Chapter 177 - Wu Girl

Jackson and Halia had no time to waste, so they immediately drove over to Hong Kong to catch a flight bound for London that very evening. Of course, Halia was supposed to return to Hong Kong with Sean in a few days, so Sean contacted the SPU captain and explained the situation to him. "Halia's sister-in-law has been kidnapped by someone linked to Trojan, so she is flying to London to investigate it," Sean told the captain with urgency. 

"Sister-in-law?" the captain was a little confused. When did Halia have a sister-in-law? She had no siblings, and from what he knew, she wasn't in a relationship. That was why she was a perfect candidate for going undercover.

But, even though he wanted to question the situation, he understood the urgency of the matter, so he approved for her to take some time off and decided to ask about the details later.

By the time Jackson and Halia arrived at the airport, Trisha was already waiting for them with their plane tickets in the departures hall of the international airport. Jackson smiled at the woman thankfully as they walked up to her. But, as they got closer, he noticed the slender young woman was holding onto a suitcase and an extra ticket. Was she going somewhere too? He never approved for her to take any leave, nor had he arranged any overseas missions for her. Where was she going?

"Captain," the young woman saluted. "Here are the tickets that you asked me to book. I know you are off to London to investigate a private matter; rumor has it, your sister was kidnapped. As you know, I was undercover in London for a few years. I still have connections there. Please, let me help."

Jackson saw the motivation in the woman's eyes. Even though he had just started in his role not long ago and only worked with the woman a few times, he knew she was a highly capable agent. Since he was on a tight timeline and this woman seemed to be a good asset, he welcomed all the help he could get, so he nodded his head. After all, neither he nor Halia had ever been to London before; it would be good to have someone that knew their way around.

Trisha glanced at Halia. She knew that Jackson asked her to book two tickets to London, but she had never met Halia before nor did she know what their relationship was. When she delivered the box of case files to Jackson the other day, she had met Amelie who was an Interpol agent from France, so when she saw Halia, she simply thought she was another Interpol agent from France that was assisting Jackson.

In her mind, Jackson was like James Bond: cool, handsome and always surrounded by beautiful women. For James Bond, these women were known as Bond Girls, but in Jackson's case, Trisha referred to them as 'Wu Girls' (a term that she and a few other female agents coined themselves). But, she had no idea that Halia was no 'Wu Girl'; she was Jackson's ONLY girl! His future wife - Mrs. Wu.

"Captain, thank you for giving me the chance to work with you. I will be a good Wu Girl," the young woman pumped her fist with determination.

"Wu Girl?" Jackson asked.

The young woman blushed a little and cleared her throat. "Oh, it's nothing," she chuckled as she dragged her luggage through the departure gates.

Halia looked at the confused expression on her fiance's face and chuckled. It seemed, Jackson had a fan.

The non-stop flight from Hong Kong to London took just over 13 hours. By the time Jackson, Halia, and Trisha landed in London, it had already been 24 hours since Jaclyn was reported missing. But, due to an 8-hour time difference, it was midnight when they landed. Jackson and Halia were aware of this, but they were walking onto foreign territory, so there wasn't much they could prepare. Trisha, on the other hand, had already arranged for a friend to pick them up from the airport. This friend was a local reporter that Trisha met when she was undercover in London.

Reporters usually got a bad wrap for being nosy and immoral, but this particular reporter actually helped Trisha when she was in London and Trisha saved his life in return. The reporter believed in justice and only ever reported the truth, so when he discovered Trisha's real identity, he respected her even more. The two of them became good friends after that.

Jackson and Halia were both impressed by Trisha's initiative, especially when the reporter gave them a phone number that was supposedly used by 'Nightingale'. "Jackson and Halia, this is Oliver Williams, a reporter from the London Times. We worked together when I was based here for a few years investigating a case in Chinatown. I contacted Oliver before we left Hong Kong because I knew we'd be on the plane for 13 hours, so I tried to get a headstart," Trisha explained.

"It's been a long time, Trish," the young British gentleman smiled. "I looked into the name 'Nightingale' for you. According to my sources, she's a relatively new name that started spreading through the gangs of London roughly 3 years ago. She refers to herself as a 'problem solver'. This is supposedly a number to contact Nightingale by, however, she doesn't respond to just anyone, you need to be recommended by someone, otherwise, you won't get any response," the righteous young man explained.   

"I also followed Officer Florence Brown all afternoon, but I didn't discover anything. Is there something wrong with that officer? Is she related to Nightingale? I mean, Florence Nightingale 1 ...isn't that too obvious?" Oliver asked.

"We're not sure yet. Maybe that's what she wants us to think...or maybe she's too arrogant to think that we would ever find her," Jackson replied.

"Why don't we call her out and see for ourselves..." Halia said as she looked at the phone number in Oliver's hand. "Do you have a burner phone?" she asked as she looked at the young reporter.

Oliver quickly pulled an old phone out of his handbag. As a reporter, he never knew what situations he could get into, so he was well-prepared.

Halia picked up the phone and typed, "I am sent by Trojan to discuss Sparrow. It is urgent, we need to meet."

Oliver looked at Halia with curiosity. What did this woman type? Didn't she hear him say that Nightingale didn't respond to just anyone?

But, a moment later, the phone beeped. It was a message from Nightingale. Halia glanced down. It read, "Sparrow has left the nest, there is nothing to discuss..."

Halia frowned and quickly replied, "If you want the rest of your pay, meet me at the cafe under the London Eye where you met Trojan last time. Be there within an hour or I'm leaving."

From her memory, she remembered that the woman only took a deposit. Since Trojan was in a coma, he couldn't possibly forward her the rest of her pay, so Halia assumed the woman was still waiting.

She was right. 5 minutes later, the woman responded with a simple, "Fine." A famous nurse that helped wounded soldiers during the Crimean War and founded modern-day nursing.