11 What is this? (1/2)

BEIJING PUBLIC SECURITY BUREAU TIAN'ANMEN AREA BRANCH

Frank Wang rubbed the bridge of his nose and tried to stifle a yawn as he sat at his desk, staring at old security footage.

Since he was young Frank had had his heart set on becoming a detective. He entered the police academy despite the protest of his mother who wanted him to return to the UK and continue his education there.

When he'd done this Frank had been filled with lofty dreams of being an incredible officer who would be catching criminals left and right. He thought his life would be like those crime dramas on TV, where every scene was filled with excitement and action.

Yet now he was hit with the reality, being a rookie straight out of the academy, he was basically a coffee delivery boy for the other detectives in the office. Actually a coffee delivery boy was an understatement, he was a full time lackey.

And since he'd become a detective, the moment he'd been assigned to the Crime Control section at Tian'anmen, he'd been stuck in the office doing paperwork or surveying security footage and doing other people's work.

Even if action did happen in the area he was never put on the front-lines or allowed to help.

\”Maybe I should switch to the VIP protection department or public security. All the guys there seem to be busy, or at least doing something worthwhile.\” Frank Wang grumbled to himself.

\”Oi Detective Wang go and get everyone coffees!\” Yelled his direct superior, Chief Wei, from across the room.

Immediately Frank bowed and shouted, \”Yes Sir.\”

\”I should just bear with it.\” He thought as he left the office, \”everyone starts out at the bottom. All the detectives here were once rookies that had to deliver coffee. I only left the academy half a year ago, one day I'll be working on the real cases. Soon, soon.\”

Frank Wang was still thinking 'soon' as he stood in the line at the coffee store. In his uniform he stood out like a sore thumb. As he got to the front, he said, \”The usual\” and the barista began preparing a batch straight away.

Frank stared at the pretty barista who had her hair tied in a long ponytail. \”She's beautiful\” is all he could think. She was the only perk of having to run off and buy coffee all the time.

Her name tag read, Qi Zhou.

Frank coughed and said, \”It's so late but you guys are still open.\”

Qi Zhou glanced up at him with her large clear eyes, \”Our store is open 24 hours, you come here all the time and you didn't know? I always work the night shifts and I always see you.\”

Frank felt his face flush a little. It was true he was always getting tons of coffee this late at night. And it said on the front of the store, open 24 hours. \”That was such a dumb thing to say, I might die of embarrassment\” he thought.

The only reason this devil would call him so late was either to get drinks, or use his status as an officer to get out of some kind of trouble.

He wanted to ignore the call but he owed Zhao Detong quite a bit from back in the day and they were sworn brothers, he couldn't ignore a brother.

\”Detong, what is it now?\” Frank coldly answered.

\”Whoa is that the way to answer a call from one of your best friends?\” Zhao Detong sounded slightly offended but Frank didn't care.

\”What do you want? You didn't get yourself into any trouble did you. Well sorry, I can't help, I'm on duty at the moment.\” He was about to hang up but then he heard Detong yell.

\”Oi Oi that's not why I called, geez why do you think so badly of me? Actually don't answer that.\” Detong's voice suddenly became serious, \”The reason I'm calling you is because I'm worried about Mao Lu.\”

Moa Lu!!!

\”What happened to Mao Lu, is he okay?\” Frank shouted into the phone.

\”I can't get a hold of him and he didn't turn up for his shift tonight at Roaring Tiger, so I'm worried that something might have happened.\”

\”He didn't turn up to his shift.\” Frank Wang sighed whilst switching on his bluetooth earpiece and putting his phone in his pocket. He grabbed two large bags filled with coffee and thanked the barista as he walked out of the store. \”Are you pulling my leg or something, just because he isn't answering your calls and didn't turn up to a shift, doesn't mean you should be worried about him. Maybe you pissed him off and he turned off his phone and went to get some space. Even Mao Lu needs some chill time.\”

Zhao Detong snorted over the phone, \”Even if Mao Lu was mad at me he wouldn't just disappear and ditch a shift. He would block my calls but ditching his responsibilities isn't like him.\”

\”Well then, maybe he met someone and got distracted by them.\”

\”Do you think I wouldn't know if Mao Lu was seeing someone, and I contacted all of his friends and they don't know where he is either.\” Zhao Detong retorted, \”and you know what happened two years ago, I have a right to be worried.\”

Frank sighed a little, he also remembered what happened two years ago. At that time he was still training in the police academy and had heard about the incident much later than everyone else. Honestly, it had scared him a lot. Although he wasn't as close to Mao Lu as Zhao Detong, Mao Lu was still an important friend to him.

\”Fine, I'll call some people I know at the public security bureau in Daxing and see if anything noteworthy happened in the area. I'll also track Mao Lu's phone from my computer. But I swear to god if you're just being paranoid and he's fine I'm gonna be so pissed that you wasted my time.\”