"TLC! Huh!" Kev could not help but have this conversation with himself. Before he went to jail, Bennies bar was actually the place, it had women, men, smoking, drinking and stupid fights but this.... this was new. The rooms were clean, everything arranged neatly.It was cool and just quiet, it was a complete opposite of the streets below.It was a three storey building, hotel and bar on the ground floor, common rooms on the second floor, then massive VIP rooms set at the top, three thousand a night, that was money well spent. Kev was attracted to the ice green painted wall, it gave him this cool and relaxed mood. He had counted his money, forty thousand all in there intact, not even a single penny missing not that he did not trust fox but he had just to count it.Though he had not checked all the other pockets, he hand found his gun. As he had planned, he was not going to spend even a single penny wrong, he was going to look for her, talk to her and give her half of this cash, he knew that it would not cover for his action but he had nothing else to offer apart from sorry and money, for one he even didnt know her name. He had put some money aside for his use.Something had made a sound in the corridor, kev stood up then stayed still. He had enemies, lots of enemies and he knew any moment someone would burst into his room and things would go either way, and it would end nasty.He pulled out the gun and moved slowly towards the door unlocked it silently then jumped out of the room looking left and right his pistol at hand, but it was just him, the well lit corridor had no sign of life everyone was inside. But three doors away, it looked like the door was slightly open and kev had this eery feeling of an eye watching him, but again look at him now, he was in the middle of a corridor with a gun and all he had was just a silent corridor. He suspected paranoia, like who does this in the middle of a night? He had one last look got into his room and locked the door. But what he did not know is that in that door that was slightly open, there was a sigh of relief, he had nearly been caught, when the door nob turned he had ran with all his life into his room and just as soon as he got in kev had bursted out so fast that he even did not have time to lock the door, luck. Sometimes thats all we need.
Three hours after the incident the other two members joined their collegue in the room. They looked exhausted and it looked like they did not get much from their journey.
"How did you guys fair on? Got anything good" the guy who had been on Kevs watch asked
"That kid was tough. He talked of a woman, a child and some forty thousand given to our guy...
that was pretty it, he did not mention the list or Jacob... he had nothing helpful"
"mmh! That means its just on us to find it. Our guy almost got me snooping"
"What!?" both the other members of the third party asked this question simultaneously.
"Don't worry he saw nothing, but he is armed so i think we should reconsider our approach"
No more questions were asked about the incident since he was the leader of the group. These men rarely talked, they did not even know each others name, rank or each others places of work, they were just drafted for one purpose get the list and get the job done. And indeed they followed that rule. What mattered to them was just to get over with this assighnment and they go back to their old lives
Annie had got to job a bit late but ofcourse Dan, her fellow receptionist had covered for her for the thirty minutes she was late.
"Dan you are such a life saver!" she gave him a simple peck on his cheeks...
"Tell me one thing i can do for you Dan"
" Just one simple thing....."
" I am not coming for a sleep over and I am not inviting you to my place. Now apart from that....."
" You are a witch, you know that your so cold that you could freeze a freezer"
Annie was laughing her heart out, Dan had been trying to get her for the past two years now, he was handsome dont get it wrong, but Annie wasnt into it, she had taken a different path in her life and until she reaches her final destination she wasnt taking any detour on the way. Dan had already changed into his home clothes, TLC had a strict work place dresscode . It was black and white on week days and maroon and white on weekends.... that was non negotiable. Annie had changed while she was talking to Dan. He had left a list of remaining duties to be tended too. She too had to help,in the morning room service is usually overwhelmed while reception is usually quiet, so that meant she had to chip in. They had three order on the VIP side of the lounge rooms 105, 108 and room 115, the VIPs of the lounge usually get free breakfast. The kitchen had done its part of the job and now it was Annie to play her helping role and take them to the third floor.It was not a hard task going up the stairs took no less than fifteen minutes. Annie did set her blouse right and she faced the stairs.
