"Where did they go?" Chin asks, demanding for the information he insisted.
"No one knows. Look for a blue green van with the number plate BAS 1870," Ming replies, "When can I get my balance?"
"You'll get it after I verify the info," Chin replies and cuts the line off.
Se Zai Ming is not worried. He knows Chin well and he knows he never likes owing even a dime. Ming whistles happily, as he thinks of what to do for the rest of the day. Ah, get high of course!
Chapter 50
Malaysia: Friday, 21st November 8:02 p.m.
Chin's supercomputer has downloaded every available video or photo related to the blue green van numbered BAS 1870 from all devices - CCTVs, cellphone cameras, dashboard recorders and the rest. Since Ada's last manual attempt to trace Yuna and Kaew, the software team has since updated their softwares to automatically identify and even link up the broken pieces of information based on time to find the target's last seen, if not it's current location.
And right now, they are traveling towards the south of the city center. Chin takes his laptop and immediately sets out from his lair. With his super-bike and the remaining three drones all ready in the back of the box van, Chin is going to take the city by storm, launching a full attack on the women.
Yuna drives as Kaew becomes her GPS, directing her into a maze of cramped and meandering roads to another part of the city that she as a local has never been to or never even knew existed. Amongst the densely packed five stories high low cost flats, one unit on the second floor has a yellow sign with the words '中醫师' printed in red hanging outside its balcony, which literally translates to 'Chinese Medical Practitioner'. Below the words is a cellphone number. Yuna swiftly parks the vehicle at one of the very few vacant parking bays and Kaew gets ready to get down.
"Yu two stay. I go. I be bak veli fast," Kaew instructs and the women silently obey.
Kaew then opens the back door before hopping down the vehicle and darting off while the car door slides back to a close by itself.
"Do you think this is gonna work?" Nikki asks nervously, hugging her knees.
"There is no other option and I trust Kaew," Yuna answers her from the driver's seat not letting her guard down as she alertly surveys her surrounding through her side mirrors and rear view mirror.
Nikki nods anxiously. She's right. It is the only viable option to save Zach.
"Eat something. You promised him you'll stay alive," Yuna says, feeling sorry for Nikki.
Hearing that, Nikki takes a deep breath to calm herself and nods, "Yeah." She then reaches for one of the many cream buns Yuna has bought at the convenient store and opens one. The strong scent of vanilla immediately fills the car. Nikki pulls the plastic wrapper halfway down and stares at the soft lightly brown longish bun with a string of vanilla cream hidden down its center. She doesn't have the appetite. Who in her shoes would but Yuna's right. She promised Zach she will stay alive and seeing the war staged before them, she needs not just a will but also physical strength to fight it through and survive. Nikki forces herself to bite down into the bun and takes a chew off the bread. As she is halfway through eating, she sees two shadows rushing towards their vehicle.
"Yuna, they're back!" Nikki immediately announces.
Yuna starts the engine and shifts the gear into reverse, ready to go once they hop on. From a distance, Nikki can see Kaew leading the way with a doctor of some sort clumsily trotting after her with a large brown bag in his hands. He is still wearing his white coat.
When Kaew is almost there, Nikki opens the door for them and they readily climb into the back with Kaew sitting in the center and the man outer most. Once inside, Yuna reverses and drives off before the door can close.
The doctor is a Chinese man with gold, round rimmed glasses over his stub nose and small eyes. Around his forties, his hair is slightly messy from all the running and he is sweating profusely under the white coat. He hugs his brown leather bag over his lap tightly as Yuna negotiates the car over some bumps and potholes throwing them up from their seats.
"This Dr. Wu. From China. Veli good," Kaew introduces him to Nikki.
"Can you do operations?" Nikki immediately asks, unable to contain her doubts over the illegal doctor who supposedly caters to all the triad members.
"Of course! I am a general surgeon!" the China man retorts in pitch perfect English.
"I... I'm sorry I was rude. I'm just worried -" Nikki apologizes immediately.
"Yes, I'm just here for the money. Lost my respect a long time ago," Dr. Wu cuts her off as he gazes angrily out the window.
"I'm sorry," Nikki apologizes once more, feeling ashamed and keeps quiet, staring down at her half eaten bread.
"He is veli good o-kay?" Kaew reassures Nikki as she places a palm onto each of Dr. Wu’s and Nikki’s thighs.
"Dr. Wu, yu big man no angry right?" Kaew teases as she nudges her shoulder at his. The doctor lets out a half smile. Kaew always knows how to lighten a situation.
"Let’s just get things done as soon as possible and send me back," Dr. Wu replies, feeling less offended already.
"He doesn't know, does he?" Yuna asks from the front.
"Know what?" Dr. Wu asks, feeling suspicious.
"We need you for the whole night," Nikki immediately adds.
"You didn't say that!" Dr. Wu snaps at Kaew, regretting instantly.
"Dun angry! Dun angry! We pay yu mo, okay?" Kaew tries to persuade, rubbing her palm over his back.
"More? How much more?? I have patients coming in regularly by the hour," Dr. Wu protests.
