Chereads / ACID TEST / Chapter 2 - CHAPTER ONE

Chapter 2 - CHAPTER ONE

It is a clear freezing night in Metropolitan sitting on the driver's seat fidgeting nervously dump with sweat is a lady in her late 30s tall and slender clad in a red jersey and blue denim jeans, her name is Serah. Speedily she scans the traffic behind her in the side view mirror of her Land Rover vehicle. All systems clear, no one seems to be following her, her heart which was skipping has stopped. She maintains a tense silence as she drives for about 500 metres and she pulls off the highway and turns into a dusty road that leads her into a dense thick forest. She gets out of the car and she walks to the bonnet of her car. She is standing against the bonnet of her vehicle. She is practically shivering; fear is gripping her. She takes a deep breath to still her nerves. It works perfectly, she reminds herself that there is nothing to fear and she is a pro at this. She retrieves a black satchel and pulls black overall out of it she wears it on top of her clothes. She looks at the white embroidered badge on the overall on top of her right breast. It is inscribed (CHAMBER HOUSE.CO). She smiles faintly, the laugh lines crinkling around her blue eyes. She picks up the chamber house identity card, with the name Martha Anderson written on it. She has done thorough research on who Martha Anderson is but she could not get enough information about her, quite an elusive character. She returns the satchel in the bonnet of her vehicle and she takes a dip sigh of relief. She takes a comb from the hip pocket of her denim jeans. She starts to comb her blonde hair, in a bid to bear the same resemblance with Martha Anderson. She starts walking she is almost out of the thick forest. From about 600 metres away we see a giant structure. It is so visible in the moonlight; it is Chamber House. Co, that is where the diamond reserves are kept.

The Chamber House is a white, 14 storeys building there is a private security force. That operates a nerve centre whose location is at the entrance. Access is blocked by metal turnstiles and we see visitors being questioned by guards. We see Serah flashing her worker identity card, the guard is scanning it on his computer. "You are looking very different today Ms Anderson I have never seen you wearing spectacles before. You are a bit slim and your complexion is lighter," says the guard. Serah shyly replies, "Yes that's my new look and style and I am loving it, I am on a diet."Serah lies, the guard who is taking a lot of time processing her is fast annoying her."How is Brendon these days?"The guard is throwing questions at her in quick successions. Serah is clueless about who Brendon is, she is quick to realise that Brendon is possibly Martha Anderson's son. "He is fine he is at the university now," she responds. The guard takes a deep sigh and he throws another annoying question at her. "I thought you once said he is at school." The guard gives back Serah her identity card. Serah responds reluctantly, "University is school as well the last time I checked, adieu." Serah walks away, that was a tough interrogation as she had anticipated. She passes through the entrance into the complex, pondering on the challenges that are ahead of her. It is 10 pm, the room is packed workbenches are carefully arranged in rows and columns. We hear rattling sounds of machines. Men and women are busy at work on the far corner of the room there are men and women sorting rough diamonds. Next, to their workbench, we see a mature man in his 60s with a frail frame and bespectacled cutting diamonds on the girding machine. It is a sea of black amid all this, Serah is clad in black overall like others. She is perplexed a lot of thoughts are racing in her mind. She fails to take a step and she falls to the ground. She is staring in the ceiling the different colours of the lights are taking a toll on her eyes. She turns to her right, a man is standing beside her, and his hand is in mid-air offering his hand to help her stand up. Serah's heart is pounding very fast she proffers her hand and the man helps her to her feet. The man is smiling, "Mind your step next time Lisah," he says. Smiling back, "Thank you very much I do not even know how this happened," replies Serah. "By the way, my name is Bryon," says the man. The man's hand is still gripping Serah's hand, he is looking straight into her eyes. This sends a shiver down Serah's spine, she is wondering what is going on in the man's mind. Serah does not want the situation to get out of hand. She responds quickly, "Thank you, Byron, you are very kind." The man releases her hand and she walks away, Serah tastes her freedom now. We see her walking and looking around hoping to have a clue of where the vault is located. In front of her in the passage, women are loading silver metal boxes containing the polished gems on a trolley they are on their way to the vault. Her gumption urges her to join them, she is walking with pretended bravado. She picks one of the boxes and she loads it on the trolley car. The trolley car is full now and the ladies are getting on to the trolley car, the driver gets it into motion and it is moving. Serah is alert now, they pass the corridor and there is an arrow pointing upwards written CONTROLS ROOM. The trolley car stops as it reaches the elevator section. Its driver a man in his early 40s and very muscular presses the button on the elevator, it opens. A trolley car with ladies comes out, Serah and the contingent make their way into the elevator. The driver presses the underground button and the elevator is drifting down. There are a lot of cameras in the corners of the elevator. They finally reach the underground basement and the doors of the elevator open. They are in the vault now, there are cameras everywhere, and it is a small claustrophobic room the vault antechamber. A 1-tonne steel vault door dominates its walls, the vault door opens after they have been waiting for close to two minutes. The trolley car makes its way into the vault and we see more than a hundred safety boxes punched on the walls of the room. The room is laden with cameras all around, there is something like a monitor on the far corner of the room. Serah is anxious to know the secret codes for opening the safe boxes. They offload the metal boxes and they pile them on the far corner of the room. We see the driver leading them out of the room on their trolley car. It seems they are not putting the metal boxes into safe boxes and Serah is the only one who is wondering why.