The fox, was in much pain, he was bleeding from his wrists which had a deep cut, he had been shot on his legs too. He had been trying to crawl for the last four hours to get to his phone which was under the kitchen sink, in the course of this he had passed out three times before gaining concious on the cold floor. Finally he had met his class. They had found him, just after kev left, they came after him, but he had really tried to cover for kev. The two people had asked him about a list supposedly being carried by kev. And there was this Jacob guy. He knew nothing of the list but Jacob? He had heard stories of a mediator who once turned against two parties and used their identities for blackmail. But thats all he knew. But he had made a mistake he had mentioned a woman and a child, the worst thing is that all these were based on whiff of rumours he had caught he was not sure and thats why he never told kev anything about this. He now had only a few metres to get to the phone held on the sink by a duct take. He gave one final push he stretched his hands he had the number on speed dial. He knew he had less than thirty minutes to set this right.
Annie was brathing slightly heavily now. She really like using these stairs as a means of exercise, she really never had time for that and this is the only way she could put herself in the gym for free. The top part of TLC had forty rooms, a bit larger than than the mid section. The top part also had different outlay, in each room was a comfortable bed, a table, just beside the bed and then there was this section of the wall that had extended from the bed that had section that had been built into a washroom it had a shower and a toilet with tissues and soap all lined up in a mini cupboard mounted on the wall. Opposite to that wall, was a flat screen tv, mounted on it, under it was a small table with the remote controls. Although there were other rooms on the third floor that were large enough to carry three beds. Room 108 was a good example and Annie had finished serving occupants of room 115, she was now headed to room 108. Room 115 had a male and a mean looking female occupant who was still naked on the bed and the guy had thrown on a towel around his waist, Annie knew instantly that maybe she had stopped some sweet moment, because that look she got.... she smirked that moment she turned back. She really found these situations funny and she usually took all the joy out of these situations, who would not? But she had to regain her composure and be ready for room 108.
" Room service" she heard some shaffling like people trying to put things away. Silence.
"Is this on the house or?..."
"Yes it is sir" the guy who had answered the door stood in the middle of the door in a way that she could see very little and also the room was dimly lit because the lights had been turned off, the lights that came of the drapes on the window were not doing any justice. But through that little space between the door and the waist of the obstructor she saw something that looked like a gun. And there these pictures of a familiar face that were strewn across the floor. She was transfixed on the floor. she could not make a single move.
"Miss... receptionist.... which one is our order"
For a second there, Annie went to the moon, to mars and that question had brought her huddling down to Earth and she came crushing.
"Pardon" she said feeling her throat dry,
The guy looked back at the other two very perplexed then looked back at Annie,
"Oh! God! No. Its not what you think.... we are not... we are working together not.... you know"
The obstructor was talking waving his hands giving gestures that Annie had never seen, but this even gave her more space to see inside. She had clarity now.
"we um... dont care about that TLC is home to all"
" Ok then so which is ours"
Annie picked a large tray and made a move as if to bring them inside.... to which she was stopped promptly and the obstructor stretched his hand out to receive the tray. She gave it out and turned heading to room 105.
If there was one thing that kev had enjoyed at The Confluence Lounge, it was the hot shower. For hours and hours he had stayed in there, letting his skin soak in the warm water , he let himself be drenched in it. There were showers in prison too, but that was different apart from it being sub zero cold, other prisoners would stand behind you watching you butt naked, as you had your shower. For seven years this is one thing he never got used to. His moments were ruined by a soft voice and a knock on the door. He threw on a towel and headed for the door.
Back in room 108 there was awkward silence. Firstly it looked clear that, the receptionist had seen something either the gun on the bed, or she had seen one member of the third party that she recognised. She was there on the day Kev was released and now, she is a receptionist at the TLC, what are the chances of this being a coincidence. But the silence was because of chain of events that would be caused by any outcome. One if she had recognised any member of the third party, that meant the team would simply be reduced to two. They were not in the business of taking chances, the bosses had demanded a clean job. Two if she had seen the gun and reported it to TLC's management and they be kicked out of the lounge they would have lost proximity to their target, and if there was a thing that was so essential to this whole thing, that would be proximity. They loose as much as a centimetre, the whole thing crumbles. The leader looked around and no one said a thing, this is how it usually was, the two guys who had gone after fox rarely talked. They kept the conversation short, only talking when their tactical opinions were needed. Otherwise everyone communicated with their respective bosses and this would go up chain to the one who held thing together...
