| Fan Fiction |
by DTLCT
Jacky smiles. “How’s it going, my fellow comrades?”
“We just fought a battle together and you’re enlisting us already?” Wallace asked back. “That was just a test.”
Jacky shrugs. “So….where are you heading?”
“The cafeteria. Where else?”
“No wonder Alice has a smart-mouth. I finally get where she learns it from.”
“I’m not her brother for nothing.”
“Good for you then.”
“So…how’s it going down at the station?” Gallen jumped in.
“Pretty crazy actually. Jo’s still at it.”
“No rest?”
“No. Are you kidding? The day Meng Yee Man rests when a case is still open is when the sun rises from the west.”
“So now you’re the expert?”
“Being in Police Academy together with her for two years tells it all. And she hasn’t changed much since then.”
“You knew Joey that long already?” Wallace asked, surprised.
“Why else would I dare to joke in front of her?”
“Figures,” Wallace mumbled.
“Wait…” Gallen said.
“What?” Jacky asked, turning to him.
“You didn’t tell me what exactly happened at the station. You guys talked?”
“Oh yeah…almost forgot.”
Jacky begins to tell them what he learns and afterwards Wallace explains a bit more about going to get food while the others are still in the room with Jan.
Gallen excuses himself after they’re walking out of the cafeteria to go somewhere. They all say their goodbyes before heading back to Jan’s room for further discussion.
*****
“Do you know what I think?” Jacky asked.
“It sounds all too simple?” Wallace asked back.
“Yea. I told Tim you have great killer instinct but he doesn’t believe me.”
Wallace smiles a bit. “But honestly, how are you guys going to sort this out now? It’s not like we can help much.”
“You can leave old Jason to Miss Meng because she’ll find a way.”
Wallace smiles since he could believe that, having to work with Joey these past weeks.
“So….I guess you can’t help us, huh? Since you’ll be back at work tomorrow.”
“I guess so. At least Vincent and Alyssa are safe now.”
Jacky nods. “But it’s going to be crazy at work tomorrow. Old Victor is going to have it with you guys tomorrow.”
Wallace couldn’t help but laughs out loud. Never in all his years of working for Mr. Zhao has he heard someone calls the “big man” such a name before.
Jacky’s peeling an orange at that time. “You know what’s funny though?”
“What?”
“I’m supposed to be on Annie’s case but I’m more interested in what’s going on at your place.”
“Nothing like this ever happen at our place, right?”
“Not in a million years. I mean come on. We all know Jason Zhao had a little fallout with Old Victor, but who would believe he would cause such a mess?”
“I couldn’t believe it either since Jason used to be so nice to everyone, including Alyssa. She comes over to visit us sometimes, of course.”
Jacky nods, getting it. He’s busy eating his orange so he doesn’t bother to have a say.
“So, what about those files you have to find?” He whispered. “Are you going to ask Annie directly?”
“I’m sure she doesn’t know. We’d been this far. If she has it, she already told us.”
“True.”
“Oh yeah…”
“Yea?”
Jacky signals with his head by titling it to the left a little. Wallace looks to his right to see Cyndi coming towards them.
The whole time the guys are talking, the girls are talking to Jan. Now Cyndi’s walking over to Wallace since she’s a bit curious.
Jacky’s finally taking over his old job – protecting Annie. The others had gone back to get some work done after the visit and will come back later that night.
Jacky and Wallace are just talking about the cases a bit now.
“What are you guys talking about?” Cyndi asked.
“Just the cases,” Jacky replied. “Nothing new.”
“Want this?” Wallace asked, handing Cyndi half of an apple he had been cutting while talking to Jacky.
Cyndi takes it from him and heads back to the other two girls.
“Nice,” Jacky commented.
“What?” Wallace asked, looking at him.
“Trying to get rid of her like that. You’ll pay big time later.”
Wallace shrugs and smiles.
“I guess you fully recovered already since you know how to joke again.”
“So…what are you guys going to do now? Don’t tell me to just wait for someone to make a move before you do.”
“Of course we need to find Mr. Lam.”
“Strange.”
“That he hasn’t showed up this whole time?”
Wallace nods.
“I know. He’s not kidnapped or anything or we would have found him.”
“Did you know that Mr. Lam has a mansion in New York?” Jan asked from the other side of the room.
Jacky turns to her. “We were talking so low, how did you hear us?”
“You never lower your voice enough. You know that.”
Jacky smiles.
Wallace turns his attention to Jan. “A mansion in New York? Are you kidding me? You mean he could run away on his own?”
“It’s possible,” Jan said.
“If that’s the case, then he’s also involved somehow,” Jacky said. “You’re giving me another headache now.”
Jan smiles. “I’m just saying it’s a possibility. Didn’t say that it’s true.”
“But you got a point. How come he didn’t tell anyone of his whereabouts? He’s not kidnapped so he must be somewhere on his own. Or maybe he planned this whole thing to throw us off track and ran.” He looks over at Annie. “Any ideas, Miss Man?”
Annie shakes her head.
Jacky turns back to Wallace. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll let Cory handle this. I’m having a headache already. I wish…”
“What?” Wallace asked.
“Nothing. Never mind.”
Jacky gets up. “I need to go get another cup of coffee.”
