Is This All Worth It?

The young woman chuckled as she held onto her dog. "How are you supposed to feed your friend's dog, when you're afraid?" she asked.

Max looked at the woman helplessly. When he walked into the lab earlier and saw Jackson on the bed with Halia, he was so flustered that he agreed to everything without even thinking. "I couldn't turn her down," he blushed as he remembered the scene from earlier.

"I can't blame you, she's honestly good looking," the woman winked. She saw Max blush so she thought he had a crush on Halia. In actual fact, he couldn't turn Halia down because she was his Boss' woman. But, of course, this woman had no idea about that.

"Let me put Maximus away and I'll come help you," she smiled.

Max looked at the woman in surprise. Did her dog have a similar name to him. Max sighed. He felt a little offended, yet honored at the same time. With a laugh, he said, "What a coincidence, my name's Max."

The woman chuckled again, "I'm Cleo."

She then opened her door, popped the dog inside and closed it back up again.

"Let's feed the hungry little monster," she smiled as she walked over to Halia's door.

Max took a deep breath and unlocked the door. As soon as the two strangers stepped into the apartment a little brown toy poodle started barking at them. Max froze in fear.

Cleo quickly squatted down and offered her hand for the dog to smell. She then grabbed Max's hand and stuck it towards the dog as well. It took a few minutes, but the dog quickly warmed up to the two strangers.

Cleo looked at the dog's name tag and realized it's name was 'Coco'.

"Come here, Coco," she said. The little dog quickly jumped into her lap.

Max took this opportunity to search around the kitchen for dog food. He quickly found some cans in the pantry and showed them to Cleo. Cleo nodded her head and gestured for him to empty the can into the dog's bowl. He quickly did as told and backed away as the dog went to eat.

"Are you coming again tomorrow?" Cleo asked as she looked at Max.

"I'll have to come everyday for another 3 days," he replied.

"What time? I can help you," she offered.

Max looked at the woman. Apart from Jackson, he had never met someone that was so willing to help him.

"2pm. Just a little after lunch time," he smiled. "Thank you."

...

Meanwhile, over at the lab, Halia and Jackson had just finished lunch and were getting started on their bomb.

Halia rolled out the diagram of the safe and looked through every little detail carefully. She then sketched out a rough plan as Jackson sat beside her and suggested adjustments. Finally, after 4 hours, they finalized a design.

Halia stretched her back and sighed. "Jackson, is this all worth it?" she asked.

Jackson looked at the woman.

"Of course it is," he replied. "I've been waiting for this for a long time."

At that moment, he looked down at his phone. It was almost 6pm.

"I need to pop up and make a phone call," he said to Halia. "I'll be right back."

Halia nodded her head and watched as the man disappeared up the stairs. She then looked down at the plan. "Now, how will I defuse this thing?" she asked herself.

At that moment, Jackson stepped out of the karaoke room and walked straight into an office. This office was his, but he barely used it. He quickly walked over to the desk and pulled out the top drawer. Sitting inside, was a burner phone. He quickly slipped in a new SIM card and dialed a familiar number.

"Do, Re-my, fa, so..." he said as soon as someone picked up.

"Line is secure, please speak," a voice said in French.

"Target has taken the bait. A meeting will occur in 3 days. Location is yet to be confirmed. Currently working with foreign asset, Halia Feng. Did you get any information on asset?" Jackson asked.

"We had to get through a lot of encryption, but we finally got access to the police database. Halia Feng. Chinese name: Feng Haili. Junior detective working for the SPU. Identification number: PC5201314. I will forward you her file after this call. Have a quick look and delete it. The SPU are unaware of our operations, so be careful that you do not clash. They seem to be after you, but we want you to place your focus on Remy Durand. We will handle the rest."

Jackson hung up the phone and looked at the file that was sent to him. Everything about Halia was on there, including her training, her education and her history with the police. He knew it! From the first time he met her at the hospital, he had a feeling this woman was different. But, Jackson quickly noticed, there was nothing on her file about chemical and mechanical engineering and she had only solved one case: the recent serial killer case. Why did the SPU send her after him? And how did she know so much about weapons and bombs?

Jackson quickly deleted the file and pulled out the SIM card. As he stepped out of his office, a staff member walked past with a bag of trash. It was rubbish day and the truck was arriving. Jackson snapped the SIM card in his hand and slipped it into the bag before he returned to the VVIP room. He had timed everything perfectly...