"I dont know what she saw... But she surely took a peek into this place" the leader said brushing his hair back to forth making it look really rugged.
" May she saw the gun and the pictures because her eyes for one never fixed on us.... Like you know how civilians be like around weapons" one of the other too guys said and he sounded just casual, the situation seemingly had no weight on him.
"I think he is right. Maybe she was just spooked by the gun. But i think we should take a risk.... If there is no alarm from the management then we are safe, if we get a call from our man inside, then we will know that the management knows and they reported it to the police. Thats when we involve the clean up crew". this was the second guy of the two who had visited fox. The leader and the other guy nodded in agreement and they continued on with planning for their next move.
Annie's heart was puonding so fast that even the fastest car on the planet could not catch up with it, and it was so loud as if a thousand trojan soldiers were matching through it with drums and horns of war. She was petrified.Infront of her, it was him, his skin dripping with water a blue towel around his waist one hand on the door frame the other on the door knob. For seven years she has been dreaming of this chance, now she has it better than the first time round. He had a well built body a huge chest cavity muscular arms but his skin was soft... anything could go through it. She was fighting her tears, she was not going to give them a chance to see the lit corridor. She wanted to say room service but those words weighed heavily on her if she said any single word, her tears would come down as the heaviest downpour ever recorded.
Kev too had been transfixed. First of all this woman reminded him of someone. But then it coud not be could it? Secondly since he came out of jail, this is the first woman he had set his eyes on and instantly something from the deepest part of his heart came to life. She was a sight to behold. Everything her lips, eyes, chest, arms.... even the air she breathed in the well lit the corridor. Had he just seen an angel on this cruel Earth? Why had she fallen to this place? Where did she fall from? He was just mesmerized. He, for the first time had genuinly felt something, forget about Betty, why would she even come up now, she was into it for the money. But this one infront of him. This is the one that was used for standardizing beauty, she was that ultimate unit of measure of beauty.
" Room service I guess" kev had maneged to pick up his vocal chords, that had fallen off all over the place leaving him speechless. She, in turned nodded. What a respectful woman, he thought. He moved aside to let her in to which she hesitated but he had the whole day. He would rather stand here and watch her for an infinate eternity. Annie gathered all the strength she had left remaining in her atoms and made two steps forward. The room was lit but the darkness that sorrounded her.... she could not even see inside her heart and her thoughts. She was engulfed with rage. her skin was burning, her heart was being corroded by acid and the charred pieces of it were all over the room. Kev had now seen her from behind and that view, he framed it and hunged it on his mind, she was a trophy, priceless.Pain and infatuation met for a moment. The room was silent. Annie had managed to put the tray on the bed. Kev was still on the door. With great strength Annie picked her steps going outside.
"Wait!" kev said heading towards the table that was beside the table he picked up a bundle of notes and thrust them onto Annie's hand, she did not even say thanks, she turned and picked her pace. Kev wanted that woman. He had priorities, she became one ontop of the list. Annie had ran all the way down to the stairs... she was headed for the staffs washrooms, she had to go through the kitchen then open a door at the back and go a few metres ahead, but today like a flash of lightening she was there on her knees vomitting into the open toilet, she had thrown whatever she had on her hand into the bowl, she vomitted almost all her insides.
Kev was still standing in the middle of the room when something vibrated, like a cellphone. He had no cellphone yet so it did not matter to him, what mattered was that.... the vibration seemed to imminate from the room he was in . He pinched himself on the cheeks, yes it was coming from the bed, he woke up from dreamland and started the search. In the back pack he had carried there was a phone. This had to be fox. He received it and said nothing.