Although everyone in the room knows clearly that Jacky didn’t get any coffee to start with to get “another” and Jan knows that Jacky’s thinking of Benny, but they still let him go without any questions.
*****
The next morning, Wallace returns to work feeling a bit unease. He’s not scared that Mr. Zhao will get on his case about his leave or anything, but he’s worried about what will happen regarding Vincent’s kidnapping. How will Mr. Zhao respond to his brother kidnapping his son? Wallace takes a deep breath and steps into the building. As he walks by the front desk, several people stop to address him. He nods his head at them and continues on his way to the elevators. He goes to his office on the second floor to drop off some documents and prepare for the upcoming meeting before heading to the third floor. He’s the first to arrive at the conference room. He couldn’t help but reminisce back to several weeks ago. It was his first time ever to be late. He couldn’t help but feel like that was the turning point of his life. His passive life since he finally decided to settle down and work for Mr. Zhao now becomes lively again. It wasn’t good “lively” moments like he expected or like anyone would had expected, but it had changed him. Not really change him, but he becomes more alert again. Alert like when his father passed away. He lets out a sigh as he looks around the empty conference room one more time and walks to his seat to wait for the others to arrive.
The door opens a minute later. Two of his co-workers walk in. They’re engaged in some sort of conversation, laughing about some unknown matter. When they see Wallace, they approach him.
“Hey Wallace, how are you doing now?” The first guy asked.
“We heard that a lot of bizarre stuffs happened while you were in that hospital,” The second guy said.
“Nothing big,” Wallace said. “I wasn’t there when it happened. The police will take care of those matters anyhow.”
“That’s good that you weren’t involved,” The first guy said.
Wallace looks towards the door to see if Mr. Zhao is coming yet. Still seeing no sight of the “big man”, Wallace turns his attention back to the two guys again. “So, how has it been these past days?
“It has been hectic. Chairman has eased up a bit when they found Vincent.”
“But when he found out what happened two nights ago, you know,” The second guy said. “With how they say it’s possible it could be his brother who’s behind this scheme.”
Wallace nods, knowing too well Mr. Zhao’s mood won’t be so friendly. Like he ever was in the first place, but now it’s going to be even worse than before.
“Oh yeah, I heard that Jason got arrested,” The second guy said suddenly. “Is that true?”
“I don’t know. I mean I was still checking out of the hospital yesterday and had to prepare stuffs for today’s meeting so…”
“I know what you mean,” The first guy said, cutting him off. “We shouldn’t let Chairman pick on us when things are bad for him already.”
Wallace nods again since he’s not used to engaging in gossip like the other guys, but today he just want to get some heads-up on things at the company. He doesn’t want Mr. Zhao to scold right away for his ignorance even though it’s just his first day back.
Wallace listens to the two guys talk some more. Every time the door opens, they look towards it only to find more people piling in, taking their seats at the conference table, but no Mr. Zhao. The two guys end up sitting down next to Wallace to continue their tales. Wallace gets a bit worried since it has been ten minutes now and Mr. Zhao is never late. They wait for about five more minutes before he sees Susie walking in with a memo in her hand.
“Mr. Zhao just canceled the meeting for today,” Susie announced. “He has something to take care of. He will be back later this afternoon.”
Wallace looks around the room once before standing up. “Do you know where he went?”
Susie shakes her head. “No. His secretary just delivered this to me while I was at my desk.” She looks around. “If there isn’t anything else, I need to get back to my desk.” She looks around once more before turning to leave.
Wallace leaves also, wondering what’s going on. He knows that Mr. Zhao would never let personal matters affect his work. Or is he so mad that he wants to go question his brother himself? Wallace decides to go back to his office and calls Jacky to check on news on the home front.
*****
Just as Wallace guessed, Victor Zhao stands in front of the police station, trying to convince several officers to let him in. While things get a bit intense between both parties, Joey appears, holding a coffee cup in one hand and a pen in another. Joey recognizes Victor Zhao right away from the files she had been reading, not to mention from the news reports these past days on TV and in newspapers. She walks towards him calmly, without sighing first or even a hesitating gesture. She is used to these acts from families and friends of the accused from numerous cases before. It doesn’t make a difference to her whether this guy is known as one of the tycoon’s in Hong Kong.
Joey walks slowly down the steps and approaches Mr. Zhao. “Mr. Zhao, how may I help you today?”
“Miss Meng…uh…Detective Meng, could you let me see my brother?” Mr. Zhao asked.
“I’m sorry, sir. You must understand that we’re undergoing an investigation right now. We can’t let you disturb him, even if you’re family.”
Mr. Zhao’s annoyance level has raised another notch, which Joey notices but chooses to let it pass.
“Are you implying that I conspired with him to kidnap my own son?” Mr. Zhao asked.
Joey tucks her pen into her jeans pocket and puts her right hand on her waist, still maintaining her calmness. “Mr. Zhao, we’re not accusing you of anything. We hope that you would understand that we are working our hardest to uncover the truth behind what happened. Maybe your brother did it, maybe he didn’t. We can’t say for sure right now. But we do appreciate that you understand we’re as concerned as you are about this whole case.”
“If you let me go in, I may get him to talk.”
“Mr. Zhao, I know you have good intentions, but I ask that you trust us to handle this one.”
