November
Zeki was able to kill Selena but at a cost. He injured his shoulder and had to take a few days off from completing contracts. At the same time he was in negotiations with his employer in terms of taking more time off.
"So you see I've had some personal issues that would interfere with me continuing my job and if I could have more time off I could sort them out."
"The time we gave you to heal your shoulder is not enough for you?" The person at the other end of the line asked. "You're the best hitman we've hired. You've always done everything we asked you to do. Is this related to the time you were in France?"
"No, sir, this does not have anything to do with France," Zeki explained. "It's personal because it has to with my family. My father dealt with some organized criminals and they probably want to get back at him through me." In reality Zeki's father was actually a police officer and he died when Zeki was fourteen.
"If it's another crime family we can handle it," the boss said. "You just rest up that shoulder of yours and report back once you're fit for your next assignment."
Zeki hung up the moment he heard a dial tone. Since he had not eaten anything for dinner and was not in the mood for eating out he decided to search his pantry for whatever was in there as well as his fridge for any leftover food. All he could find was bread that was about to get mouldy and some halva that's been in the fridge for who knew how long. There were also bananas that were black enough to make banana bread. Not having any choice he took the halva and poured himself some shot glasses of vodka and a glass of raki. Just as he was about to eat the halva and drink the raki his phone rang. He ignored it at first but the phone would not stop ringing. He finally gave in and answered it only to hear a voice he did not want to hear.
"Are you heading out to bonfire night?"
"What do you want now, Sylvan?" Zeki groaned as he placed the plate of halva on the counter.
"Oh, nothing in particular. I just wondered if you were heading out to celebrate bonfire night. It's an activity I loved doing in my youth. Setting up a bonfire, watching the fireworks gracing the sky with their magnificent colours, the smell of burning wood... you missed out on a lot."
"I've had my share of bonfires and fireworks, why is this of any importance?"
"I must've forgotten you're not British. The bonfires and fireworks are in celebration of Guy Fawkes. He and others tried to blow up the British parliament."
"Then why don't I hear fireworks in the background?" Then it all clicked for Zeki. Sylvan was trying to find out his location by tracing his phone off of nearby cell towers. He immediately hung up the phone but only for it to ring again. Zeki answered it and screamed, "What the fuck do you want?! Leave me alone!"
"Sorry to have dragged on like that," Sylvan said calmly. "We do understand the torment you must go through every day since you left. We can end your inner turmoil."
"There is no way you can end it. You're sick if you can use other like me to do your dirty work." He hung up on Sylvan and clenched his fists. The plates and glasses as well as the cabinet doors rattle as he expressed his anger through screaming and yelling. He did not care if the neighbours heard him. He had to let out his frustrations. He looked at the glasses once filled with hard liquor that have spilled onto the counter and floor. The bottle of raki, however, was still intact and he decided to drink out of there instead. After finishing whatever was left in the bottle he headed straight to bed.
---
Jessica was not a fan of going to church on Sundays. Her family in general hardly went to church, with exception of Christmas and Easter, until Linda joined the church choir as an occasional pianist and Nick as one of the singers. Jessica had voiced her opinions that she does not have to go to church with her family and could do with the extra time Sunday morning to get some work done but her parents insisted that since she was not old enough to decide on her faith (though technically the Church sees confirmation as an adult decision) and was obliged to go with her family whenever they went to Sunday mass. Jessica believed that her parents would still hold onto this view even after she moves out of the house and well into her 20's as Eric is constantly asked if he had gone to church whenever he came home to visit.
Jessica would describe herself as a mix between agnostic and pandeist. She was not sure if there was some form of deity existing or completely made up but if there was such a thing it would be the universe itself. There was no need for her to gather with others in one place to worship a mythical man who died for all of humanity's sins as she could contemplate her existence and the creator anytime, anyplace, and anywhere. After all, she was not planning on continuing the cycle of 'I should be Catholic because my parents are Catholic and therefore will raise my future children as Catholic.'
