And he saw tears came to Kate's eyes silently. It was like a flood drowning his heart. He turned away and said, "I bought breakfast. Eat it while it is still warm." And he turned and walked out of the room.

"Jimmy." Claire gave a glance at Kate and then chased him up.

Jimmy pulled the door open and turned back to Claire, "Take good care of her. Thank you."

"Jimmy…" Claire's eyes showed sympathy. She wanted to say something, but she stopped.

"I am OK. Roger called and asked me to go over." He said, "I might be busy the following days. You take care of her."

Claire went back to the bedroom and saw Kate was still standing in the middle of the room. Her face was all tears. Claire could not help sighing. Such a simple and innocent girl, how could she get involved with a ruthless criminal and be the center of an evil vortex…

Claire pulled Kate's arm and said, "Go eat something first."

On the table, there were milk, fried eggs, croissants, porridge, pancakes, quiche, etc. They were from different shops and with several different kinds of packaging. One could see that the person ran a long way to buy these. She was moved.

Kate sat down cooperatively and took one of the packs Claire passed to her. His throat was clogged, and she wanted to say she could not eat, but she held the words back.

The food looked delicious, and the smell was good, but in her mouth, they tasted like cotton. She chewed mechanically as to complete a mission. After ate something she didn't know what, she quitted.

Claire saw her eat just a little, but she knew she could not persuade her to eat anymore. She cleaned up the table and put the remaining away. She told her she could heat up the remaining food later when she got hungry.

Kate went back to bed again after washing up.

She could not fall asleep now. She stared at the ceiling and put her hand on her belly. After a while, she felt it moved inside her, and she was relieved.

Luckily the baby inside her wasn't affected by what she had suffered these days. When she was quiet, it would kick her as if it felt boring and was stretching its arms and legs after having enough eating and drinking. Or it was telling its mother that it was doing good.

She felt proud of it. Her baby was strong. And it also reminded her of her responsibility. She had to protect it.

After Claire finished her job, she walked over to sit by the bed.

She saw Kate had calmed down and said, "Jimmy didn't want to tell you, but I think you might want to know."

"I was there when the accident happened. Jimmy had serious injuries and bled a lot. When he was sent to the hospital, the doctor said if he arrived a few minutes later, even God could not save him."

Kate took a long breath.

"He spent a whole week in ICU before he was out of danger. He still had a few days in a coma after he was shifted to the common ward. This scheme was decided by Roger after he got out of danger. Roger said that too many people had lost lives for this case, and we could not do it the conventional way anymore. Some extreme measures had to be taken… So when we first approached you, Jimmy didn't know about the plan. He disagreed strongly after he knew, but the plan had been launched then."

"So please don't blame him," Claire said.

"I don't blame him." Kate said calmly, "He just did what he had to do."

"OK. To keep this confidential, even his parents were kept from knowing the truth."

Claire sighed, "The accident had great damage to his body. The doctor said it might take three to five years for him to get fully recovered."

Claire didn't see Kate clenched the bedsheet behind her tightly.

How hard was it to find a person in a city with millions of population?

Tristan had not thought about this before. And he was so frustrated with himself.

The guard who lay in the hospital woke up last night and described the appearance of the kidnapper. Ed heard him and clapped his l.a.p.s. He knew who did it. He sent people to search for them immediately. When their people found their hideout, Kate was not there. And the guy who was responsible for watching her disappeared too. They said he and the other guy who got an eye on her disappeared at the same time.

A few hours had passed, and Tristan still had not got any news about Kate. Something might have happened to her again.

Putting all the information together, he was too scared to speculate what might have happened to her.

He rubbed his temple and made a call.

Before getting out of the house, he went to the bathroom and washed his face with cold water. He looked at the man in the mirror. Except that the eyes had some redness, the face still looked cold and hard. He was the same person, but also not exactly the same.

It seemed a part of his heart had been dug out.

Half an hour later, Tristan arrived at a booth of a club.

The person who was waiting for him was a silver-haired old man. He was Jerry Hitchc.o.c.k, whose birthday party he went to last time.

Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k was a businessman, and he had influence in both legal society and gangsterdom. He had credit, his own principles, and loyalty to his friends, so he could survive both the ups and downs of business and society.

"No new moves in the state government. I assume they go directly to Washington. I will check with my person there…"

"No, thanks." Tristan said, "Enough persons have been dragged into this. Even the worst scenario happens, it is enough for me. I would not miss a person who owes me, but I will not get a person who helped me to trouble."

When Tristan first started a business, he got recognition from Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k. Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k introduced him to the powerful persons in his circle. Tristan and Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k also had some secret trading. He smuggled a few cases of guns into the country, and except for some he left for himself, he gave the rest to Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k. They were not pure businessmen. So if the investigation went deeper, even a veteran could be dragged in.

"I come to see you today to ask for your help on a thing."

"Shoot."

"It is about Kate. If," Tristan's eyes moved around, "If something happens to me, she is alone…"

"Don't worry. If that happens, I will take care of your families."

Knowing Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k meant his words, this was his commitment. Tristan nodded gratefully and felt like a heavy stone had been removed from his heart.

Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k could not help adding, "In fact, you can leave first. When I find her, I will send her to you a whole piece."

Tristan smiled lightly, "I have to stay here with them."

In the meeting room of LA Police, Roger Kane had been briefed on the progress of the investigation.

He came back two days ago with an investigation team from Washington. At the same time, Director Harry Jackson had been suspended from his duties for reasons not yet disclosed.

Roger was a little excited, and his face flushed. "So these are the current situations. OK, I want to introduce an important person to this action."

Everyone followed his eyes and looked to the door. A shadow came within eyeshot of the persons in the room.

There were audible exhaling sounds from inside the room.

Looking at the dumbfounded faces, Jimmy smiled and said, "You see a ghost?"

The room roared, and everyone stood up and rushed to him. Somebody punched him on the shoulder, and somebody rubbed his hair. Bill was most excited, "You are a real person? I went to your grave and put flowers there…"

And somebody said, "You badass. You played our emotions. I almost cried my eyes blind for you."

Jimmy coughed and rubbed his c.h.e.s.t. He punched playfully his brothers one by one.

Roger laughed and said, "It is my bad. I lied to you, but I was forced to."