by Peter Fang
Ansen's heart sank. He didn't think that Reed could get to Maria so fast tonight. How did they manage to get Maria from the hospital?
“Let's recap what happened tonight, shall we?” Reed turned to face Ansen. “You were going to have Elise seduce Craig into a hotel and drug him, then get him into a compromised situation and take some pictures. Later you were to blackmail him to get him to cooperate, but something happened. They somehow ended up in Craig's house and then Craig, his brother, and Finley ended up dead. We checked the tape in the house, but it wiped itself when we tried to access the system. Meanwhile, Elise is missing. No one knows what happened. Is that about right? Meanwhile, we still have our millions of dollars sitting in the accounts waiting to be wired to our clients.”
Ansen’s heart was palpitating too rapidly to hear Reed’s voice, and his eyes were transfixed on the girl’s quivering mask, under which the girl’s sharp breaths pushed the mask’s fabric in and out like a stranded fish.
Reed paced around Ansen. “My first reaction, as you can imagine, was anger. But I am a reasonable man. I truly believe in win-win situations. After all, we are business partners. If I kill you, or Maria, what good does that do? I still have to answer to my boss, as you do to me.” Reed stopped his circling behind Ansen; then he walked up behind Ansen until he was inches from him. He bent over and whispered into his ear. “You know how close I was to killing you, your family, and every friend that you knew?”
“I don't have any friends," Ansen retorted.
“Oh, really? I think this girl would beg to differ.” Reed nodded to a man next to the girl, and the man pulled the girl’s mask off, revealing a bloodied face.
Ansen’s stomach sank. He was expecting Maria, but it was another face he soon recognized.
“She cannot hear you. You see?” Reed pointed at the ear pieces duct-taped to her ears. “I took liberty with the heavy metal. As I recall, from you, that was her least favorite music.”
“Rebecca?” Ansen whispered.
“Yes! It's your old girlfriend. Remember Re-be-cca?” Reed snickered. “Seems like you could never quit your habit of womanizing. I don't understand why you can't be just content with what you have? After Maria, you had Elise, or was it the other way around? Before them, you had Rebecca, and who else was it before her? My God, my head is spinning just thinking about this. Then I had a revelation––I am in the unique position of teaching you how to be a real man. To commit to your obligations no matter what, or else there are consequences.”
Reed nodded at the man next to Rebecca.
The big man took out a knife and sliced one ear off of Rebecca with a quick swing of the knife.
Rebecca screamed in agony. Her voice gurgled with a mix of crying and screaming.
Ansen heard himself screaming at Reed to stop, but Reed just smiled at him.
“Oh, shit, I forgot—” Reed chortled. “You have more pseudonyms and aliases than I could remember. So you go by Chris with Rebecca?”
The man next to Rebecca took off her blindfold and let the girl's eyes lock with Ansen's.
Rebecca’s eyes showed a mix of a surprised, anguish, and anger. “Chris! Why?”
Reed spread his hands and asked, “Yes, why? Rebecca? Why did Chris leave you? You see, he's not the type of person you think he is. I'm going to let you in a little secret. Chris’s real name is Kai, that is K-A-I, and he is a no-good dirty money laundering thief. His only goal in life is to grab what he wants, and he will dump his friends and lovers at the drop of a hat. But his weakness is that he couldn't let go of the past completely, so today, I'm here to teach him a lesson. The lesson of consequences if you go back against your promise, and this time, Kai, you can't run away from the problem. You are going to fix it, and if you don't, then we will wipe off your past clean for you. Someone has to clean up after him.”
Reed nodded again and the same man moved in and made a swift loop around Rebecca's throat with his bloody knife.
Rebecca's eyes widened and dropped to the ground. She tried to scream, but a fountain of blood sprouted from her neck.
Ansen screamed until he could not recognize his own voice. His eyes blurred and tears streamed down his cheeks. He kept calling Rebecca's name, but she fell unconscious as she bled out. A pool of her blood inched towards Ansen.
