"We will have to try to get out of here.
"But not with Heng Logistics, they would've been under heavy surveillance by now.
"We need to find someone else," I said.
"Who can we approach? Do you have someone in mind?" Bobby asked with a concerned look.
I nodded and replied, "I have someone in mind, but first we need to get back to the hotel to get something I need."
Amy Lee put her hands on my shoulder and asked, "Are you confident in whatever plan you have?"
"Yes, I'm confident."
She thought for a while, considering how my plan had succeeded earlier with Clement, and said, "I'm in."
When we walked back to the hotel, there were luckily no soldiers in sight.
I went back into my room; while packing my stuff, I heard tapping on the window.
My hands stopped and froze.
The room was on the fourth floor, and I was alone in it.
Who could be tapping at the window?
It's impossible.
Unless…
Taking deep breaths, I slowly raised my head and looked up towards the window.
First, the familiar boots.
Then the right arm, missing, having been blown off.
Lastly, his signature smile.
Kuranwan!
Pale white and translucent like Snookey.
He was using his remaining left hand to tap at the window.
Seeing that I noticed him, he stopped and used his left hand to lift his head up.
Then he threw his head at me.
I saw his head fly closer and closer to me.
Finally, I couldn't take it and had to close my eyes.
After a moment, nothing happened.
I opened my eyes, and he was gone.
Thinking about how he was tapping the window, I went over and looked out.
A few streets away, I could see military vehicles stuck in traffic.
The soldiers came down from their vehicles to ask the other vehicles to clear the path.
They were obviously coming our way.
I quickly grabbed my stuff and warned the others.
"Hurry, let's go." I knocked on Bobby's door and moved on to warn Amy Lee.
Bobby opened the door, saw me running down the corridor, tilted his head, thought for a moment, then grabbed his stuff and followed me.
When I reached Amy Lee's room, I lifted my hand, just as I was about to knock on her door, she opened it.
She was now already dressed in a khaki outfit, ready to move.
Just as we left the hotel lobby and walked away from it for about twenty meters, the soldiers arrived.
The leader shouted out instructions and they got inside the hotel swiftly with their rifles.
We hailed a taxi, and on our way, I wasn't feeling too good.
What was happening to me?
First, it was Snookey, now it's Kuranwan.
Was I going crazy, I thought to myself.
The only common thing I could think of was that both had died indirectly because of me.
Were they figments of my guilt-ridden mind, a sign that I deserved punishment, or a call to help them find peace and ascend to heaven?
I couldn't decide.
"We are here," Amy Lee interrupted my thoughts.
We got out of the taxi, grabbed our stuff, and went into the snooker parlor.
Yes, we were back at Snookey's place.
It was busy as usual, cigarette smoke filled the air, men playing snooker, music thumping with heavy bass in the background.
When we went in, a guy with long hair, smoking, was at the counter.
Amy Lee, being the only one speaking Indonesian, went up and asked, "We are here to find Hamood."
"Find who?" The guy couldn't hear what Amy Lee was saying over the loud music.
"Hamood! We are here to find Hamood!" She shouted.
Then the music stopped.
All the men froze in the middle of what they were doing.
They then stood up, stared at us, grabbed whatever they had in their hands, and slowly surrounded us.
"What business do you have with him?" The man at the counter asked.
"We have important information for him, regarding the murderers of his brother," Amy Lee replied.
The man looked at us intensely, thought for a moment, and said, "Wait."
He called Hamood on his phone, nodding as Hamood gave his instructions.
After putting down the phone, he led us to a room behind the counter.
There was a sofa and a coffee table; this room was presumably the rest area for the employees.
We sat down on the sofa and waited.
"Sam, are you sure it will work?" Bobby peeped out of the room, turned around, and asked.
"Trust me, everything will be all right," I assured Bobby.
Just as I said that, the door slammed open, sending Bobby stumbling across the room and landing on the sofa.
"You better deliver, or else, die!" Hamood scanned the room, staring at the three of us.
"We know where the French guy who killed your brother is," Amy Lee said.
Hamood lit up a cigarette and said, "How do I know you are telling the truth?"
Amy Lee glanced at me.
I then reached into my backpack, took out Clement's notebook and Crystal Siti's crystal.
He picked up the notebook, flipped through the pages, and saw that it was all written in French.
Then he picked up the crystal and thought about it.
Most likely he was half convinced.
I saw his hesitation, took out all the cash I had taken from Shifu's safe.
Placed it on the table.
After he saw the cash, he relented, "Where are they?"
"They are dead. We killed them and buried them out in the jungle. To show you where they are, we need you to get us out of Pontianak," Amy Lee said.
"That can be done." Hamood turned to the man beside him and gave some instructions.
He then left the room and made a speech to all the men outside.
The men all cheered and roared out in a celebratory mood.
I guess he was announcing Clement's death to his followers.
He might have had doubts about who was the killer of his brother.
Right now, truth didn't matter anymore; he consolidated his support with how he relentlessly tried to find the killers. The extra money offered was, of course, a huge bonus.
We waited for around an hour, then someone came in and gestured for us to follow him.
"What? This is it?"