Clarence Hill, better known as Poison is a ruthless and egoistic man, he is almost 60 years old. He is wearing a hard hat and a high Vis jacket with glass emblazoned on the back. He is also wearing a dark trouser which is tucked into his stripy socks revealing a pair of smart brown shoes. An ex-convict and a jailbreaker, he also lives a life of celibacy. Celibacy is a lifestyle he adopted after he caught his high school sweetheart cheating on him. He is pacing in the room and silence is the norm, he is in the building he coined The Logistics Centre. About four men are sitting on chairs in this somewhat small room. A lot is going on in the thick head of his. "Zenzo try her numbers she is taking a lot of time, I hate being nervous," Poison says. Zenzo is a tall and slim man in his late 30s clad in a blue silk shirt and black slim-fit trousers. We see him dialling Serah's numbers for the seventh time in four hours and her phone is still not reachable. "Her phone is off maybe she has run away or she has been caught." Poison continues with his ups and downs in the room and he is seething with anger. "Shut up that big mouth of yours it better be that she is not caught because there is no one who can run away from Poison." Pensive is Poison's mood it is never far from bellicose, his disoriented childhood morphed him into such an individual. He grew up with an absentee father, who abused his disabled mother. At a young age, he fell in love with boxing as a tool to defend her mother from the monster of a father he had. Unfortunately, the monster of a father succumbed to liver cirrhosis, before he could do that. We see him continuously looking at his wristwatch, Poison is on the police wanted list for close to a decade now. He is the Lord of Poison World an illegal syndicate, whose notoriety ranges from armed robbery, drug trafficking, and heists. While he is pacing in the room, we see Serah entering the room running. With knitted brows well defined on his face, Poison asks, "What took you so long, why was your phone off?" Serah is used to her boss's sudden on and off bouts of paranoia, she gets straight to the point. "It was complicated but anyway I have good news. The Chamber House has a central security controls room which dictates the security parameters of the whole proximity. It is located on the second floor of the building. The vault which houses the safety boxes of diamond gems is on the underground chamber. It has a 1-tonne steel heavy vault door which is opened by the people in the controls room after verification. I did not get the secret codes of the safety boxes because I did not have enough time." We hear a round of applause from the gentlemen in the room. Poison cuts the ululations short and he goes straight into the business of the day. "You had all the time in the world. If you never had it you should have created it, time is the invention of humankind, are you a dummy or what?" asks Poison. "It is the uniform of the chamber house workers," she says. "That's why it took you ages to reach here, this is too heavy for you. Anyway, lady and gentlemen listen to me and listen to me very carefully. Zenzo you will go into the controls room and disturb and disconnect the security parameters. The way you will do it is none of my business just get the job done. The quartet of Serah, Steve, Daniel, and Malcom you will subdue the people of the Chamber House. First things first, Serah has passed her test. Tomorrow we will be having a test for the gentlemen. You will only know the fate of those who fail to make the grade when you fail to make the grade. I am a perfectionist, I do not tolerate mediocrity, and you are dismissed now. There will be new faces to spice up things, you have to up your game." We see the gentlemen walking out of the room at the Logistics centre. Zenzo is an ex-police officer and this is according to him, his security expertise made Poison take him abode. The shortest guy among them is Daniel he is in his early 40s clad in a brown sweater, a flat cap, worn-out blue denim jeans and some out of fashion black Adidas snickers. He is a man of no expertise, maybe Poison admires some traits in him. Steve is the youngest among them he is in his early 20s with ginger kinky hair. Clad in a black leather jacket, black shoes, and brown trousers, he is studying electronics at a local university. Malcom is in his late 20s heavily built although not very tall he was drafted by Poison merely for his physical attributes. He is wearing a nice baby blue tracksuit. "What is going on in the thick head of this old man?" Daniel asks. "Do you care?" Malcom is quick to respond with a question. "We need to be concerned the big man does not mince his words," Zenzo joins the fray."I have this gut feeling that a guy like Malcom will die tomorrow," Steve says. Malcom is seething with anger he is pulling Steve by the collar, Zenzo intervenes. "So, you think it's better to fight each other now? Fine, I will be the referee then," he says. Malcom is not finished with Steve, "This fool should learn to keep his mouth shut."

