Living A Normal Life

Back in the lab, Halia watched as Jackson carried the half completed bomb out of the closet. No wonder he woke up so late; he had been up all night working on this.

Luckily, God was on Halia's side and Max had told her the meeting details for the bomb meeting first so she could intercept it. Even if Jackson was to build the bomb now, it didn't matter because he wasn't going to make it to the meeting at the right time. Halia breathed a sigh of relief at this thought.

In fact, she suddenly had a better idea. Why couldn't she complete the bomb and sneak out to the deal herself? That way, she could guarantee the capture of Remy Durand. After all, they couldn't arrest Remy Durand unless he committed a crime on Chinese soil, and if Jackson didn't go to the deal, then what evidence could they hold against him. She couldn't let go of this opportunity. She wanted to protect Jackson, but she couldn't let Remy Durand go.

Halia took a deep breath and walked over to look at the bomb. She then picked up a few pieces and started attaching them.

Jackson smiled. Good, this woman was finally giving up.

The couple worked laboriously on the bomb until dinner came around and Max arrived. While Max was keeping Halia company in the lab, Jackson quickly popped upstairs to make a phone call.

"Meeting time and location has been set..." he reported over the phone.

...

Meanwhile, at the SPU headquarters, Sean was gathering a troupe for the next day and briefing everyone on the operation.

"Tomorrow, at 8pm, we will be raiding a cabin where international fugitive, Remy Durand, will be undergoing a deal with national arms dealer, Jackson Wu. Under national law, we can not charge Remy Durand for any offences that he hasn't committed on Chinese soil, so we will have to wait until an exchange takes place before we run in an arrest them on the spot. Our aim is to catch two birds with one stone, but if we fail, our main priority is Remy Durand," Sean explained. Of course, he had no idea that Halia had given Jackson the wrong meeting details and was planning to go herself.

Sean then showed a map of the meeting location and marked out all the spots to hide as well as the formations they had to follow to enter the cabin and guarantee no one escaped.

Everyone nodded their heads in understanding. This was going to be a huge arrest and they were ready for it.

...

That night, Jackson and Halia completed the bomb just after midnight.

As they climbed into bed, Halia turned to Jackson and asked, "Regardless of how the deal goes tomorrow, can you promise me that you will retire from the arms trade after this?"

Jackson looked into Halia's eyes. He could tell how desperately she wanted to keep him out of trouble. "OK," he replied.

If things went as planned tomorrow, he was originally planning to retire anyway. He had been in the gangs since he was 18; it was about time he enjoyed the normal life.

Halia was surprised to hear Jackson's simple response. She initially thought it would take more convincing. So, she subconsciously hugged him.

Jackson was surprised by this sudden gesture as he hugged her back. "I can't wait to live a normal life with you," he whispered as he watched Halia nod off to sleep.

However, Jackson did not sleep that night. He had a lot of things on his mind and wanted to cherish every moment he had with Halia. He actually had a lot of secrets hidden from her, and amongst them, was the uncertainty of when he'd see her again. Halia thought it was as simple as preventing him from going to the deal and they'd be able to live a normal life together, but things were a lot more complicated than that. There were a lot of things he couldn't reveal to her, including the fact that Max had returned to the lab after she fell asleep last night and already told him the correct meeting details...or the fact that he deliberately told Max to give her the wrong details.

Of course, Halia didn't realize this until she woke up the next morning and discovered Jackson was gone. At first, she thought he had gone upstairs to make a phone call like he did sometimes, but as time ticked by, she had a bad feeling.

Eventually, her gut told her to check the storage closet. As soon as she opened it up, her heart sank. It was only 10am in the morning, but...

Jackson was gone...

And the bomb was gone too...