"One thousand," Nikki announces loudly and Dr. Wu immediately quiets down, silently agreeing to the deal. The car drops silent for a few seconds before Yuna finally cannot suppress her need to clarify.
"Can I know who's paying the extra one thousand?" Yuna breaks the silence and asks. Their fund, or Yuna's cash is running very low and with no one else but her contributing, she has to be very careful with what they spend on.
"What? You don't have the money???" Dr. Wu starts yelling, shaking his hands in the air like a gorilla.
"We do! We do!" Nikki swears and grabs hold of Yuna's seat before poking her head to the front begging, "Please.... I will pay you back the money. Just let me save Zach first."
"Do you have the money or not??" Dr. Wu demands, threatening to open the vehicle's door.
"We do!" Yuna answers, her voice over his.
"I don't believe you. I want my payment before hand," Dr. Wu demands.
"Show him the money," Yuna instructs and Kaew swiftly reaches for a bag on the seat behind them and opens the zip to take out a stack of fifty ringgit notes. There is definitely more than one thousand ringgit there.
Dr. Wu reaches his hands to the cash and Kaew promptly throws the money back into the bag and zips it up.
"Yu finish, we pay," Kaew smirks and puts the bag back onto the seat. Seeing that his payment is secure, the doctor slides back into his seat.
Kaew then settles back into her seat and signals Nikki. It's time for action. Kaew grabs the pair of black niqab and abaya and passes them to Nikki. She is not a good actress and that can make sure she will pass the security cameras. Kaew then takes another pair for herself and they slip the garments over their clothes before putting the black headscarves and pinning the abaya into place.
The women then grab a few paper bags for prop and prepare for the mission. Minutes later, the vehicle reaches The Axis but instead of stopping before the hotel, Yuna stops just by the roadside and drops off her two accomplices. The women, pretending to have finished shopping from the opposite mall hikes their way back up the driveway to the hotel entrance. With nothing but trash in the paper bags, they walk through the metal detector doorframe without any problem as the security officers bid them a polite smile.
Holding hands, they walk into the lobby's toilet and the moment they enter they see two Japanese teenagers chatting by the mirror, reapplying their makeup and taking selfies. Kaew and Nikki each g
oes inside a cubicle and pretends to use the toilet but when they come out, the Japanese girls are still there. Nikki starts to get nervous and Kaew winks at her to calm down before she walks over to the sink beside the girls. As Kaew starts washing her hands under the automatic tap, she starts barking a cough. The girls immediately stop what they are doing and turn to stare at her.
Kaew coughs even louder, bending over with her hand to her stomach and hobble towards the girls. Terrified, the girls immediately disappear out the door and Nikki instantly locks the door after them. Nikki then does a small clap and Kaew smiles under her abaya. Toilets are the only places without security cameras and so always the best place to take action.
The two women tilt their heads to start looking for fire sprinklers and there is one just above their heads. Nikki kneels down and Kaew piggy back rides onto her shoulders. Nikki then uses all her strength to get up onto her feet and hefts her partner up towards the ceiling. Kaew takes a lighter from her pocket and aims the flame at the fire sprinkler and the sprinkler and alarm gets set off. Nikki lowers Kaew and the two of them quickly slip out of the toilet, partially wet.
While the hotel authorities rush into the toilet to find nothing, Kaew and Nikki rushes off in separate directions and start pulling the wall mounted fire alarms around the hotel. The building's fire alarm gets triggered again and this time at various areas. Before the staff members of the building can even explain or verify the reason for the fire alarm's sudden set off, the two women are already on another fire alarm pulling spree. The hotel cannot risk another death on its name and so immediately calls for an evacuation of its guests from their rooms.
The women have succeeded and they push their way back out of the hotel and once outside, they just have to wait for Zach to evacuate.
Meantime, upstairs in his suite, Zach hears the fire alarm going off. Unsure and confused if it is all another part of the syndicate's plan, Zach stands up from the sofa in the living room and goes over to look out the floor length windows. Outside, the streets seem normal and there are no fire trucks. He then proceeds to the suite's door and opens it. The moment he opens it he is startled by a lean Indian security officer standing just before his door. The security officer is just as startled.
"I am very sorry Sir, we suspect that the fire alarm has become faulty but for the safety of our guests, we need to evacuate all everyone until the fault is verified," the security officer announces.
Zach stands stunned in the doorway for a second before reacting to what the security officer has said to him and when he finally comprehends the message, a hunch in his gut tells him that this is not a strike of coincidence. Zach nods and hastily steps out from the doorway but just before he closes the door behind himself, he remembers about the briefcase. He can't leave the briefcase in the room and risk loosing it while he is gone. Zach halts his feet and turns back into the room.
"Sir, please leave your belongings," the security officer tries to stop Zach.
"No, it is extremely valuable," Zach refuses and dashes into his room to retrieve the silver briefcase before rushing back out to meet the security officer.