Jessica shifted her position in the pew every two to three minutes as the priest gave his homily. Her mother pinched her after the fifth time she shifted around. Jessica could see that people around her were dozing off as the speech was incredibly boring, preaching how people should love their neighbour and for a reunification of other Christian denomination with the Catholics as, according to them, are the one true Christians and the one true Church. Shifting around in the pew was not only Jessica's way of expressing her restlessness and boredom. There was a boy in church that has been flirting with her since the time she attended church regularly with her family. Thankfully her parents were there to make sure Jessica did not pick up any boyfriends.
Just as Jessica was about to doze off her phone vibrated in her purse. She reached into her purse and took out her phone to see she has gotten a text from Chris. She opened the message and it read:
Project meeting @ 10:30. Can u make it?
Jessica smiled and texted back:
If I'm not still stuck at church for some pointless reason.
After sending the text Jessica got pinched again by her mom. "Why you don't turn off you phone while in church? It is distracting others," she whispered loud enough to draw shame to Jessica.
Jessica went to turn off her phone but before she did she got another text from Chris:
At least u don't have a family member that takes care of the chapel.
Jessica smiled and then turned off her phone.
---
The Chinatown district was not entirely a section of the city filled with stores pertaining to Chinese wares and groceries but other parts of Asia such as Thai, Vietnamese, and Filipino to non-Asian stores and food establishments such as a Sobeys and a Tim Hortons. The name Chinatown district, as it was collectively known, came from the majority of signs that were written in Chinese, including services like the Bank of Montreal and the government-run service counter to renew a driver's licence or obtaining any other provincial pieces of identification.
The majority of the stores in Chinatown did not operate on Sundays but for the ones that did they opened around noon. There were exceptions and they were the grocery stores and a few restaurants. Zeki first stopped by a fruit and veggie store the moment he arrived in the area just to kill some time. Zeki needed to buy some tea and the tea he liked was only sold in a tea store in Chinatown. The tea store was one of the businesses that opened at noon and Zeki arrived in Chinatown two hours early so he looked around to see if there were any Organization members operating in the area.
Zeki spent those two hours by wandering around and looking through the windows of various shops. He also sat in one of the fast food establishments in the area to eat something. Soon enough it was near the time the tea shop would open. The streets of Chinatown started to fill up with people but not enough to crowd the streets. The cars, however, were the ones that crowded the streets as there was only street parking in the area and the pay parking, which had discounts on the weekend, was just on the outskirts of the district. As Zeki was about to head into the tea shop someone on the street corner caught his attention.
The person on the street corner was yelling some things in Chinese. While there were non-Chinese speaking people wandering the streets the message the person was trying to get out was probably meant for those who understood Chinese. Even with the signs written in Chinese most were able to figure out the message was religious in nature as there were numbers that suggested their messages came from the Bible. The person was not alone on the street corner as there were people handing out flyers. Zeki picked up a flyer and was not surprised to see that it was written in Chinese as well. He looked around the area and also saw policemen. It was uncommon to see police cars in Chinatown but with the rise of crime in the area there was an increased police presence, even on quiet days.
But it was not the police presence that intrigued Zeki. The guns that stuck out from their holsters on their waists were not the type of guns police officers carried. Zeki recognized one of them as the gun the shooter at the school carried, custom designed by the Organization. Zeki had suspected there would be a cell somewhere in the city. The police were parked around the building across from where the street preacher and his assistants were carrying out their version of the Word of God.
Zeki looked at his flyer and wondered if the religious group was connected to the Organization in some way. If there was some sort of cell in the city, whether it was one or more, he wanted to take out at least one of them before they amassed and bring about the existence of telekinetics to the world and Zeki believed the world was not ready to learn of their existence. As for translating the flyer the first person he could think of on short notice was Jessica. He made a promise to himself that he would not seek out her help but this was a matter of importance. He could just have her translate the flyer and that was it. Once he got the translation of the flyer he could take on the cell on his own. He walked away from the street preachers, out of Chinatown, took out his candy bar cell phone and sent a text to Jessica.
---
"Are you sure you don't want to do laser eye surgery for our presentation?" Jessica asked as she and Chris climbed the stairs to the fourth floor of the university library.
"I don't think there's too much to cover for a debate on it," Chris answered. "One of us will have to focus on the treatments and then the other to report on the after effects of it."