Mr. Zhao, frustrated, scans the area in one quick motion, feeling like he could find someone to help him in persuading Joey. Just as he’s about to give up and leave, Jacky walks up to them from somewhere down the street. He turns back one last time and clicks on something, making sure his alarm is activated.
“What’s going on here?” Jacky asked Joey.
Since Mr. Zhao has been standing with his back towards Jacky, he didn’t realize until he’s face to face with both of them, forming a threesome circle somehow.
Jacky snaps on his charming smile real quick, sticking his hand out. “Mr. Zhao! How nice to see you here.”
Mr. Zhao shakes Jacky’s hand, but still maintains a grim expression.
Jacky knows that it must have come off quite wrong, so he clears his throat to clarify. “I don’t mean as in seeing you here in front of the police station. I just meant that it’s nice to finally meet you even if it’s in front of the police station.”
“May I ask who you are, young man?”
“I’m one of Joey’s colleagues.” He points at Joey for effect. “We’re working on your son’s case together.” He was careful enough not to mention Mr. Zhao’s brother, but only mentioning Vincent so as not to aggravate Mr. Zhao further.
“Do you have a name then?”
Jacky knows that it’s no time to joke while Mr. Zhao himself is this irritated, so he cuts to the chase. He pulls out a business card from his wallet and hands it to Mr. Zhao. Of course, it only stated Jacky as a cop, not an “undercover cop” since that would blow the whole purpose of being “undercover.”
Jacky stands there patiently waiting for Mr. Zhao to be done inspecting the card. He takes a glance at Joey and gives her a smile. Joey smiles back, knowing too well Mr. Chu’s trying to work his magic again.
Mr. Zhao looks up finally from his inspection routine and addresses Jacky directly. “Since you seen to be of knowledge in my brother’s case, you should know why I’m here.”
“Mr. Zhao, I know you want to help us, but with the state you’re in right now, it’s not a good idea to go inside. How about if I take you to this coffeehouse and we can talk this over first and maybe from there, we can figure something out.”
Mr. Zhao looks at the entrance one more time. He looks like he’s fighting with himself inside, but maybe he feels he would have a better chance with Jacky than with Joey, he finally sighs.
Jacky smiles. “This way, please, Mr. Zhao.”
Jacky leads Mr. Zhao to his car and opens the door for Mr. Zhao while he circles around to the driver side. He opens the door and before he ducks inside, he looks back at Joey and gives her a wink. Joey gives him an appreciative smile.
As Jacky pulls out of his parking spot, Kenneth comes up behind Joey. He just came out near the entrance area when Jacky led Mr. Zhao to his car. But he sees that Joey’s looking so intent at Jacky and his moves that he didn’t want to come outside. He has been standing at the door observing for a minute before deciding to step forward.
“What is he doing?” Kenneth asked.
Joey, startled, turns around to face Kenneth. Kenneth’s actually a bit taken aback although he’s the one that gave Joey the surprise. He had never seen Joey being startled before. He knows for sure it wasn’t because of him.
Joey regains herself the moment she sees Kenneth. “You startled me.”
“Sorry,” Kenneth said.
“No problem.”
Joey begins to walk back towards the entrance. Kenneth follows behind and steps forward to open the door for her.
“Mr. Zhao was giving the guys some trouble earlier,” Joey explained. “I came out and tried to talk him out of going inside. He didn’t listen until Jack came by and talked to him.”
“What did he say?” Kenneth heard that Victor Zhao can be quite persistent and often gets his way so he really wants to know how Jacky did it.
“Typical Jack. Flattery and charm.”
“Huh?” He’s not afraid to show his confusion since he couldn’t believe it’s so easy.
Joey smiles. “Let’s just say he’s a people person more than we are.”
Kenneth feels a bit flustered inside because Joey would doubt his abilities of public relations.
Joey, of course, has seen the expression on Kenneth’s face. “Don’t feel bad. Jacky has been in this field longer than you. Besides, he has been trained to be the public figure of the department years ago. Before he took undercover jobs. It was supposed to be his specialty if Benny hadn’t passed away.”
That didn’t make Kenneth feel any better than before since he realizes that, not only does Jacky has seniority over him, but also the ability to lure others in so easily. It’s like Jacky doesn’t even have to lift a finger to get people to like him. Kenneth didn’t want to let Joey know or find out that he couldn’t accept such inferiority, so he decides to change the subject. “So….what are you planning later with Jason Zhao?”
Joey doesn’t answer, but just smiles.
Kenneth realizes that Joey has been smiling a lot lately. Is it because of Jacky? Is Jacky’s vibes rubbing off of everyone? Even Wallace seems more energetic than ever. What’s going on here? Or has everyone been like that and he’s so into competing with Jacky that he doesn’t realize it? And that he could only associate everything going on around here as having to do with Jacky?
*****
Wallace walks out of the building to get some fresh air. He decides to go over next door and visit Cyndi – maybe ask her out for a cup of tea even, but he spots Mr. Zhao walking towards the entrance as he’s halfway to Wesley Realtor Agency. What’s even stranger is he’s walking with Jacky. Wallace stands still and waits for the two who are coming his way.
As they come closer, Wallace’s able to make out their conversation better.
