Chereads / Boutique 1306 / Chapter 4 - #04: Rouge

Chapter 4 - #04: Rouge

Late in the night at 11:32, the raging woman leaves the Boutique, and Lief talks to Yza and Roland

Lief: Quiet the argument that she had

Yza: Quiet serious, like super serious Lief

Roland: So I guess let's clean the mess now?

Lief: Sure, Can't have the passersby see this mess

( the three of them started cleaning the shop, Yza then pitch a question )

Yza: She wears the same uniform as us, but red?

Lief: A colleague, from a different branch, not our competitor by any means

Roland: But why red? aren't we supposed to wear the same uniform?

Lief: In this store, it's black, cause we're on the 6th avenue in New Yark city, for that madame who wears red, they are in the next city of Cincinnati, and they are quite known for the color of a specific sports team

Roland: Ahh, so that's why

( the three keep cleaning late in the night )

Alfred Ciello Marks aka Fred is a 24-year-old college dropout, the only child of his mother as they were abandoned by his father when he was still in the womb of his mother, his mother died during giving birth to the young Fred, and so he grows in a foster house, nobody wants to take him in as his mother was a known prostitute in the area, and rumors that he was a son of a criminal who is still inside the prison, the crime, rape. After graduating high school, while strolling around, Fred witnessed a crime, he saw someone stealing money in the broad daylight in Broodway, pickpocketing basically, and he saw a cop nearby, he decided to do the right thing, he ran to the cop but then the thief also ran towards the same cop that he was running into, and between the two of them, the cop chose to face the supposed to be criminal first, and open his palm, the thief gave the cop half of what he earned, and the cop leaves. Fred was mind blown, and the thief saw that the young Fred we're curious, so he invited Fred to join him on the job, Fred thinks first if stealing the possession of others is the right thing as he was a big fan of old books that narrate knighthood, but then, the current society that he lived in hates him just because of the past of his parents, bullied at school and the foster house, he decided to join the thief named Charles Paddock, aka Padluck, known for his extreme luck, won the lottery at age 5 just for his parents to use his winnings on gambling, escape death on day-to-day basis, he is a legendary poker player until the casinos in the city decided to ban him altogether, but like any other bright character, he also has some weaknesses, his entire family died because of his piling atrocities on other people, both of his parents were beheaded, both young sisters were molested and burned alive, and since then, Padluck swears to have his vengeance to those who wronged him and his family.

Pickpocketing ain't bringing enough money, so Padluck decided to upgrade their business from stealing to delivery, they start with smuggled clothing and finally drugs

Padluck: Hey Fred, are you free tonight at 9, we have a special delivery from Los Bandidos (Cartel), be sure to be free, our other pigeons are already full, so we need every hand we have, ok?

Fred: every hand, how about our candies ( their prostitutes ) they'll be useful, how about them

Padluck: You fool, those candies will be working for our other business partners, so you go

Fred: But the area where I'm about to go is a smoke zone, they might smoke me, you sure about this

Padluck: (busy checking the list of products) Are we the good guys here now, really?, come on man, let's go, I got your back anyways

Fred: ( shows the stitches on his left area of the body ) oh yeah, how about this?

Padluck: ( laughed at Fred ) Come on, those bangers didn't take your kidney anyways, thanks to me

Fred: Wow, thanks to you, I almost lost a kidney for a pair of snickers

Padluck: Woah! those are legendary snickers! just so you know

Fred: ( grabs the bag that contains the drugs )

better show up when I need you or ill inhale all of this Pad

Padluck: give my regards to the customers ok

Fred: ( grab the cake from Padluck's table and he leaves the building )

Padluck: ( just shake his head )

Jonathan Perry aka Police officer Jon was busy doing his daily mundane tasks, 7 in the morning, Jax ordered him to bring them their coffee and breakfast, at 9:45, Dexter ordered him to take out the piling garbage in their area and ask him to take the wheel as he needs to deliver the cheques to his wife working in a bank and noon they roll back to the office, luckily for Dexter as his wife always cooked for him so he has his lunch, sadly for Jon, he needs to go out again. While busy typing on the computer as per ordered by Gary, the captain of their squad, at 01:30 in the afternoon, Dexter got a stomach ache so he ordered Jon to make a quick ride to the nearest pharmacy, and so he did. When Jon came back, his legs almost fell to the ground as Dexter was finally ok when he arrived, when he asked if he (Dexter) was ok, Dexter said that he forgot that his wife always put a bag of medicine in his backpack as he was prone to lots of food problems, and Dexter just thanked for Jon's dedication and after that Dexter left and go back to his chair. When Jon was ready to go back and type more things on his computer, their squad leader halted everyone, and at exactly 7 in the evening, almost every officer in the office celebrate the 50th birthday of the most likable person in the office, Gary and everyone celebrate his birthday in the nearest pub, even though Jon is not used in drinking alcohol, he just chugs some to show that he is also one of them, and they drink all night. After 5 hours of drinking, everyone goes home, and at 12:20 in the middle of the night, Jon is now responsible to send his seniors, Jax, Dexter, and Gary back to their homes. And that doesn't end there, every other night, they do the same thing, drink until almost everybody is drunk, again and again, and only after a month and a half does Jon understand what celebrating his (Gary) 50th birthday means, that there's a success case that Gary has pulled off. Jon comes to Gary fueled by anger as he thinks that he is not doing what he is supposed to do

Jon: excuse me, sir, can I have a sec of your time?