It is now 9 am sharp and we see Poison clad in a black suit and having dark sunglasses as his eyewear. He is in a pensive mood, Zenzo, Steve, Malcom, and Daniel are listening attentively. We see new faces among them, Isabella a gorgeous looking lady of medium height and a few extra pounds. Clad in blue overall she is in her early 30s, she is an arms expert. Standing next to her is a diminutive woman with unkempt dreadlocks smelling the stench of marijuana clad in a short denim skirt and a matching blue denim jacket. She is Pheona a notorious 20-year-old school dropout. In front of her is Denzel grey-haired in his early 50s. Clad in grey corduroy trousers and a long-sleeved shirt he is an engineer, quite good with alarm systems. Next to him is Trinta a jailbreaker who is still at large he is still in his 30s, he is clad in a black golf T-shirt and black trousers. Next to him is Pascal a guy of reasonable height, clad in khaki trousers and a khaki matching shirt he is in his 40s nothing much about him is known. Last but not least is Alex clad in outlandish attire, that is Ankara shirt and red trousers. He is an ex-basketball player and very flee footed he is in his 30s. Poison is giving $10 000 to each one of them he ends with Alex who is the last one in the line. "Its common knowledge that everyone knows where Glen Forest is located. Unless you are an alien or you are suffering from the derangement of the brain. Make your way to the forest and you will be given instructions when you are there. Any questions before I dismiss you?" In the sea of faces, we see a hand being raised, she cleans up her throat before she pops up her question. "You have given us some money what is it for?" Pheona asks. "I anticipate better questions than this but at least she has the guts to ask, better than many dimwits around here. It is your pocket money you can do whatever you want to do with it, and is there any other questions before I dismiss you?" Poison is not wasting time. Malcom cannot be outshined by a lady, he has something to say. "Can you give us a clue of what to anticipate at the forest."Poison is shaking his head, "You are as dumb as you look I dismiss you now."People walk towards the vehicle which is taking them to the city centre, Malcom is the stooge of people's jokes."I do not get this, how can someone give us such a lot of money and tells us to go to a forest. There is no bar or a shop in the forest," Steve is still confused. The carefree Malcom replies, "Spare us your worries, I am just going to buy my fiancée Kelly an engagement ring, and go for a movie like now I will meet you later at the forest." Steve quips, "Do you think this is manna from heaven, you are as dumb as a bag of hammers?" The two guys are bracing for a fight once again and Zenzo disrupts the ensuing melee once again. The vehicle drops them in town and all of them are looking for transport to take them to the forest. Zenzo hooks up with his familiar compatriots that's Steve, Daniel, and Malcom, we see Pheona getting into a yellow taxi. The new faces, Isabella, Denzel, Alex, Pascal, and Trinta are grouping and mapping their way forward. Pheona gets herself comfortable in the back seat of the yellow taxi. She looks at her wristwatch. She pulls her phone from her clutch bag she dials her mother's numbers. Her phone is not reachable she takes a deep sigh, she retrieves a khaki envelope from her clutch bag she opens it. We see some 100-dollar notes in it, she pulls $1000, she puts the notes in the inside pocket of her jacket. She seals the envelope and we see her writing on top of the envelope (TO MY MOM MRS SMITH FROM DAUGHTER PHEONA). Pheona puts the envelope back into her clutch bag. She has not been home for a week, she had a terrible altercation with her mom the last time she was home because of her wanton ways. Tears are trickling down her cheeks. She is going to sort things out with her mother, ask for forgiveness kiss and makeup. She is in Kensington now her neighbourhood, she signals the driver to stop she gives the driver the taxi fare.