“I hope this lesson makes it clear that I am serious about your success of our business. Every failure has consequences. The only reason I didn't take Maria tonight is because I think there's still something salvageable in this big mess. You have not met our client in Russia. If you knew how they deal with failures, you will thank me that I have not sent you to meet them.” He noticed that Ansen's head was still hanging, and an uncontrollable rage suddenly boiled over him. He walked up to Ansen and raised his hand, poised to strike Ansen’s face, but he slowly lowered it and smiled. “No, we can't ruin your pretty face can we? Maria is expecting you whole and we still need you to be the good boyfriend that you are.”
Ansen's eyes stared at Rebecca's face on the ground; her glazed eyes stared back at him with a shocked and sorrowful expression. Her gaze slowly phased and went past him. Tears rolled past her smooth cheek, swallowed up by the red gash under her chin.
“We learned that Maria's position in the company gave us the ability to plant a back door. And YOU are going to right this wrong this coming week. We'll give you the virus and all you need to do is to plant it in her computer. If you can do that, the program will take care of the rest. If all goes well. I don't need to kill you or Maria, and you can do whatever you want with her. You will find my offer more than reasonable here.” Reed nodded at another man near the corner. The man came over and handed over a small credit card.
“Take this, Ansen. It has a USB drive connector. Push the card in the middle and the connector will pop out. All you have to do is to plug into a corporate-connected machine and it will find its way into the central server. Once that's done, we'll be able to control it from outside. You think you can handle that without fucking up?”
“Since your reach is so far, why don't you just stick this piece of USB drive up your ass yourself and get it over with? I can't help you with this.”
Reed walked over to him and rested his cane a few feet in front of knees. He chuckled. “It won't be so easy to get out of this one, Ansen boy. I'm going to see to it that you fix this problem. After you have finished planting the virus using Maria’s account, we need to clean up this whole mess. Two days from now is going to be Saturday, and you are going to take the dog for a walk in the morning. Smartly, you are going to let my men into your apartment. If you can finish this task without fucking up again, you can have your share of the transaction and we don’t have to see you here again.”
“How do I know you are not just going to take me out as well?” Ansen felt numb in his entire body.
Reed chuckled. “You know the word ‘nebulous’? It means hard to define. What is easy to define is your future in the next few minutes. If you don’t cooperate with us, we would have to carry you outta here in pieces.” Reed pounded his fist on his cane. “Now, I’m a forgiving man. In the words of Indira Gandhi, ‘Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.’ Frankly, I don’t think you are one hundred percent at fault tonight, so my employer and I are giving you a second chance to cooperate with us.” He waved at the man standing over Rebecca’s body, and the man came over and pushed a small phone into Ansen’s pocket.
“Now repeat after me: I will cooperate with Mr. Reed—” Reed nodded and urged Ansen to follow him. “Say it!”
Ansen cringed and said, “Yes! I will cooperate.”
Reed slapped Ansen on the face. “Say it like you mean it! Say it!”
Ansen blinked his eyes from the sting. “Alright, alright! I will cooperate. Jesus Christ!”
Reed pressed his finger against the new cell phone in Ansen’s shirt. “Now you have to use this cell phone to communicate with us. Keep it closer to you than your underwear at all times, and I mean at all times. W
e will be in touch.”
Reed spat on Ansen's clothes and signaled the men around him. “Now get this piece of shit out of here before I change my mind and feed him to the dogs. And get rid of this body before it stains my shoes!”
After Ansen was taken away, Reed stroked his cane with his hands and mused, “I don’t trust that low-life. I think he is working on some scheme to double-cross us. We need to clean up the loose ends when the transaction is done. Get me the cleaner team. And Fly, I need you to keep a close eye on Ansen in the neighborhood. He may still know where Elise is. Fish her out and let the cleaner take care of them.”
Riker walked out from a shadow in the room. His face contorted with glee. “My pleasure; I have been waiting for this forever.”
