| Fan Fiction |
by DTLCT
“I’m fine,” Jan whispered softly, still managing a smile. “It’s all right.”
“You silly girl,” Jacky scolded, still trying to control his voice. “Why did you do it? Why?”
“I wanted to help you. I can’t just stand around like some weakling waiting for you to capture those guys by yourself.”
“You just recovered. No one expects you to help. Not like this either.”
“This is the last time…”
“You could have been killed.”
Huh? What is going on here? Wasn’t Jan stabbed? Why did Jacky say that “Jan could have been killed?”
Actually, what happened was…
*****
“The way I see it…you don’t have a choice to begin with,” The man said.
“What if I do?” Jacky asked, his voice still leveled.
“You must be dreaming. I have her under my control right now. What makes you think you can do otherwise?”
“Is that so?”
His expression turns into mocking at that point. “Yes, it is so.”
“Then what’s stopping you if you’ve got the upper hand?”
While the guy is smiling mockingly at Jacky and shifting his knife position, Jan looks into the crowd. She realizes that the crowd isn’t as passive or as fully focused on her and her captor like she thought before. When Jan’s eyes scan past a man in striped gray shirt in the crowd, she understands. That man is actually an accomplice with the man who is holding her hostage. He’s getting ready to make a move. Jan could see it clearly now since she sees a knife gleaming in his hand. It’s hard for others to see since there are numerous people among the crowd, both reporters and security guards, and they are focusing their full attention on her and the captor – not anyone else, especially not anyone in the crowd. That man is moving closer and closer towards Mr. Zhao. She has to warn Jacky.
“Fan Gang!” She called out abruptly, alarming everyone within the crowd – even the knifeman himself.
Jacky knows from Jan’s yell and alarmed look that something’s going on in the crowd. He turns around in time to see the knife about to be stabbed into Mr. Zhao’s side as the attacker pushes Vincent out of the way. His reflexes has kicked in while he turned around so he has one of his star-shaped weapon ready and throws it straight at the knife just in time. A “clang clang” sound follows as the two weapons hit each other.
On the outside and at the same time that Jan warns Jacky, the knifeman makes his move also – about to split Jan’s throat, but Jan is already prepared. She whips her right hand up, pulls the man’s knife-hand off her throat, and snaps his hand free of the knife. She spins around and pushes him a bit apart from her, twisting his hand around while her left hand pushes down on his left shoulder, making him kneel down on the floor.
What she and Jacky did happened about the same time, making it too unexpected for others to react. The reporters are the one who has been making gasping sounds and yelling out random phrases while these two scenes unfold. It is only until Jacky and Jan both finished their acts that the security guards rush forward to help. One of the security guards near Mr. Zhao has restrained Mr. Zhao’s attacker and leads him out of the room. On the outside, the security guard who is near the door rushes forward and takes the man Jan just restrained away.
While those things are taken care of, the crowd is waiting quietly for the security guards to do their job, so things are quite peaceful for the moment. As soon as one of the security guards taken Jan’s attacker off her hand, Jacky rushes forward to Jan, hugging her in both happiness and relief.
“Jan!” His happiness indescribable – even his tone could not match his feelings of relief. “Jan…”
“I’m fine,” Jan whispered softly, smiling – though he could not see. “It’s all right.”
*****
While Jacky’s hugging Jan and exchanging these words with her, the rest of the security guards are directing the reporters outside of Mr. Zhao’s room and clearing the hallway also. Jacky and Jan are just zooming them out. Then Ricky walks towards them with a mischievous smile on his face.
Ricky clears his throat loudly before delivering his attacks. “Do you two want me to film this scene so you can re-watch later in the future?”
Jacky and Jan regain themselves at that time. They yank apart at that moment and look at Ricky. He has a mischievous smile on his face, causing Jan to turn a bit pink while Jacky looks away nervously.
Ricky’ still smiling but has toned down his expression a bit to give them both a break – for the time being. “So…not bad, huh?”
Jacky turns to look at Ricky again. “But it’s too easy. I mean…”
Ricky shakes his head. “You cops…always looking for more excitement than there really are.”
“So…what now? You guys are packing up and going back to type up a report?”
“I’m waiting for Joey’s directions.”
“Okay then.”
The three of them move out of the way at that time so the security guards can work. Brad and George haven’t come out of their hiding places yet. Maybe Joey hasn’t given them the “Ok”. Careful is good, Jacky thought. Or is it just him having a hunch that it isn’t over yet? He looks around the area again, checking to see if anything else is out off the ordinary. Just then, Jan taps on his shoulder. Jacky turns his attention to her right away. He waits patiently for her to speak up.
“Mr. Zhao’s looking for you,” Jan said with a smile – not her usual supportive one but the one similar to that of Ricky’s smile from earlier.
Jacky takes a quick glance towards Mr. Zhao’s direction. Mr. Zhao smiles kindly at him. He turns back to Jan one more time, placing his right hand on her left shoulder before saying, “I’ll be back. Stay put.” He pauses briefly as if knowing he already said that like once. “And this time…I mean it.”
Jan puts her right hand up in a salute gesture. “Yes, sir!”
Jacky smiles, letting go of her shoulder, and walks into Mr. Zhao’s room.
Ricky gives her a teasing smile as she looks his way and decides to start a teasing rant, but his cell phone rings at that moment so he walks away from the area to answer the call. Probably Joey, she thought. She looks back towards Jacky’s direction and waits for him to come out from Mr. Zhao’s room.
