Chapter 71 - Miracle

Max's mind was too busy thinking about Cleo's reaction from earlier that he forgot to lock the door to the VVIP room before he opened the secret stairwell.

So, just before the wall closed back down, Sean ran into the room and rolled under the remaining gap.

After he got inside, he realized he was on the top of some stairs. Lucky he hadn't rolled too far, or he would have rolled all the way down to the bottom.

By this time, Max was already at the bottom of the stairs talking to someone.

The top three stairs were hidden from view, so Sean did not wander down until he was certain that the coast was clear.

"I'll go get Halia," a familiar voice resounded from downstairs.

"OK, I'll heat up the noodles for you," Max replied.

Sean took this opportunity to carefully sneak down the stairs. As he reached the bottom, he realized he was standing inside a lab. He quickly peered around and noticed a storage closet not too far from the stairs, so he quickly ran over and hid himself inside, leaving just enough gap in the door to see what was happening.

A moment later, Jackson stepped out of a room with Halia and they sat down at the table in the middle of the lab. Halia was hopping a little and Sean noticed the bandage on her foot.

He furrowed his brows with concern. Did Jackson hurt her?

Sean clenched his fists angrily. Was Jackson keeping her detained and torturing her?

But then, a moment later, Max returned with two bowls of reheated black bean noodles and placed one in front of Halia.

Sean watched as she smiled thankfully and ate it. It seemed, she was in a good mood.

He even watched as Jackson grabbed a tissue and wiped some sauce from her mouth. What was going on between these two?

"After dinner, I'm going to work on the bomb. We really need to get started or it won't be made in time," Jackson said with seriousness.

"It's lucky that you decided to hide down here, Boss," Max sighed. "Some of Percy's men came by and caused some trouble upstairs a moment ago. I think they were trying to lure you out. I don't think they're planning to give up."

"Tell Rowan and Kevin to keep an eye on them. How's your restaurant going?" Jackson asked.

The two men continued chatting while Sean listened. He quickly realized that Jackson and Halia were using this secret lab to build their bomb for Remy and that they were hiding from their competitors. Sean breathed a sigh of relief. At least Halia was safe.

After a quick chat, Max started walking towards the stairs, "I need to get back upstairs. I have friends waiting. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Sean panicked as Max left. He had impulsively followed this man down, but how was he getting out?

Sean peeked out from the closet and noticed that Max was gone and Jackson was in the bathroom, so he quickly took the opportunity to reveal himself to Halia.

"Psst!"

Halia heard a sound and quickly looked around confusedly. All of a sudden, she noticed a hand waving at her from the storage closet.

Her heart quickly skipped a beat. She was sure that it was only her and Jackson in the lab. Was she seeing things?

She had watched horror movies before. Wasn't there a movie about a clown waving at kids from the gutter? Was this something similar?

Halia rubbed her eyes and opened them wide. The hand was still waving. Then, slowly, a person emerged from the shadows.

But, Halia was even more shocked than seeing a ghost when she realized who it was.

"Sean, what are you doing here?" she whispered, just enough for the man to hear.

"I followed Max," he replied.

"Are you OK?" he asked as he pointed to her foot.

Halia quickly got up on her feet and ran over to her handler, "It's fake. I'm trying to distract Jackson from building the bomb. He's a good guy, I don't want him to walk down the wrong path."

"But, we need him to lure out Remy!" Sean said.

"I don't care. I promise I'll help you find another way to lure Remy out, but I'm not sacrificing Jackson."

At that moment, Halia heard the toilet flush and knew that Jackson was about to come back out.

She quickly told the password for the secret entrance to Sean and ran back to her seat.

Sean looked at Halia with concern. This wasn't right? Had she gotten too personally involved with her target and forgotten her identity? Even if Jackson gave up on this one deal, he was still a criminal. They had plenty of things they could still charge him for. Did she really think he could just leave the past behind and lead a normal life?

Not unless there was a miracle!