Zach leads the way towards the elevator and the security officer immediately redirects him back to the fire exit staircase instead. Like inserting a dish of sushi onto the sushi belt, Zach slips into the line and joins the rest of the guests hurrying down the stairs in an obedient single file, their footsteps echoing through the stairwell like a marching troop of soldiers. With the silver briefcase tightly within his grasp, he jogs down the stairs and finally reaches the ground floor after about five, six minutes.
Meanwhile, in the MPV parked across the street, Yuna observes everything through her binoculars as Dr. Wu waits impatiently.
"What are we waiting for?" Dr. Wu questions.
"Your patient," Yuna replies and Dr. Wu stares out at the six star hotel building.
Some filthy rich man. Dr. Wu starts thinking to himself and the more he thinks the more dissatisfied he gets and he finally raises his request, "This is taking too much time. I want more payment. Three thousand."
"What??" Yuna cries, lowering her binoculars and craning her neck to glare at the man.
"You heard me. Three thousand," Dr. Wu states his request firmly.
"No. We agreed on a thousand five!" Yuna debates.
"If you don't agree I will leave now," Dr. Wu insists, making his stand.
"You stay there!" Yuna shouts.
"Three thousand or I leave!" Dr. Wu shouts back.
"Two thousand!" Yuna bargains.
"Three thousand!" Dr. Wu argues.
"Two thousand. Take it or leave it," Yuna threatens. She hates people who don't keep to their words and hiking the price last minute is just unacceptable.
Dr. Wu glares at her, considering his options. If he leaves he gets nothing and he can tell that she doesn't really care about the patient. It is the white woman who is desperate but she does not have any money. After a few seconds of stare off, Dr. Wu swallows his pride and anger and agrees to the offer, "Fine. Two thousand."
Yuna breaks away from the stare and resumes looking through her binoculars. The moment she does so, she sees the women running towards the car in their black cloaks and Zach is tagging behind them with the silver briefcase.
Yuna starts the car as the doctor opens the door for them and just halfway across the road, they suddenly hear the gunshots from the air and bullets shoot into the road before them. Kaew looks up into the sky and sees a speck of silver coming their way. It is a drone and it is still very far, over five hundred meters away. That explains the shooting inaccuracy. Chin is trying to shoot outside the drones range.
Quick to react, she runs and dives into the MPV. Nikki, overtaken by fear can only stand rooted to the road like a cat staring at the headlights of an oncoming car. The drone takes aim at his still target and shoots. They are just two steps from the vehicle. Zach instinctively lunges forward and pushes Nikki forward the both of them falling into the vehicle. Nikki clambers into the vehicle and Zach climbs up after her.
"Quick!" Kaew shouts as she shuts the door of the MPV but being automatic, the door cannot be force closed, and it continues to slide gently to a close as Yuna speeds off. The drone shoots again and one stray bullet shoots into the doorway producing a hole in the floor of the MPV.
"Stupid door!" Kaew curses as she pulls off her headscarf and abaya, watching Zach cramp himself between Nikki and herself.
"Where is the doctor?" Nikki quickly asks, suddenly realizing he is gone.
"He is in the back," Yuna swears, as she swerves the car into the road, trying to escape the drone.
"You didn't say there will be gun fire! I need more payment! Four thousand!" Dr. Wu's voice echoes from behind. They turn around and to their relieve he is crouching in the legroom of the third row of seats. The drone then shoots again and this time the bullets hit the back of the MPV. Dr. Wu shouts in fright and clambers back to the front, squeezing himself into the legroom before Kaew.
Nikki gazes at Zach through her abaya and squeezes his hands nervously within hers. Instead of reassuring her, Zach frowns as he utters, "Nik, you're hands are freezing cold. Are you okay?"
"I am feeling very cold," she starts to reply, "and weak... Why is it numb here?" Nikki lowers her hand to her stomach and presses her hand against it. Zach's eyes immediately widen with fright as he cries out at the sight of blood seeping through the gaps between Nikki's fingers.
"You've been shot!" Zach blurts out.
"Wha..." Nikki's face clouds with confusion before her eyes turn upward, her head tilting back and her whole body slumps into her seat. Kaew immediately pushes her way through and removes Nikki's headscarf and abaya.
"Take off," Kaew instructs Zach to help her remove the cloak and they tear the cloak off over her head to reveal the gunshot wound on the right side of her stomach.
"Oh no," Kaew frowns as they lower Nikki to lie down flat onto the leather seat. The stomach of her beige blouse is soak
ed in blood and the bleeding is not intense and continuous.
"Dr. Wu! Do sumting!" Kaew shouts for him as the drone sends another round of bullets into the back of the MPV. With his hands shaking, he lifts the woman's shirt and the bullet hole in her stomach is now spilling with blood.
"Five thousand! Two patients, gun fire, five thousand!" Dr. Wu shouts to Yuna in a mix of fright and frustration.
"I will kill you right now if you don't save her!" Zach pulls at the doctor's collar and shakes him hard.
"You want her to die, kill me," Dr. Wu challenges.
"Kaew, throw him out of the car now!" Yuna instructs and Kaew opens the door. She pulls at the doctor's collar behind his neck just as the drone sends another round of bullets at the MPV.
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