*****
Twenty minutes later, Ricky’s crew is finally out of the area. Although they didn’t make much progress but still better than nothing. The two guys they just captured didn’t say anything afterwards. Some of Joey’s team has transported those two guys back to the station already. Jacky, Jan, and Ricky are still hanging around the fifth floor area – particularly the window where Jacky and Jan stationed themselves at earlier. Jacky still isn’t convinced that it’s that easy. Ricky decides to stick around to see if Jacky’s theory is right. If it is, he can stick behind and do some major photo-shooting for their next release. Jacky has told Brad and George not to come out from their hiding places. He also called Joey earlier to tell her he has a hunch. Joey leaves it up to him since she still wants to play safe and she needs to interrogate the new captives first.
“Looks like Mr. Zhao has good thoughts towards you,” Ricky commented casually.
Jacky shrugs, leaning his back against the window. Coincidentally, Jan does the same also. They look at each other at the same time and smile, realizing the coincidence. Ricky isn’t paying attention to them so he didn’t catch their smile.
Ricky leans against the window on his side also. “Care to tell me the story behind it?”
“Off record?” Jacky asked back.
Ricky nods.
Jacky quickly tells Ricky how he encountered Mr. Zhao in front of the police station about a week or so ago.
“Why is the hallway so…weird?” Jan asked when Jacky’s done with his tale.
Jacky and Ricky look carefully again to see what Jan meant.
“You’re right,” Jacky agreed. “Why is it peaceful again? I mean it’s not like after what happened, they would let their guards down.”
“Yea. It’s too much like a script. Just after this one time and then you can go back to your normal post or something. They should have let the other security guards stay. I mean not all eight of them. But like…”
“I know.”
“Lucky we still have Brad and George’s teams here.”
Jacky nods.
They stand around, waiting for about ten more minutes. Jan leaves five minutes ago to get them some coffee. When she comes back, she hands them each a cup before blowing on hers for the steam to clear before drinking.
Jacky eyes the cup in Jan’s hand. “Don’t tell me you’re drinking that already?”
“No,” Jan replied. “It’s lemon tea.”
“Yea right.” He takes the cup from her and inspects it before giving it back to her.
Jan smiles.
They’re standing there drinking their hot drinks away and staring at the hallway casually. Then they see Joey walking towards them. She must have come from the elevators from the other side. She looks like she was running the whole way. George is tagging behind a distance.
“Hey guys!” Joey called out.
“What happened?” Jacky asked. “You look out of breath.”
“Yea. I had to run all the way here. And I couldn’t find you guys, so had to ask George again.”
“And?”
“There’s going to be another attack soon.”
“What?!”
“No. I managed to rattle one of the guys you just captured. So he let out that it’s not over yet. I’m guessing there’s going to be another attack so I came here right away.”
“You know there’s a thing called phone, right? Call us. Don’t run around like that.”
“My battery is dead. I just realized that when I got to the hospital.”
“How convenient. Detective Meng not prepared? Wait until this one hits tomorrow’s early news.”
Joey gives him a glare.
Jacky smiles. “Kidding.”
Joey finally catches her breath and gives the area a general scan before she speaks up again. “So, what’s going on now? How’s Mr. Zhao?”
“He should be sleeping still. Vincent and Alyssa are still in there with him.”
“I’m going to get something to drink.”
Joey leaves at that time while the others stare at her as she goes.
“I’m going to go get something to drink too,” George said, speaking up for the first time since he arrived with Joey. He wanders off towards the direction of the administrative desk where Joey disappeared to a bit earlier.
“So…I guess you’re right about the hunch,” Ricky said.
Jacky shrugs his shoulders. “We’ll see.” He begins to hum for no reason.
“I know that song,” Ricky said, excited.
“Really? Let’s do a duo.”
Jacky and Ricky begin to sing the song. Then Ricky stops and walks towards a guy who is approaching them. Jan smiles towards the guy and waves also.
“Who is he?” Jacky asked upon seeing her expression.
“Kai Tai.”
“Who?” Though Jan already told him that Kai Tai’s Ricky’s partner but he wants some more information.
“My other cousin,” Jan replied, her eyes still on her two cousins.
“Not bad,” Jacky commented, nodding his head.
“Looks or the name?”
“Both.”
Ricky and Kai Tai walk towards them.
“Let me introduce you two,” Ricky said.
“Kai Tai, right?” Jacky asked after Ricky already told Kai of Jacky’s name.
Kai Tai shakes his hand. “Not exactly.”
“Just call him Ken,” Ricky said. “I mean since Kenneth Ma isn’t here anyway.”
“Oh. Ok. Ken then.”
“It’s hard to relate to Kai Tai when we call him that, except for Jan since she always calls him that when we’re at home. But other than that, only Detective Meng can call him Kai Tai.”
“Don’t mind him, Detective Chu,” Ken said. “He’s a bit off.”
“It’s all right. I’m used to it too.”
“Hey, I’m just telling the truth.”
Joey comes back at that time, but Ken doesn’t realize it since his back is to her.
“Kai Tai?!” Joey exclaimed, surprised. “What are you doing here?”
“We were getting to that part,” Ricky said.
Ken turns around to look at Joey. He realizes they’re a bit close. Too close for comfort. He steps aside towards Ricky to make room for Joey.
“Well, what are you doing here, man?” Ricky asked, his radar eyes scanning Ken’s face for a possible clue.
“I thought you invited me,” Ken said.
