Chapter 75 - Living A Normal Life (2/2)

...

That night, Jackson and Halia completed the bomb just after midnight.

As they climbed into bed, Halia turned to Jackson and asked, ”Regardless of how the deal goes tomorrow, can you promise me that you will retire from the arms trade after this?”

Jackson looked into Halia's eyes. He could tell how desperately she wanted to keep him out of trouble. ”OK,” he replied.

If things went as planned tomorrow, he was originally planning to retire anyway. He had been in the gangs since he was 18; it was about time he enjoyed the normal life.

Halia was surprised to hear Jackson's simple response. She initially thought it would take more convincing. So, she subconsciously hugged him.

Jackson was surprised by this sudden gesture as he hugged her back. ”I can't wait to live a normal life with you,” he whispered as he watched Halia nod off to sleep.

However, Jackson did not sleep that night. He had a lot of things on his mind and wanted to cherish every moment he had with Halia. He actually had a lot of secrets hidden from her, and amongst them, was the uncertainty of when he'd see her again. Halia thought it was as simple as preventing him from going to the deal and they'd be able to live a normal life together, but things were a lot more complicated than that. There were a lot of things he couldn't reveal to her, including the fact that Max had returned to the lab after she fell asleep last night and already told him the correct meeting details...or the fact that he deliberately told Max to give her the wrong details.

Of course, Halia didn't realize this until she woke up the next morning and discovered Jackson was gone. At first, she thought he had gone upstairs to make a phone call like he did sometimes, but as time ticked by, she had a bad feeling.

Eventually, her gut told her to check the storage closet. As soon as she opened it up, her heart sank. It was only 10am in the morning, but...

Jackson was gone...

And the bomb was gone too...