Be My Strength

F*ck!



F*ck!

1Callum waited outside the emergency room at Imperial Hospital. After an X-Ray scan, they found that Ghost had a fractured rib and his hand would require some time to operate on. He also had some bad bruises but those bruises would heal by itself.     1

"He'd be fine."     

When Callum glanced up, he saw the "nurse" who was back in her nurse getup.     

"Jing, what's with that outfit?" asked Callum as he looked at her from top to bottom.     

She smiled and pretended to be shy as she said, "Well, my hubby is coming back from his assignment in Korea tonight… and my boy is staying at his friend's house… Anyway, I'm going to surprise him at the airport later with this."     

Callum rolled his eyes before he said, "You nearly got my man into trouble, and all you can think about is having fun."     

Jing folded her arms and leaned against the wall as she defended herself, "Hey, I tasted all the food beforehand… He must have gotten drugged before me."     

Callum rolled his eyes and leaned back against the chair. He tried to recall back to when Ghost was eating his chocolate pudding earlier.     

After a while, he asked, "What about the utensils and bowl? He was swirling the chocolate pudding with his spoon during lunch time."     

Jing thought for a while before she nodded, "Possible. Since the men were hired by his stepmother, I'm sure she knew some of his habits. They must have placed a thin layer of the drug…"     

She paused for a second before mumbling, "That would explain why he's still alive..."     

"What?" asked Callum as he frowned at her.     

Jing glanced at him for a second before saying, "I've sent the bowl with the leftover to a biochemist friend of mine. She sent me the results earlier. It was an experimental drug created overseas. It was supposed to be destroyed a few years back but I guess someone stole some of it and leaked it out or something…"     

Callum did not care about all those. He just wanted to clarify one thing.     

"Jing, what do you mean by 'why he's still alive'?"     

Jing thought about whether she should tell Callum the truth. In the end, she decided that there would be no harm to it since Ghost was fine. Well… Mostly.     

As she looked at him, she explained, "That drug was supposed to help people sleep but it was too good... At higher dosage, he would fall into a coma. During the clinical trial stage, a few volunteers fell into a comatose state at least two weeks."     

When he heard her explanation, Callum cursed. He had nearly lost Ghost and the thought itself scared him. Glaring at Jing, he snapped, "You should have checked everything properly!"     

Jing felt insulted and she glared back as she said, "You should count yourself lucky that I agreed to help out… If I were you, I'd be more cautious towards someone who can easily poison you."     

Both of them mumbled curses under their breath as they glared at each other. Jing and Callum met each other when the latter was receiving being trained. Du Jin had asked Callum's grandfather to send someone over and she was one of the few people the old man sent over.     

She was supposed to train him in the Shenlong style martial arts, but since Callum was also failing in chemistry at that time, Du Jin made her tutor him as well. Every time he made a mistake, Jing would put a little poison in his food that either caused him to itch all over or sent him to the toilet for hours.     

That was the worst year of Callum's life. Even if he had to give up on his social life, he would try his best to maintain A for his chemistry.     

Before Callum could say anything else, Jing continued, "Don't forget that I'm retired and I put my life in danger to protect your man! I've paid my debt to the Shenlong Family, and I no longer owe you guys anything!"     

Callum recalled that when he was around 18 years old, Jing nearly died during a mission. Her son was still in elementary school at that time and after she was saved, she decided to retire. She had wanted to spend more time with her son and she was afraid that if she continued to be an assassin, she might not live long enough to protect her son.     

If it was not because of Callum, she would not even come out of retirement to help him "babysit" someone.     

Callum sighed. He scratched his head awkwardly before he apologized to her, "I'm sorry. It's just that I was worried about him. It's not your fault that you got rusty after 10 years of retirement."     

She frowned as she said, "Is that an apology or an insult?"     

"Both?"     

Jing sighed. She glanced at the operating theatre and said, "I'm surprised that you got a little boyfriend now. Looks like you're braver than your dad."     

"Wait, what do you mean?"     

"You didn't know? Oops, nothing then. Anyway, I've to go to the airport now. Bye," said Jing abruptly before she walked away.     

Callum frowned. As he watched her walk away, he wondered, "What is she talking about?"     

…..     

Han Ye and Phantom arrived shortly after Jing left. When Callum saw them coming towards him, he stood up and nodded at them in acknowledgment.     

"How is he?" asked Han Ye as he stood behind Phantom and his wheelchair.     

"He's quite badly injured, but there's no threat to his life," answered Callum. He then looked at Phantom and nodded, "Thanks for your help. Luckily, you were there to help me follow the tracker. Otherwise, it would take me longer to get to him."     

If he did not have to get ready, he would be able to track them down himself.     

"No problem. Ghost is my best friend, after all," said Phantom as he nodded at Callum. It was an easy job for him. Those men tried to use the same method that they used to kidnap Ye Tian. Luckily, Callum managed to plant a tracker. Otherwise, who knew what would have happened?     

He heard from his men that Mrs. Luo had a gun pointed at Ghost, and that was why one of them released a shot to disarm her.     

When they were securing the place, Callum had placed an order, "Protect Luo Guang Ying at all cost. If anything happens to him, none of you would be getting out alive."     

He was only threatening them but it was good that he did. Otherwise, he would be outside morgue now instead of being outside an operating theatre.     

If it was him, he would have killed her straight on the spot. However, Shenlong Yuan refused to put him in danger and merely told him to wait. Callum sighed. His elder cousin could be overprotective sometimes.     

While they went to get something to drink, Han Ye asked, "Did you tell President Du?"     

Callum nodded, "I gave him a call earlier. He's on the way home now. He said he would tell my sister-in-law in person and they would come for a visit later."     

Phantom nodded, "If that's the case, then I shouldn't stay here for long."     

"No, stay. You're Guang Ying's friend. So, you have got a right to be here," said Callum before he put some coins into the vending machine. When the canned coffee came out, he passed one to Phantom and Han Ye.     

As he passed it to Han Ye, he said, "Don't blame yourself for too long and don't you dare to stay away. Your skills are useful to me and my brother. Since Kai Xin is now married to my brother, we are family, and if you still want to live in guilt, then protect us and help us protect our people as well."     

What Phantom did before did not bother him much as it bothered Kai Xin's family. All he knew was that Phantom was a good friend of his "wife" and that without Phantom's warning during the dinner, he would not have been this alert.     

Ghost had been dismissive about it but Callum was worried. As they went back and sit outside the operating theatre, Callum sighed. He could not understand why Ghost was so chill about it. In fact, Ghost merely told Callum not to worry about it and that he had things planned.     

Suddenly, he received a message from his cousin.     

[ I'd give you a call but I don't want to bother you in case you're with him. Someone jumped the cars that were transporting Su Yan Xi. It was a bigger group than we expected and during the shoot off, she escaped. One of the Russian men escaped on a car. The other guy is dead. Sorry about that. There were civilians and you should know the rules. Anyway, I suspect that they were sent by her family. I'll talk to grandfather about this.]     

Callum cursed as he read the message all over again, "F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!"     


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