“Oh. That’s right. You missed the first show. The second show is about to begin though.”
Ken looks puzzled look. “What show?”
Everyone takes turn to tell Ken what happened. When Ken’s all caught up, Jacky goes back to humming while Ricky chimes in once awhile.
“This is getting boring,” Ricky mumbled, tapping on the wall. “Are you sure someone’s going to make a move? Soon was supposed to happen like half an hour ago.”
“These guys are just too patient, that’s all,” Jacky said.
“Or maybe they’re waiting for someone else,” Joey pointed out.
“Look!” Jan called out.
Everyone follows Jan’s vision line. A nurse is walking towards Mr. Zhao’s room.
“I’m going in,” Jan volunteered.
“No,” Jacky said, stopping her with his left hand. “Let me.”
“She won’t make a move if you’re around. She won’t care if it’s me.”
“Let me go then,” Joey said.
Joey doesn’t want anymore objections so she walks down the hallway, turning at the elevators. She deliberately walks past Mr. Zhao’s room. Ken follows her, not saying anything to the others. They let him go since stopping him would draw more attention. Besides, at least he can signal them if Joey needs them. Moreover, Mr. Zhao’s room is blocked by where they’re standing so it’s harder for them to know what exactly is going on.
A minute later, they hear some rustling sounds near Mr. Zhao’s room. All three run towards Mr. Zhao’s room, not caring to attract attention anymore. They kick the door open and rush in. Joey is struggling with the nurse right now, trying to knock the knife out of her arm. Ken’s trying to wake Vincent up. Jacky runs to tend to Mr. Zhao while Jan goes to Alyssa. Vincent and Alyssa must have been knocked out in the process since they’re lying at an odd angle. While everyone’s doing that, Ricky runs back out to the hallway and yells for help.
Joey’s having a hard time restraining the nurse since the nurse’s so strong. “Jack!”
Jacky knows that Mr. Zhao’s still all right so he rushes forward to help Joey.
“We better move them before things get nasty in here,” Jan said to Ken.
Ken nods and helps Jan move both Vincent and Alyssa to a safe corner of the room. They run back to move Mr. Zhao. For some reason, the three hasn’t woke up yet no matter how they shake them.
Ricky comes back with four security guards. He moves out of the way so the guys could go in to help Jacky and Joey. Some more struggles, then Jacky and Joey manage to restrain the nurse. They hand her over to the security guards and head over to see how Mr. Zhao is. Two security guards lead the nurse out while the other two stay to see the damage. As the two security guards escort the nurse out, Ricky moves towards where Ken and Jan are standing. Jacky and Joey are at their side now. The four of them move Mr. Zhao, Vincent, and Alyssa back into the bed and chairs. One of the remaining security guards speaks up when the four are done.
“What’s going on here?” The security guard asked, eyeing each one of them suspiciously. “We thought all this craziness is over after we throw the reporters out.”
“We thought so too,” Jacky said. “Guess not. Lucky we stick around since Mr. Zhao wants us to.”
Jacky knows it’s a lie but it’s better safe than to tell the security guards straight out about their plans.
“We apologize for what happened,” The second security guard said. “We should have been more careful. I’ll go outside to tell the front desk about this.”
Joey walks with him to the door since she wants to have a talk with these people too. Security has been too careless, what’s going on here? Somehow, Ken tags along with Joey absent-mindedly again, having a gut feeling something’s going to happen.
Ricky shakes his head. “Can’t believe he would be tagging her like that.”
“Who?” Jacky asked. He has been busy with tending to Mr. Zhao that his back was to them so he didn’t know what happened. He turns around again since Jan’s tending to the three who are still unconscious now. Then Jacky sees it. “Jo!”
While Joey is walking side-by-side with the security guard, Ken’s walking behind them. Then Ken sees it. He sees it at about the same time Jacky sees it.
Ken moves fast, pushing Joey to one side as the knife sink into his right arm. Joey sees it a bit too late, but still tries to push Ken aside. She receives a scratch from the knife also. Because Joey pushes Ken in time so he didn’t get the full force of the knife. At that time, they hear a “clang clang” sound and then Jacky zooms out the door past them, catching the escaping security guard. After Jacky yells out Joey’s name, two things happen at about the same time: Jacky fishes into his belt to get out his star-shaped weapon to toss at the knife while Jan turns around to see what is happening. She seizes the security guard who’s standing next to them in time before he makes a grab for Jacky. After Jacky zooms out the door after the escaping security guard, Jan pushes the remaining security guard out while he’s yelling out foul words. Ricky runs to Ken and Joey’s side to see how they are.
“Shut up and just move!” Jan ordered the restrained security guard. Then she turns to Ricky briefly. “Bo Yuen, get the nurses to help tend to the wounds.”
The nurses scream out in alarm as they see what’s going on.
“Stop screaming for god’s sake and help!” Jan scolded them. She doesn’t have any handcuffs to cuff her prisoner, so she has to hold onto him.
George walks up to her at that moment, so she hands the security guard to him. “What in the world is going on here?”
“You missed a show.”
“What?!”
“No time to explain now. Where is Fan Gang?”
“He ran down the hall. After a security guard.”
Jan runs down the hall and passes the nurses’ station, hoping she could catch up to them. She runs into Brad at the end of the hallway.
“Don’t worry,” Brad reassured her. “We got him. And oh yeah, we found out why there were no security guards around after the earlier incident.”
“Why?”