“Mr. Zhao, thank you so much for all your information,” Jacky said, his voice full of sincerity and gratitude. “I’m sure we would be able to use them one way or another.”
“Young man, thank you for your patient also,” Mr. Zhao said with equally or even much more traces of sincerity and gratitude possible in his voice. “I know that I haven’t been very cooperative either.”
“I know that there has been a lot going on, so I don’t blame you. You should get some rest and if you think of anything else, just call me.”
Mr. Zhao finally steps in front of his company’s entrance. They had walked past Wallace about ten seconds ago to which Mr. Zhao didn’t even know that Wallace was there at all. Jacky was able to wave Wallace a “Hi” behind Mr. Zhao’s back as he’s accompanying Mr. Zhao.
“I will definitely call you if anything comes up,” Mr. Zhao said, still in the same sincere and cooperative tone.
“Before I leave you, I want to take this moment to apologize for my fellow cops’ behaviors earlier. They were told to follow those orders. I hope that you could understand.”
Mr. Zhao lets out a chuckle. “You don’t need to worry about that. I was putting them in a hard spot anyway.”
Jacky smiles. “All right then, sir. Take care.”
Mr. Zhao shakes Jacky’s hand one last time before turning to enter the building.
Jacky walks back to where Wallace’s standing, dumbfounded. He stops in front of Wallace. “What happened? Someone petrified you?”
“Whoa…” Wallace uttered out, still displaying traces of shock on his face.
“What?”
“How did you do that?”
“What do you mean?”
Wallace finds it even harder and harder to believe. Lost for words, he just uses his right hand to gesture towards Mr. Zhao’s direction.
Jacky smiles. “It was easy. I’ll fill you in on that later.”
“Talking about that, I was about to call you earlier but decided to wait since…”
As Mr. Zhao’s about to open the entrance door, he realizes someone’s talking to Jacky. He turns around and sees Wallace. Whatever is left of his sincerity has deserted, replacing it with grimness. “Mr. Huo, if you’re done with your chats, please proceed back to work.”
Although Mr. Zhao said that in a calm, passive voice, it still sends chills up Wallace’s back.
“Sir!” Wallace called out quickly. “I’m just taking my break.”
Mr. Zhao looks at his watch and then turns his attention back on Wallace. “It’s 2:30 now. Last time I checked, lunchtime is around noon. Don’t you think so, Mr. Huo?”
“I didn’t take a break earlier, sir. I was catching up on some of the work that I missed while I was on leave the last few days.”
“Well then, I suggest you go take your break and get back to work soon.” Mr. Zhao opens the door at last and steps inside the building. He turns around again as Wallace’s about to finish what he was saying to Jacky. “And Mr. Huo, remember about that promotion.”
“Yes, sir!” Wallace answered, almost saluting.
This time, Wallace makes sure that Mr. Zhao’s gone before turning back to Jacky.
“It doesn’t seem like he likes you that much,” Jacky noted. “Even if you’re Vincent’s best friend.”
“That’s why I was so…ugh…you know…earlier.”
Jacky nods, understanding.
“Oh yeah, how did you get him to be so…ugh…humble? Did he adopt you or something?”
Jacky laughs, shaking his head in the process. Then he looks at Wallace again. “It’s something I acquired over the years. Anyway, you should get back to work or your head will be deeper in the water.”
Wallace could imagine that scene, which made him shake a little although the temperature is quite high today.
They exchange goodbye and head their own way – Jacky to his car and Wallace back inside. So much for a nice tea break with Cyndi, Wallace thought as he makes his way back to the building.
*****
Jacky is about to turn into the street that leads back to the station when his phone rings. He is about to shut it off and waits until he’s at the station, but a quick glance at the number tells him something is up. He picks it up.
“What’s going on, Cory?” He asked.
“You know how we tried to pick up Larry Lam yesterday?” Cory asked back.
“Yea, he fled, right?”
“Yea. But we found out he has a mansion at a beach.”
“Yea. And?”
Jacky’s getting impatient since Cory’s getting no where. He’s about to turn into a parking spot when the next words made him stomp for the brakes.
“We found Frankie there,” Cory said.
“No way!” Jacky exclaimed, not being able to contain his shock.
“Believe it. He’s at our place right now if you want to come and meet us.”
“All right then. Let me call and tell Joey that I had to go first since I was meeting her here before but got delayed.”
“All right. Hurry. You don’t want to miss the show.”
Jacky hangs up and parks into the spot before dialing Joey.
“Jack? Where have you been?” Joey rattled out.
“With Old Victor, where else?”
“Did you find out anything?”
“Yea. But I have to go to Cory’s place because they just had some new leads.”
“Okay then.”
“I’ll tell you something though.”
“What?”
“Old Victor loves flattery.”
“Hmmmm…..”
Jacky knows Joey’s getting impatient so he cuts it short. “I’ll tell you more later. It’s easier to discuss it face to face. All right, I’m off.”
“Bye.”
Jacky hangs up, pulling out of the spot after that. He turns back into the street that he had turned from before, heading towards Cory’s place.