Add this book to your library so you can easily find it later. Your comments and Power Votes are greatly appreciated!
In front of us was an old and worn-out van.
Rust was all over it, metallic orange showing through the white but now yellowish paint.
At the back was a refrigerated compartment, inside filled with fish.
The smell of the fish was overwhelming.
Hamood's man cleared out the fishes, opened the floorboard.
Beneath the floorboard was a secret compartment, just barely enough for the three of us.
We had to lie down in the compartment, with all the smell and stench from all the fish.
I used all the distraction tactics I could to try to keep myself from puking.
At first holding my breath, didn't work.
Next tried to think of other things, no go.
My senses kept coming back to the smell.
Lastly, I thought about women, all the things I had not done with them.
Somehow only thinking about Amy Lee worked best.
When it was not enough, I turned and took a glance at her, to 'enhance' my visualization.
Her long legs, nice curves, seducing lips inviting you to kiss them and her long hair.
I took in everything to distract myself as best as I could.
"We will cross the Landak twin bridge, then proceed to Mandor. After that you bring me to where the murderer is buried," Hamood said as the van started its engine and drove off.
Landak twin bridge was the only way to cross the river to Mandor.
If we didn't want to take the bridge, the land route was the only other option.
That, however, meant we would have to detour a few thousand kilometers.
After travelling for around half an hour, the van stopped.
I then held my breath.
Listened very carefully to what was happening outside.
There was barking outside.
It got closer and closer.
Hamood then started talking.
"Good day Sir, we are making a delivery of fish to my restaurant at Mandor."
Then lighter sound, presumably to offer and light the cigarette for them.
"Thud."
The van's back door opened forcefully.
Then I could hear the barking getting closer.
Suddenly, the dogs kept barking much more intensely.
"Stay down!" The soldiers shouted.
"Sir, if the dogs like the fish, please take whatever you need," Hamood said.
"Why would anyone want your fish? It stinks so bad."
"Ah, how about this?"
I could then hear the distinct sound of cash being counted.
"Thud."
After that, the van's back door was closed.
We sighed with relief silently.
Just when the van's engine got started again, I could see Bobby's eyes opened wide, his Adam's apple moved up.
I knew he couldn't hold it in anymore and quickly pinched him hard to stop him.
Luckily it worked, Bobby swallowed it back.
However, the soldier shouted, "Stop! I heard something."
"You must have heard wrongly," Hamood quickly tried to explain.
"The smell was too much; I nearly puked because of it. Thinking of it now, I…"
Then all I could hear was Hamood puking.
It nearly triggered a chain reaction for all of us.
I too had to pinch myself hard to stop the urge.
"Go, go!" The soldier's voice said with a nasal pitch.
He must have pinched his nose as the thought of the smell was too much for him.
Hamood got into the van, and the driver quickly drove off.
After travelling for around ten minutes, the van stopped.
The back door opened.
Hamood and the driver cleared the fish.
Finally, the floorboard was removed.
I had to close my eyes when the light shone into it.
My eyes had gotten accustomed to the darkness.
I wasted no time in lighting up a cigarette to clear off that lingering smell in the van.
Bobby couldn't stand it too, joined me in the huffing and puffing trying to smoke up the van.
We then got to work, discarding the fish into the thick bushes by the side of the road.
With the fish out of the way it was a much more comfortable ride from then on.
…
"In front, turn left." Amy Lee looked out through the windshield from the back, pointing and directing Hamood to where we had entered the jungle.
Our jeep was right where it was, hidden among the bushes.
We got out of the van, took our stuff and started trekking into the jungle.
"How much further?" Hamood panting, due to the long and tiring trek, said impatiently.
He glanced at the driver, most likely having second thoughts about where we were leading him to.
The driver took his cue, moved his hand to his waist, where his pistol was hidden.
"It's just right in front." I pointed ahead to the clearing where we killed and buried Clement.
When we got to the clearing, we wasted no time and started digging.
"Argh. And I thought the smell of the fish was bad," Bobby said, pinching his nose.
The bodies we buried were now rotting.
All of them bloated with liquid oozing out of them.
Finally, we couldn't hold it anymore.
Everyone started to violently vomit.
The air started to smell of rotten carcass and putrid sour smell of vomit.
"Cover them up!" Hamood, after seeing Clement's body, or what was left of it, was satisfied.
We were more than happy to oblige.
Me and Bobby quickly got to work and covered up the hole with the bodies in it.
With the deal done, Hamood trekked back to the van, while we continued our way back to meet up with the rest of the team.
…
Soon, we reached the longhouse.
The village head welcomed us, now that he knew his son was working with us.
Henry was at the longhouse when we arrived.
They had taken turns to rest and replenish supplies at the village.
After all, the cave wasn't exactly a five-star hotel.
"How is everyone?" I asked.
"Great, just that having no sunlight in the cave did weird things to your mind."
I nodded and agreed wholeheartedly.
How else could I explain about seeing Snookey's and now, Kurnawan's appearance?
It must have been my mind playing tricks on me.
I shudder to think about the other possibility…
Add this book to your library so you can easily find it later. Your comments and Power Votes are greatly appreciated!
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT