Chapter 180 - Freya Brown

The area known as Covent Garden spanned roughly 4-6 blocks each way. It wasn't too big, especially since most places were closed and it was obvious where the police would be more likely to patrol. But, it was still impossible to predict Freya Brown's exact location.

Oliver pulled up a map on his phone and searched for all the bars and clubs that were still open at that time of night. Since it was almost 3am, the choices were limited, so Oliver believed it was their best option to visit each of the places he had found.

However, Jackson had a better plan.

"Sorry bro," he said as he swung his arm back and threw a punch across his new friend's face without warning.

Oliver held his cheek in surprise. Jackson's swing looked intimidating, but the actual impact was only enough to knock him back a little in shock.

Halia also gasped in surprise.

"Rather than searching everywhere for Nightingale, let's bring Nightingale to us," Jackson whispered under his breath as he launched towards Oliver and wrapped his arm around the man's neck.

Oliver immediately played along and cried out in pain, "F*ck, let me go!!"

It didn't take long before a small handful of people gathered around. "Woo! Beat him up!" a drunk man cheered from the side; obviously, he was not in the right state of mind. In fact, he could barely even stand up straight. "Let me join in," he laughed as he stumbled towards the two men.

Halia looked at the burly British man. He was wearing a suit and tie, but his hair was messy and his face was tomato-red. It seemed, someone had a rough day at work.

He continued to waddle forward towards Jackson and Oliver who had no idea the man was approaching. Halia saw what was happening and quickly jumped in front of the man to stop him. But, she knew he was too strong for her to hold back, so she ended up kicking him straight in the abdomen to stop him. The man lost his balance and fell back against a young blond-haired woman, who then tripped on her high-heeled shoes and fell into the arms of a tall blond-haired man. It was like a domino effect. The drunk man immediately leaned over and started vomiting everything he had drunk...and ate...that night, while the blond woman's friends started calling the man that caught their friend a pervert as they hit him with their handbags.

It was a complete mess!

A security guard from a nearby bar saw the commotion and hurried over to see what was going on.

"That bloke was groping our girlfriend!!" one of the women snarled.

The blond man immediately raised his arms in innocence, "Woah, she fell into my arms, I was simply saving her from falling..."

"By grabbing her b.o.o.b.s? I saw where your hands went! You can't fool me!" the woman yelled as she comforted her frightened friend.

"Is that what happened, Miss?" the security asked the young blond woman.

"I'm not sure, all I know was, I was suddenly knocked over by that man," the woman replied as she pointed to the man that was vomiting all over the street. The security guard screwed up his nose and shook his head as he looked at the drunk man, "What's your story?" he asked. "Why did you knock that woman over?" 

Obviously, the man was too drunk to reply, so a witness quickly explained, "It was her! She kicked him!"

The security guard looked at Halia in surprise and furrowed his brows. How did this delicate woman kick a grown man so hard that he was vomiting all over the streets?

"He tried to hit my friends," Halia shrugged as she pointed to Oliver and Jackson.

The two men were huddled up and tugging at each other's hair like girls.

"You b*st*rd!" Oliver screamed.

"You *ssh*le!" Jackson retorted.

"But your friends seem to be hitting each other already..." the security guard said with confusion.

"I want to lay charges!" one of the women screamed.

"I'm innocent!" the blond-haired man yelled.

"Taxi!" the drunk man mumbled as he raised a hand, completely oblivious to what was happening.

The security guard covered his ears with frustration. How did he end up with this job?

At that moment, a whistle echoed from the head of the street and two police officers started running towards the crowd. One was a man and one was a woman. They were wearing black vests on top of a white shirt, paired with black pants and a hat. The man had a black tie on, while the woman had a black and white cravat.

Halia recognized the woman straight away. It was Freya Brown! 

Their plan worked.

"What's happening here?" Freya asked as she approached the security guard with a serious expression.

The security guard shook his head and sighed as he began to explain everything that he had been told, "...and that woman kicked that guy because he tried to hit her friends..."

As the security guard pointed to Halia, Freya looked at the woman in surprise. What was she doing here? Was it just a coincidence?

Freya remained calm. She had hidden her identity well over the years and no one knew who she really was - not even the organization - so she was confident that Halia didn't know that she was Nightingale. But, how wrong she was...

On the surface, Freya Brown appeared to be a normal night patrol officer who came from a family of police officers. Her brother was in the police, her sister was in the police and so was her father and grandfather before they retired. But, in reality, she simply used this identity to facilitate night-time criminal activities. Her clients had no idea how she did it, but whenever they wanted to transport something or smuggle something, especially at night, she could help them do it right under the police's noses without them knowing a thing. Because of this, she had gotten quite famous in the London underworld and was invited to join a secret international organization a few years back. The organization consisted of corrupt officers, lawyers, judges, prosecutors...etc, from all around the world. It was like LinkedIn for the corrupt world.

That was how she met Trojan. Trojan needed someone in London that was ready at all times; someone that could strike with a simple message or phone call; someone with the experience and contacts to make a person disappear without a trace. So, when he contacted the organization, they recommended the name Nightingale to him.

Nightingale never killed anyone directly, but she was a master of smuggling. She could smuggle anything around the world: drugs, weapons, money...and even people. Whether it be over land, through the air, or across the water...she had the contacts to do it and she could do it with ease.

She was smart, she never allowed anyone to know her identity. And, whenever she was asked to meet someone, she would either refuse or send someone else as a cover. That was how Trojan ended up thinking that Nightingale was her sister.

But, never in a million lifetimes, would she have imagined that Trojan's memories would end up with Halia, and that Halia's pursuit of her sister, would lead Halia to her - the real Nightingale!