still dry season—Jack had insisted everyone wear long sleeves, tuck in their pant legs, and regularly reapply repellent when outdoors.

Here, malaria is as common as a cold among locals, who often shrug it off. But for foreigners, a first encounter with malaria could easily land you in the ICU due to liver failure.

And finding an ICU bed in Tanzania is no easy task.

"They're not involved. They've only got twelve people, and they don't have the organization to pull off a mass kidnapping. There's also no space up on that hill to hide so many people."

Jack didn't elaborate on what he experienced; he simply provided the conclusion.

It was obvious that Old Muto and his militia controlled the area. The Somali group—only twelve people, half of them still teenagers—were more like refugees.

To Jack, they resembled the Naxalite (Maoist) guerrillas in Nepal and eastern India, just on an even smaller and less organized scale.

The "Lion King" Simba, as they called him, was a young man with a fierce scar running across his forehead. When he received Jack and Muto in the broken-down "bunker," a magnificent, thick-maned adult male lion lounged beside him.

Clearly, Simba got his nickname from this lion, and his inspiration from the Disney movie.

After a tense and gunpowder-scented negotiation, Jack—via Old Muto, who handled the logistics—traded four Type 81 rifles and a thousand rounds of ammo for a piece of intelligence.

According to one of Simba's lookouts, around dawn yesterday, they saw about a dozen armed men escorting a group dressed in red T-shirts through the valley below.

At one point, the group rested, and a few of the armed men took two individuals—who seemed to be leaders among the red-shirts—toward the edge of the forest.

The lookout was too far away to see exactly what happened, but he was certain that when the group returned, only one of the two leaders came back—and he didn't seem particularly afraid of the gunmen.

"According to the town pastor," Jubal said, pulling out a tablet, "the Brunswick Missionary group had two leaders: Jacob Bruce, the dead man, and another named Elijah."

He showed them a photo they had just received from Garcia, taken from one of the missing women's social media accounts just a few hours before the abduction.

In the middle of a group photo stood three people: the local Black pastor in the center, flanked by Jacob Bruce and Elijah.

"Looks like we need to investigate this Elijah more carefully," Aubrey suggested, studying the picture.

"And the pastor. We need to verify his statements and learn more about the relationship between Jacob Bruce and Elijah," Jubal added, looking at Detective Paulino, who nodded in understanding. "No problem. I'll send people to the town right away."

"So what's our next move? Follow the tracks?" Hannah asked.

Jack glanced up at the sky, then at Old Muto. The sun was already setting. Without Muto and his militiamen, Jack wasn't confident they could survive the night safely in this wilderness.

Back in Mexico, Jack had confidently led young Isabel across a desert, but that was just the two of them, and he could simply go sleepless for a night.

The Tanzanian wild was a whole different level of danger—countless more wild animals, for one.

Fortunately, Old Muto volunteered to take over. "Leave the tracking to my men. I'll contact you first thing in the morning."

Thus, the group returned to Arusha and checked into the most expensive hotel they could find.

The suggestion came from Rossi, who had once suffered greatly at the hands of a local bug infestation.

And indeed, money bought comfort even here: clean mattresses, uninterrupted electricity and water, and surprisingly decent food.

The local staple was a maize dough called "ugali," typically dipped into sauces. It tasted odd but was edible.

Rice was also common, but it was cooked with oil and salt, which Jack found a bit strange.

After a simple dinner, the team reconnected with Alice back in New York and the BAU team, who had flown in to support the investigation. Their conversations revealed even more suspicious details.

First, there was the number of kidnapped individuals: 23 originally, but after Jack sent the fingerprint photo and the New York team confirmed the dead man was Jacob Bruce, the number dropped to 22.

Hotchner and Reid had flown to Texas and found the Brunswick Missionary Church's headquarters completely abandoned. Their investigation confirmed Jacob Bruce and Elijah Ward were the organization's leaders.

They had contacted Jacob Bruce's estranged wife, who was en route to New York.

Garcia dug into the missionary group's finances and discovered they had raised nearly $300,000.

Jacob Bruce had spent it all on supplies, which had been gradually shipped to Tanzania over the past few months.

"$300,000 in charity supplies? That could definitely make him a target," Aubrey said, knowing full well how greed could motivate people.

He had been shocked upon exchanging U.S. dollars for Tanzanian shillings. The highest denomination bill—10,000 shillings—was worth less than $4.

When he casually tipped a hotel doorman two of those bills, the man's delighted reaction made it clear just how much buying power they held locally.

"The charity goods were sent as donations," Garcia continued. "I tracked down the recipient—someone named Tumaini Makani, a local pastor."

She sent a photo. Jubal immediately circled the man standing between Elijah Ward and Jacob Bruce in the earlier group photo.

It was the same Black pastor who had been smiling so warmly at the camera.