*****
Wallace sits back in his chair and tries to stretch a bit before going back to tackle the new cases he was thrown at by the big man. He promises himself to never get caught again. This is just too painful. Mr. Zhao, apparently, decides to give Wallace all the “hard-to-deal” with customers that he could find in Hong Kong, or so Wallace thought. How could this be possible? Wallace gets up to stretch his legs. He doesn’t dare to step outside, but just paces back and forth to free the numbness that’s building in his feet. It has only been 15 minutes or so, but Wallace feels like it’s been ages already. He barely glances briefly through the first page summary of five customers out of ten and is ready to give up. He grabs the water bottle he managed to acquire from the break room earlier as he was on his way back to his office. He takes a quick sip of water. Then looks at the pile of folders on his desk, sighing out. He sits back down again, forcing himself to actually do the work and get it over with already. This is so not like him. He wonders what’s going on here. Is it after the whole fight scene that had taken place in the hospital that he no longer felt excited about paperwork? Did he let his adventurous side take over again? He shakes his head real quick, trying to get rid of those thoughts and focuses on work again. He grabs the top folder from the pile and begins to start over with the last attempted read. When he’s almost done with the page, which is two minutes later, his cell phone rings. He grabs it quickly from the corner of his desk and flips it open. Just the time, he thought. When he can finally force himself to work again. Thanks a lot, Jacky. But he knows he has to answer or he’ll miss the chance to get hold of some news.
“Hello?” Wallace answered.
“Whoa! You sound excited,” Jacky teased.
“What have you found out?”
“Straight to the point, huh?”
Wallace stays silent, hoping that Jacky would get to the point soon.
“All right. You remind me of Jo. Anyway, guess what? They found Frankie.”
“Whoa!” Wallace springs up from his chair and begins to pace while talking. “How can that be? We were just talking about that yesterday.”
“Maybe talking about it does help.” Jacky puts on his mischievous smile although he knows that Wallace couldn’t see. He pauses a bit before going on. “Actually, it wasn’t that lucky of a break. I mean my team was trying to locate Larry. Cory said Larry has a mansion near the beach. Of course the guys moved in right away. They found Frankie there.”
“How? I mean…”
Jacky cuts him off. “I don’t know either. Cory said I need to come to our place to see for myself. Must be a break or something.”
“You told Joey already? Is she with you?”
“No. I didn’t tell her yet. In fact, I was on my way to the station when Cory called. So had to double back.”
“How come you’re telling me first if you haven’t told Joey?”
“Instinct tells me you want to know. I’ll update you further when I find out what Mr. Lam is up to.”
“Okay then.”
“Impatient, eh? I should have taken you with me when I was at your company. But didn’t want you to lose your job. But if you don’t mind that, I’ll just find a way to secure a place for you at my local station, all right?”
“What?!”
Jacky lets out a chuckle. “Kidding! But seriously, you have good cop instinct. Oh, talking about that, watch out for Old Victor.
“I know. I’m in my office right now. He probably thinks I’m working.”
“No, I mean keep an eye on him. Make sure he stays there the whole day today and maybe you should…ummm…”
“What?”
“Follow him home.”
“You want to get me fired? I can’t stalk him like that.”
“Come on. No one told you to tag him from behind or ask him if you could join him for dinner. Just keep an eye on him from far away. As long as you know he’s heading home and not towards the police station this afternoon, then it’s fine. After that, you can head home.”
Wallace knows Jacky’s up to something, but probably doesn’t have time to explain to him yet, so he has no choice other than agreeing to that.
“Okay then. I’m almost here. Talk to you later. If anything comes up, like Old Victor heading towards the station again, call me.”
“Yes, sir!” Wallace rattled out sarcastically.
“Very funny. You’re learning though.” Jacky hangs up after that.
Wallace looks at the phone for a second before closing it. He puts it back down at the corner of his desk and sits down in his chair again. This time, he’s swinging back and forth, trying to figure out things again. What’s the connection? How could it be so obvious that Frankie’s in on it with his uncle? But then again, didn’t Jacky say that he’s probably not involved? Or are they just making things more complicated than it really is? Wallace shakes his head of those thoughts again and tries to concentrate on his work. He’ll try to finish some files first before he can get up and go tag Mr. Zhao. Going now would be suicidal.
*****
Joey walks over to the break room to get another cup of coffee. On her way back, she bumps into Brad. He looks worried.
“What’s wrong?” Joey asked, studying him carefully.
“There are some officers from the courthouse out front. They said they want to transfer the suspects back to the jailhouse there so it’s easier for the trial that’s starting soon.”
“It should be all right since we’re done with most of them. It’s just Jason Zhao that we need to get talking.”
“That’s the problem. They want Jason now.”
“Go tell Kenneth to negotiate with them. We’ll have Jason Zhao transfer to them by midnight.”
“All right.”
Brad leaves to find Kenneth while Joey heads back to her desk. Thinking of new tactics since her last one failed again. And she was so confident too. How stubborn can someone get? One way or another the evidence is against him, Joey thought. Why bother fight it? If he confesses, he will get a better chance.
*****
Jacky knocks on the door three times, pauses, and then knocks one more time. Someone opens the door. Jacky enters the room to find Frankie front and center. He’s not tied up or something like that, so Jacky guesses that he has been cooperating. Jacky scans the room, but no Cory. He turns to the officer that had let him in.
“Where’s Cory?”
“He’s in the back.”
Jacky proceeds to the back to find Cory.
