VAL-(A Valerina Barkov Thriller)

12th Block

12TH BLOCK 🏪:

I pulled up at 12th block although I had always been in the 86 & Park vicinity, I’d never used this spot. It was my first time here, we always heard of how dangerous the place was and how expensive ‘stuff’ was sold. Its interior was the same as others, a counter and bar filled with liquor and a hall half filled with chairs, the other half being free for dancing. For a moment I wondered what made it quite expensive than other spots on the block.

“Boqin?” I said to the Asian guy at the counter. He didn’t reply rather he continued with his normal routine of cleaning up the bar. I turned around; there were quite a number of people around and I doubted that Rhoda had described the right place to me. “Excuse me, did you hear me?”

“Oh, yes I did. We just don’t have those drinks here,” he replied with a smile that made his eye thinner than it already was.

“I wasn’t asking for a-” Words ceased from my mouth when he signaled to someone behind me. I turned to see the huge guy that had posed a threat while coming in walk towards me. My composure remained calm and innocence in my eyes didn’t seem to appeal to him.  A sharp pain jolted through my head when he pulled me away from the counter, gripping my hair.

“Let go of me,” I cried feebly, but my cry fell on deaf ears. I seized his arm, giving it a sharp twist towards his back till it touched the back of his head. He let go of my hair, a loud roar which got everyone’s attention erupted from his throat as his arm dislocated from his shoulder, he fell on his knees as my foot hit his thigh and the thud of his body on the wooden floor pushed some chairs out of place. My gaze fell back to the counter while I fixed my hair in place. The shock in the bartender’s face was so obvious.

“Boqin?” I asked again, this time with a smile.

“Nobody can acquire honor by doing what is wrong,” he replied, just what I had been expecting. Footsteps stomped in my direction from behind.

“Zūnzhòng méiyǒu rén zài fúwù de dàolù, [Chinese: Respect no man in the path of service]” I replied. He signaled past me again and the footsteps stopped. There was a flash of disbelief in his eyes as he stared at me for a while.

“Follow me,” he said, taking off his apron. He led me through a door which led to an inner VIP room. We walked over to a shelf of drinks.

“I’m Boqin,” he said to me, doing something to the shelf which made it open in two leading into an elevator’s room.

“Oh hello then,” I said quite surprised. I wasn’t expecting the owner of one of the renowned drug places to be at the counter serving drinks to his customers.

“You don’t look like the usual people we work with,” he said as the disguised elevator moved towards an underground floor.

“I’d pictured an older version of you, dressed in a $20,000 tux who always had always have a tobacco stick in his mouth,” I said, watching the screen on the elevator count down in seconds: 17…16…15 seconds to Chimney. The moment of silence that followed was broken by the ‘ding’ of the elevators. The door slid open and we were welcomed by loud music, smoke and a strong stench of tobacco smoke in the air although the large hall was empty.

“Come this way.” He led me into a small room. The noise of the music outside was deafening loud and I wondered how it couldn’t be heard from above. “Here,” he said, flipping a file over to me.

“Redshiv’s instructions. Names, addresses, daily routines, everything you need.”

“Thank you,” I simply said, turning to leave already.

“Wait,” he said, it was obvious he had been meaning to say something more from the look he wore on his face. “Those names are at the top of the food chain, Nǐ shìtú zìshā. [Chinese: You're attempting suicide].”

“Tā shì sǐwáng, wǒmen zhīdào hépíng [Chinese: It is in death we know peace]” I replied, walking over to the door. The deafening sound of music blared on as I made my way through to the elevators, leaving was easier than getting in. I felt all eyes on me as I walked out through the front door.

“Welcome User, updates are avai-” I shut down the Robin function. I sure didn’t need any distractions now as I opened the file Boqin had given me. It was a twofold file, one had the profiles of some prominent people in the society alongside their details while the other had information these men definitely wouldn’t want the world to know about. I flipped through the pages of the first part; it had the profiles of four men.

“Alexander Sparks… Gutiérrez Pablo… Dmitri Udinov… Jian Li,”I whispered the names of the men who had made my life miserable for the past couple of years. They all had a link binding them together; they were members of the board at Nervana Group of Companies, one of the country’s biggest names in science research and drug production. The other file however, revealed their other side. They boosted the efficiency of their products with doses of ‘illegal unauthorized enhancers’ which often caused major side effects like organ damage.

They had called the hit on Morgan. Besides being the only thing that mattered in my life, he was also involved in illegal businesses, from hard drugs to arms, and everything in-between and this had cost him his life. This company had ordered 3000kg of enhancers and had made payments upfront but Morgan had gotten the wrong guys to help pull a clean deal, he got swindled and got low grade stuff which couldn’t be delivered. The deadline for delivery passed and the company had gotten scared Morgan had played them and was going to sell them out so they ordered a hit on him to cover their tracks, making sure there were no loose ends. He had told me it was his last job and that we were going to get clean and live a normal life after that one job. That one job which he never got to come out of.

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