Gary: sure cowboy, what is it?

Jon: no offense sir but I'm already in this job for 9 months and I think that I'm not learning anything, I'm more of an errand boy than a Police officer

Gary: Woah, calm down cowboy, are you saying that you weren't observing the things that we are doing here?

Jon: 7 in the morning I get all of you your coffee and breakfast, 9-11 am, either I'm cleaning our desks or playing with the kids of the suspects or victims that come here in our station, 11-12 I pick our lunch or type the things that you want me to type, 1-5 in the afternoon I sit in my chair waiting for orders from all of you and 5-7, you always told me that there's an unsaid rule that unpaid overtime is a must for rookies like me so I would grow mentally strong, how on earth am I gonna be a good Police role model when I'm already out there?

Jax: ( heard the conversation and join in, he then wipes Jon's butt with his right hand when he walks behind him ) man, what a fatty, but the thing is we don't create the problems, we wait, then wait, and when a case comes, then we put a solution on it, that's what we are honorable officer Jon

Gary: ( chuckles and said ) well son, that's us, we are the iron fist that the society wants and needs, you can't just roam around and be patriotic about everything, do you?

Jon: But I can also patrol and see things around, like be in our patrol car and see the situation in some of the busy areas

Gary: oh yeah, well, Dexter has a special family outing this week, and since he is on leave, you will accompany our brother Jax here, would that suffice your thirst for patriotism Jon?

Jon: well, thank you, sir, I'll do my best to learn and grow as a Police officer

Jax: Better be useful tonight cowboy

Jon's wish to finally be on the ground and learn come to fruition, he's kinda excited and thrilled that he can't hide his happy emotions.

While walking in a dark alley, Fred was constantly thinking of what the priest had said to him about his parents, that what society told about them is the polar opposite of what they are, he then shifted his mindset to the profit that he will gain after the delivery for the night, he is an unnamed benefactor to a foster house called Happy Life House in the city, he constantly gives any 50% of all his earnings to that foster house, but then he is having a financial crisis at the moment as he owes a lot of people a sizeable amount of money as sometimes, some of the kids out there in the Happy House is having some health problems and he can't just help but borrow money and anonymously give it to the people who need it the most in the Happy House. As Fred was busy calculating how much he should make to pay all his debt, the people that would examine the drug products approached him from behind and he immediately pulls out his knife, but then as soon as he saw the usual faces, he put back to his pocket his knife and he gives one of the guys a sachet that contains the drug as a sample.

After waiting for an hour and a half, Jon received a call from Jax saying that he can't come so he just need to go alone for the night and that he did. Patrolling from street to street, Jon realized that Gary was being serious about what he had said earlier, there's not much of anything when he patrols, he just saw a few scavengers and drunk people walking around, so he decided to patrol more, then he realized that he haven't taken his lunch that is still on his bag, so he grabs his bag and starts preparing for his dinner when he saw a normal-looking dude weirdly holding a backpack, but then he thinks that it's just a normal dude so he proceeds to take his dinner, but then, he saw the dude pull off his hoodie, and Jon realized that it was the dude his former senior Harvey is tailing, so he put down his meal immediately and since the sound of the car might alert the suspect, Jon gets out of the patrol car silently, then he followed the suspect in the dark alley. The suspect is threading a path in the dangerous area so Jon takes off his uniform. The suspect then was halted by two guys, and the suspect pulled out a knife, but then immediately take it back to his pocket, Jon almost pulled the trigger of his pistol, luckily he stayed calm and composed, and then suddenly the two guys pull out a pistol and declared themselves as DEA, and Jon was released to the extreme tension from the 30 seconds eye to eye standoff between the suspect and the two DEA agents, only then that Jon heard the real name of Fred, the drug suspect. Jon decided to join the trio and also pitch in but then two loud gunshots killed the silence in that alley, making him tremble and walk backwards, he saw the two DEA agents lying on the floor, dead with their blood flowing still, the other two men came out of the darkness and take the pistols of the agents, they then grab the bag that Fred was holding and they leave the area. For the first time, Jon feels the hard pounding in his chest, and after witnessing the crime, after the 3 supposed to be criminals left the area, he dashes to the patrol car.

On the other hand, back in the Boutique, Yza and Roland get curious about what happened between Lief and the woman in red that wreak havoc earlier, so they watched the record of the footage in the shop earlier. The recorded footage then played, and the lock mechanism of the shop kicked in, right after that, the woman in red attacked Lief, she used the hidden weapons in the shop, on the shelves, and in other specific locations that were placed well, Lief was running around, but he isn't, he is just continuously evading the attacks of the woman in red, waiting for the right moment, but that moment was really hard to come by, the woman used a different kind of blades, guns, and anything that can be used as a weapon, and from shelve to shelve, she continuously hunts Lief, but she can't just catch up as Lief had already mastered the shop, and the lights were cut off, the woman then pulled out her mini-flashlight but by then, Lief is already behind her and tackled her down to the sofa, fighting like it's her last, she unveils the grenade on her chest, Lief immediately take the grenade and throw it under the sofa, and after that, Lief kissed the woman and for an hour an a half, the two engage in the most common medicine for two angry opposite sex, called "Sex", and Yza and Roland look to each other and the awkwardness just doesn't sit very well with the young teens.