Flight to Southeast Asia

"Hey, does anybody know where the Holy City of Champa at Myson Mountain is?" Blake suddenly asked.

Jasmine looked at him with alarm.

"That's in Vietnam."

Blake scratched his head.

"My system just asked me if I wanted to accept an assignment to go there and retrieve a Spirit Skull, whatever the heck that is."

Jasmine held up a hand.

"Wait a minute. The Overlord Anh Hai is there at this moment. I wonder if this is linked to him in some way."

Adam threw her a look. He was about to say something when the phone on his desk rang.

"Yeah…put her through." He turned to look at Jasmine. "Yeah it's me, Adam…I understand. Yes…I'll let her know. Thanks."

He hung up the phone.

"Is your passport travel-ready?"

Jasmine nodded. During her solo career, she had to travel all over the world to do her singing gigs.

"That was your aunt, Nun Dai Tien Ha. She wants you to go with her back to Vietnam. She says it's crucial."

Jasmine turned to look at Blake.

"I wonder if her call and your system assignment is connected."

Blake shrugged.

"I don't know much about either Blake's system or the temple's ghoul fighting abilities, but I definitely know that both are real." Adam pressed a hand to his heart.

"Right now, I have to stay here and chase down the leads having to do with all the deaths, but you should go with your Aunt. Her voice sounded urgent." He turned to the men.

"Blake and Ray can go with you. Blake will be able to protect you from anything that is thrown at you."

"So I guess I'll accept this assignment then." Blake laughed with a tinge of nervousness.

He focused on the «Accept» and took the assignment.

Instantly, an alert sounded and a menu drop down bar opened up with the word 'Assignments' at the top. The first line was in bulleted point.

* Retrieve Spirit Skull: Holy City of Champa, Myson Mountain

Blake looked around trying to find more information, directions, or maybe even a map but there was nothing else. It was one of those tabs that could be minimized from his field of vision but could not be completely eliminated.

"What about me?" John laughed. "Am I chopped liver?"

"You have to stay and help me take this Overlord goon offline and shut his operation down. Until you leave for good, you're still my partner, John."

☯︎☯︎☯︎

When Aunt Tien Ha said they needed to leave for Vietnam immediately, she wasn't joking. Within the hour, she was waiting outside the police station for Jasmine to emerge.

"Aunt Tien Ha!" Jasmine ran out the police station and took hold of the thin nun's hands. "Does Grandmother know we are leaving for Vietnam?"

"She sent me to accompany you." Aunt Tien Ha responded with a smile. "We need to get to the airport. We can take a cab…"

"No. I'll take you." Adam injected. "My police cruiser is right out front."

The ride to the airport was only interrupted with a brief visit to the bank vault for Jasmine to pick up her passport that she stored there along with her valuables and papers.

Although Jasmine did not see Blake or Ray, she knew they were following alongside her from above.

When they got to the airport, Adam accompanied Jasmine and the nun to the outer terminal and then gave her a hug.

"Be careful. Stay close to your aunt and Blake. They will keep you safe. If you need anything, just call me." He handed her a card with his information on it. "You should be able to pick up a local phone in the area."

Once all the goodbyes had been said, she and Aunt Tien Ha made their way through customs and then into the waiting area. Trailing behind them by only a few steps were the shadowy figures of Blake and Ray.

She turned back and gave them a smile. The people behind her thought she was smiling at them and smiled back.

"Hey. No flirting with strangers behind my back." Blake grinned. They were indeed standing behind him, at his back.

Jasmine laughed and turned back to the nun.

"Aunt Tien Ha. Why do we have to go to Vietnam? I don't understand."

"We are running out of time. Certain chains of events have been set into motion and you must be there to make sure that catastrophe does not occur."

"Do we need to figure out how to buy airplane tickets?"

In answer, Aunt Tien Ha handed her a packet with a pair of round trip tickets.

"You booked the tickets already?"

"Yes. Last week, when your Great Uncle left for Vietnam, he booked the flights for us. As it was, they struck first before we even got a chance to discuss anything with you."

Jasmine sighed.

"Yeah. They killed my entire band. I only managed to save my guitarist, and only because he was in my car the moment that they attacked him."

"I am truly sorry, child." Nun Dai Tien Ha patted her hand. "The casualties of wars have aways been the innocent bystanders."

The wait was incessant, but they were finally able to get on board, find their seats, and settle in for a very long flight.

"I can't believe we're on a flight to Southeast Asia. How in the world did this happen?"

"I don't know how we did it either," her aunt replied as she settled back on the blue pillow the airline stewardess had provided. "Your Great Uncle had planned everything out, but so many things went wrong. We missed our first flight. I couldn't let you miss this second one."

Jasmine gave a startled look at Aunt Tien Ha.

"Our first flight? We had a first flight?"

"Yes. The moment that the Overlord of the Tiger Temple booked that flight to Vietnam, your uncle had also booked flights on a different airline to try and circumvent his arrival, but we couldn't find you anywhere to get you on that flight." Aunt Tien Ha shook her head.

"We almost missed this flight too because you had gone missing. It was a good thing that nice policeman Adam called me when you arrived at the station to let us know you had been found."

"Blake saved me, Aunt Tien Ha. He went into the compound and rescued me from those thugs." She turned towards the shade who was hovering in the aisle by her side, looking as if he had an all-expense paid trip on the flight.

"Yes. Thank you, Blake." The nun turned and gave him a slight bow.

"She can see me?" Blake turned and whispered into Jasmine's ear.

"Yes." They both answered him.