Cory’s making some more coffee.
“What cup is this?”
“Number 5.”
“You know that stuff’s going to kill you one day?”
Cory shrugs. “Better that than letting my guard off.”
“So, what has Mr. Lam got to say for himself?”
“He’s playing the ‘I don’t know anything’ card right now.”
“Reason?”
“He just got back from the States and was trying to contact his uncle. He couldn’t reach his uncle at his house so he decided to go to his mansion. He saw that the place has recently been re-modeled so he thought he would sit and wait for the uncle. That was when we found him there.”
“What if he’s telling the truth?”
“He’s caught red-handed, what makes you think he doesn’t lie?”
“But the segment that Jan acquired proves it.”
“You’ll never know. Those crooks are just doing their jobs. How would they know all of the details behind it?”
“True. But I think we can trust Frankie for now.”
Cory turns his attention away from the coffee-maker. “You’ve gone soft?”
“No way. I just did a quick observation of him as I walked in.”
Cory turns his attention back to the coffee-maker.
“Oh yeah, did he tell you what he went out of the country for?”
“Something about business meeting. New project. Something like that. He had to negotiate with them.”
“New York?”
“How did you know?” Cory has turn to look at him again.
“Jan told me yesterday. I thought you knew.”
“Jan never tells me anything. You know that. She only tells you.”
“How come I sense sarcasm?”
“Don’t worry. I don’t like Jan. At least not in that way, so you don’t have to pretend to pry some information from me.”
Cory’s pouring coffee into his cup now and Jacky’s looking out the window all of a sudden.
After a moment, Jacky snaps his attention back to reality.
“Come on,” Jacky urged. “Let’s go get him.”
“You want to try something new?”
“No. It’s quite old. But we can be sure that he’s telling the truth.”
“All right. You do all the work then.”
“I need you to act a certain part though.”
“Don’t tell me it’s good cop, bad cop again. It’s getting quite old. No one falls for that stuff anymore. Everyone who watches those daily dramas knows.”
“No way! I’m not using that one. It’s too obvious. But still need your help. Come on.”
As Jacky says that, he drags Cory along.
When they’re back out in the front area, Jacky lets go of Cory and approaches Frankie.
“Mr. Lam, explain yourself,” Jacky commanded.
Cory grabs Jacky’s hand and pulls him to a corner of the room, still remembering to whisper. “And you say that this isn’t good cop, bad cop?”
“We’re not here to whisper. We’re here to carry out an investigation.” Jacky walks back to the center of the room, leaving Cory confused. He directs his attention on Frankie again. “Mr. Lam, you want to answer me or do I have to take you to our station?”
Frankie clears his throat. “I already told this officer here what’s going on.” He points at Cory. “And I’m sure he told you already. Why do I have to be hold here when I didn’t do anything wrong? I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Your assistant was attacked last week. She’s currently hospitalized and we tried to find you. We didn’t expect you to be around your uncle’s place. It looks to me like you’re trying to escape. You didn’t go out of the country or anything. You’d been hiding in your uncle’s mansion the whole time, right?”
Frankie stands up. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who was hospitalized? Amy?”
Jacky lowers his voice a little. “No. Not Amy. Annie. Your previous assistant.”
“Annie? Is she all right?” Frankie’s face changes from shocked to concerned rapidly. He doesn’t realize it, but he advances forward and grabs Jacky by the shoulder.
Jacky could easily get away, but he wants to observe Frankie even closer. He brushes Frankie’s hand aside when he’s done with his observation, which is a few seconds later, and approaches Cory. “You didn’t tell him?”
“No,” Cory said, playing along. “How could I? I don’t know how he would react.”
Jacky turns back to Frankie. “Mr. Lam, if you’re concerned for Miss Man, then I suggest you cooperate with us.”
“I already answer all the questions,” Frankie said.
“No. I need real information. Where’s your uncle?”
“That’s what I’d been trying to figure out myself. I waited for him at his mansion for 15 minutes then your team showed up.”
“Have you tried calling him?”
“Yes. Several times when I got back. But not when I was at the mansion. I’ve seen that there are signs of renovation, so I thought he’s there for a vacation and might be somewhere in town. So I sat there and waited for him.”
“A likely story.”
“I don’t know why you don’t believe me. If you’re finished, I would like to go to the hospital and visit Annie.”
“All right.”
We took him in our cars,” Cory jumped in.
Jacky looks at Cory real quick and turns to face Frankie again. “In that case, I’ll give you a lift.”
“I don’t want to waste your time. Just tell me which hospital she’s in.”
“It’s a wise choice to let me go with you.”
“Officer, could you please stop harassing me? I already told you the truth.”
“I’m not harassing you. I’m doing it for your safety. If what you said is true…”
“Of course it’s the truth!”
“I didn’t mean that. I said if it’s the truth, then you’re the target next. It’s wise to let me go with you for now.”
Frankie knows too well he can’t back out of this so he agrees.
Jacky turns to signal Cory before leaving with Frankie.
*****
Annie just got off of work and is standing at the corner of the street to wait for someone when she sees someone familiar waving to her from a car nearby. She stops and doesn’t want to approach, concerned that it might be some unfriendly parties. Tim should be here soon, she thought. She should wait for him right there. The person inside the car gets out. She decides to duck back into the building but that person increases his speed. As Annie grabs the door handle to the building, that person grips her by the shoulder. She screams out.
