THE DEAL

36 Kaohsiung

Author: Better late, than never^^ haha, please don't hate me for the long break. Have fun reading instead :) xo

JENNIE

Jennie had never been this anxious during a plane ride. Her leg couldn't stop bouncing and it was driving Jisoo, who was sitting next to her, absolutely mad. Kaohsiung was only one more hour away.

"Jendeuk, stop it, will you? You almost bounced the coffee off my tray table!"

Jennie only threw her friend a look. "How are you so calm about what we're doing here? We went behind the bureau's back and we don't even know if we find anything or... you know, anyone..." She whispered the last part. But Jisoo just shrugged. "I don't know what you mean, I'm just going on vacation with my wife. The fact that we are on the same plane is purely coincidental."

"What are you guys whispering about?" Rosie leaned around her wife, wanting to be part of the conversation as well.

Jennie breathed in and out of her nose hard and shook her head. "Nothing. I'm just... nervous."

It wasn't coincidental at all though that the three of them were on the same plane from Seoul to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It was a meticulously thought-out plan. Jisoo had taken all of the vacation days she had left for this year to take a long holiday with Rosie. The fact that they were accompanying Jennie to Taiwan to look for Lisa, was a secret that only Jung Haein was privy to. Nobody else knew.

As for Jennie's status with the bureau... The former special agent had been under strict rules after her demotion to the evidence locker. Rules that just begged to be broken. And once Jennie had exhausted her superior's patience, she had gotten herself suspended from duty. Exactly like she had planned to. In order to leave the country without anyone suspecting anything.

Disregarding clock-in times and stretching personal phone calls with Jisoo during working hours hadn't actually come all that difficult to Jennie. Opposite of what she had thought beforehand. The Jennie who had arrested Lisa all those years ago, would have never thought of direspecting a job or even a superior like that. But this Jennie now, who had lost someone really important in her life, had different priorities entirely. And she wasn't even sure if the bureau was still the right place for her. After all she had done for them, only for the higher-ups to go over her head like that and pull Lisa away against either of their wills.

Jisoo had wanted for Jennie to have something in her life that didn't fit into case files. And Lisa was so much more than that. Lisa had broken out of those case files and had given Jennie a new perspective on life. As much as Jennie had loved her job with the FBI, it didn't keep her warm at night. And while she had no idea what the future would look like for her, she knew, she didn't particularly want it, if Lisa wasn't in it. She had to at least try.

*

LISA

Lisa still had a few intact aliases. Like the one she had used to stash the diamonds. The bank employee lead her through heavy-duty doors into the dark vault room. This was it. The little safety deposit box that had been home to Lisa's most treasured loot for so long. She absolutely hated the reason why she was here, having to take them out. But she had no choice. And she was pressed for time as well.

The box was taken out by gloved hands and put on the table in the middle of the room. The employee unlocked it with a key and then stepped back for Lisa to handle her belongings in private. The con-woman opened the lid carefully. Two passports, a big bundle of cash, a gold ring with intricate Thai carvings, which was a 'souvenir' from Lisa and Bam's exploits within the Thai Royal Palace. But no diamonds.