“Go back and reassure the others first. I’ll be back later with Jacky when we’re done here.”
“Uh…”
“It’s all right. I won’t kidnap your Jacky.”
Jan lets out a nervous laugh. “How funny.” Then she regains herself again. “All right. See you in a bit.”
When Jan is back in front of Mr. Zhao’s room, she was told by Ricky that she “missed a show”.
“What now?” Jan asked, puzzled.
“Guess who that security who you just captured earlier is?” Ricky said, smiling.
Jan waits for him to go on.
“Larry Lam.”
“No way!”
“I’m not making this stuff up. If you don’t believe me, ask Ken and Joey.”
Jan enters the room to see Ken and Joey sitting at the chairs to the right of the door, their wound already tended to. Vincent and Alyssa have already been awoken. Mr. Zhao is also up, sitting up in his bed while Vincent and Alyssa are sitting on either side of his bed. Jan remains standing at the door while Ricky walks towards a small table next to Mr. Zhao’s bed and stations himself in front of it, which is a few inches from Vincent.
Joey smiles at a confused Jan. “Looks like our cases are solved after all.”
Jan waits for Joey to continue.
“Larry Lam is the link. He’s involved in both cases. No wonder some of the guys we captured earlier were too.”
“Oh yea, what happened to your Jacky?” Ricky jumped in, eyeing Jan – still with that teasing smile.
“He and Brad had to go take care of some stuffs,” Jan said. “They’ll be back.”
“Who are my supposed to belong to now?” Jacky asked.
Jan jumps – literally – at Jacky’s voice. She doesn’t realize that he’s that close to her. She turns around to face him after regaining herself. “You scared me!”
He smiles. “Really?”
Mr. Zhao’s face lightens up at the sight of Jacky. “Everything taken care of, my boy?”
Jacky nods.
At the words “my boy”, all three – Ricky, Ken, and Joey turn to look at Jacky. Their expression said something along the line of, “He adopted you?” Jacky ignores them.
Brad comes in at that time, so they can finally share stories of what happened after Jacky ran after the security who stabbed Ken and Joey.
“After George handcuffed that dude you handed over…” Ricky began, gesturing his hand towards Jan. “…we found out – more like Joey seeing something weird with his face, so George inspected it. Old trick.”
“He used a fake face?” Jan asked.
Ricky nods. “That’s how we found out he’s Larry Lam.”
“If he’s Larry Lam, then what happened to Jason Zhao?”
“We’re going to find out soon,” Joey said.
Jacky’s still standing behind Jan. “Looks like we have to haul Frankie into the station to question him then.”
Joey nods.
“Your turn, Detective Chu,” Ricky said, gesturing his hand towards Jacky.
“I caught up to him in two shakes, of course,” Jacky began.
Jan jabs her left elbow into his right side to which he reacts by grabbing hold onto her hand.
“Liar!” Jacky shouted out. “It wasn’t two shakes. Probably you have to run at least one hallway since you started later than him.”
“How do you know?”
“And you’re supposed to avoid the nurses and the patients too.”
“Guys!” Joey interfered. “Stop playing.”
“Yea, whatever you want to do, go home,” Ricky added.
Jan gives Ricky a murderous look.
“And then what happened?” Joey prompted.
“I ran into Brad,” Jacky continued. “I turn that guy over to Brad and his team while George’s team comes up to tell us something quite interesting.”
“What?” Ricky asked. “They found the lunchroom?”
Jan laughs at that.
Jacky’s able to suppress his laugh. “No. Not exactly. You all know why the security guards weren’t around after the last incident?”
“Why?” Joey asked.
“They were all drugged and tied up in the Security Department. George’s team was making a round around the place and found them since they were curious of how quiet the area was.” He pauses briefly. “The fake nurse and the other two security guards who arrested her were there too. We had to restrain them first before waking the real security guards up. They should be back at work soon. Brad and George’s teams are covering the security bases now since the ones on shift are still feeling unwell.”
“You guys sent them to the nurses’ station?”
“Yea.”
“I guess that’s it, huh?” Ricky asked them. “Enough excitement for the whole night?”
“We still have to wait for Roger to call back,” Joey said. “He and some of the guys take over the lookout at the warehouse today.”
“They haven’t found Jason Zhao yet?” Jacky asked.
Joey shakes her head, looking down.
“Are you all right?” Ken asked. “Tired?”
Joey looks up at Ken and smiles. “I’m all right.”
“As long as you’re here,” Ricky said, imitating Joey’s voice.
The others couldn’t help but laugh, including Mr. Zhao – which is rare. Ken and Joey look away from each other, feeling awkward.
Jacky, his right hand raised, points at Ricky. “You’re so brave to mess around with our Madame Meng.”
“Another demonstration right in front of us?” Ricky asked.
Jacky looks puzzled. “What?”
Ricky points towards Jacky’s right hand. Jacky looks down at his own hand and finally realizes it. He lets go of Jan’s left hand. He didn’t realize that he has been holding onto her hand since a few minutes ago. Jan turns a few shades, edging a little towards the table where Ken and Joey are to avoid further attention on her.
“So…um…what now?” Ricky asked casually.
“Let’s all go so Mr. Zhao can rest.”
“I’m fine actually,” Mr. Zhao said. “Resting is all I’d been doing.”
“Dad…” Vincent said.
Mr. Zhao shrugs his head at Vincent. “How about you guys stay here and chat with me for a bit more?”
“Um…” Jacky managed, eyeing Jan.
