"Oh my God sir! Are you okay? You looked distressed. Did the hospital send you back here?" the sweet little Chinese lady behind the reception asks with a concerned frown over her brows as she signals her colleague to go over to help Zach.
"I'm fine. Got into a little accident on my way back," Zach utters his reply, holding his hand out to refuse help from the lady's male colleague.
"Is there a package for me? Under the name Zach Burrow," Zach continues to ask, wetting his dry lips with his tongue.
"Yes sir," the lady removes a package from her drawer and slides the small yellow padded envelope to Zach, "Our resident doctor just came in. Shall I ask him to see you?"
Zach shakes his head as he grabs the package and immediately turns away from the counter. His next set of his instruction is read to him promptly.
Go down to B2 and look for a silver sedan with the registration number MAR 25. The key is in the envelope.
Getting his instructions, Zach instantly converts himself into a puppet, trying to focus only on the task at hand and block out all other thoughts that can endanger Nikki's safety. Zach immediately heads for the elevators and presses the down button. One of the elevators open without him having to wait. He enters and presses for B2. The elevator reaches B2 with a ding and the metal door slides open swiftly. Indeed Ada has chosen the right candidate - he is extremely strong-willed and so does a pretty good job at mentally blocking his mind from dwelling into any rebellious thoughts, thus not signaling an alarm to the syndicate he is working for.
Exiting the elevator, Zach removes the car key from the envelope and presses his thumb onto the remote control's button, watching for any blinking headlights. As expected, the car unlocks blinking its headlights from the last row. Zach hurries over to the silver local made sedan and waits for his next instruction. Just as he expects the chip reads him another instruction.
Open the trunk and take the briefcase back up to your suite.
Zach slides the car key into the key hole and turning the key the bonnet springs open. The moment he lifts it, Zach jumps back in horror. There is a corpse of an Asian man gagged by the mouth and hands and feet tied together with rope. He looks like a Chinese and he is wearing a plain white shirt, black slacks and black leather shoes. Before the dead is the silver briefcase Zach is required to take.
Zach has no idea who this man is but is pretty sure the briefcase must have belonged to him. The dead man's wallet is half protruding from his back pocket and curiosity starts to get a hold of him. He needs to know who this man is, why they killed him and what is in that briefcase.
Looking left and right and seeing that the coast is clear, Zach's swift fingers reach for the wallet and pull it out. Wasting no time he immediately pockets the wallet and grabs the briefcase before slamming the bonnet shut.
Your task will continue tomorrow morning.
Hearing his latest instruction that he can finally retreat for the day, he immediately heads into the elevator and travels back up to the lobby. Zach then switches to the tenant's elevator as he nervously sings to himself a childhood tune, forcing his mind to block out any other thoughts.
Once Zach enters the suite, he locks the door after him and takes the briefcase into his room. He carefully puts the briefcase to lie on its side onto the teak wood dressing table and casually walks off to the bed. Zach pulls his shirt off and then pulls the dead man's wallet out to throw it onto the bed as if it is his and proceeds to take off his tattered jeans. Zach goes on to roll his underwear off and kick it to his pile of dirty clothes before entering into the bathroom for a shower. Putting on a show, Zach has to make sure that the captors watching him will believe what they are seeing, that he has found nothing and that everything is normal.
Zach goes into the glass shower cubicle and starts a warm shower. After a quick and misty bath, Zach strolls out of the bathroom with his body still dripping wet and his hands toweling dry his hair. Hanging the towel onto a hanger in his closet, he bends down to grab a pair of clean olive green boxers and a white T-shirt to slip into.
Having changed, he grabs the wallet and slides onto the floor beside the bed, with his back facing the dresser. He sits himself tightly facing the corner between the bedside table and bed. Sitting cross-legged with one knee to the bedside table and the other to the side of the bed, Zach hopes he can block the view of any spy cams as he hunches over the wallet.
Although Zach is right about the spy cams, he does not know that his current ghost has no time to watch him. Goda has merely set his computer to monitor Zach's movements within his suite through an RFID reader stuck to the underside of the dining table in the living area. Right now, Goda is under immense pressure from the Architins to locate and kill Ada and Zero as well as finish off Ada's tasks.
Zach opens the wallet and starts to go through the contents. The first thing he is looking for is an ID or a driving license and there is none. Zach then pulls out one of the credit cards and sees the name Prof. S. K. Kwan.
Zach pulls out one of the credit card and slips it under his boxers. He then searches through the name cards inside the wallet and just as he reaches the last one he finds what he is looking for - It is the man's name card and under his name states 'Senior Researcher, Virologist' and the name of the company is 'Schimmet's Laboratories'.
Slipping the name card into his boxers as well, Zach turns to gaze at the briefcase. If his guess is not wrong, a virus should be what it is holding.
Chapter 47
India: Thursday, 20th November 11:06 a.m.
