After spending more time with Elliot, Nia gradually started to like this smart kid too. Elliot himself wasn't stupid; he just had some psychological issues due to a previous kidnapping, which made him much more withdrawn than before. Now he's improved a lot, and with Alex's upbringing since childhood, it's normal for a well-mannered and sensible child not to be troublesome and to be liked by others.

This also made Nia look forward to having her own child in the future, so much so that when she calculated the right days and tried with Jimmy several times without getting pregnant, she almost dragged Jimmy to the hospital for a check-up for both of them.

Jimmy didn't expect that recognizing a godchild would have such an effect, which seems not bad in retrospect. Although he might be a bit more tired, at least the two of them now had a unified understanding. Since they were married, having a child wasn't a bad idea. As for any potential changes in work content due to this, Nia was no longer concerned—Kevin would handle everything.

-----------------

After a period of calm days, Jimmy finally faced his first exam since advancing his studies, which was postponed to the start of the fall semester due to his wedding, after communication with the faculty. After months of reading textbooks and materials, and also consulting Dr. Mary on some content, he finally passed his semester's subjects. It was indeed not easy.

Anyone who's worked for a few years should understand this feeling—after getting familiar with the work rhythm, picking up textbooks to study again becomes very difficult, with all sorts of inexplicable thoughts popping up in your head, making it hard to concentrate.

Although Jimmy has a good memory, the exams were not about memorization and filling in the blanks. Many analytical parts still needed guidance from others, and finding the right person during the holidays was difficult; Dr. Mary was a great choice.

Jimmy, thick-skinned, talked to Dr. Mary a few times before getting her guidance. Although he didn't sell his body, he did owe quite a bit of personal favor.

However, when Jimmy received his exam results, the professor mentioned one thing in passing: after this holiday, several students hadn't returned to the college, and the school was still in contact with their parents. But the school didn't know where the students went; in short, they were missing.

Jimmy told Nia about these matters, and afterward, Nia investigated through the police system. In just August and September, the number of college student disappearance cases reported was over a dozen more than last year. But unless you compile data, very few people would notice the issue of the number of missing persons cases.

In the evening, Nia synchronized her investigation data with Jimmy, and Jimmy still decided to inform Kevin about it.

Kevin had previously mentioned a possible promotion. Now, if such news only reached him after he took over NYPD, he would be in a passive position. It's better to know ahead of time and plan in advance. Handling and solving the cases would be best, and even if they couldn't, they should try to ensure this wouldn't affect him.

If a college student disappearance case is an isolated incident, not much media would cover it because it's so common; there are quite a few every year. But if a large scale of disappearances happens, that's different.

Once Kevin learned of this situation, he immediately set people to investigate privately, and the results they found were more severe than what Nia had uncovered.

Since 2000, the number of reported college student disappearance cases increased, year after year. Initially, there were just a few dozen cases, but this year, in just nine months, there were over a hundred, nearing last year's total. Following this trend, the public opinion will surely explode when data for the whole year are compiled at the beginning of next year.

Most of these missing cases involved individuals who went out alone or with companions for trips and then lost contact. The last places they appeared varied a lot, which basically excludes the possibility of their disappearances being directly related.

Kevin's head was throbbing. If Jimmy hadn't alerted him, he wouldn't have known about the data until the end of the year after data compilation; by then, it would be shortly before they released the data, and once disclosed, the entire police management would face public pressure.

According to FBI data, nearly one hundred thousand people go missing in the United States each year, all reported cases where the missing persons were not found. These people are a mixed bag, and people often just pay attention to the numbers, lamenting the safety issues.

Now, they've only compiled data on college students, who are relatively clean, with generally safe social circles. The increased number of disappearances among such individuals is more troublesome, facing more severe societal criticism; judging the scale of public opinion based on identity is normal.

Knowing the situation two or three months in advance kind of gives them time to deal with some of the cases urgently. Regardless of the outcome later, there will be a discussion.

When Jimmy learned about Kevin's investigation results, he was also shocked. He had only heard from the professor about a few people missing, but it was actually over a hundred. The individual universities must have deliberately hidden the information and not released it to the public.

The FBI isn't almighty; they focus on cross-state or significant cases, and typically, they don't intervene in missing person cases. Jimmy could only console Kevin, providing any out-of-state information Kevin might need for the investigation, hoping they could resolve part of it quickly.

Police data from different regions in the United States aren't synchronized. It's possible that missing persons listed by New York are linked to information from other places, but with unidentified identities. So, spending more time on investigation, combined with someone coordinating, there's still hope in finding some missing persons or confirming them as deceased.

If a missing person is confirmed dead elsewhere, the missing person case itself would then conclude, making the corresponding data look much better, increasing the resolution rate.

While Jimmy was busy helping Kevin handle the problematic missing person cases, an unexpected situation arose within the FBI.

One night, Ruiz called Jimmy, asking him to go out with him for an assignment the next day.

The next day, Ruiz drove his personal car to Jimmy's apartment to pick him up, and the two set off towards New Jersey.

Jimmy turned his head to look at Ruiz from the passenger seat, "What happened?"

Ruiz said, "I need you to help me handle the situation; our team had a little accident."

Jimmy asked, "Who are we going to meet?"

Ruiz, with a calm expression, looking at the road ahead, said, "Seventeen."

Jimmy was startled; he and Ruiz had talked about Seventeen before, who was doing well in the Anti-Terrorism Team. What had gone wrong this time?

Ruiz said, "We're meeting Seventeen, but he's not the one with the problem. You'll know the specifics once we meet."

Jimmy said, "Alright, what do you need me to do?"

Ruiz turned his head to look at Jimmy, then back at the road, "Protect me, arrest people."

Jimmy replied, "Understood."

Jimmy reached out, pulling out a Glock and a revolver, reloading the bullets to ensure everything was in place, then putting them back.

Seventeen is now with the Anti-Terrorism Team; if it involves him, yet he isn't the one in trouble, either his colleague is in trouble, or it's someone he knew when he was undercover before.

Ruiz spoke less and less now, leaving Jimmy to guess. They drove to the suburbs of South Amboy, in front of a detached house. Ruiz got out, looked around, and walked up to knock on the door.

Jimmy saw someone inside walk to the door, peek through the peephole, then open the door, "You're here, come in."

Seventeen looked alright, just a bit more serious. Of course, he still had a shaved head, but his attire was no longer a suit, instead a T-shirt and jeans, leaving the tattoos on his arms exposed.

In the room, Ruiz asked, "Where is the person?"

Seventeen said, "I moved them outside; the items are in the basement."

Ruiz said, "Let's take a look first."

Seventeen nodded, leading the two to the basement, pulling back a sheet to reveal several boxes underneath. One of the unlocked boxes held tightly wrapped packages inside, enveloped in black plastic bags and bound tightly with brown tape.