“Jacky needs to take Jan home,” Ricky jumped in. “I think.”
“I apologize,” Mr. Zhao said. “How inconsiderate of me to keep you all when it’s so late already. You all should be going home to rest, especially Madame Meng and…” He pauses as if trying to remember. “…is it Kai Tai?”
Ken nods, not caring to correct him about his own preference.
Ken and Joey get up at that time. Everyone says their goodbye to Mr. Zhao before leaving.
*****
“Can you believe him?” Ricky asked the others. “I swear he doesn’t look or sound like the strict businessman everyone was talking about earlier.”
“Maybe he changed after he adopted Jacky,” Brad pointed out. “I mean he was very aggressive before when he visited the station like a week or so ago.”
“Oh?”
“It’s not funny, guys,” Jacky said.
“So…meeting tomorrow?” Joey asked, looking at the others.=
Jacky yawns. “Yea.”
Jan yawns at about the same time as Jacky.
They reach Ricky’s car at that time.
“Ricky, could you take Kai Tai home?” Joey asked.
“What about his car?” Ricky asked.
“I’ll drive it home since I went with George earlier,” Brad volunteered. “Then I can haul a Taxi back to my house. Where do you guys live by the way?”
“Couple blocks down from our newspaper place,” Ricky said.
“Which way?”
“East.”
“No way!”
“What?”
“I live near there too.”
“Then it’s even better. So convenient.”
Ken fishes out his key with his left hand and gives it to Brad.
Brad turns to Joey. “All right, Madame. I guess we’re all set here.”
Joey nods. “Be careful.”
“We will.”
With that, the rest of them continue to walk around the parking lot. Although they already passed Jacky’s car like ages ago, but Jacky decides to wait for the others to leave first.
“Are you going home to rest tonight?” Jacky asked Joey.
“Yes. Have to. Should have taken your advice ages ago and rest. If my alertness was a bit better, Kai Tai wouldn’t get injured like that.”
“Told you rest is important.”
Joey stops in front of her car. “All right, I’m going.”
“Are you sure?” He gestures towards her. “Your hand.”
“It’s all right. Just a small scratch.”
“All right then. Take care, sis.”
Joey smiles and gets into her car.
Jacky and Jan stand back so Joey could back out. Then they wave their goodbyes again before turning back to find Jacky’s car.
Jacky looks over at Jan as they’re walking. “So it’s you and me again, huh?”
Jan nods.
Although it’s dark, but Jacky could still see her nod.
“Give me your hand,” Jacky said suddenly.
Jan looks over to him, confused.
“Come on.”
Jan grabs hold of Jacky’s left hand extended out to her.
Jacky swings their linked hands back and forth as they walk. “Cool night air. Feels great, huh?”
Jan smiles, not replying.
*****
One week later.
“I can’t believe it,” Brad said, yawning loudly.
“You’ve been saying that five times already,” Jan told him.
“Still…”
“It’s complicated all right,” Jacky admitted.
“It’s a twister really,” Joey agreed.
They’re at the police station for – yet – another meeting. But this time it is the final meeting or so they hope. Everything has been sort out – finally. After the capture of Larry Lam, the captured guys who haven’t been transferred out of the station yet, went crazy. They wanted to confess so their sentence would get reduce. Larry Lam, apparently, was the mastermind behind it all. After some confessions, Joey sent Brad and George back to the warehouse and found Jason Zhao also. He was there but he was just well kept that they couldn’t see at first by just sneaking around on the outside of the warehouse to keep guard of the place. What was even more surprising was they found out from one of the guys that Mr. Zhao’s right hand man, Mark, was actually also involved. He was the one who has been providing Larry Lam with massive information in staging Vincent and Alyssa’s kidnap. In exchange, he would get the company itself after the whole chaos. Jacky was right that Jason Zhao wasn’t involved. He was just a scapegoat in case their plans were exposed halfway. Luckily, that was seen through before they were being misled any further.
As they’re sitting around and are still discussing the last bit of the case, Brad speaks up again.
“Hey!” Brad shouted out.
“What?” Jacky asked, turning to him.
“What about Frankie?”
Just about that time, an officer opens the door to the conference room. They look up to see Roger. He looks both desperate and tired.
“What happened?” Joey asked.
“UFO takeover?” Brad guessed.
Jacky slaps him a high five across the table.
“They found Frankie,” Roger said having finally caught his breath.
“Bring him in here,” Joey said.
Roger disappears again.
After that night in the hospital, they wanted to bring Frankie in since it involves his uncle after all, but he disappeared again. They had to send out another notice to find him. Now finally he appears again.
As soon as Frankie enters the room, everyone stands up, excluding Jacky and Jan.
“Am I in trouble?” Frankie asked, slightly frightened.
“It depends,” Cory said. “Are you involved?”
“What?” Frankie uttered out, confused. “I was on a business trip earlier and now I’m back. Suddenly some police officers came up to me and asked me to come here.”
“Sit down, Mr. Lam,” Joey instructed.
Frankie walks over to the only empty seat – which is at the other end of the long table – and sits down. Everyone, who has been standing, sits down also.
Joey tells Frankie a brief version of what has been going on since last week, excluding some information of course. The others wait silently for her to finish before they shout out questions.
“So, are you involved?” Cory tried again.
“Tell me you’re not involved,” Brad continued.
“Guys,” Joey said, calling for order again.
