Chapter 178 - The Meeting

Oliver immediately drove the trio to the location that Halia described. She remembered it clearly, she was on the east side of the River Thames looking up at the iconic London Eye from a cafe with an outdoor setting. The iconic Ferris wheel was on the same side of the river and was really close by.

When she gave Oliver this description, he immediately knew where it was.

It was a famous cafe where the locals often hung out. Unfortunately, as it was almost 1am, the place was already closed.

But...it didn't mean Halia couldn't meet Nightingale outside. 

Halia stepped out of the car on her own and walked towards the location that Oliver pointed out for her, while Oliver, Jackson, and Trisha walked towards the London Eye, pretending to be tourists.

At this time of night, there weren't many people around, especially since it was a weekday, but there was still the odd tourist, wandering around, trying to get some night time photos. After all, the river was beautiful with the London Eye, the Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, and the Palace of Westminster, all lit up along it.

Halia stood outside the cafe calmly as she waited for Nightingale to arrive. She gave the woman one hour and it had only been 20 minutes since her phone call, so there were still 40 minutes of uncertainty. Would the woman arrive?

Fortunately, she didn't have to wait too long. 15 minutes later, a tall brown-haired woman hurried to her side and looked around awkwardly. Halia glanced at the woman. She was dressed in a black coat, her face was covered by a surgical mask and underneath her coat, Halia could see she was wearing a vest and a black and white cravat. It was an odd choice in clothing, but she was obviously Florence Brown, the woman that the underworld knew as Nightingale.

"Why did you call me so urgently?" the woman asked in English with a beautiful British accent.

Halia glanced at the woman in surprise.

Her voice was a lot more high-pitched and chirpy than she remembered. 

"Where is the Sparrow now?" Halia asked straightforwardly.

"The Sparrow is being migrated as planned. Where's my money?" the woman asked.

Halia held back a smile. Jaclyn was still alive.

"Your money is on its way, but the client wants to cancel the plan. Can you bring the Sparrow back?" Halia asked.

"Cancel?" the woman questioned with confusion. "Did the client change her mind? She already paid. Why would she cancel?"

"I don't know the details, but Trojan agreed to cancel. You will still be paid the same amount. Don't worry," Halia replied.

The woman looked at Halia with frustration and picked up her phone with a sigh, "The contractors won't be happy. It was hard enough to smuggle her out, it's going to be harder to get her back..."

Halia watched as Nightingale furrowed her brows and searched through her phone for a number. Judging by their conversation so far, it seemed like Jackson's guess was right about human traffickers being involved. But, at least, from the sounds of it, Jaclyn was still alive and hadn't been sold off yet. 

Halia took a deep breath as she maintained her composure. As long as Nightingale believed she was working for Trojan, Jaclyn could be safe in their arms again, very soon.

But, just as things seemed to be going smoothly, the phone in Nightingale's hand suddenly beeped.

She received a message.

The woman looked at her phone and her eyes opened wide in surprise. 

Halia noticed the woman's expression and sensed that something wasn't right. Especially when she began to put her phone away.

"What's wrong?" Halia asked worriedly. Wasn't she calling to get Jaclyn returned? 

The woman scanned Halia with suspicion.

"Why did you come all the way to London when you could have contacted me via the organization? Wouldn't that have been quicker and easier?" she suddenly questioned with skepticism in her voice.

Halia looked at the woman uncomfortably. Where did this doubt suddenly come from?

"Trojan wanted me to see the Sparrow with my own eyes. He wanted to make sure that she was safely returned," Halia quickly thought on her feet and replied.

Halia saw the woman's eyes dart and instinctively knew she didn't believe her. "If you want her back, tell the organization to contact me," Nightingale quickly said as she started backing away. "I've just been told that Trojan is in a coma and his assistant is dead. I don't know if you are really working for Trojan, but your appearance here is highly suspicious."

At that moment, Halia saw the barrel of the woman's gun as she retrieved it inconspicuously from her belt and hid it underneath her coat. She also noticed the flicker of a badge.

It was a police badge!

That's when Halia realized why the woman was dressed so oddly. She was wearing her police uniform underneath the coat!

Oliver had been following Florence Brown all afternoon and, according to him, she had already finished work for the day, why was she still in her uniform?

Halia raised her hands and said, "There are people around, Officer. Put that gun away, you don't want to accidentally pull the trigger and kill an innocent civilian."

Not too far away, Jackson saw his fiancee raise her hands and knew something wasn't right. Since they were pretending to be tourists and Oliver was a reporter, he had a camera in his hands. So, Jackson quickly thought on his feet, grabbed Trisha's hand and dragged her towards Halia's direction.

Trisha glanced down at her hand and then up at Jackson with curiosity as she blushed. 

"This cafe looks really cute, let's take a photo here," he yelled out as he approached the two tense women.

Unlike Trisha who was still fl.u.s.tered by Jackson's actions, Oliver noticed something was odd between Halia and Nightingale so he quickly pointed his camera and took some photos.

The flash from his camera surprised Nightingale. She immediately put her gun away and wrapped her coat tightly around her body. Halia was right, there were people around; she couldn't be discovered. So, she subconsciously adjusted the mask on her face and started running away.

But, Halia couldn't let this woman leave. She needed her to get Jaclyn back. So, she started chasing after the woman. "No! Don't go, come back here!" she yelled.

However, she was in a foreign city and Nightingale was obviously a local, so the woman effortlessly weaved through the streets and lost her tail.

Halia brushed back her long black hair and tried to catch her breath as Jackson and the others caught up.

"I lost her," Halia said with disappointment. "I think she saw through me."

"I'm sorry, we may have lost our only way to find your sister. She's being smuggled out of London right now," Halia frowned as she looked at Jackson.

Jackson wrapped an arm around his fiancee and said comfortingly, "It's OK, since that method didn't work, we will have to be more direct." 

He then turned to Oliver and asked, "Do you know where Florence Brown lives?"

Oliver immediately nodded his head, "Yes, follow me."