Elite 2 Part 10

Tuesday

Morning

0600hrs

The morning joggers on the park had a shock of their life; they saw the body of a man in the jogging park. He has been shot five times, and he was an offduty policeman. Next to his body was a placard that says; ‘Traitor’.

‘This morning view of the city was tarnished by the sight of a murdered policeman. But that was not the real concern of the case. The placard with the word ‘traitor’ was.

Did this officer betrayed someone or organisation?

Or is he an informer?

Or he is killed by his own colleagues?

We will have more when the Commissioner wakes up later. Stephanie, Island News.’

The Commissioner did not had to wake at that time as he was awake at 0500hrs  to convene a meeting on the shootout at the General Sebastian’s mansion. All the senior officers are there except for the Captain. He is missing and not answering his pager. So the buzz word was ‘is he dead too’.

0700hrs

‘You okay?’ I looked at Melanie who is sitting by the far corner with her legs against her chest.

‘Would you after being beaten up and then rescued, then get kidnapped again? I had worst days than this. Do you know where are we?’

I looked aorund us and see we are in a typical bedroom with the bed and closets, and the attached bathroom. It looks like any hotel room except the missing framed picture over the bed. Instead there is a large mirror overlooking the bed. And the drapes on the windows are drawn shut.

‘Love motel probably. Whoever brought us here did not want us to die, so we were just sedated.’

‘Oh, yeah. I remember the injection. So do we escape since we are not restraint down.’

I got up and tried the door, and find it locked. I walked to the window and pulled the drapes. Its a long way down and we are facing the sea. So its a hotel and we are inside the room on the top level. The door was unlocked and the person walks in.

‘Good morning, Marcel. And to you too, Ms Melanie.’

‘Hello, General. You set me up for the job, You knew Melanie was there.’.

‘Yes, I recongnised the person in the video. The man is named Captain Norrin Tate; ex army under the employment of General Sebastian. He was the one who dragged Melanie out of the SUV. So I know who was the two parties involved in the shootout at my house. The other is Major Tuan’s Strikeforce.’

‘And you set me up to rescue her? Why?’

‘Because I need her to tell me the President’s Schedule. I am here to save the President’s life. That is the contract Kingfisher was to take.’

0730hrs

It began to make sense.

Kingfisher or General Milton has taken the contract issued out to protect the President during his visit here. The contract includes three stages; stage one is to terminate the key people in the gangs, thus crippling their operations. The next stage was to lure out the local Kingfisher aka Marcel as he is deemed to be the enforcer for the gangs. They don;t him taking the initiative to protect the gangs, hence the name cards dropped at the scenes’. The next stage is the final elimination of all gang’s leaders and the takeover.

But why do that if the gangs has been around for over decades, and all the previous exercise did not stopped them.

‘Ms Melanie, your previous campaigns did not involved killing of the leaders. You only scare them off, and they are nor easily intimidated. More to it, I believe my client is not interested in eradicating the gangs, he wants to be the next gang supremo. King Charles was the previous one but someone shot him dead five years ago. Now the throne is shared by three; the easterners, New Krig and Prized.’

I looked at the general who is now sitting on the only chair in the room while Marcel and myself sits on the bed. There is the two guys in the room holding M911 on us.

‘I am telling you this, as I cared about the President and also for Marcel. The former is my client and de facto the man behind the concept of Kingfisher. The later is my most successful protege. These two are my current team of three; you may had seen the third one in the house. She died in the shootout. She is their sister; Lea and they are Sam and Mad. I trained them in Indochina and brought them here.’

 ‘The President?’

‘Yes, as we started off the Kingfisher Concept way abck twenty five years ago. We used it to get him elected Governor and then Minister, and now President. But he is looking to retire soon as Governor of this island again. And he wants control on the gangs and the mines. You do remember the rare metals discovered then; its ready for mining now.’

I remembered now the frame picture of the Kingfisher in his office. He claims it bring him luck and he commission that painting.

‘And your role here in this is more than a contract. Its a retirement plan.’  I looked at Marcel as he spoke to the General.

‘Marcel, you are right. I am back to be the Kingfisher. But I am not killing you. Just as Kingfisher killed all those members, the gangs want you badly. So I am handling you over tonight. Melanie is the bonus item.’