"Well, we can't do abortion or euthanasia even if we wanted to," Jessica said as she opened the door. Chris, being a gentleman, held it open for her. "Not because of school policy but they're both messy in terms of ethics."
"At least evolution is a mandatory subject," Chris commented. "I looked up the curriculum while finding a way to avoid the not so necessary religion credit. World religions was enough for me but having to take one more course I find it a waste of time where I could be using it to take on another math course. I'm not going into theology or the priesthood after high school, I get enough religion by reading things on the internet and trying to sit through church-"
"Chris, you're rambling. I know how you feel and I feel the same way but we need to find a topic for our presentation."
While wandering between the rows Chris spotted a poster on one of the shelves posted by a Greenpeace affiliated student group and suggested, "How about GMO's?"
"That's the first thing someone would pick," Jessica said. "Besides, I did that topic last year in biology. What was your topic last year?"
"Steroid use," Chris replied. "I did it with Jeff and chances are he will do something similar for this year's presentation.
Jessica turned around a corner and spotted a poster for flu season and clinics that were located around the city. "We could do vaccines. We do live in a world where certain areas still carry things like polio when it has been eradicated here for many years."
"And there are people who are still opposed to giving it to their kids for stupid reasons even though they have been proven to work," Chris added on. "I think we have found are topic."
"Let's just hope that we're the first one to mention it once we get back to class on Monday. If we can't do vaccines we're doing laser eye surgery."
"I can e-mail Ms. Florian now," Chris suggested. He paused for a moment and then said, "I'll do it once I return from the washroom."
"I guess I'll meet you at the medical books section?" Jessica asked as she examined a book on the human eye.
"Might as well," he responded and he headed for the men's room.
Jessica walked to the far end of the library where there was a computer. From there she used the login given to her by library staff and accessed the catalogue. While waiting for the computer to respond as it was very old for a modern library she took out her phone to check for messages. As she was about to open the Facebook application her phone vibrated with a new text coming from a number that she thought she had blocked. That number happened to belong to Zeki's candy bar phone. She opened the message and it read:
Want to meet for lunch at Paulina's? My treat.
Jessica texted back:
I'm busy. I've eaten lunch already.
By the time she sent the message the search triggered numerous results consisting of academic papers, peer reviews, and books that were written ten years ago. As she wrote down the call number of a book that was published recently her phone buzzed with another text from Zeki.
You wouldn't want to return home to find out your house is on fire.
Whether Zeki was serious or not Jessica figured out it was urgent. She knew she should tell Chris but that would take time for her to explain why she had to leave. As she was about to tell Chris through a text Chris found her and said, "I've sent her the e-mail with our topic. Looks like you found something."
Jessica handed Chris the piece of paper with the book information on it. "Yeah, I did. Anyways my dad just called and he's outside the library waiting for me. Apparently I'm needed at home for something." Had Jessica not mention any details of her leaving Chris would have insisted on driving her home or wherever she needed to be.
"Oh," Chris said with some disappointment. "Well, I can look at this book for you and some others and maybe tomorrow we could discuss this after school?"
"Sure thing, Chris."
"I'll talk to you when I get home, Jessie."
Jessica smiled and headed for the elevator to leave the library and make her way to a nearby restaurant.
---
Jessica arrived at Paulina's diner at about quarter to twelve. The crowded and noisy restaurant made it difficult for her to find Zeki. One person that she was able to recognize was one of her lunch crew and classmates, Dorothy, who worked there assisting people to tables.
"Hey, Jessie, how's it going?" Dorothy greeted the moment she returned from seating some people. "You're not thinking of having lunch here, are you? I mean there's like four people ahead of you and hardly anywhere to sit."
"I'm actually here to meet someone," Jessica said, "but I have no idea if he arrived yet."
"He? You got a boyfriend now? When were you planning on telling us? And what does Chris think of this?"
"I don't have a boyfriend, Dorothy," Jessica said trying to hide her ire. "He's someone from the university high school peer pal program and he wanted to meet here."
"Sure he is," Dorothy said teasingly. "There is one guy that's been here for quite a long time just drinking coffee." She waved her hand to signal Jessica to follow her. She walked until she reached the corner table by the window. "He's right there in the white, crocheted cap," she pointed to the booth nearby the hallway entrance with WASHROOMS painted above.