24
The Coup
There were fuck-ups, and then there were splendorous fuck-ups. The plan to silence the second blood child went poorly—to put it mildly. And in the history of adopting––or killing––a blood child, this maleficent setback had to rank near the top. Rank and files of minions inside Lão Chóng were in a state of panic. It was the one thing that they needed to do for the queen and they had royally screwed up. Now not only had they fail to extinguish Elise, but they had also lost her to the queen’s new archenemy—Meredith, hell-bent on destroying the queen for killing her husband, Manfred.
Toherd was barking orders to his subordinates. He was looking for the snake clan’s leader, who was nowhere to be found. Toherd was really annoyed by this. Perhaps he was busy on the other end of the worm? Doing what? He should be trying to reach Baobao and try to take Meredith out. Somehow, they underestimated Elise, but what was even more surprising was Meredith's endurance. No one saw that coming. Meredith evolved too quickly; it meant she had some special spell on her that no one knew about––not even the queen.
Toherd was connected to Lão Chóng when all that went down, and his communication with the queen had been severed since. Was the queen hurt more by Meredith?
Toherd went to the nursery where he would expect to find Yhawri, but only saw busy workers tending to their live food. Finally, he saw Yhawri coming around from the back of the nursery. He was bowing and looked apologetic as he approached.
“Where have you been? We are in a crisis now.” Toherd jogged with his overweight body; fat jiggled around his waist as he halted before Yhawri.
Yhawri acknowledged Toherd with a long bow. “Sorry, master, we were a little busy back here. When the attack happened, we needed everyone here to operate at their highest efficiency and not get distracted by outside activities.”
“No, we need you near the front, close to me. They have enough help here.”
“Okay, if you say so. I have very little knowledge of what is happening. Lão Chóng is not burrowing again, that I can tell, but I just overheard that Meredith is still alive?”
“Yes, and she took Elise with her, too! It is obvious that Manfred has been secretly giving her a cocktail of the most potent spell from the centipede eggs.”
“Centipede eggs? How did he get that? That place is sealed. How do you know Meredith had the eggs?” Yhawri was genuinely surprised but secretly happy that chaos ensued. It was the perfect timing for his plan.
“Her physical appearance gave it away, and she could regenerate her limbs. That’s only possible with the centipede’s egg potion.” Toherd huffed.
“I wish I had the privilege to see that.” Yhawri sighed.
“No kidding! And now Queen must think I have something to do with it––” Toherd tightened his tiny webbed fists.
“I don’t think that’s possible. Unless Manfred ordered one of your toads to extract them from the cocoons, but they wouldn’t be able to unless you knew about it.”
“Are you also suggesting I have something to do with this?” Yhawri felt incredulous. He shook his head in protest.
“No, master, of course not. I’m just stating that you are the ultimate keeper. Could Manfred somehow get the eggs from someone else?”
“Not unless we have a traitor among us. But there’s no motive for this. There’s no benefit for one of my clan to do this.”
Yhawri stuck his tongue out to taste the air. “But you know the centipede eggs and what they can do. It will kill any human instantly. Even with Manfred’s spell, there’s no stopping the poison. So the centipede poison gives someone the ability to regenerate and I can see why Manfred would use that to help Meredith to fight disease, but it would still kill the subject even with minute amount. The process is irreversible.”
“Well, she didn’t look much like a human, so I believe the centipede’s eggs still took a toll on her. But what else could Manfred have done to prolong Meredith’s life? And we all thought Meredith would be dead by now, yet she had the strength to injure our queen.”
Yhawri shook his slender head. “I know of no other poison or spell that could counter the centipede––”
Toherd tapped his webbed finger against his lips. “I am sure there is—there is always something that can counter a spell. The question is, what is it and how did he get it?”
Yhawri thought about the prospects. “I have to go consult the breeders, my wife especially, and see what comes up.”
“No need; I’ll do it myself. You need to go to the front and keep your clan in line while we figure this mess out. I’m sure Queen is not happy about this. My head is on the line. I need to get to the bottom of this.”
