| Fan Fiction |
by DTLCT
Jacky turns around to face him as he approaches within five inches, putting on a smile in the process. “Good to know that you’re early, Mr. Lo. I expected that. Even more time for us to plan.”
“I don’t know what game you’re playing, but let’s drop it,” Gallen said, getting right to the point.
Jacky smiles again. “What game? I’m only calling you out here because I trust you enough to help me today.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“Today we’re playing this game called ‘Catch the Fish’. Sounds great?”
Gallen’s expression turns to surprise. “You want me to help you catch some criminal?”
“Do I have to pay you to do it?”
Gallen opens his mouth but Jacky stops him.
Jacky leans his back on the railing. “Look, if you’re going to help me today, I’ll help you with tailing Ray while you can go look for the clues regarding the murder in the building.”
“Why? I could look after Ray myself and the murder has already been taken care of by local cops.”
“Are they moving fast enough? Plus…Ray’s a target because he’s staying in Annie’s old apartment. Besides, I’m the best candidate to protect Ray since Kevin doesn’t have the killer instinct. Wallace might be a better candidate since he’s observant but he has his own worries right now. Don’t you forget that Ray doesn’t trust you to go near him.”
Gallen is amazed that only within a week but he knows so much about Ray and his friends. “Okay. I agree that you’re right. But what are we doing today?”
“Scared?”
“No. I want to know what I got myself into.”
Jacky looks at his watch. “We’ll find out about an hour.”
“You’re not sure yourself?”
“I’m not sure how many are coming. But what we can do is plan ahead. I’m the one they want to see, so you can sneak around and double back. When you see the opportunity, knock out this guy and save the hostage. After that, we can fight freely with them without worrying.”
“Save who?”
“There’s only one hostage, you can’t miss it.”
“If you’re going to let me help, at least talk more clearly. Or the deal’s off.”
Jacky smiles. “Okay. But don’t call her name or say anything that will give me away. I still don’t know how much they know. But they’re good enough to get a hold of my number.”
Jacky begins to tell Gallen about Jan. And about the previous case he was on. He guessed it was one of the gang leader’s brother that is taking on revenge now.
“Okay then,” Gallen said after Jacky’s done. “I’ll try my best to save your girlfriend.”
“And don’t worry,” Jacky reassured Gallen. “I won’t hold you liable if we fail since these guys mean serious business.”
Gallen opens his mouth to speak but Jacky stops him again.
“And whatever I say, don’t pay attention. I mean when I say the cruelest thing, it’s all the code that I have with Jan. So only she understands. Don’t try to interfere or curse at me for being a cold-hearted bastard.”
Gallen wonders what Jacky means but he knows that he should obey the commands for now.
They talk until around half an hour till 12. By that time, Gallen has found a spot to hide.
“This guy makes it way easier for us by choosing this place,” Jacky commented. “I think this might be easier than we anticipated.”
Gallen doesn’t answer him but just go to his hiding spot to get ready.
Jacky turns his attention back to the sea and waits patiently with a smile on his face. The exterior is like that but inside, he’s starting to feel uneasy. About 15 minutes till 12, he hears rustling sounds and footsteps approaching. But he continues to look at the sea ahead, the smile still present. When the group is about a feet from him, they stop. He waits for the others to start first since he wants to know the enemy before reacting.
“Well, well, Mr. Chu,” A man spoke up, his voice taunting. “You’re early. You cared about this girlfriend of yours after all.”
Jacky knows that it’s the same guy whom he spoke with on the phone with yesterday.
“Is that so?” Jacky asked, his voice passive.
“We’ll prove it to you today,” The man continued.
Jacky finally turns around to face them, smiling. “Prove what? You can’t even organize a gang, how can you do any harm to anyone?”
The guy’s face turns a bit red from anger. “You….”
Jacky cuts him off. “Is that all you can do? Turning your face red?”
The guy turns around to one of the others behind him. “Bring her.”
Jacky sees a guy dragging Jan out at the next moment. Jan is tied up and has scratch marks on both her arms and some on her face. Her mouth is also gag with a piece of cloth. She must have put up quite a fight, Jacky thought. Silly girl, he scolded her.
Jacky clears his throat, reminding himself to stay calm more than actually trying to draw attention back on himself. “So you want to see how beat up she is so I can start crying?”
The guy turns back to Jacky. “That was just a beginning.”
“Oh? What next? The same old torturing stuffs?” He raises his right hand to his mouth as if to cover a yawn.
The guy begins to feel a bit wavered, like his “in control” exterior is falling apart. He turns to look at Jan to see if her face changes.
“Don’t look at her. You mean you’re not so confident in yourself anymore that you need her scared look for reassurance that you’re still in control of your own game?”
The guy turns around again to face Jacky.
Jacky smiles. “Nolan, give it up. You might get about couple of years for kidnapping but if you continue, you’ll get a life sentence or worst, the death penalty.”
“How do you know my name?” The guy asked, shocked.
“I’m not supposed to know? I didn’t know that, how about I give you a name of my own? How about Scaredy-cat times two ? Or Wavering Hands?”
Nolan seems to come back to his senses. “I know you’re trying to distract me so you can somehow rescue your girlfriend. I’m not falling for it. Either you agree to my terms or I’ll finish her off. And after you watch her die, I’ll finish you too. Even if my brother can’t get out of prison, at least I’m paying back for him what you’d done.”
