| Fan Fiction |
by DTLCT
“That was something, huh?” Jacky asked.
Joey smiles. “Yea.”
“It’s funny that you’re the one to smile first after we get out of danger.”
“Is there supposed to be a competition as to who smiles first?”
Jacky smiles. “No. But it’s strange to see Miss Meng taking it light.”
Joey doesn’t want to say anything, but just looks at the surrounding area.
“Don’t have to look. I’ll call Kenny to pick us up.”
“This is the area that we searched for Vincent and Alyssa these past weeks, right?”
“Yea. Strange that the pond is actually the key, huh?”
Joey smiles.
Jacky gets out his cell phone and starts to dial Kenneth’s number.
“Hello?” Kenneth asked, surprised of the unfamiliar number.
Jacky laughs. “That’s how a lieutenant talks? ‘Hello?’ You should say something like ‘Lieutenant Ma here’ or like ‘Kenneth Ma here.’”
“Jack?” Kenneth asked, still confused.
“Who else? Your girlfriend?”
“Stop messing around and get to the point,” Joey urged in the background since she couldn’t stand it anymore.
“All right,” Jacky said. “You heard her so I’m going to cut it short. Come to the woods and pick us up right away. You know, the area that you and Jo had been searching these past weeks for clues of Vincent and Alyssa.”
“What?” Kenneth asked, still confused. “I thought you guys were….”
Jacky cuts him off. “I’ll explain when you get here. And bring some towels.”
“Towels?”
“Just do it. I’ll explain that too when you get here. Or you’ll see it for yourself.” Jacky hangs up before Kenneth could say further. He lies down on his back, looking up at the sky, putting his phone back into his pocket.
Joey’s nearby, trying to get as much water off her clothes as possible.
Jacky looks over to her side, his hands tugged under his head. “Don’t worry. The sun will dry it anyway. Just stay still.”
“It feels so sticky though,” Joey said, annoyed.
Jacky smiles. “That’s why you stay still.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“I can’t believe Madame Meng doesn’t have patience in such situations but she has the patience to sit and wait for the ‘Black Wolf’ for three days without moving.”
Joey ignores him, but somehow she stops moving altogether. He looks back at the clear blue sky above with hints of turning yellow orange-ish soon. There’s a breeze blowing by at that time.
“Nice day, huh?” Jacky asked.
Joey must admit that it is but she doesn’t want to give Jacky the idea that she’s actually thinking about something, so she just shrugs.
“Nice day to die too,” A voice from somewhere said.
Both Jacky and Joey jump up at the same time, scanning the area.
“Show your face before any unpredictable events happen, like my darts chopping off your nose,” Jacky warned. “It’s not going to be a pretty scene.”
The voice laughs. “You don’t have anything on you, how can you throw it?”
“How do you know? Unless you’re the dude that emptied my pockets when I was unconscious before.”
“You’re good, Detective.”
“Show yourself then.”
The guy who’s talking comes out from the one of the big trees.
Jacky beats himself up inside for celebrating too fast. He shouldn’t have let his guard down. But then how come Joey didn’t hear anything? She’s always so alert.
While Jacky’s thinking those thoughts, Joey recognizes the guy who just walked out.
“Justin?” Joey said in a surprised voice.
Joey isn’t surprised that it’s Justin since she and Kenneth had known all along about him and Lenny being in the whole scheme. But she wondered why Gallen had said that they already captured all the crooks.
“You shouldn’t be surprised it’s me, Miss Meng,” Justin said. “I knew you and Kenneth pinned those two dummies on me since the case started.”
“Why aren’t you captured yet?” Joey asked.
Justin smirks. “You wish it’s that simple. I’m not a dummy to stand around when your men moved in.”
“Are you here to kill us or to tell us how smart you are?” Jacky jumped in.
“Tsk…tsk…tsk…Impatience, aren’t we?”
Jacky grins. “I’m just you giving a chance at it before I strike.”
“Detective Chu, may I remind you that ‘We already emptied your pockets when you were unconscious?’” How many times do I have to make that clear to you?”
“Have your mom ever told you about bears having 3 caves?” He pauses for effect.
“I guess not, huh?”
Justin, being the clever one that he is, pulls out a gun from his pocket real quick and aims at Jacky and Joey. “So, go ahead and make a move.”
Jacky shrugs. “You asked for it.”
Jacky, his hand has been tugging on his belt the whole time, flicks his fingers in one fast motion. Before Justin could shoot, he sees something flying his way. He fires a minute too late, but ducks aside instead. Jacky, on the other hand, had pulled Joey to kneel down so the bullet wouldn’t get to her. While Justin’s reacting to the object being thrown at him, Jacky knows it’s his chance. He flicks two more pieces towards Justin’s way. The fourth one knocks Justin’s gun out of his hands. At that same time, Joey advances towards Justin and tries to cuff him. They did all that in less than 5 minutes. Seeing Joey had already taken care of the situation, Jacky sits back down again on the grass.
“So, where were we?” Jacky asked, hands on his knees. “Oh yeah, I was talking about ‘Have your mom ever told you about bears having 3 caves?’”
Justin doesn’t say anything. He just lets out a grunt.
“Still not admitting defeat?”
“Quit messing with him,” Joey said. “He might…”
“Relax. This time there isn’t anyone else behind a tree or some other places.”
“How do you know I was behind a tree?” Justin blurted out in anger.
“You mean you crawled here under the ground?” He points towards the earth beneath him for emphasis.
