Chapter 184 - Breakfast In Lille

The trip between London and Calais took roughly 3 hours. By the time that Jackson, Halia, Trisha, and Oliver drove out of the Channel Tunnel, the sun had risen. Factoring in the time difference between France and the UK, it was already 7am in the French port town of Calais.

Amelie and Alexander had stayed up all night, checking border crossings and tracing the location of Jean Louis. So, as soon as Jackson got the chance, he immediately gave Amelie a phone call to see if she had discovered anything. 

"A truck arrived from Folkestone at roughly 5am yesterday morning. The strange thing was, it spent less than half an hour on French soil before it turned back around and returned to the UK. The goods it delivered must have been really light and they must have had a lot of manpower...or the goods must have walked out of the truck themselves..." Amelie revealed. "Usually, activity like this is flagged as suspicious. But, in this particular case, nothing was marked in the system. It is highly likely that your sister was in that truck..."

"Uh huh," Jackson agreed. Human trafficking was like a relay. The faster they passed on their goods, the better.

Jackson furrowed his brows. If Amelie was right, then his sister would have arrived in France over 24 hours ago. If that was the case, then they had a lot of catching up to do. In 24 hours, Jaclyn could be anywhere, especially now that they were in the EU and they had open borders between many of the neighboring countries.

"I've spoken to Captain Berger and Captain Berger has spoken to President Kim at Interpol headquarters. Freya Brown surrendered herself to London police a couple of hours ago and revealed that Jaclyn had been taken by a ring of international human traffickers. Now that it's been confirmed that this case involves an international human trafficking ring, it is no longer just a domestic kidnapping case. The case has been passed on to Interpol and Alexander and I have been given the authority to investigate this as an official mission. You don't need to investigate in private anymore. With the resources and connections at Interpol, I'm sure we will be able to catch up to your sister and her captors very soon," Amelie comforted.

Jackson smiled. This was a slight bit of consolation.

At that moment, Alexander who was standing next to Amelie, received a phone call, "Bonjour...oui...Lille?"

Amelie watched with anticipation as Alexander's eyes grew bigger. She could tell that he had received some useful information.

A moment later, Alexander hung up his phone and quickly grabbed Amelie's phone. "An undercover agent based in Lille just called. Jean Louis has been spotted eating breakfast in Lille. He is there right now!" he told Jackson urgently. The distance between Calais and Lille was just over an hour. If Jackson and the others rushed there now, they could probably catch Jean Louis before he left.

Jackson immediately hung up the phone and ordered Oliver to stop the car. They had just exited the tunnel and were heading towards the town, but Jackson shooed Oliver out of the driver's seat and took over. They were now in France, his territory, he had been undercover here for 8 years and knew these roads better than anyone.

With a quick turn of the steering wheel, he directed the car onto the highway and sped down it at full speed.

"Where are we going?" Oliver asked.

"Having breakfast in Lille," Jackson replied.

...

Meanwhile, in the back of a truck somewhere, Jaclyn Wu had just woken up. She had been ushered off the truck and onto another one multiple times during the night, but her mind was such a blur that she had no idea how many trucks she had moved between and where she was at that very moment. 

Finally, after what felt like forever, a man grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into a building. The man was tall and built and he had an extremely sharp jawline. In fact, his jaw was so sharp, it felt like he could cut through something with it. The building smelled of fresh alcohol and cigarettes, but it was completely empty. It seemed, only a few hours ago, this place would have been quite busy. 

The man sat Jaclyn down on a sofa and smiled at her. They were inside a club that was closed for the day. 

"Sit here and I give you needle later," the man said in broken English.

Jaclyn nodded her head obediently as she leaned back on the sofa. She didn't know where she was, but she was not frightened. The opioid inside of her was making her feel relaxed, warm and safe - it felt good. As she watched the man disappear down a corridor, she had no urge to hide nor escape, all she wanted was for him to return and give her another shot of the magical drug.

As she sat there staring at the ceiling, she suddenly felt a light tap on her shoulder.

"Wie heißt du?" a voice whispered beside her.

Jaclyn sat up straight and turned to the direction of the voice. A beautiful woman was sitting next to her. Her dark blue eyes staring straight at her with confusion.

"What are you saying?" Jaclyn tilted her head, unable to understand the woman.

"What is your name?" the woman asked in English when she realized Jaclyn didn't understand her.

"Jaclyn," Jaclyn replied.

The woman looked into Jaclyn's glassy eyes and sighed, "Do you know where you are?"

Jaclyn shook her head and closed her eyes for a second, "Am I at the Ministry of Sound?"

The Ministry of Sound was a famous club in London.

The woman shook her head in surprise. "Do you even know what city or country you're in?" she asked.

"Of course I do! I'm in London, Eng...land..." the young woman said, slurring her speech at the end.

The blue-eyed woman held a hand to her head in a panic, "You're in Germany! Munich, Germany! I need to get you out of here right now!"

The woman quickly slipped an arm behind Jaclyn's back and tried to help her onto her feet, but Jaclyn pushed her away. "I have to wait here," she said.

"No, you need to get out of here. I think you're in danger," the woman insisted as she tried to help Jaclyn up again.

However, she suddenly heard some footsteps approaching. With a sigh, the woman quickly let go of Jaclyn and ran to hide. This was not the first time she had seen a strange woman in this club after hours. But, every time she did, the woman would be gone the next day...never to be seen again...

She never knew what happened to them, but her instincts told her something wasn't right...