Frankie clears his throat. “I don’t know what my uncle has been planning. All I know is that he has been embezzling the money from the company, so I had been investigating on my own. I was trying to get Johnson to track him down also. I didn’t want to say anything because…” He gestures his hand for emphasis. “…it’s inside my company after all and he’s family. But since it’s so serious now, I can’t just hide it like that.”
Joey nods. “Okay. Since you decided to cooperate now, I guess you’re not involved. But we will verify all of that in the next few days. Don’t leave town.”
Frankie nods, knowing Joey’s letting him off easily already.
“Where are those files?” Cory jumped in.
“What files?” Frankie asked, confused.
“The files your uncle’s trying to get from you,” Jan clarified. “It’s probably the proofs of the embezzlement, right?”
“Oh…those files.”
“Yea, those files,” Cory said. “Jan got shot because of them after all. The least you can do is tell us.”
“What? Who? Jan? I thought Annie did because of that.”
Jacky kicks Cory under the table. He gives him a look that said, “Idiot! We’re not supposed to tell him that.”
“Either way, you still owe us an explanation,” Brad jumped in, covering for Cory.
“Ummm…..” Frankie managed.
“Need our help in circulating your memory?”
“Brad!” Joey chided.
“All right,” Frankie said at last. “I’ll tell you since it was mostly my fault to withhold such information.” He lets out a sigh before continuing. “Could someone please tell Annie to come here?” He hesitates again. “And bring the ring that I gave her awhile back.”
“Ring?” Brad asked, puzzled.
Frankie nods.
Kenneth steps outside to look for Roger. While they’re waiting, Jacky chats away randomly with the people sitting near him.
“So…how’s your Kai Tai coping?” Jacky asked – since he’s sitting on Joey’s right. “He recovered?”
Joey gives Jacky a look.
Jacky turns to Jan, who’s sitting on his right, with an innocent, clueless look. “What did I say wrong?”
Jan gives him a look also. “Don’t discuss private matters in public.”
“Oh…my bad.” He nods his head as if getting it for the first time in his entire life. He goes back to tapping on the table instead. So much for a little friendly conversation, he thought.
They wait in silence for about five minutes before Kenneth comes back.
“Annie’ll be here in about ten minutes,” Kenneth informed them.
“Sounds good then,” Jacky said before turning to the others. “Are we ready for this?”
“Can’t you tell us what’s this got to do with anything?” Joey asked, giving Frankie her attention again.
“Ah!” Jacky exclaimed suddenly.
Everyone turns to look at him, including Frankie.
Jacky smiles. “Has anyone here watched Tokyo Raiders yet?”
“Yea,” Brad said. “Awesome movie.”
“It was too fake,” Cory said, trying to contradict Brad on purpose.
“What’s your point?” Kenneth asked, ignoring the two guys’ quarrel completely.
“What happened at the end?” Jacky asked.
“Which scene?” Brad asked back. “The airport?”
“No, before that.”
“They celebrated?”
“And?”
“Come on, man,” Cory shouted out impatiently. “What’s the big deal?”
“Ah!” Brad shouted out, getting it at last.
“Oh…” Jan muttered out about a second later.
“Are we just slow or are you guys just too fast?” Cory asked, looking from one to the other.
Jacky smiles. “Say it, Jan.”
“The ring is the key to the whole case in that one, but in our case, it’s only a small part of the puzzle,” Jan said.
“You’re saying that there’s a chip inside the ring that has all the files?” Joey asked. “The proofs?”
Jacky and Jan nod at the same time.
“Old trick, but still clever move,” Brad commented. “After all, who would suspect that someone would do something that they learn out of a movie?”
Joey smiles and turns back to stare at Frankie with her radar eyes. “Very clever, Mr. Lam.”
Frankie fidgets and gives everyone a nervous smile.
Finally Annie arrives at that time. As Jacky predicted, the chip is inside the ring.
“We’ll patch this up and give it back to you when we’re done with the case, Miss Man,” Joey said to Annie.
“It’s all right,” Annie said. “You can keep it too. I mean for evidence as long as you need and can dispose of it too afterwards.”
After that, Annie leaves the room since she knows the others will have other stuffs to discuss.
“Can I go too, Detective Meng?” Frankie asked, looking anxious.
Joey’s still eyeing the ring. “No. We still have several questions to ask you.”
Frankie folds his hands together. “Okay then.”
The disappointed look on his face is so obvious that Jacky has to laugh, but pretends to be sharing a joke with Brad – who’s sitting across from him.
*****
Jacky and Jan come back to Constant Comfort around 5:30 PM – in time to run into Wallace at the entrance.
“Well?” Wallace blurted out – as if he was already there ages before and has been waiting for them to come back so he could extract information from them.
“Solved!” Jacky declared.
“The cases?”
“Yes. We’re lucky enough to have found Frankie in time.”
As if on cue, they see Frankie rushing by them, almost knocking Jacky over.
“Whoa!” Jacky yelled out, surprised. “Hey! Mr. Lam! Watch where you’re going.”
Frankie has already run past them so he didn’t hear Jacky at all.
“Are you all right?” Jan asked, concerned.
“Lucky it’s not you or you would have fallen already,” Jacky said. “That guy needs to work on his attitude.”
“He looks like he’s in a hurry though.”
Jacky realizes something. “Annie.”
“What happened?” Wallace asked.
Jacky tells him quickly what happened while they’re walking towards the elevators.
“Whoa! He’s in deep trouble with Annie. I mean using her to hide the files without her knowing.”
