Chapter 23: Aftermath

"Why are you..." Zoe immediately smelled a familiar scent as she entered the room. Her eyes fell on Jack lying on the bed, and she was stunned by what she saw.

"You damned..." she started, but Maureen pressed her against the wall and kissed her.

"This is your BOY's scent."

Zoe's eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at her best friend.

— — —

"Goodnight, my dear knight." Maureen made a playful face as she closed the door to the hospital room. Jack sneered internally. Knight? You and Zoe are the real knights here; I'm just a poor, lame horse.

In his mind, he opened the system to check notifications. Today's unfortunate search operation had, unsurprisingly, awarded him a large amount of experience. Not only had his gold increased to two coins, but his experience bar still had 50 points remaining after consuming 100. This was his largest experience gain ever.

Afraid of arousing suspicion, Jack didn't dare to break through his physique to 20 in the hospital. He closed the system, rubbed his slightly sore lower back, used a healing spell to relieve his fatigue, and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day at noon, Hannah came to pick Jack up from the hospital. Everyone involved in the shooting at the Bronson Building was given a week-long administrative leave. Including the hospitalized John and Bishop, Wilshire PD's day shift patrol officers were suddenly down by one-fifth. Zoe had to temporarily borrow some officers from other precincts.

From Hannah, Jack learned the full story of the day's events. Tim's wife, Isabella, had made a deal with the DEA to act as an undercover agent to avoid prosecution by the district attorney's office, aiming to expose a newly risen drug trafficking ring. The leader of this ring was none other than Vance Marcus.

Originally, the DEA's plan was to catch Marcus red-handed through Isabella's transaction with him. However, during the transaction, Isabella, unable to control her drug addiction, revealed a flaw, and the cunning Marcus discovered the listening device on her.

Marcus held Isabella at gunpoint and fled the DEA's encirclement by car, then attempted to kill her, dumping her with a gunshot wound to the head in a deserted alley before escaping.

The next day, which was yesterday, the enraged DEA struck a plea deal with one of Marcus's accomplices, who revealed the location of the drug ring's warehouse and Marcus's surrogate girlfriend, Cecelia Olivo, hiding in the Bronson Building. However, he concealed an important fact: the Bronson Building was actually Marcus and his accomplices' stronghold.

Cecelia Olivo was in her third-floor apartment waiting to give birth, while the cunning Marcus was hiding in a second-floor apartment. Upon receiving news that the DEA had raided his warehouse, Marcus gathered his accomplices and went to escort Cecelia to safety, unexpectedly running into Hannah and Bishop, who were knocking on doors on the second floor. The rest of the story was what Jack had personally experienced.

"So, what does 'surrogate girlfriend' mean?" Jack, hearing the term for the first time, was quite puzzled.

Hannah patiently explained, "Marcus once had a son who died of illness. He always wanted another child, so he paid a woman to have one for him. They aren't a couple or lovers, just a pure monetary transaction."

Jack was enlightened. It turned out that the idea of passing on one's lineage wasn't exclusive to Ceresians.

"So, the baby that Lucy helped Cecelia deliver, was it a boy?"

"It was a girl."

"Oh."

Compared to the previous subway theft case, Jack was quite satisfied with this one. Evil met its due end, and those who should die, did die.

Three days later, Hannah drove Jack to the hospital for a follow-up appointment. They also visited Bishop's room, where her surgery had been successful with no signs of abdominal infection. According to Hannah, the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) was requesting Zoe's transfer.

This was good news for Angela, as the two had been at odds while competing for detective positions. Now, they could be good friends again.

After picking up John, who was also being discharged, the three of them headed to the hospital parking lot.

"So, what's the relationship between you and that pretty doctor who was pushing your wheelchair?" Hannah asked John, her curiosity piqued.

"Oh, that's Clarice, my college classmate. We hadn't seen each other for twenty years and ran into each other in LA. She's now the chief of emergency at Central Hospital."

Jack vaguely remembered this plotline. Apparently, John and Clarice had rekindled their relationship. Joining in on the gossip, he asked, "So, is it just a simple old classmates' relationship?"

John didn't shy away and candidly explained, "My ex-wife Sarah and I were together since high school. At one point, we had some issues and broke up."

"Then Clarice came into my life. We started as friends for a few months, but there was so much chemistry between us that every interaction sparked fireworks."

Jack mimicked an explosion with his hands. "So, with all those sparks, it was just a matter of time before things ignited, right?"

"Hey, you're around my age back then, so you should understand," John said, feeling validated and a bit elated.

"I never had a college campus life. At community college, it was just go to class and leave. I can barely remember any classmates' names," Jack shrugged.

Hannah kicked Jack to interrupt him, opening the car door to let the two injured men in while continuing to probe, "So, what happened? If you two were so perfect for each other, why did you end up marrying Sarah?"

John seemed lost in pleasant memories as he continued, "We were inseparable for two weeks, our hearts racing from 0 to 180. Then..."

"Then what?"

"Then Sarah showed up at my dorm, over two months pregnant." John sighed deeply.

"HOHOHO, damn," Jack laughed gleefully. "And then you did what you thought was the right thing?"

John smiled self-deprecatingly, "I had no choice. I still loved Sarah, and besides, it was my child. So, I dropped out of school, packed up, moved back to Fort Fox, got married within a month, and became a father six months later."

"Then I started working as a building contractor. It took a long time to finally get my degree, but life changed. I don't regret it."

"Never?" Hannah's tone hinted at skepticism.

"Okay, maybe sometimes."

"This reminds me of a movie with Nicolas Cage," Jack began, but then he noticed something and signaled Hannah to look ahead. In the distance, Tim was sitting on the ground, slumped against his car, holding a document.

Reacting instinctively, Hannah hit the brakes hard enough to screech. Hearing the noise, Tim looked towards their car.

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