"What were you doing?" Zoe smelled a familiar scent as soon as she entered the room, her gaze immediately falling on Jack on the bed, stunned by the scene before her.
"You damn bitch." Before she could finish speaking, Maureen pressed her against the wall and kissed her.
"This is your boy's scent."
Zoe's eyes widened, staring at her best friend in disbelief.
....
"Goodnight, my lovely knight." Maureen made a playful face before closing the hospital room door. Jack sneered inwardly, 'Ha, knight, you and Zoe are the two female knights, I'm just a poor lame horse.'
He opened the system in his mind to check the notifications. As expected, today's unlucky search operation had yielded a large amount of experience. Not only had his system coins increased to 2, but his experience bar still had 50 points remaining after consuming 100. This was the largest experience gain he had ever received.
Worried about being noticed, Jack dared not break through to 20 in the hospital. He closed the system, rubbed his slightly aching lower back, used his healing skill to relieve his fatigue, and then fell into a deep sleep.
The next day at noon, Hannah picked Jack up from the hospital. Everyone involved in the shooting at Bronson Mansion received a week of administrative leave. Including Nolan and Bishop, who were hospitalized after being shot, the Wilshire Police Department was down a fifth of its daytime patrol officers. Zoe had to temporarily borrow several officers from other precincts.
Jack also learned the whole story from Hannah. Tim's wife, Isabella, to avoid prosecution by the District Attorney, had entered into an undercover agreement with the DEA to uncover a newly emerging drug trafficking ring, whose leader was Vance Marcus.
The DEA's original strategy was a sting operation, hoping to catch Isabella and Vance Marcus in the act during their transaction. However, Isabella's inability to control her drug addiction during the transaction gave her away, and the cunning Vance Marcus discovered she was carrying a listening device.
Vance Marcus, armed with a gun, kidnapped Isabella and fled the DEA's encirclement in his car. He then shot her to cover his tracks, abandoning her, who had been shot in the head, in an empty alley before disappearing.
The next day — yesterday — the enraged DEA, through a plea bargain, secured the release of one of Marcus's accomplices. The accomplice revealed the drug trafficking organization's warehouse and the hideout of Marcus's surrogate girlfriend, Cecilia Olivier — the Bronson Building. However, he concealed a crucial fact: the Bronson Building was actually Marcus and his associates' hideout.
Cecilia Olivier was giving birth in her third-floor apartment, while the cunning Marcus was actually hiding in a second-floor apartment. After receiving news of the DEA's raid on his warehouse, Marcus gathered his accomplices, armed with guns, and went out to lay low with Cecilia Olivier. They ran into Hannah and Bishop, who were knocking on doors on the second floor. What followed was Jack's firsthand account.
"So, what does surrogate girlfriend mean?" Jack was confused, hearing this for the first time.
Hannah patiently explained, "Marcus had a son who died of illness. He always wanted another child, so he paid a woman to have one for him. They weren't husband and wife, nor were they lovers; it was purely a monetary transaction." Jack learned something new.
It turned out that carrying on the family line wasn't a concept unique to any single culture.
"So, was the baby Lucy delivered for Cecilia Olivier a boy?"
"A girl."
"Oh wow."
Compared to the previous subway theft case, he was very satisfied with this one. Evil had its retribution; those who deserved to die had died.
Three days later, Hannah drove Jack to the hospital to change his dressings and then visited Bishop's ward. Her surgery was successful; there was no abdominal infection. Hannah told him that the ATF was asking Zoe to transfer her there.
This was good news for Angela. The two had been somewhat at odds because they were both competing for detective qualifications, but now they could be good friends again.
After picking up Nolan, who had just been discharged from the hospital, the three headed towards the hospital parking lot.
"So, what's your relationship with that pretty female doctor who pushed your wheelchair the other day?" Hannah asked John gossipily.
"Ah, that's Carrie, my college classmate. We haven't seen each other for twenty years. I never expected to run into her again in Los Angeles. She's the head of the emergency department at Central Hospital now."
Jack vaguely remembered this part of the story; it seemed Nolan had rekindled his romance with her. He joined Hannah in gossiping, "So it's just an old classmate?"
John didn't shy away from the topic, frankly admitting, "My ex-wife Sarah and I were together since high school. Then, we broke up because of some conflicts."
"Then Carrie came into my life. We were just friends for a few months at first, but we clicked so well. Every word and action seemed to spark something."
Jack made an explosion gesture knowingly, "So when there were too many sparks, it was like a thunderbolt igniting a fire."
"Hey, you're exactly my age back then, so you should know a lot about these things." Nolan seemed to have gained approval, his face lighting up.
"I didn't have any college campus experience. I went to community college, it was all about attending classes and leaving as soon as they were over. I still can't remember most of my classmates' names." Jack shrugged.
Hannah kicked Jack, who had interrupted her, and opened the car door for the two injured men to get in, continuing to press, "And then? Since you two were so compatible, why did you marry Sarah later?"
John, seemingly lost in fond memories, continued, "We were inseparable for two whole weeks, my heart rate soared from 0 to 180, and then..."
"And then what?"
"Then Sarah showed up at my dorm door, more than two months pregnant." John sighed.
"HOHOHO, damn it."
Jack laughed gleefully, "And then you did what you thought was right?"
John chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I had no choice. I still loved Sarah, and besides, it was my child. So I dropped out of school, packed my bags, and moved back to Foxburg. Then I got married within a month, and became a father six months later."
"And then I became a construction contractor, and it took me a long time to get my diploma back. My life changed forever, but I never regretted it."
"Never?" Hannah's tone rose slightly, indicating skepticism.
"Okay, actually, it has happened."
"This reminds me of a movie, the one with Nicolas Cage, it's about..." Jack, who was talking animatedly, suddenly patted Hannah, gesturing for them to look towards a short distance away, where Tim was slumped on the ground, leaning weakly against his car, a document clutched in his hand.
Reflexively, Hannah slammed on the brakes, making a screeching sound. Hearing the noise, Tim looked towards their car.