Chapter 403: Another Deadly Curve?

Due to well-known reasons, the story of a certain now-defunct Red Empire using nuclear bombs to build dams and extinguish oil fires has become common knowledge.

However, what is less known is that on the other side of the ocean, during the Cold War, another superpower tried to "peacefully" utilize nuclear energy even earlier than that Red Empire.

In July 1962, the U.S. conducted the "Sedan Experiment" deep in the Nevada desert, detonating a nuclear bomb with a yield of 1.04 megatons.

But due to issues with the hydrogen bomb's design, 30% of the explosion's yield came from fission, which produced massive radiation. The radioactive fallout drifted from the West Coast all the way to New York on the East Coast.

Approximately 13 million people in the U.S. were exposed to varying levels of radiation, and the radioactive material produced by the fission had a decay period lasting decades.

This experiment was part of the "Plowshare Program." As the name suggests, this program aimed to harness the massive power of nuclear explosions for large-scale infrastructure projects.

One part of the program included the experiment to "use nuclear explosions to extract natural gas from currently inaccessible dense geological formations."

Subsequent nuclear explosions were carried out in New Mexico and Colorado, but the plan was eventually abandoned because the extracted natural gas was found to contain "unacceptable" levels of radioactivity.

The "Clark Test Site" mentioned by Hodgner was one such nuclear test site in Colorado, and the green glass crystal was a byproduct of those nuclear experiments.

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"Jeremy Andrews' father was named Maynard Andrews. Over 30 years ago, after his wife and daughter passed away from illness, he declared bankruptcy and moved out of Centennial City with his son, who was under eight years old.

After that, the father and son disappeared, and there were no records until Jeremy became an adult. Records show that he attended a vocational school in Grand Junction for three years when he was 18, and after that, he lived in Nucla."

Garcia sent over the information she had just uncovered, confirming the BAU team's earlier profile.

"The 'Clark Test Site' is located in northwestern Colorado, near the Wyoming state line. If he's really headed there, he must pass through Highway 13."

Reid quickly pulled up a map, marked the shortest route, and then asked Garcia to retrieve traffic footage along the way, hoping to spot the white van.

The journalist Katrina Townsley had regained some of her composure with JJ and Emily's care. She admitted that Jeremy had forced her to call Gil Moss under threat.

However, she didn't know what happened afterward. After Jeremy abducted Gil Moss, he began to alternately torture the two of them until she lost consciousness due to continuous electric shocks.

A late-arriving ambulance transported the severely injured journalist to the hospital, and the local sheriff's office dispatched two police cars with several officers to temporarily take over the scene.

The BAU team continued their journey northward.

They were currently in southern Colorado, and while the straight-line distance to Jeremy's "old home" was only about 300 kilometers, this wasn't like Jack's cross-country trip on flat highways where you could drive straight west and barely touch the steering wheel for hours.

The route from south to north passed through the Rocky Mountains, nearly doubling the actual travel distance. The roads were difficult to navigate, and after four hours, the two vehicles had only covered half the distance.

Cell phone signals were intermittent along the way, but fortunately, Reid had brought a satellite phone. Just before 10 p.m., Garcia sent some good news.

Using image recognition, she had found footage of Jeremy's white van on the sparse traffic cameras in the small towns along the way.

Rossi's guess was right: this guy really intended to bring his prey back to his childhood "den" to slowly "enjoy."

It was a moonless night, and the pitch-black sky obscured the typically magnificent views of the Rocky Mountains. A large SUV and a pickup truck silently traveled on a poorly maintained road.

Jack had Rossi in the passenger seat, with JJ in the back. Reid and Emily were in Hodgner's Suburban leading the way. Through the radio, they occasionally exchanged a few words, but everyone was starting to feel drowsy.

The team's spirits weren't high. This was perhaps the most difficult case since the unit was formed. If it hadn't been for Jack's lucky guess, the team might still be in the dark.

Emily had originally taken a liking to Gil Moss, at least before she contacted the media on her own.

Though Emily wasn't quite at the "girls help girls" level, she did empathize with Gil. As a female agent herself, she knew how hard it was for women to make a name for themselves in a male-dominated environment like the FBI.

Unlike the Eastern country that went through a complete ideological revolution shortly after its founding, thoroughly eliminating discrimination, things were different in Western countries.

In the U.S. and Europe, discrimination against women couldn't simply be erased by making it politically correct or staging a few so-called feminist movements.

On the contrary, after the McCarthy era, the U.S. had perfected the art of steering and diluting various movements, whether environmental, labor rights, racial equality, or women's status. These causes became flashy banners, waved whenever convenient.

Perhaps this was straying too far off-topic, but as they drove through the darkness, with only the taillights of Hodgner's Suburban visible a dozen meters ahead and no oncoming traffic, Jack couldn't help but engage in some idle banter over the radio with Reid and Emily.

After all, Rossi was lightly snoring, and his wife was sound asleep in the backseat, so Jack didn't even dare play any music.

Of course, he wouldn't reveal his political views, but he could stir up some conversation. An occasional provocative comment about how women's rights were tied to labor and economic status could keep Reid and Emily talking for half an hour.

By midnight, Jack noticed his car was running low on fuel. He discussed with Hodgner about stopping to rest, refuel, and grab something to eat.

They had just emerged from the mountains and were now on Highway 13, with less than 100 kilometers to their destination.

"There's a small town up ahead. Maybe we can find a restaurant still open, grab some local food, and then find a motel with working air conditioning to get a good night's sleep," Emily's voice came through the radio.

"Maybe I can even restock my fridge. After this case is over, I still need to drive the car back to Los Angeles," Jack thought, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

This case wasn't just difficult; he had been spending nearly every day on the road, practically driving around all of Denver's surrounding highways.

The Suburban up front took an exit, and according to Reid, they would reach a place called Belle Lake in fifteen minutes.

"Speaking of which, this small town has become quite famous in recent years. Although it has only a few hundred residents, they've been revitalizing their tourism industry by hosting a 'Mountain Man Music Festival,' similar to Nevada's Burning Man," Reid continued over the radio, before Hodgner interrupted him.

"Reid, there's still no cell signal here. Use the satellite phone to update Garcia on our location. We might need the local sheriff's office to assist tomorrow morning."

"Belle Lake, 'Mountain Man Festival'." Jack felt a sense of unease creeping up. After the cannibal incident, he remembered that it was part of the famous horror film series "Wrong Turn."

Belle Lake? A "Mountain Man Festival"? Which movie was that from again?

"Reid, this 'Mountain Man Festival'—it's not one of those festivals where people wear masks and pretend to be cannibalistic mountain monsters, like some kind of Halloween party, right?"

"Have you heard of it too? It's actually a small event. Uh, hang on, let me call Garcia—"

"Hodgner, I think we should slow dow—" Jack didn't get to finish his sentence before the Suburban ahead of them made a loud bang.

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