"Thanks Dorothy." Jessica was still annoyed with her teasing but something like that did not bother her that much unless it was someone who would most likely to tell her parents.
Jessica walked to the booth and stood in front of the table. Zeki was seated drinking coffee from a plain, white coffee mug and scanning something on his smartphone. There was also an emptied coffee mug sitting on the table.
"Second cup of coffee already?" She asked to get his attention.
Zeki moved the mug away from his face and replied, "Third," without having to make eye contact. "Sit." He placed the now emptied mug on the table.
Jessica sat on the bench opposite Zeki. "What part of 'let's not see each other anymore' are you not getting? You invite me over just to say 'let's not see each other' once more and yet we haven't bumped into each other until today."
Zeki did not say anything. He put down his phone, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a folded up flyer. "I need you to tell me what's on this flyer. I picked it up while doing some shopping in Chinatown."
Jessica took the flyer from Zeki's fingers. "You sure it's not for some opening of a restaurant or a medicine shop?"
"There were members of the Organization dressed as local police in the area. I could tell who they really work for by the guns they carried with them."
"Woah! Wait a minute!" Jessica was lost the moment Zeki mentioned an organization. "What's this organization you're talking about?"
Zeki pressed his fingers to his forehead and uttered, "How can I explain this in as few words as possible?" After thinking for almost a minute he removed his fingers from his forehead, looked around and began to explain. "The Organization had attempted to make an army consisting of telekinetics but their plan backfired as the telekinetics would not stop trying to destroy each other. Telekinetics, like me, can differentiate themselves from the rest of the human population by patterns in the eye. The moment we make eye contact we are compelled to fight each other until one of us dies."
"Kind of like Highlander?" Jessica asked for clarification.
"Almost like that, except we're not immortal. Just about anyone or anything can kill us, like those working for the Organization. If you can help out this one more time, for however long it takes, you'll be saving the lives not only telekinetics but those who do not know they are telekinetics."
Jessica took a minute to soak in the information.
"Your family, your friends, they could be telekinetics and not even know about it. The Organization made a mess and is trying to cover up the evidence by wiping us out."
"Will you go away after all of this is over?" Jessica asked timidly.
Zeki looked directly in Jessica's eyes and smiled. "We'll be out of each other's hair by the time this is over. Now would you mind telling me what is on the flyer?"
Jessica nodded silently and unfolded the flyer. There was a picture of a sunset and a shadow of a cross in the background and written all over was some sort of message in Chinese characters, a mix of traditional and simplified. She read it over three times and then summarized it. "It's for a meeting of some sort, radical religious type. There's nothing here to suggest an anti-telekinetic people organization."
"It might be a cover or a recruitment base," Zeki said. "The religious types don't really get along with things that fall out of what's written in the books or what their Imam or religious clerics tell them. There was this one crazy old man who thought I was possessed by jinn and wouldn't let me marry his daughter."
"I don't take you much for the romantic type."
"Let's not go there. So you have any idea when and where this meeting is happening?"
Jessica scanned the flyer again. "Um, it's tonight in the basement of some medicine shop, Tai Ling's."
"I'll be picking you up at six then?" Zeki said while turning his phone over to look at the clock.
"Woah! Wait a sec!" Jessica said almost having to yell. "My parents won't definitely let me stay out late, especially go out with a stranger. I mean with the past two things we got into having been open police investigations and I have to wake up early for school tomorrow, it ain't happening."
Zeki waved his hand to get the attention of the server for his bill. "I can convince them to let you come with me." He briefly told the server that he wanted his bill and then returned to Jessica. "I'll pick you up at six?"
"Yeah, sure." Jessica was not comfortable with the idea but unwillingly she agreed to help. "I guess I'm the Mathilda to your Leon then?"
"I'm sorry?" Zeki asked wondering what she meant.
"It's a reference to a movie from the 90's. Maybe you might be interested in watching it." Jessica got up from the bench and moved away from the table. "I must warn you, my parents are not easy to convince."
Zeki raised a hand to wave goodbye as Jessica left the table and the restaurant.