So well dampened was their ride Samuel could hear himself think clearly, cocooned from the road noise, the rumble of passing vehicles but a distant buzzing. Seated on his left was a woman in her early 40s. Long hair tied into a bun, she wore the typical office look dark blue blouse, and a cream pants that cuts off just above her ankle. Held a digital notepad in her hand, her head turned towards the CEO and founder of Radian.
"Fortunately, Bernice is alive and well but now we've lost three from the incident and still nowhere near in finding out what happened."
Samuel ran his fingers through his hair, strays of white blending in with the black strands.
"Any word on Syafa? Have we managed to track her and the young man?"
"Our forward team is approaching Tanjung Malim and should be reporting in soon, Datuk."
"Please remind them to not do anything brash. We don't want Syafa alerted before we are able to move in."
"What do you think happen back there, Datuk?"
"Far too many scenarios to really draw a conclusion, but the fact remained that Syafa has awakened. Please alert the office to keep our numbers open in case she calls," he said.
"Bernice and the others? Shall we move them?"
"No. Not yet. Not until we find a better alternative to the hospital. Just arrange for some additional assistance in manpower. At least to take care of our team."
Looking outside at the pristine dark green, largely untouched hillside that was the hallmark of the Kuala Kangsar – Ipoh stretch, Samuel's mind wandered to the time when he received the alert from the unit monitoring his cordoned off team members.
Hidden from prying eyes inside a bunker located deep within one the very hills they were driving past.
The call alerted him in how all the team members were immobile. He remembered asking: "What do you mean?"
"They have not moved for a long while now Datuk. Except for Syafa, everyone else seemed to be in a catatonic state. Sivanathan is somewhere off screen. Shall we move in?"
"No. That's a negative. Please refrain from approaching the bunker no matter the circumstances. I'll be there shortly," he said. Alerted Maria to assemble a medical team.
Upon arriving, his eyes went immediately to Bernice when they broke into the bunker. His lip went agape with words unspoken in seeing her standing listless, eyes all white, lips moving as though speaking in murmurs. Surveying the bunker quickly, he saw the others were in similar state. All but Syafa. Curled up in a fetal-like position on a bed, her eyes and lips pursed shut. Body quivering as if stark coldness blanketed her.
He could not help but stifled back his tears when they discovered the young security officer incarcerated with the team. Sivanathan sat on the toilet bowl, deep throated to death by a thick, rolled up magazine. The blood staining it had long caked and dried. Sivanathan's arms hung limp, his cold fingers touching the tiled floor.
A murderer was in their midst, but with the rest all in a state of shock and catatonic, Samuel had no choice but to arrange for their transfer to a medical facility. He thought immediately of the secluded semi-private Bahagia Hospital but an hour's drive away.
Sivanathan's killer? Forensics came back only with the deceased's fingerprints on the murder weapon, pointing to a savagely morbid case of suicide.
Samuel himself did not join the trip to the hospital, having suggested and leading a diversionary trip of a dummy container truck driving from the facility as contingency against possible paparazzi snoops. He thus did not witness Syafa assuming a relaxed position as soon as she was separated from her comatose colleagues, a fact relayed to him much later in a report filed on the trip.
They then lost Mohir Balasingham. His heartrate had gone erratic prior to surging rapidly past bursting point whilst in transit to a specialist hospital. Samuel had no choice but to redirect his body home. Their response told him exactly who they blamed for Mohir's death.
Unexpectedly, Syafa awakens at the same time of a murder at the hospital where she and the rest of her teammate were. His mind ran through the past events, searching his memory to see if there was anything he had missed.
Is she behind everything that's happened?