The three of them left the room and we are alone.

0900hrs

I waited for them and they have not returned to the safe house. Rookie has left early morning to check on his own sources. It was then I remembered my beeper so I made the call in. I was told the Commissioner is looking for me, but I told them I am off island on some leads.

Rookie came in then, and shook his head. But he did learned something. There is a big time meeting this evening at the defunct Park Rides Village. It used to be an amusement park with some kids rides and one small roller coaster, plus a fifty car Ferris Wheel. There are some kiosk which acts as a funfair. The major storms and lack of partrons shut the place down three years ago. Now its a deserted park with a solitary guard on duty at the entrance.

He also learned of the murder of an offduty officer who was on his way home. His body was found at the public jogging trail at the garden park. Rumours are he was killed by his own kind and dumped there. He was a dedicated patrolman who reports for duty for the last ten years. His only betrayal was his desire for the occassional hotdog at the corner 3th Street.

‘Rookie, Marcel is going to be there. And so are we. Can you grab all the gears and we setup early the store. I can get some from a source I know.’

I picked up the phone and called Mary.

1000hrs

General Sebastian woke up in his hotel room and walked towards the window. He pulled the drapes and looked at the outside view of the city buildings. He went over to the bathroom and completed his morning dressing.

An hour later, he was in the private business room with ten of his men.

‘I met Major Tuan last night and he’s got the same invitation as mine. We are going to meet the Kingfisher tonight. So I need you all to be ready.’

The ten man nodded their consent and left the business room.

‘Please admit our guests now.’

Two guys in the police special ops uniform walked in.

‘Micheal. Roke. Thank you for seeing me. I hoped the trip over was good. I was surprised they selected the two of you. But that adds to my firerpower.’

1020hrs

Mr Chiang Men took his late morning tea at the garden porch overlooking the sloping hill. He put down his cup of half finished tea and looked again at the slope. He picked up the invitation card that was dropped into his letter box. Its amusing when some one gives you such an invite. It means two possibility; ambush or reconcliation.

The former is more prevalent, but he is also open to the second.

‘Major Tuan, nice of you to joined me for tea. How was your meeting last night?’

‘He will be there and so will we. I got my men to survey the place. We will come in by sea and moved up by the major drain that split the park. We will be ready before the meeting.’

‘Oh, please. The Ex-Services will also be ready before then. I wonder about the Kingfisher. Ah, here is Mr Yen. Is my lunch appointment with the Commissioner still on?’

Mr Yen nodded his head and poured more tea for his employer.

‘Thank you. Please assist me into the house. Its time for my morning workout. ’

Mr Yen walked to the back of the man in his wheelchair. He pushed the wheelchair ever gently through the porch glass door into the Dining Hall. From there, the wheelchair was pushed into the ‘workroom; where no one except Mr Yen has walked in besides the employer.

Major Tuan walked back to his barracks and resumed his planning.

1045hrs

‘Please pass me to the President. Thank you.’ This was what Micheal did when he got back in the SUV with Roke. ‘Sir, our schedule is confirmed. Your visit will be explosive.’ The Lieutenant looked at the Sargeant and smiled.

‘How is our dead officer news?’

‘It has riled up the ranks and the Commissioner is having a tough time. And his Captain is missing.’

‘That Captain is an engaging personality to mine. He is quiet yet he is planning something. I wonder if he and Melanie had any past relationship. As for Melanie, she is my concern now.’

‘Lieutenant, may I suggest you forget her. She is your bagage now. You need to focus on the job.’

But the Lieutenant was silent to the issue with his eyes on the front view. You do not forget a relationship that gone for more than six months.

1052hrs

‘Sam, do ...’ Sam looked at his brother and hushed him up. They are standing outside the hotel now. They both hailed a taxi and got in.

‘Mad, we play by ear, and move on my command. No more discussion.’

1146hrs

He was back and he had a gun on him. I was told to go into the bathroom and locked the door. I can see he has a small bag with him which looked very familair. Its his interrogation bag which contains the Scopolamine or truth serum. I tried to block him but he shot me with his tranquiliser gun.

I blacked out.