Chapter 156 - The Lure (1/2)

Sean watched as Halia kissed Jackson and his eyes opened wide with shock. What was happening? Didn't Halia have a boyfriend? When did these two get so close?

He remembered the two agents became good friends when Halia was trying to apprehend Jackson, but they had both met each other under false identities and were technically enemies at the time. Afterwards, Jackson was taken back to France for an entire month, during which they lost contact. Why were they suddenly kissing?

But, just as he was about to interrupt and question the two, he noticed the bracelet hanging around Halia's wrist and realization finally kicked in. He never saw it before, but now that he looked at it in detail, he noticed the dots and dashes on the heart pendant that swung hypnotically from left to right on the bracelet. They weren't accidental; they were made on purpose. Only now did he realize, they were made in a precise pattern; a pattern that he recognized. It was Morse code, and the message read, J&H: Jackson and Halia.

If Jackson was actually a gangster, he would have been deeply concerned for his friend. But, Jackson was also an agent. To be exact, he was the head of Hong Kong Interpol! Halia certainly scored herself a great man. Sean smiled and let the two share a moment together as he walked over to handcuff the three kidnappers.

”My foot! It's been shot!” the conscious one screamed as Sean approached. ”Take me to the hospital,” he demanded.

Halia turned to the man and scoffed, ”You're not going anywhere. We still have some questions to ask.”

”But, I'm going to bleed to death! You did this to me, you b*tch!” the man yelled.

Halia looked at the man and giggled.

”Don't worry...I was a nurse once,” she smirked as she picked up the knife from earlier. ”I'll make sure to get the bullet out and stitch you up nicely...”

Jackson subconsciously glanced at the scars on his own arm and shook his head with a sigh. He suddenly felt a little sympathetic for the guy.

”Now, tell me. Who sent you?” Halia asked as she knelt down beside the man and lifted her knife.

...

Over at the hospital, Father Feng was waiting for the kidnappers to call him back with further instructions. He already had his money ready, but he still didn't know where to drop it off.

Mother Wu glanced at her watch curiously. The kidnappers should have called by now. They were supposed to fake a struggle while on the phone and pretend to accidentally kill Halia. It was the perfect way to avoid suspicions of a planned assassination. Why weren't they calling yet?

Starting to feel a little anxious, Mother Wu secretly picked up her phone and sent a message: [What's with the delay? We haven't received a phone call yet? Are you going back on our deal? You already failed once, are you failing again?]

On the other end, a police officer picked up his phone and saw the message. He furrowed his brows and checked his watch. Mother Wu was right, the killing should have happened by now. What went wrong?

He was usually careful with stuff like this, but he had been experiencing a run of bad luck recently. First, one of the gangsters he was working with was arrested in Beijing, then the corrupt officers that worked with him were slowly arrested too. After that, a killer he hired was killed and his target survived. Nothing seemed to be going right.

So, he picked up a burner phone and made a phone call to the lead kidnapper.

However, the lead kidnapper was currently tied up and lying unconscious on the floor.

Sean glanced at the ringing phone and noticed it was from an unknown number.

”That might be his client. This wasn't a normal kidnapping. These guys were hired to kill me,” Halia revealed.