"It is fox, kev. Come right now! I am dying"
Kev hit the door. He remembered he had locked the door to his room, just before hitting the stairs, he went back into the room. He took a gun, put it on his waist, pulled the door locked it and went past the guards on the main entrace door. In room 108, there was confusion, firstly the woman had stood infront of room 105 for long, secondly she had dashed out carrying something that looked like cash . Was she crying? Or were those tears of joy? Even more confusing is Kev came out rushing got to the stairs and went back grabbed what looked like a gun and rushed out again. Now that was a big ptoblem, this whole operation depended on them being ahead of the curve, but now the curve was straightening. They had a split second to decide if they rush out cover is blown, they stay in, then they are sitting ducks. They exchanged looks, no one had a solution.
Annie was on her way out of the washroom when she saw Kev dashing past the reception, she had flushed everything down the toilet including the notes she had been given. She was feeling sick to her stomach. But today she had to fight through this.She was not weak, she had been waiting for this moment for years she was at the finish line and she was not going to fall. Not at the finish line.
Kev was running as fast as he could. He bumped alot of people on the streets most fell down. He did not even bother to look back he and time were on this very tight race of death and life. He got into that long alley that was between Fox's house and the 32 street. He kicked a little bit more umph to his pace.He had to reach him.
The third party slowly walked through the stairs they said nothing on their way down, in a span of minutes alot had happened. The gentlement had to address the receptionist's issue wether they like it or not. As they went down the stairs, she was there in the receptionist box, she looked alright though a bit on edge. The leader of the third party let the other two go ahead to the door he stopped and headed to the reception.
"Hi. Are you okay? I saw you run downstairs and got a bit worried... I would not want to miss out on the coffee and eggs tomorrow"
" Yes I am fine, had a situation I had to handle, we multi task alot here" Annie had put on a forced smile. It was part of her job.
" Okay. We thought maybe you were harrassed or scared by one of fellow visitors maybe, trying to get his way with you" he was trying to go round this issue as smooth as he possibly could.
Annie knew what was going on here, any slip now would put her in the middle of a murky situation. She had her agendas, but she was going to navigate this so carefully
" what!" she smiled again, and she knew this would work like a charm, it always does.
"No! I am okay. Just had to rush down to put things in place"
If there was one thing Annie had became good at was lying, she could do it through her teeth.
"Ok then if you insist". The leader said heading for the door.
Kev got to the door and without even knocking, he went into the house knocking down the inside wooden door off its hinges, pieces of wood flew all over the place, the metallic door outside had been opened.
"Fox! where are you" he called out as loud as he could, a quick look into the living room and sure enough he was not there. Fox had quite made a life for himself, he had rented this big house, and lived alone no one knew about his family. Though it was said he had one. His sitting room had stylish leather sofas, he had this huge HD tv on one side of the wall, stereo system with huge speakers a fridge possibly filled with all sorts of drinks. His kitchen had wall cabinets filled with food, cooking utensils, his bedroom could host a crowd, he was smart. Kev was now in the bedroom, he was about to turn back when he stepped on something rather slippery and sticky. Blood. And it had left a trail, he followed it and there in the kitchen was fox, his left arm raised he was murmering something. He had lost alot of blood, one look at the trail and one would wonder how many lives did he have?
Kev knelt besides him he murmered alot of things but none made any sense to Kev. The only thing that made sense was Fox's favour, one last wish for a dying man, he wanted kev to drop of something for him.He died as Kev watched he had been tortured. Kev knew he had to leave. He went to the drawer as instructed. He got the key out and went on his way, his heart had sunk, it was way deep, he felt like his heart had left his chest and was resting at the bottom of the deepest ocean. He did not even for a moment think of the tons of evidence he had left behind.
The third party were now on the fourth street going through their search. Kev had just disappeared. But they needed to locate him. The leader made a call to confirm if the cleaning crew were on their way to Fox's house, they were fifteen minutes away.