"What are we still doing here, the new guys are close to Glen forest as I speak here?" Zenzo asks. Malcom's phone is ringing, "Oh, guys I have to take this, speaking of the devil, it is Kelly calling let me pick it." Malcom picks up the call and he walks for about 40 metres away from his compatriots. He talks with Kelly for a while and then he drops the call, "I have to go and meet Kelly at the food court. I will hook up with you in 30mins or so or we will meet at the forest," he says. Daniel asks, "Do you think you have all the time in the world? You are dumb as you look for sure." Malcom replies, "You dimwit you want to fight with me come on." Malcom is advancing towards Daniel; Daniel hastens to where Zenzo and Steve are that is on the other side of the road hiking for transport. Malcom then walks away going in the opposite direction, "I will get you, idiot," he says. An old and battered Mercedes Benz truck pulls off the road. A grey-haired man who looks to be somewhere in his 70s is sitting behind the steering wheel. Steve goes to the driver's side and he is talking with the old man and they seem to be agreeing. Steve beckons his friends to come, they make their way to the back of the truck and we see the truck vamoosing.

Pheona drops from the taxi and she is walking towards her mother's home. We see a thickset man whose swarthy face is pulled under a black slouch hat. He is walking about ten metres behind her, Pheona cannot see him. He pulls the trigger of his browning and the shot gets Pheona on the back of her head. She falls and blood splashes into the air, the man gets into his black vehicle and vamooses away. A tracker was attached on her jacket but she did not figure that out, Pheona is lying in a pool of blood.

From the food court, Malcom and Kelly make their way to the cinema. Reps Theatre is a medieval building, but with a superior interior. Malcom is sitting in the far back row of the room. The cinema room is virtually empty left for a few isolated people. Kelly is dressed in tight-fitting blue apparel which fails to hide her stupendous and voluptuous figure. She is in her late 20's with blonde hair. She makes her way to the restroom to relieve herself before the movie begins. In a few minutes a man makes his way into the auditorium it is Bruce. He is wearing a black wool hat as his headgear and a black jacket. He makes his way to the back row and he takes a seat in a row just behind where Malcom is sitting. Bruce retrieves his silenced browning and he fires two shorts which get Malcom on the back of his head and he collapses on the floor and blood is oozing from his mouth and he is lying on the floor. Bruce makes his way out of the auditorium. Kelly finishes relieving herself and she makes her way back into the room. The movie is about to begin and she is gazing on the big screen as she walks in. She reaches where Malcom is sitting and lo and behold Malcom is lying on the floor and his eyes wide open, she screams and then collapses. There is pandemonium in the room.

