25 Chapter 23 Follow-up
I Just want to Thank you to those readers that gave this novel Power Stones.
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Chapter 23 Follow-up
When Zoe entered the room, she immediately smelled a familiar scent and her gaze fell on Jack on the bed, leaving her stunned by the scene before her.
''You...!'' she began to speak, but was interrupted as Maureen pressed her against the wall and kissed her.
''This is your BOY's scent,'' Maureen said. Zoe widened her eyes, looking incredulously at her best friend."
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"Goodnight, my dear knight," Maureen said mischievously, making a face before closing the hospital door. In his mind, Jack smirked, thinking that Zoe and Maureen were the true female knights, while he was just a pitiful lame horse. He checked the system notifications in his mind and found that the unfortunate search operation today gave him a significant amount of experience and even increased his coins to 2. He had the largest income of experience ever, with 50 points remaining after consuming 100 points.
Worried about attracting attention, Jack refrained from breaking through Constitution 20 in the hospital, turned off the system, soothed his tired body with a healing spell, and then fell into a deep sleep.
The next day at noon, Hannah came to pick up Jack from the hospital. All the people who fired shots in the "Bronson Building" were granted a week of administrative leave. With John and Bishop hospitalized due to gunshot wounds, one-fifth of the day-shift patrol officers in Wilshire Police Department were absent. Zoe had to temporarily borrow a few patrol officers from other districts.
From Hannah, Jack learned about the events of that day. Tim's wife, Isabella, reached an undercover agreement with the DEA to escape prosecution by digging out a newly rising drug trafficking force, which was led by Vance Marcus.
The original DEA strategy was to conduct a sting operation, hoping to catch Vance Marcus in the act during the transaction between Isabella and him. However, during the exchange, Isabella, unable to resist her addiction to drugs, revealed her true identity, and Vance Marcus discovered the wiretap on her.
Vance Marcus held Isabella at gunpoint, escaped the DEA's encirclement, and then killed her, leaving her wounded and abandoned in an empty alley.
The next day, which was yesterday, the infuriated DEA managed to deal with one of Marcus's associates through a plea deal. The associate revealed the location of the drug trafficking organization's warehouse and Marcus's surrogate girlfriend, Cecilia Oliver. The surprising fact he concealed was that the "Bronson Building" was actually the base for Marcus and his associates.
Cecilia Oliver was in labor in her third-floor apartment, while the cunning Marcus was hiding in an apartment on the second floor. Upon receiving the news of the DEA raiding their warehouse, Marcus gathered his henchmen and planned to take Cecilia Oliver and flee. However, he encountered Hannah and Bishop knocking on doors on the second floor, leading to the events that Jack witnessed.
"So, what does 'surrogate girlfriend' mean?" Jack asked, as it was the first time he had heard of such a term and didn't quite understand it.
Hannah patiently explained, "Marcus once had a son who died due to an illness. He wanted another child and paid a woman to bear one for him. They are not a couple or lovers; it's purely a financial transaction."
With this newfound knowledge, Jack realized that the concept of procreation and succession was not unique to the asians.
"So, the baby that Lucy helped Cecilia Oliver deliver is a girl?"
"Yes, it's a baby girl."
"Oh, I see."
Compared to the previous subway theft case, he was very satisfied with this case - "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Three days later, Hannah drove Jack to the hospital for a bandage change and visited Bishop's ward. Her surgery was successful, with no abdominal infection. Hannah mentioned that the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) was requesting Zoe, hoping to transfer her.
That news might be good for Angela, as the two had some issues before competing for detective qualifications. Now they could be good sisters again.
As they picked up John, who had just been discharged, the three walked towards the hospital parking lot.
"So, what's the relationship between you and that beautiful doctor who pushed your wheelchair?" Hannah curiously asked John.
"Oh, that's Clarice, my college classmate. We haven't seen each other in twenty years, and I didn't expect to meet her again in Los Angeles. She's now the head of the Emergency Department at the Central Hospital."
Jack vaguely remembered this plot; it seemed that John had rekindled his relationship with Clarice. Following Hannah's gossipy lead, he joined in, "So, it's merely just an old classmate, right?"
John didn't shy away from it and honestly confessed, "My ex-wife, Sarah, and I were together since high school, but we broke up due to some conflicts."
"Then Clarice appeared in my life, and we started as friends for a few months, but our connection was so deep that every word and action seemed to spark between us."
Jack mimicked an explosion with his hand, teasingly saying, "So, with all those sparks, thunder and fire struck."
"Hey, you're at the age I was back then; you should understand these things," John said, seeming quite delighted.
"I never had a college campus life. I went to community college, attended classes, and left right after. I can't even remember the names of most of my classmates."
Jack shrugged.
Hannah interrupted their banter, kicking Jack to stop talking and opened the car door for the two injured patients. She continued to inquire, "Then what happened? If you had such a connection, why did you end up marrying Sarah again?"
John, still immersed in his fond memories, continued, "We stuck together for two full weeks, and our hearts went from 0 to 180 beats per minute, and then..."
"Then what?" Hannah eagerly asked.
"Then Sarah showed up at my dormitory doorstep, carrying a pregnancy of over two months," John said with a tinge of regret.
"HOHOHO, damn."
Jack laughed with a sense of schadenfreude, "And then you did what you thought was right?"
John chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I had no other choice. I still loved Sarah, and besides, it was my child. So I dropped out of college, packed my bags, and moved back to Foxborough. Within a month, we got married, and six months later, I became a father."
"Then, I became a construction contractor, and much later, I finally got my diploma back. Life changed from there, but I never regretted it."
"Never?" Hannah's tone slightly raised, expressing doubt.
"Okay, I have had my moments of regret."
"This reminds me of a movie, starring Nicolas Cage. It's about..." Jack suddenly patted Hannah to draw her attention to something not far away, where they saw Tim sitting paralyzed on the ground, leaning against his vehicle, holding a document.
Hannah instinctively hit the brakes, producing a screeching sound. Hearing the noise, Tim turned his gaze towards the car with the three of them.
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