nrpg : would not be fun if the Ericsson-Cross legacy ends so fast rite?
rpg :
St Vincent's Hospital
Vanessa entered through the now-familiar main door of St Vincent's, with Jim following behind. Despite his much longer legs, he found that he was nearly unable to match her pace.
Turning into ICU, Vanessa stopped in front of Chris' ward, and looked inside. Jim did the same.
Standing next to the bed was Dr Sissy Lane and a couple in their 50s. The man had dark hair with streaks of grey and a handsome face with strong jaw. Perched on his nose was horn-trimmed glasses as he tried to decipher Dr Lane's scribblings on the patient's chart. Dr Lane was explaining something, and he nodded his head gravely to signal that he understood.
The woman next to me had pale blonde hair that was cropped close to her ears. She had a pair of blue eyes that, at that moment, reflected sadness. Her hand was holding Chris' left hand. Both of them wore shirt-tops and slacks.
Vanessa looked at Jim for half a second before she entered the room. He followed.
The moment she entered, the three of them looked up.
"Dr Lane," she greeted the doctor. Then she turned her attention to the couple and stretched out her hand in greeting.
"Hi, I'm sorry that I was not here earlier to meet you, Mr and Mrs Starling. I'm Vanessa Lee."
George Starling looked at her in surprise. Ellen Starling, on the other hand, gave a nervous smile, and took her hand.
"Hi Vanessa. I had heard Chris talked so much about you. I'm so sorry that we did not meet in much happier circumstances."
George, recovering from his surprise, shook her hand too.
"And this is?" He signalled Jim, who was still behind.
"Special Agent Jim Reaper. I'm Vanessa's team member." He introduced himself.
"Mr and Mrs Starling - "
"Please, call us George and Ellen. Chris called us by name too."
"George, Ellen, we are currently on the trail of the woman who was behind the plot to harm Chris, and a number of other people. Therefore, I will unable to keep Chris company. Here is my name card, so please feel free to call me whenever the need arises. I'll try to keep you informed as much as possible."
Vanessa passed them her namecard.
"Thank you, Vanessa."
"So how is Chris today?" she asked Dr Lane.
"Not much difference, I'm afraid. His vital sights are still healthy, but he showed no signs of waking up."
"Dr Lane, please keep me informed of his condition."
"I will, Agent Lee. Good luck for your search."
----
Jim only spoke again when they had left the hospital.
"You all right, Vanessa?"
She looked at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. What's wrong?"
"Well, if you want to keep him company abit longer its alright. We don't have to leave so fast if you don't want to."
Vanessa smiled at Jim. "Its alright. The earlier we catch her, the better."
----
Asking two tactical operations agents to do paperwork and hardcopy digging was probably one of the most torturous thing to do. The two agents spent the whole afternoon digging through mountains of documents and electronic information and managed to retrieve quite alot of information, some of them replicate from Leo's research.
At the end of the day, they decided that they had found enough paperwork to last them a lifetime and called it a day.
Carrying piles of notes and printouts, Jim and Vanessa made their way to her apartment.
"I got lots of good coffee." She told him.
As they made their way to her apartment, Jim remembered the first time he was there. She was nearly abducted while undergoing training at Station X, and he was lucky to be there to foil the kidnapping plan. He wondered if the apartment was still the same since those few months, after the entrance of a regular male occupant.
The moment he entered the apartment, Jim noticed the World Trade Center (Singapore) painting again. He also noticed another new painting.
On the easel, fully sketched and almost completely painted, was a picture of Vanessa and Chris in happier times. Placed next to it was a small photo which the two of them was engaged in the same posture. She was sitted in a couch of some sort, her hair let down, wearing a V-neck sweater, and he was behing the couch, hugging her from the back. Both of them were smiling, not knowing of the misfortune that would befall them. His hair was tossled, but Jim could see that they looked compatible.
"Coffee, Jim?" A voice came from behind. Jim turned around, slightly embarassed to be caught staring at the painting.
"Yes, please. Thanks." He stammered.
She made coffee for the two of them, and they sat down to digest the huge amount of data in front of them.
"God, Multimedia, Hardware, Military weapons, medicine, ISP, Electronics... is there anything profitable that they are not engaged in?" Jim asked, as he looked through the businesses of all the companies.
"Not much, I guess. Somehow, I won't be surprised if I find Bill Gates in their payroll. They practically owned half of this country. Jim, here's something interesting."
"What is it?"
"Seems that Ted junior and Rebecca was not in any shareholders or major positions. Fake information, or are they working from behind? And here is something more interesting." She passed a piece of computer printout to him.
"Personal particulars?"
"Look at Junior's martial status." She told him.
"Martial status : single." Jim read from the paper. "This is interesting."