Goda punches in a string of codes into the computer to start tracing the whereabouts of Ada and Zach. It isn't too difficult to trace them whilst they are still in India and that is why he has deliberately given them almost a three hour time frame to escape India before he starts weeding them out. This will be his last favor to Ada. After that, he will destroy them no matter what it is going to take him to do. Goda hasn't been in the ghost's position for a long time and sitting back at the workstation feels somewhat nostalgic and different, like he has been stripped of authority.
The search on their real names Fumiko Nakahara and Lee Tae Yong reveals that they have taken a flight out of India and their destination - Malaysia. The moment Goda sees that they are traveling to Malaysia, a sense of regret starts to develop inside his gut. The only reason they are not going somewhere else can only be that they are there trying to sabotage the MAP. Goda hammers his fists onto the table, the noise shaking the room and other ghosts stop their fingers to turn and stare at him but almost immediately resume working. No one wants to be caught staring at Goda and no one will dare to ever do what Ada did and will do.
Knowing Ada well, Goda knows she will never give up until the day when one of them dies. As he is deeply comtemplating, the irking noise of someone clearing his throat behind him distracts Goda and he turns around to find a tall and lean Indian man.
"Who are you?" Goda barks at him.
"I am Pita, from software development. I came with permission," Pita introduces himself, his face still visibly bruised.
"You have no business here," Goda snaps for him to leave and turns back to his workstation without even caring to look him in the face.
"I can help you find Zero and that girl," Pita offers, sly like a venomous snake and that is just what raises Goda's brows with interest.
Goda swishes around in his swivel chair and takes his first proper look at the man trying to make him an offer.
"Why?" Goda asks.
"Revenge. Promotion," Pita answers laconically.
Goda nods slowly, his face serious and his lips pursed with satisfaction at the reason he is hearing. Revenge is always the best fuel and money is always the best drive.
"How well do you know him?" Goda asks, toning down the usual threat in his voice.
"Like the back of my hands," Pita answers.
"If you fail, your life goes with it," Goda tells flatly.
"Next year is my sixth year here. It doesn't make much diffe
rence," Pita says surprising Goda. He knows more than Goda expected him to. Goda can tell that he is an intelligent man and the fact that he is a two faced bastard with a taste for jealousy and revenge makes it even better - he is most suited for the job.
"Good, then I will transfer you to help me. Hunt them down immediately. So that I can kill them before they ruin the MAP," Goda instructs as he gets up from his chair. Goda, with his huge physic, stares straight at Pita in the eye for two seconds before marching off. He is glad someone sick with vengeance is here to take part of the load off his shoulders. Now all he has to do is to finish what Ada did not - exterminate Lee Yu Na and Kaew Saowaluk in order to guard the MAP.
Chapter 48
Malaysia: Thursday, 20th November 4:48 p.m.
A drug addict rubs his palms at the side of both his arms and yawns as he walks towards a dirty rat filled back alley. Age is written all over his face by the dirty creases and wrinkles over his forehead and the many gray hair that is scattered all through his greasy black hair. Like a vampire, he hides his squinted eyes from the hot sun under the shade of his palm as he is not accustomed to being out in the hot day. His dark blue T-shirt and brown three quarter pants stink with sweat.
Dragging his feet after him, the nocturnal fifty plus Chinese is desperate for money to feed his long time addiction and so has to come and meet his client even under the most unfavorable condition.
When it comes to sniffing out illicit information, no one can beat this man nicknamed 'Se Zai Ming' which typically translates to Ming the snake. Like a shrew that dwells in the dumps of the illicit world, Ming can source out any information one needs. He walks with almost no energy has he hasn't had his dose yet and the moment he turns into the alley he sees his master. This man used to be a generous provider, paying him well for any information he needed until two years ago when he disappeared. Now that he has resurfaced, this shrew is more than delighted to meet up with him.
"Are you close to the Thais?" the big Chinese man asks in Cantonese under his dark sports sunglasses. It is Chin.
"No problem," Se Zai Ming sneers and replies in Cantonese, rubbing his palms together with his back hunched.
"Find me their whereabouts," Chin says and takes out three printed photos before chucking them to Ming.
Ming quickly sweeps them into his hands and looks at them like his deck of cards, "One white, one Thai and one Chinese? What is this? United Nations?"
"I need information by tonight," Chin says, ignoring Ming's comment.
Ming grins at him and rubs his thumb and index finger together a little before Chin's nose, signaling he wants part of the payment first. It isn't the first time they've dealt and Chin already knows what he wants. Chin reaches into the pocket of his gray coat and takes out a stack of fifty ringgit notes.
Ming delightfully puts both hands out to receive the payment and Chin slaps the money onto this shrew of a man's hands.
"By tonight," Chin sternly commands Ming and turns to leave.
"No problem," Ming nods as he happily pockets the money.
Just as Chin is leaving, Ming asks, "I always wondered, don't you feel hot in that coat?"