“Don’t yell! It’s me, Cory!” The other person said.
Annie stops yelling and turns around. She realizes why he’s familiar looking. She shouldn’t have panicked so much. “You scared me!”
Cory, suddenly realizes that Miss Man isn’t the type to be messed with, lets go of her shoulder.
“What are you doing here? Did Jacky send you since Tim couldn’t come?”
“Yes and no. I didn’t know that Tim’s picking you up. But I need you to do something for me. So I came all the way across town.”
“What’s going on?”
“Pretend you’re in a coma.”
“What?!”
“Frankie Lam is back. We’re trying to test him if he’s telling the truth. The only way to see it if he really cares for you or just faking it.”
“He’s back? Why didn’t he call…”
Cory looks at Annie. She looks sideways fast before looking back at him.
“Are you hiding something from us?” Cory asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
“No! Not at all!” Annie exclaimed, feeling the need to justify herself.
“All right. I’m not going to push you with that. But could you help us with this one bit?”
Annie thinks for a bit. Then she looks up at him again. “All right. I’ll do it.”
“All right then. Come on.”
Cory heads back to his car with Annie following closely behind.
Annie stops abruptly. “What about Tim?”
“Call him back and say that you’re going with me.”
“Okay.”
When they get into Cory’s car, he drives away while Annie’s dialing Tim’s number.
Tim picks up after the second ring. “Yes? Something wrong?”
“No. It’s just that Cory picked me up and said I need to go with him to…”
“Don’t tell him!” Cory yelled out, stopping Annie in time.
Tim hears that since Cory’s quite loud. “Don’t tell me what?”
Cory shakes his head at Annie real quick and turns his attention back to the road.
“No,” Annie said. “Nothing. Cory said it’s a secret. Jacky told him to come so I guess it’s all right.”
“Okay,” Tim said. “I’ll just head to the hospital and visit Jan then.”
“Okay. See you there.”
“What?”
Cory looks at her again.
“I mean see you later then.”
“Okay. Bye.”
Annie hangs up and Cory exhales.
“Sorry.”
“No problem. It’s just that the less people know about this, the better.”
Annie nods.
*****
Jacky turns right before he starts up a conversation with Frankie, hoping to extract some information before they reach the hospital. He’s also going slow on purpose as to give Cory some time. He seriously hopes that Cory could find Annie in time.
“So…Mr. Lam,” Jacky began casually. “Anything interesting with this trip?”
“I just went there to sign some documents because there were some problems,” Frankie said. “I thought sending one of my guys there was fine. But they insisted on meeting me directly before signing any documents.”
“You didn’t have time to tell anyone about it?”
“I already told you guys that I was in a hurry. It’s one of our most important partners after all.”
“Okay. I’m just asking.”
Frankie realizes his temper rising. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I can’t believe that after a business trip, this would happen. I frequently go on business trips unannounced, but this time…” He couldn’t finish. He couldn’t believe he’s in a middle of such a big mess.
“According to some of the men we captured, they were trying to look for some documents. Do you know what that might be?”
“I don’t know. I mean even if I know, I wouldn’t know what they’re hinting at.”
Jacky turns left at the next corner. He was supposed to turn right, but he was taking a short cut, more accurate the “short-cut.” The “short-cut” that anyone could count on it to be stuck in traffic for an hour or something. It seems to him like Frankie doesn’t know it. Of course, how could he? He doesn’t live around this part of town. Another advantage for Jacky and his guys.
Frankie glances at his watch after seeing what messed Jacky got them into.
Jacky doesn’t want to look too suspicious, so he clears his throat. “Sorry, Mr. Lam. I unconsciously forgot that this “short-cut” isn’t a short-cut after all.”
“It’s okay. I’m just worried about Annie.”
“Hopefully when you’re there, she can sense it and somehow wakes up.”
Frankie looks over to Jacky. “Don’t cops rely on hard evidence and scientific explanation to guide their way through solving cases?”
“No. Sometimes… Let me rephrase that. Most of the time, we need luck. If we don’t have luck, how could we have found you?”
“I wasn’t missing in the first place.”
“Would you have run to us right away after hearing the news of what happened to Miss Man?”
“I…”
“See?”
“I mean I had an argument with Annie once. That was why she quit her job and left. I don’t know if she already forgave me. After what happened, I really want to see her. Even if she can’t respond to me.”
“Hmmm….”
“What? Don’t believe me?”
“I didn’t say that. I meant this traffic is getting quite annoying.”
“Oh…”
Jacky smiles to himself as Frankie turns his attention towards front again to observe the traffic.
About twenty minutes later, they escape the traffic. Jacky exhales and starts speeding like crazy around town. Not really speeding, but he makes it look like that so Frankie knows he’s trying to help.
They arrive at the hospital around 5 PM. It’s starting to get dark outside, which is strange. Jacky parks into a spot near the door and gets out. Frankie doesn’t need to be told, he hurries towards the entrance. Jacky tags behind, observing Frankie’s every move.