There is a first for everything, today they had messed up. They had became sloppy if there was a thing that should never have happened, it was Kev getting even a single second of not being under survaillance. He had to be on watch at all times. The three of them knew that if this were to get out to their respective bosses they would be recalled, and there is no worst news than being recalled they would rather die. So that meant right now they had to double up on their efforts. On the other side of town,Kev had walked away from Fox's house and it was untill later on that he realised he had blood on his body. He had planned to go back straight to TCL but he realised he could not.He needed somwhere to wash up and just calm down for some few minutes, then he remembred behind Bennies there used to be a small spring of water, he just needed to go there wash of the blood and maybe just sit down for a moment and think about the events because just a single night of his presence and Fox is no more. Jacob had given him a clue whilst he was still in jail. Was this it?
Annie had had a thousand conversations with herself. Firstly how was she going to carry on with her plan. She felt like she needed a new plan. Did she have that time? She had wasted the VX on that day she had came back from prison. Getting that first dose of VX had cost her almost her entire saving and the process was a horror show. She had to go through two middle men one who knew someone and another who knew someone else who knew someone who had access to someone who did the dark web stuff, she was told she could get anything, she just had to name it. It took her months to get the VX. She did not have time and money for that now. Another problem was who were those three people? And why did they have guns and lots of pictures of Kev? Why are they even on the same lounge as him? What was he into? Should she just stay and wait for things to play out? What if they are working together? She was totally lost. But one thing was for sure, she had to find a way.
Kev had found the fountain, after all this years Bennies bar did not survive but the fountain did , he took just some few minutesand he had washed up all the blood off his T-shirt. And it was until now that he realised he had worn it inside out. That rush had turned him into a maniac, he had just acted on pure adrenaline.Slowly the last conversation he had with Fox started replaying in his head, Fox had mentioned that Kev was looking for honey. Why would he be looking for honey? He has never, in his life liked a bee, now Fox said he was looking for honey . And right before he died he kept murmuring the child. What child? Why would anyone put a child and honey together? And why would he be looking for a child who has honey? It was crazy he really did not understand Fox's last words. But he had to find out,he stoodup and tucked his gun , and started making his way towards TLC.From where he was, he thought he saw something like three familiar faces at a distance that looked distraught to finding something and he also saw what he thought was a familiar double cabin truck, he had seen it somewhere but he was not sure where he had seen it. But right now he needed to go and change and just start working on things as he had planned on.
Jerry and his crew had decided to play smart this time round.Word had reached them that Kev had stayed on TLC. The plan was to confirm it at the reception and pay Fox a visit . And indeed luck had been on their side, when they pulled just around the corner they saw a soaked kev appearing somewhere from Bennies, that once famous bar, maybe he had gone there to get some good old memories. Indeed he was headed to TLC. Now all they needed was just to visit Fox and get all they needed. Fox was one of those guys who would do anything for money. Although on Jerry's first visit he seemed protective of Kev, Jerry had doubled up his bag . It was heavy.
The third party after a long struggle were able to see Kev heading back to thelounge it was a moment of relief for them because midday was fast approaching and being out in the scorching sun all morning had made them feel really burnt up, they barely had the energy to go to one more street they were tired. But now they could not follow Kev just right into the lounge, that would be dumb, they hand to find somewhere, rest abit then go back to the lounge. They had to be smart, it was best to just find a joint to relax in it, and it had to be closer to TLC. Somewhere they could monitor him.
Jerry and his crew had taken the shortest time possible to be in Fox's house, they knew these streets like the back of their hands.But when they got therer, none of them understood what was happening. Fox seemingly had moved out of town, his house was clean, no chairs, no TV, no bed, the kitchen was empty, his car gone. Like he had just flew away. All the doors both the wooden and the metallic doors showed no signs of forced entry. Fox had been born and forged in these streets he would never leave. For a moment the whole crew had no idea of what was going on. They just stood in silence trying to piece this puzzle together.
Kev got into TLC and he passed by the reception, headed for the stairs before remembering he needed something. He walked back.
"Hi again. I did not catch your name"
" Annie"