Elite 2 Part 2

Early weekend

Morning

0723 hrs

The Central Police Station was a hive of activity as policemen are coming in for their shift and some are returning from their shift. The Sargeant at the desk was busy summarizing his shift activities while waiting for the next guy to take over his works. He has got a total list of seven break-ins, ten minor assault and thirteen domestics reports, plus three murders. And five victims.

That is a quiet night compared to other days.

Forty two policemen will come from now till 0750hrs to take on their duties and thirty six uniformed policemen will go off the shift at precisely 0800 hrs unless they got car trouble.

In addition to that there will be another ten detectives coming in replacing the four night detectives. In the administration side, the twelve administration staff is not coming in this weekend. Nor is the Commissioner although he’s in the area this week.

But this morning the Captain Marius Silve is in and he looked concerned.

‘Did his new cat died last night?’ As the Desk Sargeant to the one leaving for home.

‘I wouldn’t know. And if it did, you better tell the K9 to prepare a fang inspection. He probably wants to make an imprint of it against the wounds on his cat.’

They both laughed at the joke about the detective.

0729 hrs

Three murders and five key victims in one night all linked to one killer name. This is the twelfth case in two weeks and a total of sixteen victims. All notable figures in the crime records but untouchable by law due to politics or influential family lawyers.

But the baffling part is the killer’s name is in every case; Kingfisher.

But I know Kingfisher cannot be involved as I know him well; he is my brother, Marcel. We last met five years ago down the road at the Governor’s Office and since then he has been heard of but not seen in the island. To be exact, Kingfisher retired two years ago. He sends me a postcard to tell me this. He had his last case done and was going fishing from then on.

Not until two weeks ago when we came across the murder of Pedro ‘New Krig” of the New Krig. Pedro picked up the remnants of the Krig two years ago and made them his under the new name ‘New Krig.’ He boasts of having recruited over five hundred members in that time. They claimed to be the ‘Uno Numero’ in the island.  

But since the Governor’s case five years ago, and the follow up clean up by the Marines, only two gangs exist; the New Krig and Prized but they split into two territories for their influence. New Krig takes the city and suburbs while Prized covers the mine and outer city limits.

In the last year, there has been outsiders coming in with their people and influences like the Eastern families. They came in strong with over twenty of their members and in three months expanded to a hundred with locals coming into their ranks.

And there is the ex-army personnels who was here as the protectorate became freelance mercenaries and now enforcers of their own turf. They called themselves’ the ‘Ex-Services’ Boys’. They are the smallest group with about eighty members but each member is a retired or ex-services professional. They are also well armed from some hidden cache of weapons.

But surprisingly, none of them crossed each other establishments although they reside in the turf of the New Krigs or Prized.

Not until last week.

The first case last night was one of the senior members of the Eastern who was just reunited with a distant cousin. His name is Chiang Men and he is the nephew of Uncle Chiang, the leader of the Eastern. This is the third murder of the Eastern but those were senior members and not direct family of Uncle Chiang.

The second case was the Ex-Services Major Nonita; ex-army officer from the intelligence section. She was the sister of Colonel Sebastian, the current commander of the Ex-Services. She handles the logistics and he handles the security issues.

The third case was the New Krig’s Senior Council Members; Mr and Mrs Kano, senior partners in the legal fraternities and New Krigs’ legal counsel for legal issues. Unlike the old Krig, the New Krig is now owned by the few in the society pages. Pedro ‘New Krig’ was the appointed leader and since he is dead, the position is still vacant.

The last nine eight cases excluding Pedro are from the different groups including the Prized of someone senior or influential in the gang.

Someone is planning another gang war and its not Kingfisher. He is only the bait to lure them out for the killers.

I got to find Marcel before he does something stupid.

1008hrs

One of the pleasures of life is solitary living among the creatures that does not bother you at all, but allowed you to feed on them. I really felt like the Tiger in his jungle; where he rests in between meals and hunts when he is hungry. No one disturbs the tiger in the den.

It has been like this for the last two years since I called it the day.

Rookie who was with me for over three years also retired and went off to the mainland to study for his new career as a priest. He claims to have been in consultation with God and he is now also renouncing his ways for the correct one. He has gone to join the monks in some high mountain castle.

As for me, I am on this secluded island where no one comes by and maybe an occasional fisherman to shelter from the rain or storm. But most times, I am alone here and with no inhibitions to the any social obligations or rules.

But not this morning.

I hear the airplane and it's still in me the instincts that tell me its going to be a bad day. I walked out of my self made wooden hut and scoured the skies for the plane. Its a seaplane with a twin engine on the wings and it look like it's going to land on the sea near my beach.

Damned it!

I ran back to my hut and grabbed my only remaining pair of pants. I put it on and grabbed the belt to go around it. I can still see the plane hovering over the island through the small gaps in my grass covered roof. I move my bed and underneath it was a trap door. I raised that and got into the tunnel. I crawled along my tunnel for about five meters to come out of it near the trees. There I took another peek at the plane and saw it flying over my heart. The pilot seemed to have dropped something and it landed on my grass roof.

It exploded and a fire was started on my rooftop. Its an incendiary grenade.

So they mean business.

I can do the same.

1023 hrs

I have been waiting here for over an hour now and was about to leave when the Asian butler of the house told me I can see the Old man.

‘Mr Chiang, I send my condolences to your family. We will investigate and bring to justice the killer of our nephew and niece.’ I looked at the old man who is the head of the eastern gang. According to his profile he is aged sixty eight and holds a master degree in business and politics, plus a second dan holder in the martial arts of self defence. From what I can see this short man; he is just above five feet height is below his age looks and his body shows agility like that of an athlete with his short cropped hairline.

‘My family accepts your condolences, but we do not require your assistance in tracking the murderer. We will find him and take our own form of justice.’

‘Mr Chiang, I can understand your emotions now, and I won’t advise you anything for now. Please excuse me as I have other matters to handle now.’

‘Mr Bend. Tell me besides your brother who else can call himself ‘Kingfisher’?’ I like the direct approach and I looked at him in the eyes.

‘Many can assume the name but not the person’s ability. As we speak, the real Kingfisher could be handling the affair to clear his name. I assured you the real Kingfisher do not do such jobs anymore. This is a fake one.’

‘I know, Captain. But the Kingfisher is the only lead I have now. And through him, would I be to capture the real killers. But I promised you nothing on Kingfisher’s safety as the bullet does not recognize friend or foe.’

‘I know that, Mr Chiang. But the shooter knows his friends and foe well. Good day, Mr Chiang.’

Ever felt like you were in the kitchen and there is an oven door opened with the fire burning inside. That was how I felt with this eastern guy.

The meeting with Colonel Sebastian was one noisy affair; we met at his personal firing range. He was firing his M1911 at the paper figures target at 50 and 100 feet distance. He just hears my condolences and concerns while shooting with the prepared guns. He must have fired over twenty rounds before he paused to listen to me completing my statement.

‘Keep out of our way, Captain. We will bring justice our own way.’

I looked at the targets he shot; all in the chest and within the marked circle. I picked up the spare M1911  and shot the whole full load. My target was missing the head as it just dropped off behind the stand from my well placed shots.

‘That Colonel is my path. I shoot to kill on every shot.’

The New Krig did not even let me enter the compound of their headquarters. The excuse they gave was they were all in mourning.

I left it at that but I did pass my namecard over.

The time on my watch was not working, as my battery was out but I could see the sun in the sky was high above me.