Chapter 176 - Nightingale

Jackson stared at the man opposite him. It had only been 12 hours since Halia called this man and told him that she needed help and the man immediately arrived in Macau on the next flight from Beijing. Jackson had seen this man before. Back when Halia was spiked and he was taken to the police station with her, this man was called to pick her up. At that time, he introduced himself as her boyfriend...

Jackson's gaze darkened when he remembered this memory. Who was this guy? Why did Halia call him and why did he fly over so quickly?

Dr. Eric Ren also glared at Jackson. What was he doing here? Why was Halia with him? And most importantly, was that an engagement ring on Halia's finger?

Halia sensed the awkwardness and quickly introduced the two men to each other properly. "Jackson, this is Dr. Ren, he is a highly qualified brain surgeon that has been working with me for some time. Dr. Ren, this is Jackson Wu, Head of Interpol for the Hong Kong and Macau region...he is also my fiance."

Eric looked at Halia in surprise. Wasn't Jackson a gangster? And, hadn't she only been in Macau for a few weeks? How did she end up getting engaged?

"Does he know?" Eric looked at Halia hesitantly. Did Halia already tell Jackson about their research?

Halia shook her head. "I was hoping you would explain it to him," she said.

As the trio sat inside the private room of a restaurant, Eric pulled out his laptop and showed it to Jackson. He then proceeded to explain the research they had been doing and how it had worked effectively on Halia. 

Jackson looked at the man in surprise as he explained how Halia used Sara's memory to catch the serial killer, how she used the knowledge of a weapon and bombs expert to get close to him, and how they gave her the combat skills of the SPU captain as backup for her mission in Macau.

"So, not only did you download another person's memories into her brain, you also transferred knowledge and skills?" Jackson asked with amazement. He had witnessed Halia's skills; who knew they were transferred from someone else?

Eric nodded his head.

Jackson was speechless. Who knew something like this was possible? He had a lot of questions for the brain surgeon, most importantly, what would happen if the technology got into the wrong hands, but he had no time to delve into that; he needed to save his stepsister first and time was ticking.

"So, you want to download Trojan's memories to your head?" Jackson asked Halia.

Halia nodded her head and patted her fiance on the shoulder reassuringly, "This is the fastest way to locate Jaclyn. If I can tap into the right memories, I could even find the names of the other corrupt policemen and take down the entire organization. We don't need to sit around and wait for him to wake up anymore."

Jackson looked at Halia worriedly. "Will it hurt?" he asked.

Halia searched through her hair and found a red strand in the middle of her head. "It's quick and simple. Dr. Ren will download the memories through this strand. We just need a couple of hours with Trojan and an operating theater."

Jackson nodded his head, "I can arrange that for you."

...

It didn't take long before Jackson, Halia, Eric, and Trojan ended up inside an operating theater together. 

Halia sat comfortably on a chair beside Trojan's bed as Eric drilled a small hole in the man's skull. "We are aiming for the temporal lobe today," he explained. "The temporal lobe processes all sensory input and is responsible for visual memory, language retention, and emotion association. We are targeting a specific region that stores face and name recognition as well as emotional association. Hopefully, you will be able to identify some people for us."

Jackson held onto Halia's hand worriedly as Eric connected the red strand on Halia's head to some wires. Meanwhile, Halia stared lovingly at Jackson. She had done this a few times already and she wanted to assure the man that she was going to be OK.

As Jackson looked at Halia, her eyes began to slowly close. 

He immediately turned to Eric anxiously and Eric gestured that everything was normal. So, he continued to observe quietly. If Halia didn't insist, he wouldn't have let her go ahead with this.

5 minutes later, Halia's eyes flew open and she suddenly screamed out a name, "Officer Florence Brown!"

Eric and Jackson looked at her curiously.

"I'm not too sure how she is involved, but I have an instinctive feeling that she's the one we're looking for," Halia said.

Jackson was shocked by how quickly Halia retrieved this name, but he did not waste any time. He immediately nodded his head and made a phone call to one of his agents, Trisha. "Help me search through the police database in London. Is there an officer by the name of Florence Brown?"

Jaclyn studied in London, so logically, that was the best place to look first.

Trisha quickly tapped away at the computer in front of her and replied, "Yes, there is one. I'll forward you her details right away."

A moment later, Jackson received an encrypted email with the officer's photo and database record and Jackson immediately showed the photo to Halia, "Is this her?"

As soon as Halia saw the woman's face, everything around her suddenly disappeared and she found herself sitting by the river looking at a big Ferris wheel. It was the iconic London Eye!

It had been a long time since something like this happened, but Halia realized what was happening.

She was inside a memory.

Halia glanced down and noticed that she was no longer holding onto Jackson's hand. Instead, there was a cup of coffee warming her palms as a cold autumn breeze swept past. She glanced next to her and saw a woman with long brown hair and wine red lipstick smiling at her. "I will hold onto this deposit," the woman said as she slipped an envelope into her handbag.

"The codeword is 'Sparrow'. If you receive a message with this word, then take action," Halia said.

Halia held her throat in surprise. Her voice was deep and husky - like a man! That's right, she was in Trojan's memory.

"It's my pleasure doing business with you, Trojan," the woman smiled as she stuck out a hand.

"Likewise, Nightingale," Halia replied.

Nightingale?

Halia recognized Nightingale. Nightingale was Florence Brown!

How did Trojan know this woman's real name even though it seemed like they were just client and contractor?

Halia quickly shook her head and found herself back at the hospital. She gripped tightly onto Jackson's hand and stared at the photo in front of her, "Yes, that's her, that's Florence Brown. Trojan paid her to do something! I'm sure it has to do with Jaclyn!"

Jackson furrowed his brows and helped Halia out of her chair.

"I guess it's time to meet this woman in person," he said.