Toherd went into the breeder’s chamber and called to the grub mother. Only Toherd had the secret spell to open the small chamber. The grub mother replied with a song, and she continued singing when Toherd opened the dialog. He entered the small chamber, and the room was just like when he left it many months ago, or maybe a year ago? The room was breathing, along with the grub mother; it was bare except for an oval spot where someone could sit. Small tentacles protruded from the cell walls, sensing the new visitor’s every move. Unless you knew the spell, anyone that came in here would be instantly killed by the venom-tipped tentacles. Toherd had created this himself, using the toads' poison gland and binding it with a spell into the grub mother’s body. It was designed especially to deter any snakes from coming into the chamber, everyone except the breeders and Yhawri.
Several long tentacles came close and touched Toherd’s face, and then with the slightest brush, they retreated back into the wall. A few remained touching his face and one even exposed the long, white, stingers wiggling in the air, ready to shoot into the intruder. The grub mother’s song stopped and the chamber was dead silent. From the wall in front of the Toherd, a red tentacle emerged from the wall and extended to his face; then the tip fanned out into a thin membrane and wrapped around Toherd. Toherd’s legs twitched as his mind connected with the grub mother. A rush of words and songs came rushing to his mind. It was like examining the grub mother’s half-conscious state of mind. Then there were all of the conversations she heard inside Lão Chóng's cell walls. No one could understand its mind but the grub mother; she was connected to it in the nursery so she was fed with Lão Chóng's nectar. In turn, the grub mother made grubs for Lão Chóng.
He connected with the grub mother, but the songs died down. What remained were the voices she heard from Lão Chóng, but then the voices also subsided.
“No songs this time?” Toherd chided, but the grub mother never directly replied to anyone’s questions.
“Okay, Mother, what have you heard these past few days?”
He saw a long painting coming across his mind, and it took him a second to realize that the grub mother sometimes painted in her mind with the words she heard.
The image in his mind mimicked a long-running, Chinese water painting. Toherd looked at the drawing and saw creatures were inhabiting the art: snakes and toads walking upright inside, moving and chatting. Each one was a minion inside Lão Chóng, and each had a different color. The colors showed the conversation the minions had before. If the discussion was benign, the color was grey, but if the debate alarmed Lã
o Chóng, it would glow in red.
Toherd saw a large gathering of characters in a cave, and the color was shining in bright reds, yellows, and greens. He assumed that was the big event that caused the chaos when Manfred attacked the queen. Red streaks of blood poured out the side from a female girl that he didn’t recognize before. It was Queen in her human form. Her features were detailed enough that Toherd could even see her grimace in pain. Then he realized the characters in the picture were moving, and alive. The queen’s image changed and he saw her body being carried to a wooden post. There were humans around the post. They tied her up on the post and started to burn her. Green flames emitted out of the queen’s ears, mouth and ears. Her hair was a blood-red color and the strands rose and fell with the flames consuming her. Her mouth was open and she was clearly in agony, but there was no sound. Toherd heard about the story about how the queen was burned long ago but never saw it in vivid color. He almost forgot why he was looking at the picture; he forced himself to look away from the burning post and searched the living picture for clues. He soon saw the characters in the painting move about inside Lão Chóng's innards and smaller pockets of the characters gathering. Most of the colors were in dark blue and red. Toherd poked at one of the gathering with his mind and felt the agony of stress from those characters. Most were scared of what would happen to them as Lão Chóng started to pitch downward. The characters were moving more and more, and all of them inevitably started to panic. Their feelings were overwhelming; Toherd had to pull back from the picture to keep from getting too involved. He looked past again and saw other characters were cheering as Lão Chóng leveled after they made connection with the queen. The colors turned green as the characters felt relieved.
Toherd almost wanted to leave the picture when he saw something very peculiar. It was a small cluster of four snakes in a pocket near the nursery. He recognized them, specifically one that stood out––Yhawri. There were small bubbles of muted colors of all kinds surrounding the group. Toherd could not make out what the small bubbles of color were, but they resembled mushrooms. The small group had an almost elated expression. Yhawri’s character turned and stared straight into Toherd’s eyes.