Returning To France

That evening, after much hesitation, Halia arrived at Jackson's apartment. As she stood outside the door, she wished so much that everything was just a joke; that she would open the door and Jackson would be sitting inside to surprise her. But, all she was greeted by was a cold, dark, lifeless home.

Not too long ago, she had been in this apartment with Jackson. They were sitting on the sofa while she was stitching him up. Now that she thought about it, it was about time to remove the stitches but she wasn't by his side. Would someone in France remove them for him?

Halia turned on the lights and scanned her eyes across the classy apartment. At that moment, she noticed a bunch of roses sitting on the dining table. They were fresh; did Jackson buy them that morning?

She walked over and gently picked them up, admiring their beauty and enjoying their fragrance.

She then looked down at the table and noticed a note. It read, "Dear Halia, be a good girlfriend and keep my home clean for me. I'm sorry for lying to you, but I will explain everything when I get back. You can be angry at me and hate me, but if you want to break up, you will have to tell me in person. Until then, you are mine. Don't go around flirting with other guys. I will be jealous. Take care, Jackson."

Halia laughed. This man...how could he joke around with something so serious? Of course, she had to admit that it made her feel better, but as she held the note up to her heart, she still couldn't control the tears that rolled out from her eyes.

...

It was a long flight between China and France, but after half a day of travel, Jackson finally arrived in the city of Lyon.

As soon as they left the airport, Remy and Pierre got into a heavily armored police van while Jackson boarded a seperate one. From Remy and Pierre's point of view, they thought Jackson was being detained separately to them since he wasn't​ as important. But unbeknownst to them, Jackson's van headed straight over to a hotel where he was given time to take a nice shower and change into a clean suit.

When he came back out of the hotel, a comfortable Audi was waiting for him at the entrance and he was driven directly to the entrance of a big building.

Jackson looked up at the grand building. There were guards all around, as well as multiple security cameras. It had been many years since he last came here, but it felt good to finally return.

Of course, the guards around the building were on high alert, so when they saw this unfamiliar face, they were a bit wary. But, the head officer that had escorted Jackson back to France stepped out beside him at that moment and gestured for the guards to stand down. The guards quickly relaxed and gave a salute as Jackson walked past.

"This is as far as I'll be taking you today, Agent Wu. I'm sure you know your way inside. President Lee is waiting for you on the 16th floor. The elevator has a biometric scanner which has your details and you have been granted all access to the building," the officer explained.

Jackson nodded as he took a deep breath and walked inside. 8 years ago, he had just arrived in France from China. Much like today, he was escorted straight from the airport to this same building that day, but of course, he was much younger than he was now.

As Jackson stepped into the familiar lobby, his heart raced a little as he looked around. That day, 8 years ago, he felt like he had put his real self into storage here. Was he finally retrieving it today?

Jackson glanced down at his feet. He was standing right in the middle of the circular lobby and on the ground was a huge emblem. There was a globe to represent the world and it was wrapped by olive branches to symbolize peace. Scales hung from the globe to represent justice and through the middle of the globe was a sword symbolizing police action. On the top of the globe was a banner with the abbreviations 'OICP' and 'ICPO', and a banner under the globe read 'INTERPOL'.

Jackson was standing inside the headquarters of The International Criminal Police Organization - better known as Interpol.

Jackson stepped into the elevator and scanned his eyes and hand on the biometric scanner. He then pressed the number 16.

The door closed and a computer-generated voice said, "Welcome, Agent Wu."