Chapter 156 - The Lure

Sean watched as Halia kissed Jackson and his eyes opened wide with shock. What was happening? Didn't Halia have a boyfriend? When did these two get so close?

He remembered the two agents became good friends when Halia was trying to apprehend Jackson, but they had both met each other under false identities and were technically enemies at the time. Afterwards, Jackson was taken back to France for an entire month, during which they lost contact. Why were they suddenly kissing?

But, just as he was about to interrupt and question the two, he noticed the bracelet hanging around Halia's wrist and realization finally kicked in. He never saw it before, but now that he looked at it in detail, he noticed the dots and dashes on the heart pendant that swung hypnotically from left to right on the bracelet. They weren't accidental; they were made on purpose. Only now did he realize, they were made in a precise pattern; a pattern that he recognized. It was Morse code, and the message read, J&H: Jackson and Halia.

If Jackson was actually a gangster, he would have been deeply concerned for his friend. But, Jackson was also an agent. To be exact, he was the head of Hong Kong Interpol! Halia certainly scored herself a great man. Sean smiled and let the two share a moment together as he walked over to handcuff the three kidnappers.

"My foot! It's been shot!" the conscious one screamed as Sean approached. "Take me to the hospital," he demanded.

Halia turned to the man and scoffed, "You're not going anywhere. We still have some questions to ask."

"But, I'm going to bleed to death! You did this to me, you b*tch!" the man yelled.

Halia looked at the man and giggled. 

"Don't worry...I was a nurse once," she smirked as she picked up the knife from earlier. "I'll make sure to get the bullet out and stitch you up nicely..."

Jackson subconsciously glanced at the scars on his own arm and shook his head with a sigh. He suddenly felt a little sympathetic for the guy.

"Now, tell me. Who sent you?" Halia asked as she knelt down beside the man and lifted her knife.

...

Over at the hospital, Father Feng was waiting for the kidnappers to call him back with further instructions. He already had his money ready, but he still didn't know where to drop it off.

Mother Wu glanced at her watch curiously. The kidnappers should have called by now. They were supposed to fake a struggle while on the phone and pretend to accidentally kill Halia. It was the perfect way to avoid suspicions of a planned assassination. Why weren't they calling yet?

Starting to feel a little anxious, Mother Wu secretly picked up her phone and sent a message: [What's with the delay? We haven't received a phone call yet? Are you going back on our deal? You already failed once, are you failing again?]

On the other end, a police officer picked up his phone and saw the message. He furrowed his brows and checked his watch. Mother Wu was right, the killing should have happened by now. What went wrong?

He was usually careful with stuff like this, but he had been experiencing a run of bad luck recently. First, one of the gangsters he was working with was arrested in Beijing, then the corrupt officers that worked with him were slowly arrested too. After that, a killer he hired was killed and his target survived. Nothing seemed to be going right.

So, he picked up a burner phone and made a phone call to the lead kidnapper.

However, the lead kidnapper was currently tied up and lying unconscious on the floor.

Sean glanced at the ringing phone and noticed it was from an unknown number. 

"That might be his client. This wasn't a normal kidnapping. These guys were hired to kill me," Halia revealed.

Jackson looked at his girlfriend in surprise. No wonder there was a struggle in here.

At that moment, the only conscious kidnapper yelled out in a panic, "Hurry and pick that up. If we don't pick up, the police will be sent here right away and we will all be caught! I don't want to go to jail!"

Jackson and Sean looked at each other. Who would have the power to send the police straight away? Was it the corrupt officer they were after?

Jackson nodded at Sean and Sean picked up the phone. "Hello," he mumbled briefly, hoping the man on the other end wouldn't notice he was a different person.

"What are you doing? Why isn't the target dead yet? The client is waiting for your phone call!" the officer growled on the other end of the phone.

Sean glanced at the conscious kidnapper and saw the panic on his face. He wasn't just afraid of going to prison, he was obviously terrified of the man on the phone as well.

At that moment, Sean had an idea.

"We've decided to let her go," he said. "The target offered more money so we are letting her go."

Jackson looked at Sean in surprise and quickly covered the kidnapper's mouth to stop him from saying anything. What was he doing?

"What did you say? How dare you betray me? Do you have a death wish?" the man threatened.

"No, I just want money. If you want her dead, then you'll have to offer me more," Sean said.

The officer clenched his fists in frustration. His reputation had plummeted recently due to his run of bad luck and his number of clients had reduced dramatically. He had to succeed this time. Especially when Mother Wu was a treasured client that he had worked with for years.

"Fine, I'll give you another 10 million to kill her right away," he said. "And if you handle this smoothly, I will hire you for all future jobs as well. You will receive much more money from me in the long run."

"That's a very attractive offer," Sean smiled. "But, I need to see the money first."

"I'll wire it to you right now," the man agreed.

"No, there's processing time," Sean replied. "Bring it to me in cash right now and I'll kill her in front of you."

Jackson listened to what the man said and smiled in approval. What a great way to lure out the corrupt officer.

"Fine, I'll get the money to you in 20 minutes. Don't let the target go," the man said.

Sean hung up the phone and smiled at Jackson. "Case closed," he said confidently. It was time to settle everything here and go home to prepare for his wedding.

But, would someone who hadn't been caught in 15 years, be caught so easily?