Chapter 182 - Good People

A moment ago, Trisha had called Oliver to check where they were and he had sent her a pin of their exact location. It took her and Florence a little while to locate the four, but when they finally approached, they heard Freya say something that made Florence's heart drop: "Nothing is more important than money..." 

These words felt like they were coming from the mouth of a stranger. This was not the younger sister that she knew. 

"What about your conscience?" Florence asked as she looked at her sister with disappointment. "Don't you remember what Dad said to us on his death bed?"

Father Brown died on the job, roughly 6 years ago while chasing down a bank robber. He was shot in the chest and never recovered. As he lay in the hospital, his three children gathered around his bed to say their goodbyes. "Don't blame the man that shot me. He had simply gone down the wrong path and there was no one there to guide him back the right way. We are all placed on this earth for a pre-determined amount of time. I have served my purpose here on earth and it is my time to go join your mother in heaven. I have been a good person and I do not regret anything I've done. I hope the three of you can continue being good people and I look forward to hearing about your accomplishments when you visit me at my grave. I will be watching and listening, and I will continue to be proud of you," the old man said in a weak voice.

The three siblings had always treated their father as a role model, that was how they all ended up in the police force. Every year, they would gather and share their accomplishments to their father and he always praised them for doing a good job. But, unlike Florence and Fred who was satisfied with this praise and enjoyed the feeling of helping others, Freya did not.

Why did she catch so many thieves and not get paid more? Why did she try so hard and not get promoted? Why did her father die when he was a good person?!

Questions like this often circled Freya's mind.

Then, one night, when she was out at the club with some friends, she ended up getting spiked. When she woke up the next day, she didn't remember much, but she knew she had been r.a.p.ed. She had no idea who did it, and she was too embarrassed to report it. After all, how could her superiors trust her if she couldn't even protect herself?

So, she decided to investigate the incident on her own. She retraced her steps and ended up discovering that a local gangster had paid her friend to spike her drink so he could r.a.p.e her; he was ticking off a list of women he had slept with, and he had never been with a policewoman. For him, it was just a challenge; a game. But somehow, she became the victim.

She hated being the victim. Her father died as a victim and now she was r.a.p.ed as a victim...

She couldn't accept it.

Thus began her pursuit for revenge.

She found the name of the gangster that r.a.p.ed her and worked with his competitor to get him arrested.

At first, it was a good thing; she arrested a criminal.

But then, she started delving deeper into the underworld. She hid her identity and started networking with drug dealers, weapons dealers...and human traffickers. No one knew her identity, but she used her connection with the police to help them avoid being discovered and detected. Especially during her own shift at night, she would specifically patrol areas where she knew nothing was happening and kept certain areas clear for criminal activity. Gradually, she became known as 'Nightingale'. It was a very lucrative business and she made more money than she ever could as an average police officer.

However, the real turning point came when she didn't just assist these criminals but turned into one of their clients. She could never forget the fact that her friend had spiked her the night that she was r.a.p.ed, so when she saved up enough money, she hired some traffickers and got her kidnapped. After that, the woman was smuggled out of the country and never seen again. Freya's assumption was that she would end up in some rundown brothel somewhere where she would be forced to serve men for the rest of her life. For her, this was justice.

Finally, Freya was no longer the victim and it felt good.

Soon, she became quite famous in the underworld and many of the gangsters became regular clients of hers. However, she began to crave for more: more money, more power...it never seemed enough.

So, when she was contacted by someone from an organization that claimed to connect corrupt officials from all around the world, she was immediately interested. It meant, she would be able to get international clients as well!

This organization was highly secretive and was simply known as the 'United Order', the 'UO' for short. If this was still the ancient times, they would be considered a secret society since they had strict requirements for membership. This organization was also a mockery of the UN which aimed to maintain international peace and security. The UO didn't care about peace and security, they just wanted money and power.

With her new-found international connections, Freya began to specialize in smuggling. All she had to do was get the product or people across her own borders and someone else would take over from there. It was like a relay, except no one truly knew who all the members of the relay were. This was especially effective for human trafficking. Once someone was taken, they could find themselves on the other side of the world within 48 hours!

"My conscience is fine," Freya finally replied to her sister after a moment of silence. "I have treated myself well and I wake up proud every single day."

"Haven't you thought about the lives you've destroyed? How could you live like that?" Florence questioned further. She needed to talk some sense into this younger sister.

"I don't care about their lives, just like they don't care about mine..." Freya responded stubbornly.

"What about Felix? You must care about his life. How will he live the rest of his life...with his mother in jail?" Florence suddenly asked.

Freya's expression immediately changed and her arrogance was replaced by an indescribable softness.

"If you surrender and tell these people where their friend is, you may be able to redeem yourself a little. Listen to me Sis, I know you've been through a lot. I know you've always told me that Felix's father abandoned you. But, I've heard you cry late at night and I've seen the sadness in your eyes. There's more to the story, isn't there? Something happened to you 6 years ago. Am I right?" Florence asked. "I'm sorry for noticing but not asking you about it. Perhaps, if you had someone to speak to back then, you wouldn't have ended up like this."

A tear rolled down Freya's face. She had never told anyone that she was r.a.p.ed, nor did she tell anyone that her son's father was the disgusting rapist that was currently locked behind bars. It haunted her and she still had nightmares about it.

"Yes, you're right. I was r.a.p.ed 6 years ago..." Freya revealed as she wiped away her tears. "But, you know what? It made me stronger. After that incident, I told myself that I would never be a victim again!"

Jackson and the others looked at Freya with sympathy. It must have been tough for her to hide this secret for so many years. But...ultimately, it wasn't an excuse for all the crimes she committed as a result.

At that moment, Halia knelt down in front of the woman and held her hand, "Please, you know how it feels to be a victim. Jaclyn Wu is my sister, please don't let my sister become a victim as well..."

Trisha looked at Halia with confusion. Sister? Wasn't Jaclyn Jackson's sister?

Freya swallowed back her tears and looked at the people around her. She then saw the look in her sister's eyes as she pointed to something a few rows back. Freya looked at the direction that her sister was pointing and froze.

She was pointing to a gravestone.

Her father's gravestone!

Freya had woken up in the middle of the cemetery and it was so dark that she didn't recognize the place. But, she realized at that moment, that a few rows back from where they were standing, her father's body lay 6 feet underground. "Dad told us to be good people. Please, Freya, do the right thing," Florence said between sobs.

Freya looked up at the sky in disbelief. Perhaps, this was a sign from her father; he was trying to guide her back onto the right path. So, with a deep breath, she finally revealed, "Jaclyn Wu was smuggled across the English Channel to France where my men handed her over to a Frenchman named Jean Louis, but I'm not sure where she's gone from there..."