Chapter 107 - Gogh

Jackson immediately reached under his pillow and pulled out a hidden gun. Because of the situation he was in, he was always on high alert, so an abnormality like this was extremely serious. Sure, it could have been a normal robbery - robberies weren't uncommon in remote areas like this - but, there was a huge possibility that someone was there for him.

At that moment, he heard some tapping on the wall beside him. It was coming from Amelie's room.

Jackson listened carefully and quickly realized it was Morse code: "Stay. Alexander and I will check."

Jackson quickly tapped back: "OK." He then heard Amelie's room door open, followed by light footsteps across the corridor.

A moment later, there was a loud scream from the kitchen followed by a gun shot. Jackson quickly recognized that the scream belonged to Mrs. Martin.

"Jackson, where are you?" a man's voice yelled in French.

"I think you got the wrong place. We don't know any Jackson," Mr. Martin's voice replied.

The old couple were the first to wake up and check the noise, so they were also the first to face the intruder.

Jackson realized, at that moment, that Remy Durand must have figured something out by now and sent someone after him. Worst of all, he was rich enough to hire anyone.

"Jackson! Come out or I am killing this lovely couple. You heard it, i have guns," the intruder warned.

Jackson couldn't let two innocent people die because of him, so he took a deep breath and stepped out of his room.

As he walked down the corridor, he noticed Amelie and Alexander hiding on the two sides of the doorway. They hadn't revealed themselves yet.

Amelie looked at Jackson and shook her head. Their mission was to protect him, so she couldn't risk him getting hurt.

"I'm counting to 5, Jackson. If you don't show yourself, Mr. and Mrs. Martin here are dead!" the intruder warned again.

Jackson carefully approached Amelie to check the situation.

"It's Gogh," Amelie whispered.

Jackson and Amelie were both familiar with this man that went by the name of 'Gogh'. He always had his face covered by a surgical mask, but he was easily identified by his missing ear. He was a famous hitman in the underworld, well-known for killing his targets so cleanly that it was almost like an artform. In fact, whoever he killed would disappear off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. Not even a body was ever found. Because of his unique features, he was given the name Gogh, after the famous painter, Vincent Van Gogh.

"5!" Gogh counted.

Amelie looked at Jackson. It was three Interpol agents against one hitman; they could easily rush in and apprehend the guy. Unfortunately, this hitman also had two hostages and they were currently tied together, with a gun pointed to each of their heads. Not only that, Gogh was currently using them as human shields. What were they to do? They were Interpol agents; they couldn't risk civilian lives.

"4," Gogh counted.

Jackson knew he had to get the hostages away from the man first.

Gogh was a clean and​ meticulous man. Even if he was hired to kill Jackson, Jackson knew one thing for sure: Gogh would never do it on the spot. After all, no one knew how Gogh killed and disposed of his targets because he never did it in front of other people.

So, the only thing Jackson could do at that moment was hand himself over. He could, at least, put up a fight if there were no hostages around.

Jackson looked into Amelie's eyes and Amelie shook her head. She knew what he was thinking, but if he stepped out, it would be suicide.

However, Jackson was determined. So, he walked into the kitchen with his hands raised above his head. "Let them go, Gogh," he said.

Gogh laughed. "Impressive, you know who I am," he said. "In that case, get in my car, let's go for a drive."

He then led Jackson out to his car while still using the couple as a shield. As soon as Jackson got in the car, Gogh threw him a pair of handcuffs and gestured for him to handcuff both his hands to the car. Jackson did as told.

Gogh then started the car, jumped into the driver's seat, threw the two hostages away and sped out of the property.

Amelie and Alexander immediately ran out.

"Where's your car?" Amelie asked the couple anxiously.

"In the barn, hurry take it. The keys are in my pocket," Mr. Martin said as Alexander untied him.

Amelie immediately grabbed the keys and jumped into the car. As she drove past, she screamed out, "Activate Emergency Plan Charlie."

Alexander nodded and quickly picked up his phone.