“I guess he doesn’t learn the lesson of what happened to the guy in Tokyo Raiders. You know, the whatever his name was dude.”
They get in the elevator after that.
“Any one seen Gallen around?” Jacky asked. “I thought he said he wanted to tag us at the meeting.”
“I heard he said he has to meet with Mr. Cho or something,” Wallace answered.
“Oh.”
“What happened to Cory?”
“Some business with Lieutenant Ma.”
Wallace nods. “Anything serious?”
“Not sure. Hope not. Kenny looked serious though. But he always gives me a murderous look though. I think he has to switch targets now since Kai Tai is his threat, not me.”
“So, you guys clean up the case real good then?”
“Yea. Regarding the whole jurisdiction thing, we’ll leave it to this side of the area first with the whole the Zhao family case and Frankie’s case. Then we’ll haul some people over to my side later. I’ll let Cory take care of that. Since he doesn’t seem to be doing much anyway.”
“So…you two going to…” Wallace said with a secretive smile, changing the subject again.
“Jan’s moving out tomorrow morning. I mean back to her real apartment.”
“Oh?”
“Yea.”
Wallace could see that Jacky looks disappointed but doesn’t dare to tease him. Jacky and Jan say goodbye to him when the cart arrives at the 5th level. He waves a goodbye as the door closes.
As Jacky and Jan are walking back to their apartment, they see Frankie standing in front of Annie’s door.
“I wonder if he got kicked out or he still can’t get in,” Jacky said.
Jan smiles. “Want to bet?”
Before Jacky could reply, Frankie walks past them, disappointed. He’s walking towards the elevators. They turn around once to take a look. He looks so disappointed that they don’t want to double back and talk to him. Instead, Jacky and Jan walk past their apartment and go to Annie’s apartment.
Jacky knocks on the door.
“I told you to go away!” Annie shouted out from inside. “Don’t talk to me anymore! You liar!”
“I swear, I never lie to anyone before, especially to pretty girls,” Jacky returned.
Jan slaps his left shoulder.
“What?” Jacky whispered. “It’s the truth.”
Annie appears at the door at that time.
“Hey!” Jan greeted cheerfully.
“Oh, sorry about that,” Annie said. “I thought it was…”
“Mr. Lam?” Jacky jumped in.
Annie nods, smiling. “Want to come in and sit?”
“Nah. We were just seeing if everything’s okay. That’s all.”
“I’m fine.”
“Well, whatever it is, don’t get worked up about it.”
“Yes,” Jan seconded. “Although he did do it without your knowledge, but it means he trusts you the most. That’s why he kept the files with you and not anyone else.”
“And put me in danger?” Annie asked. “But if it was me, I wouldn’t have been that mad. But you got shot because of that.”
Jan places a hand on Annie’s shoulder. “Hey. What happened was my own carelessness. Don’t keep it in mind anymore, okay?”
Annie nods. “I’ll try.”
“All right then,” Jacky said. “We’ll be leaving now. Take care, okay?”
They say their last goodbye and leave together to their apartment.
Jan stands there, looking at Jacky intently as he fidgets with the key to open their apartment. It takes him almost a full minute before he could open it. He’s usually faster than that. Feeling like he’s being watched, Jacky looks up and catches Jan’s eyes to which she looks away towards the door. Jacky opens the door and steps inside. She follows.
“So…what do you want to eat tonight?” Jacky asked, turning on the light.
Jan settles down on the sofa as Jacky locks the door. “Anything is fine.”
“Are you sure? Last night of being roommates. We should make it special.”
“It’s okay.” Jan has laid her head back on the sofa with her eyes closed.
Jacky decides to make some pasta tonight. He heads for the kitchen to make dinner as Jan drifts off. Another hour passes by before Jacky’s done. He walks back to the living room to wake Jan up.
“Jan,” He called out, tugging on her shoulder a bit. He sits down next to her. “Jan, wake up.”
Jan stirs then, opening her eyes to see Jacky. “What happened?”
“Dinner’s ready.”
“Oh.”
Jacky stands up and begins to make his way towards the kitchen. Jan tries to stand up but her feet fail her. She has to struggle a bit, using her hands to support herself up. Jacky, alarmed, turns around to help her.
“You all right?” Jacky asked, traces of concerned apparent on his face.
“Yea, I guess my feet decided to go to sleep too.” She smiles to ease the situation.
Jacky is supporting her as they’re walking together to the kitchen. He helps her sit down at the table before sitting down next to her also.
They eat in silence the whole time, without saying a word. It’s strange since they’re usually laughing or joking or just talking about the cases while they’re eating either when the case just first started and they were still posing as lovers or since last week. But tonight, they’re not saying a word. The meal ends faster too since it’s mostly eating, plus passing food back and forth. Afterwards, they help each other clear the table and do dishes. Jan’s feet have woken up by now so she’s able to stand there and help Jacky.
“Are you okay?” Jacky asked, finally speaking up again after what seems so long.
Jan smiles. “Of course.”
“I mean you look a bit pale since you woke up.”
“Doesn’t everyone when they first wake up?”
“It’s not that. You look like you came across something. Are you getting sick or something?”
Jan shakes her head. “No. Probably just tired.”
“Well, this is your last case so you’ll be spending a lot of time resting, huh?” He lets out a nervous laugh, feeling like he just the lamest phrase ever since he could remember.
“Yea.”
Jacky hands her the last dish to dry before walking towards the bedroom area.
