Light Against Shadows

Chapter 3

Yunlan was talking to the cops that had taken away the two assailants. It wasn't his case but he did rescue her, he had been the one with her fleeting life in his hands so he couldn't just let it go, he wanted to know more about it.

"Come on guys, just a bit of courtesy between colleagues, I'm not asking too much. I only want to know what they said, did you interrogate them yet?"

"Alright, it's not like there actually is a case you could steal anyway. If she wakes up and testifies we'll have something to work on, if she doesn't then there is no case at all, unless we manage to find the weapon they used; they must have thrown it away somewhere because it wasn't on them."

Yunlan frowned. "The girl hasn't woken up yet?"

"No. We instructed the hospital to call us as soon as she does, but there's no guarantee she ever will."

"I get that they didn't confess then."

"Rotten guys like that never confess, they said that they were simply walking when your friend attacked them, too bad none of us was there to see what happened."

"He didn't attack them, he.. he told them to stay put and they did."

The cops eyed him sarcastically and he sighed, it was a stupid thing to say, he knew that, but he did see them with his own eyes! They were on the ground and Wei was standing a couple of meters away and yet they weren't getting up... why didn't they run?

"I was there, I know he didn't do anything to them." Yunlan's look was challenging but there was a small doubt inside him. How did Wei stop them? And was he really sure that it had been them stabbing the poor girl?

"Okay, thanks. Please give me a word when you know something."
They nodded and Yunlan left the police station.

He thought back of the girl, he really hoped she could make it. It had been hard to wait for the ambulance to arrive, being able to do so little for her. He could only help her lie down and try to stop the bleeding as best he could.

She was unconscious and not breathing, so he tried CPR until he heard the sirens approaching. It wasn't common for him to be the one left behind while someone chased the bad guys, it had always been the other way around.
He was fast and relentless and always chose to give chase. It wasn't every day that he felt a person's life in his hands like that, and he wasn't eager to repeat the experience.

He didn't show it, he liked to maintain a tough-cop appearance at all times, but it had affected him. He cared about his job and all the people he met because of it, but usually they were either relatives of a victim or someone he had saved getting there on time. Whenever that didn't happen, he devoted himself to catch the bastards while someone more apt than him took care of the injured.

It was important for him that this girl would make it. He decided that he needed to see for himself how the girl was doing.

He had a little squad at his command; it wasn't really his team, they weren't really assigned to him but they answered to his orders and his chief silently tolerated this because he brought results. As long as he never exceeded his limit, the chief was satisfied with letting him do what he wanted. There never was a written agreement, only a wave of his hand and an exasperated "get out of here" when he was in a good mood or a shout of "Enough! Zhao Yunlan, out!" when he was stressed.

Now he walked into his own department and headed to Ling's desk. "Find out where they brought the girl yesterday morning, will you?"

"What girl, do we have a new case?"

Yunlan rolled his eyes remembering that he hadn't told them anything the day before.
He had gone back to work unable to keep the Wei-mystery out of his mind, so they didn't know about the girl that almost died.

He told him now where he found her and her conditions, and Ling found the name of the hospital for him.

"Do you need back-up?" Hong asked him. She was always trying to tail behind, he was beginning to wonder if she had a crush on him.
He hoped not, she was pretty but he wasn't interested in complications at his workplace.

"No, this is not a mission, just checking if the girl I saved yesterday is going to make it," he told her, and she didn't reply.
At least she had the good sense to not use the poor girl as an excuse to go with him. She wasn't yet conscious so no amount of 'having a woman with you might help her feel more at ease' would have worked.

He left immediately for the hospital. After a short drive, he arrived at the big parking lot where he left his car before going in.
He asked a nurse for the girl's room number, but he didn't have her name so once again he had to explain the whole story.

The nurse listened to him recounting where he found her and her conditions.
"The stabbed patient, I remember her, let me check... she's in room 57, but she has visitors right now so you may have to wait to see her."

Yunlan thanked her and began searching for room 57 wondering who had come to see her. Were they able to contact her family? He thought she had no documents on her, the officers told him they didn't know who she was... maybe she woke up for enough time to tell them her name? No, they said she never regained consciousness... maybe it was another cop, Yunlan thought, of course, why hadn't he thought of that immediately, where did he put his head, was he still thinking about...

"Wei?" Yunlan saw him outside the room, the mystery man he kept thinking of.

Hearing his voice, Wei turned around.

"How long have you been standing here?" Yunlan asked. Why hadn't he gone inside?

"I.. I just arrived. I see she's still sleeping, I only wanted to see if she was okay. Maybe it's best if I leave now."
He moved a few steps, but when he had to pass by Yunlan, he felt a hand grabbing his arm stopping him.

"Why don't you stay? It doesn't bother me, and you came all the way here... at least let's go in together."

Wei hesitated then murmured, "Yeah yeah, I know... alright, let's go in."

Yunlan's eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything, not really sure that Wei was talking to him.

He opened the door and they entered the room.