“So you finally have the brain cells to think? You mean your only intention of calling me out here is to name the terms? Why didn’t you just say so in the first place instead of dragging her out so she could cry like for 5 seconds to distract you more?”
“Quit acting smart or I’ll finish her first before you can blink.”
“You mean you actually have guns? Where are they? Still back at the stores that you couldn’t rob to use? Or it’s invisible since it’s all in your imagination?”
Nolan’s face is now beet red and his hands are shaking.
Jacky feels that this is way too easy. In less than 5 minutes, he’ll save Jan without a problem. “Lucky you didn’t bring a gun though since you’ll be dropping it right in front of all your little brothers and they’ll be shocked or maybe worst, laugh their eyes out before you know it.”
“Stop it!” Nolan whirls around suddenly and grabs Jan away from one of his guys. Still no gun. He grabs Jan’s hair and with the other hand pressing down on her shoulder.
“What are you doing now? Showing us all that you can rip her hair out?”
“I’ll snap her neck in two if you don’t shut up.”
“Go ahead. I don’t care. I could get another girlfriend. If you haven’t remembered, you’re here to name your terms so you should stay calm. And I’m here to catch you. Let’s get our priorities straight.”
Before Nolan could say anything, they hear whimpering sounds. It’s coming from Jan. Nolan lets go of her hair and grabs the piece of cloth out of her mouth. Tears are brimming down her cheeks.
“See how your boyfriend is?” Nolan asked. “You should be glad I captured you. It’s a good test to see for yourself who your boyfriend is. Now is your chance to speak. Go ahead, silly girl. Stop crying.”
“I…can’t….believe you said that,” Jan uttered out in sobs. “How could you? I believed in you. But…you…you….just treat me like…like…a silly girl. All you want is a promotion, right? I’ll show you!”
Jan doesn’t care to stay still anymore. She pushes hard with all her weight to knock Nolan over. Nolan’s standing near a big structure so he has to jump out of the way before he gets hurt from it. Jan gets her chance to run. She whirls around and zig-zags out of the way. The other guys try to catch her without hope. It’s the inner strength coming from frustration.
Jacky didn’t miss anything. He grabs a hold of Nolan as soon as Nolan jumps out of the way. The others are busy with catching Jan that they didn’t realize what had happened. When Jan runs past the last guy standing in the group, Jacky knows it’s time.
“Now Tim!” Jacky signaled to Gallen.
He knows he has to keep Gallen’s identity a secret no matter what happens so he calls him Tim and without the emphasis this time.
Gallen jumps out from behind another structure and grabs hold of Jan with one hand, knocking a guy that’s coming up to them with his other hand.
The next following minutes are all in blurs because they hear a siren about the time Gallen saves Jan.
“It’s my people,” Jacky informed Gallen. “Don’t worry.”
He cuffs Nolan while Gallen unties Jan. When Jan’s free she makes her way back to where Jacky is. Nolan’s guys didn’t care about capturing her anymore since they have to run away. The cops are here soon. Gallen is not far behind Jan so if anything happens, he’s able to help her.
Jacky lets go of Nolan after he cuffs him and goes to Jan. Of course he didn’t forget to knock Nolan unconscious.
They meet in the middle and embrace in a tight hug.
“You’re so silly, why did you fight back?” Jacky asedk, finally letting go of Jan. “Look at all these scratches.”
Jan just smiles up to him. He hugs her again.
Although Gallen doesn’t know half of what they’re talking about but it’s part of their code. He’s also amazed how they work together although Jan doesn’t seem to know any martial arts or seems capable.
The cops get there two minutes later and have all the guys surrounded. Jacky lets go of Jan and talks to one of the cops – who seems to be the lead cop. After about 15 minutes, they clear out of there with only Jacky, Jan, and Gallen left.
“We make a pretty good team, man,” Jacky said to Gallen.
“I didn’t do much,” Galen said. “And the way you made it so serious, I thought we would die trying to fight these guys or something.”
Jacky smiles. “Like I said before, I don’t know exactly what they got up their sleeves before. But when I see Nolan, he’s just too messed up. He’s out of control. All his gestures, he doesn’t seem like the leader and the fact that he hesitates too much made it way easier. You know how many times he looks at his guys before going on? Confidence problem. And you know what else is funny? I’ve never seen it before. Crooks without guns. They didn’t have knives either. It’s like they need to go back to ‘Crook School’ to learn the proper way of being a crook. No wonder Jan could outwit them so easily.
Gallen smiles. “Maybe that’s why.”
Jacky smiles also. “First time I see you smile, man.”
Gallen smiles again. “So, we got a deal?”
“You bet. But first I got to get this silly girl back home.”
“I don’t think it’s safe at her place anymore. Even if Nolan is in custody now.”
“Are you kidding me? My place.”
“Oh.”
Jacky shakes his head and grabs hold of Jan’s arm to go.
Gallen looks after the two and smiles again. He couldn’t help but feel a light-hearted feeling. Jacky’s a mysterious figure but when he’s with Jan, he seems very normal. Just like any other guy who’s strolling down the streets at any moment of the day, trying to make a living. Gallen turns back to where he parked his car earlier and heads home also.
© Saturday, June 2nd, 2007
Re-posted: Sunday, October 11th, 2009