He comes back later to find Jan back in the living room, sitting there with her head against the headrest again. By her breathing pattern, she’s asleep again. She must be really tired, he thought. He sits down next to her and feels her head with his right hand to make sure she isn’t sick or anything. She seems normal. Why is she always tired nowadays? She was very strong before she left the hospital. Of course. That was why she was discharged in the first place. What’s going on here? But he doesn’t want to ponder too much. He goes back towards the hallway and finds a light blanket in her room to put on her as he comes back out. He decides to stay with her a bit more to see if she wakes up. He might help her back to her room before he goes to his if she does.
“Fan Gang, I’m cold,” Jan spoke up out of nowhere. “Close the window.”
Jacky looks over to her. “Jan.”
“Close the window, please,” She mumbled again.
Jacky understands that she must be dreaming. But he sees that she’s hugging herself so tight that he knows she must be cold for real. Maybe the blanket’s too light, he thought. He decides to stand up to go get a heavier one, but she grabs his arm as he gets up. Her coordination is still good, even when dreaming, he thought. He sits back down.
“What?” Jacky said softly – as if testing her.
“Don’t go,” Jan mumbled – still in a trance.
Jacky uses his left hand to feel her head again to make sure that it’s not warm.
“Strange,” He mumbled to himself.
Before he could ponder further, Jan leans towards him, specifically his left shoulder.
Jacky smiles. “Are you putting me on? This isn’t funny, you know. You win the seduction game. Now knock it off and go to your room. Don’t tell me that Brad and Cory bet on something again and you’re in on it.”
Jan doesn’t seem to know what he’s saying, but slides her hands around his waist and leans comfortably into him.
“Too good to be true, but I’ll play this game with you,” He said. “When you feel tired, feel free to say something like ‘April’s Fool.’”
Jacky slips his left hand through her waist under the blanket as his right hand grabs the blanket and slides it over to his side too. Jan fidgets a little more and then her breathing goes back to normal. Jacky waits a bit more to see if she’s going to give up on the game, but she doesn’t so he leans his head a bit towards her head. My shoulder, he thought. He closes his eyes after that, still wondering if Jan’s pretending or not. They stay like that until sunrise.
Jan’s the one who wakes up first. She shifts around a bit at first, trying to turn. Then she realizes someone’s holding onto her. She seems to be holding onto someone too. She opens her eyes and tilts her head a bit. Jacky’s next to her, breathing soundly. He looks so cute when he’s sleeping, she thought. Then she tries to move. But as she moves slightly, she feels her head throbbing with pain. She soon realizes if she moves anymore than this, she’ll wake him up since he’s a light sleeper like her. She doesn’t want him to know after all, so she decides to wait until he’s up before she tries any further move. She puts her head back onto his shoulder, closing her eyes, and waits for her head to stop throbbing.
Jacky wakes up a few minutes later. He shifts a little. Then he realizes that Jan’s still by his side. He finally concludes that she must be talking in her sleep last night. Strange. He pats her head a bit before deciding to move. The blanket has slipped off them so he leans a bit further with her still leaning onto his shoulder to retrieve it from the floor.
“Ah…” Jan cried out in pain.
“Sorry,” Jacky said, alarmed. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”
Because Jacky leaned a bit too far, causing some pains to shoot up her head, so she screamed out in alarmed before she could restrain herself not to.
“I’m already awake anyway,” She said, having regained herself already.
Jacky stretches a bit after Jan moves away from him a bit.
“Sorry about your shoulder.”
“No problem.”
“I must have dozed off again, huh?”
“Yea. Your bad sleeping habits are getting worse. Lucky I was strong or you would’ve taken advantage of me already.”
Jan wrinkles her face. “What?!”
Jacky smiles. “Kidding!”
Jacky gets up at that time and heads for the bathroom to get ready. Jan folds the blanket that Jacky just tossed on the sofa next to her when he got up. Jan stands up and decides to go to her room to get her clothes so she could take a quick shower before they go. As she stands up, she feels dizziness shooting up, making her see tiny green dots. She sits back down and tries to take it easily by breathing in and out. She sits there a bit more before standing up more slowly.
Jacky comes out from the bathroom at that time with a towel in his hand, drying his hair. He smiles at her. “Done. It’s all yours.”
Jan smiles back at him, attempting to joke. “Thanks for the report, Detective Chu.”
She walks past him quickly so he wouldn’t notice that she has been sweating a few minutes before. She bites down the shooting pain that’s about to start again. When she makes it to her room, she sits on the edge of the bed to rest before getting her clothes out.
Jacky senses something’s wrong, yells into her room. “Are you okay?!”
“Yea,” Jan yelled back. “I’m fine. I’m trying to find where I put my shirt.”
“We all know how organized you are. No need to give me anymore details.”
Jan forces laughter. “How funny, Detective Chu.”
About an hour later, they’re dressed in street clothes, heading out of Constant Comfort. They each have a luggage in their hand. Jacky is carrying the heavier one of the two, of course. During the drive, they remain silent. The same silence that was from last night’s dinner. As they pass into the countryside, Jacky gives Jan a quick sideway glance.
“This is it, huh?” Jacky asked. “Almost there.”
Jan nods, not saying anything.
Jacky grabs hold of her hand and squeezes it. She puts some pressure on his hand also. The sun shines into their face as Jacky turns with the curve that would lead them back into the city area again.
© Thursday, September 13th, 2007
Re-posted: Tuesday, October 13th, 2009