It is a sunny day today Glen Forest is a thick forest. The crisp dew of the morning is long gone. We can hear the chirruping sounds of birds, as we see two robin birds serenading each other on top of the trees. The blue sky is rolling above their heads, the forest is bone dry with green grass. A Nissan truck pulls off the road and finally comes to a halt, the middle-aged man behind the steering wheel is very sarcastic and inquisitive. The driver asks, "What type of sojourn are you guys undertaking? It cannot be a picnic, because I am only seeing one gorgeous lady here." Denzel is sitting on the passenger seat adjacent to the driver seat but he is so much engrossed in thought concerning this unknown expedition of theirs. The driver had to ask for the second time and we see Denzel responding. "Do you want to know? Anyway, I will tell you about it the next time we meet." The driver asks, "And when is that?" Denzel is quick to respond, "Who knows just make sure that our paths cross again?" Denzel and his compatriots who are Isabella, Alex, Trinta and Pascal dismount from the truck and make their way into the forest. We see a signpost inscribed the words [PROCEED] and an arrow pointing to the dusty road. "How many kilometres are we going to walk here, we are stuck with a proceed sign?" Isabella says. Trinta goes off-topic, "Thirst is killing me, is there any river somewhere near so that I can quench my thirst?" he asks. "Poor you, stop nagging us you should have bought cold bottled water in town," Denzel replies. The quartet proceeds with its trajectory a few miles behind them we see Zenzo, Daniel, and Steve walking in the dusty road. "Holy Moses, at least we are there now," Zenzo says. "I have been trying Malcolm's numbers but he is not picking up," replies Daniel. Steve quips, "Why bother yourself, Malcom is not only an idiot but a grown-up man?" A few miles ahead of them we see Trinta leading the group of the new fellows. We see is a blue cooler box in the road ahead of him. He walks and opens it to see its contents. Lo and behold it is full of bottled cold water."This is manna from heaven, we have cold water here hurry up guys and grab yours," he says. Trinta pulls out a bottle of water, Pascal hastens to where Trinta is and the two guys are helping themselves. Denzel and Isabella are about 30 metres away from them. There is a man partially obscured by the leaves of a dwarfed tree pulling his bow and its arrow is moving swiftly and it gets Pascal on his head and he collapses. The man pulls his bow again and its arrow strikes Trinta on his right eye and it messes with his skull and he falls on top of Pascal. The two dead bodies are bleeding profusely. Denzel arrives on the scene first and he is about to touch the dead bodies. "Hey do not touch those dead bodies," says Isabella. "Maybe I can save their lives," Denzel says. Isabella is cautious, "There are no lives to save those are dead bodies, someone might be spying on us." Isabella, Alex, and Denzel continue with their journey, a few miles from the trio we see Zenzo and company stumbling over the dead bodies fifteen minutes later. "What might have happened to these guys?" Zenzo asks. "Maybe they were having some fight," Steve says. Daniel joins the conversation, "It doesn't look like a fight to me, this is manslaughter." Miles ahead of Zenzo and company, Isabella, Alex, and Denzel are staring at gold bars lined on top of a fallen tree log. Alex walks closer to where the gold bars are. "Please do not touch them, Alex," Isabella says. It is too little too late Alex has the gold bars in his hands. We see a man in the forest who is hiding behind a fig tree. Pulling his trigger and the bullet gets Alex on the throat and Alex's body is flying in the air and it finally lands on his stomach. His throat is split open and blood is gushing out. Isabella and Denzel are shell shocked but they continue with their trajectory. They are about 500 metres away from Alex's dead body and we see a placard nailed on a gum tree inscribed these words [WELCOME TO THE TEAM] The words are inscribed with blood. Many miles behind them, we see Steve ahead of Daniel and Zenzo. There is a bunch of money lying idle on the road ahead of them Steve picks it up."Guys, I am a millionaire, I have just picked up some money."Before he finishes his statement we see the bomb inside the pack of the money exploding in his face. Daniel and Zenzo are watching the melee from yards away. We see Steve's body parts flying in the air and his massacred head is now lying about five metres away from his cadaverous corpse. Zenzo and Daniel walk for about 100metres and they reach their destination. Poison emerges from the forest flanked by two gentlemen that is Bruce and his compatriot Hulk and he is clapping his hands but not smiling as usual. "Congratulations lady and gentlemen, you have been loyal and trustworthy but you have not passed the test yet. There is still a job to be done at the Chamber House. Zenzo you will enter the controls room and you will do as I advised you earlier. Serah will be part of the team although she is not with us today. Steve and Malcom are dead I think everyone knows it by now. So, Denzel, Daniel, and Isabella, you will subdue the people at the chamber house."