Frankie runs to the front desk and ask one of the nurses where Annie’s room is. He doesn’t realize that he could have asked Jacky. After all, Jacky said he and his guys knew all about that already. Or at least that they’d been there to see Annie. Frankie hurries towards the elevators as soon as he knows of her room number. Jacky follows closely behind, not wanting to distract Frankie by saying anything unless Frankie talks to him.
They wait for the elevator to take them to the second floor. Jacky scowls at Cory silently since this isn’t the level for Intensive Care. Hopefully, because Frankie’s in a worried state right now that he doesn’t realize it. Frankie advances towards room 23 and raises his right hand up to knock, but he lowers his hand again, remembering that Annie’s still in a coma. How could she hear him? He turns the knob as slowly as he could so as not to make any noises.
Great place, Jacky thought as he enters the room after Frankie. Great timing too. His sarcasm is building so much, he doesn’t dare to speak. He just watches Frankie as Frankie approaches Annie’s bed. She’s laying there, attached to lots and lots of tubes. Each tube leading to a different machine around her bed.
Frankie walks towards her bed, sitting down at the chair next to it. He grabs hold of her hand and stares into her face. “Annie, I’m back. I’m so sorry I didn’t come back earlier. I shouldn’t have done it. I know I’m wrong.”
Wrong? Jacky’s brain snaps into action. He edges a little bit forward to hear more clearly.
“I was wrong to argue with you about such matters. If you haven’t left the company, this might not happen.”
Jacky’s hopes fall flat down on the ground. This guy needs to get to the point, Jacky thought. He hopes that Cory made sure Annie doesn’t wake up at the wrong time.
“Annie, please wake up. I’ll consider your proposals and we’ll work some agreement out. It won’t be like before. You won’t have to feel so stressful about anything at the company.”
Jacky rolls his eyes. Lucky I’m not the one laying there, he said. If I were to hear all of these, I’ll gag already. Then Jacky remembers that they’re not involved. How come he’s acting like this? Maybe…not maybe, he scowls at himself. Of course Frankie likes Annie. Jacky decides to leave the room. Maybe there’ll be some progress. “I’ll just wait outside.”
Frankie turns to Jacky and gives him a confused look. It’s like he just realizes that Jacky’s there. Then he recovers and gives Jacky an appreciative look.
Jacky walks out to the hallway and shuts the door behind him quietly. As soon as he hears that Frankie has resumed talking to Annie, he races to the room that he just passed before and grabs the door knob, slipping in. He shuts the door behind him, making sure not to disturb anyone. He signals a “Be quiet” by putting his right index finger on his lips. The other two in the room realizes it’s him and nods.
Jacky heads towards the wall and pulls out his listening device, pressing it against the wall to hear.
“Fan Gang, can you hear anything?” The girl whispered.
Jacky nods to her as he feels that he can hear it clearly now.
The girl stays quiet and the other guy in the room resumes to listening with his own listening device also. Frankie’s telling Annie about that time they first met.
“I thought you were the most innocent girl I’d ever met. You seemed to have a not so good impression towards me. It was probably because you heard those rumors about me. We got into knowing each other better as time passes. After all, you’re my assistant. You would know better than to listen to those people, right? It was because of my stubborn ways that drove you away. Annie, wake up. I know now that I shouldn’t have told you to mind your own business that day when you were telling me how Uncle Larry was cheating me.”
Jacky and the other guy look at each other. They have the look that said, “We hit home!” They go back to listening after that.
“Of course you would never lie to me, right? We’ve known each other for a while already. You’re not that kind. You’ve always been very straight-forward about everything. I had to believe you, so I checked all the records again after I cool down. But I didn’t have time to confront him, because I had to make a quick business trip to the States. I thought if I kept it a secret and wait until I get back, I could take care of it. But after I heard from those officers that you’re…”
Frankie’s voice breaks at that point and they couldn’t hear clearly what he’s saying. But after a few more minutes, he says his goodbye to Annie.
“I’ll come back tomorrow to visit you again. If I don’t make it back, I…” Frankie pauses before continuing. “I guess that’s it then.”
Jacky could hear Frankie moving towards the door. He pulls his listening device off the wall and runs towards the door. He grabs the knob, but he turns around towards the other two before opening the door.
“Cory! Go help Annie! Call Gallen for backup if you need.”
Cory nods across the room and Jacky’s off.
Even though Frankie seems to be leaving first, but he seemed to have lingered a bit longer, leaving more time for Jacky to leave the room and walks halfway down the hall, doubling back as Frankie’s stepping back out to the hallway.
Jacky walks up to Frankie. “Done?”
Frankie nods.
Jacky places a hand on Frankie’s shoulder. “Are you all right?”
Frankie nods.
“Let’s go then. I’ll drive you back to your house so you would know the way back tomorrow morning if you want to visit Miss Man.”
Frankie finally speaks up as he’s walking with Jacky to the elevators.
“You finally trust me?” Frankie asked, surprised.
“I never doubted you,” Jacky said, meaning it.
Frankie has on his puzzled look. “Then why did you ask me all those questions that the other officer already asked?”
“They didn’t believe me that you’re not involved, so I had to ask it again just for routine just to rattle you. I apologize, Mr. Lam.”
Jacky sticks out his hand. Frankie stops and shakes it before entering the elevator that just opened.
© Sunday, August 12th, 2007
Re-posted: Monday, October 12th, 2009