Justin gives him a murderous look.
Although Jacky’s joking but he knows that Justin’s accidental comment meant something. He circles around the tree where Justin had appeared from before. He starts to knock on it.
“What are you doing?” Joey asked.
“Trying to see if his beaver friend is in there,” Jacky replied.
“Not funny, Jack.”
“I’m not trying to be. I…” He stops because he found it.
A small branch of the tree is actually a lever to open the secret door.
“These guys are really clever,” Jacky commented. “We should have taken this path before instead of swimming.”
Joey knows that Jacky found something so she walks to where he is.
“Watch.” He pushes the lever down and the door pops open. “Clever, eh?”
Joey walks back to where Justin’s laying on the ground. “How many more people do you have in this place?”
“What makes you think I’m telling you?” Justin asked back.
Jacky smiles. “You already told us about the secret place that we didn’t figure out yet. So I might as well tell one or two of your friends at the station that you betrayed them so they can spill all the secrets about you.”
Jacky has walked back to where Joey’s talking to Justin by now.
Justin sneers at Jacky.
Jacky just smiles. He goes back to sitting down at a place nearby. “I wonder what’s taking Kenny so long. And…..you can come out from the other tree now, Lenny. No point in hiding since you’re easier to take anyway.”
“Lenny?” Joey asked.
“Justin here and Lenny the beaver over there…” He points towards the opposite tree that Justin had hid before. “…are like twins. Wherever Justin goes, Lenny’s there. So what do you say? Want to come out now, Beaver?”
Jacky hears a “whoosh” sound next. He doesn’t bother to look up but just raises his hand to catch the object being tossed his way. A second before, Joey had shouted out, “Jack!”
“Come on, Lenny,” Jacky said, still in his calm voice. “Last chance. You want me to toss this boomerang back at you?”
Joey starts to walk towards the tree since she just witnessed the incident a minute before.
“Jo, don’t. Let him come out by himself.”
What Jacky means is he might be hiding something behind the tree and it might be another secret place so there could be weapons in there. It’s easier to get him when he’s out in the open and unarmed.
Jacky’s last warning takes effect right after Jacky’s words to Joey. Lenny steps out behind the tree and starts to walk towards them.
“Nice day, huh?” Jacky asked casually.
Lenny looks towards Justin’s way. Jacky doesn’t bother to monitor their signals.
“How many of you are still in hiding?” Joey asked.
“I think that’s about it since only these two are here,” Jacky said. “If there were more, would they make such lame attempts to attack us?”
“YOU!” Justin screeched out.
“What?” He looks towards Justin’s way for once. “You want to tell me there are more?”
Justin grunts but doesn’t respond after that.
“Justin, they…” Lenny began.
“Shut up!” Justin yelled out.
“Touché, aren’t we?” Jacky taunted.
“But the others are…” Lenny tried again.
“I told you to shut up!” Justin bellowed.
Lenny finally lets his head down to the ground and stops altogether.
Jacky looks from one to the other. “You two are really impressive. One willing to strain your voice and yell.” He pauses to look at Lenny. “And the other willing to stay silent and be obedient. Great team.” He shakes his head in disbelief.
Lenny looks up. “I’m not!”
“What are you trying to prove anyway?” He smirks and gestures his right hand. “There isn’t anyone here to put the show up for.”
Lenny’s face is turning red by the minute.
“Jack, stop fooling around,” Joey said.
Jacky looks at Joey. “You’re getting impatience too?” He flashes on a smile. “This is fun!”
Joey looks away and towards the clearing ahead to see if Kenneth’s here yet.
Jacky *could read Joey’s thoughts. “Maybe five more minutes.”
Joey looks back at Jacky but doesn’t say anything.
“Don’t worry. He’ll find us.”
“Why are you always so calm?”
“What’s there to be worked up about? Even if Lenny over here…” He points towards Lenny. “…is like…” He pauses. “…not handcuffed or anything but…” He pauses again. “…he’s pretty much done for.”
“What are you talking about?” Lenny yelled out, offended.
“Are you saying you can fight me and somehow…” He pauses. “…miraculously saves old Justin over here?” He points to Justin.
Lenny sneers and makes a move towards Jacky.
Jacky has had enough play for now. When Lenny moves a bit, Jacky jumps up from where he’s sitting and seizes Lenny by his arms in one quick motion and presses down on Lenny’s shoulder, forcing him to kneel down.
“What about now?” Jacky asked. “Did I prove myself right?”
Lenny doesn’t reply.
Jacky smiles and reaches in his pants pocket – once again – with his right hand and grabs a pair of handcuffs to place it on Lenny. He kicks Lenny aside towards the ground and sits back down in his original place. Then he turns to Joey again. “So…Miss Meng. How did I do?”
Joey doesn’t answer him but looks towards the clearing again.
“He should be here in 4 minutes.”
Joey looks back to Jacky but doesn’t say anything. She wishes he would stop being a smart mouth. She likes him better when he’s clever and quiet. Like years ago. What happened? There are still hints here and there that the old him is still there, like how protective he was towards her when they were in the secret passage and how serious he was when he tried to calm her down earlier in their cell. Did this have something to do with Benny?
While Joey’s thinking all of these, Jacky has lain back down on the ground and looks up at the sky again, his expressions serious. He’s thinking of something. Something quite uncertain to a bystander.
© Wednesday, June 13th, 2007
Re-posted: Sunday, October 11th, 2009