Chin turns back to glare at him fiercely and immediately Ming grins, "Mind my own business. Got it."
As Chin leaves once again, Ming whispers to himself in a laugh, "Nutcase. Almost forty degrees out here. What does he think it is? A killer's uniform?"
Ming then leaves the alley too. First things first, he needs to get high immediately.
TWO HOURS AGO
Chin has just finished watching all the CCTV recordings that he can find in relevant to the black subcompact after it had left the shopping mall's car park but as the roads are not all equipped with CCTVs, his lead broke when they abandoned the black subcompact near a busy wholesale marketplace and hurried off with their bags, blending into the crowd.
Chin knows they will try to contact Zach again but these women are smart. They won't be doing it in person and he has no idea how they will proceed. He has to stop them before they do so and since all digital methods have failed to track them by far, the only way to find them is through the most conventional way - Se Zhai Ming. He figured that the Thai woman must have some kind of link to the Thai triad. Where else could they have obtained their firearm so easily?
Chin's approach is strictly against the Hive's codes as no news of the Hive hunting anyone should ever leak out to the surface, but he has become desperate - it is to kill or be killed.
Chapter 49
Malaysia: Friday, 21st November 5:16 p.m.
Kaew kneels back onto the floor of the underground drug manufacturing facility to thank A-Wut one last time and promises that this will be the last time she is going to ask for help. A-Wut immediately holds her arms to stop her from kneeling and says in a string of Thai that it is only a small matter.
"Next time you come, I want it to be to visit me. Stop getting into trouble," A-Wut says to her with a warm smile, he feels like he is seeing his little sister. The thing is, he doesn't know she is in THAT much trouble. If he does, he will not let her walk away from his protection.
"I will try," Kaew answers with a smile. She treats A-Wut like her family too but she is never going to come back if she doesn't have to. She doesn't want to involve him into the mess she is already entangled in. This is not his war to fight.
"Is the car all you need?" A-Wut asks.
"One more thing. Please help me keep little Tucker safe. I will come back for him one day," Kaew replies as she passes Tucker on a thin black leash to A-Wut.
Just then, the obese Thai bouncer knocks on the office door and slips his head inside to inform, "It's ready."
A-Wut nods an okay to the Thai bouncer and Kaew bows to bid A-Wut goodbye. They bid each other farewell and Kaew follows one of the younger Thai boys out and back upstairs to the T-shirt printing factory's office where Yuna and Nikki are waiting with three other Thai men. The men go about their gambling like nobody's business as the Thai boy leads Kaew back out from behind the file cabinet.
The three woman follow the teenage boy out of the factory where Thai workers are busy printing plain T-shirts using wooden frames and a range of colorful clothe dyes. They continue out into the open compound where an unappealing square van with rusty, old blue green paintwork over its body is parked out front waiting for them. They did ask for a van, something cheap and not eye catching but this is really not what they had in mind and to think that Yuna actually paid ten thousand ringgit for the vehicle is mind boggling.
"What a rip-off," Nikki whispers in comment to Yuna. Yuna can only narrow one eye and make a face in agreement. A car is better than no car at a time like this, and who dares negotiate with a drug lord?
The boy pulls at the door’s handle and it starts to slide open by itself. The sight of the posh, beige leather seats instantly says it all. It is a luxury MPV in disguise!
"What a steal!" Nikki comments, more than impressed.
"Le-dies, le-dies, the kolor is stikker," Kaew announces smugly to them after over hearing their comments, "… and numba plet can flip."
"What?" Nikki gasps in surprise.
"Yu money no waste," Kaew says with her eyes narrowed to Yuna, wagging her index finger at the woman.
"Worth more than the money," Yuna replies.
"Let's go le-dies," Kaew says as she sweeps herself into the back of the vehicle. They all climb aboard with Yuna behind the wheel and the other two in the back as two other Thai boys load their bags in after them.
The reason to ask for such a huge vehicle is that this vehicle will double as their shelter for the nights to come as they have come to one conclusion - being constantly on the move is the safest way to stay alive.
The women drive off in their new home and all they need to do now is to execute their next step.
ONE HOUR LATER
In the back alley of an illegal gambling facility hidden on the third floor of a three stories shop lot, a hunched but much more refreshed
Se Zai Ming keeps the pictures of the three women back into his pocket and pays part of Chin's deposit to his Thai acquaintance. Ming knows this man will tell as he is always desperate for money to feed his gambling addiction and happening to arrive at the right time, the Thai had just lost all his money to poker.
Indeed it is never easier to locate them. With the information Chin needs, Se Zai Ming can now claim payment to the balance of his earnings.
Their trade ends and the Thai quickly goes back up to loose whatever money he has just pocketed and Se Zai Ming leaves in a hurry too. Once out of the back alley, he fumbles for his cheap phone and calls Chin.
"Boss, you girls are not simple. One of them is the triad leader's god sister. They met the leader and took a van but left about two hours ago," Ming says.
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