Ceremonial Rites

Twelve - Knight to King

"An explosion blasted west of Sao Paulo, Brazil today 7 o'clock in the evening. The explosion was said to be originated from a secure location own by Don Juan, a notorious drug dealer of Brazil. Casualties were massive  due to the chemical formulas mixed to the clouds of smoke. An entire garrison wiped out. Luckily, the nearest town from the site was 20 miles saving them from that killer smoke. Authorities are now engage in entensive investigation to Don Juam himself who immediately released a statement, 'His team had mishandled a certain project ongoing.' Don Juan is also allegedly doing business dealings with multinational company Alderige International but the company, again, denied these connections."

"Rodney!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. He groaned in pain and covered his face. Damn this guy.

I walked to his side of the floor because I don't want to share the bed with him. And yes, I paid for the additional occupancy on my suite. I kicked his back. Strong enough to brought him back to the mortal world.

And who in their right mind blow up a 100 million dollar laboratory? That site A cost a fortune! Rodney crawled out of his blanket like a caterpillar processed to become a butterfly. This one's a piece of s**t, though. He mumbled some gibberish while he rubbed his eyes like a f*****g toddler forced to wake up for his medicine.

"What?" He managed to form an understandable reply.

I held his head and turned it so he can face the bloody television. His grogginess immediately vanished and looked at me in horror.

"Do you have any idea how much we lost?!" I shouted at him.

"Oh God, Vincent! There were almost 20 people working in there! Did they die?" He asked in shocked trying to deny all of this. Poor loser. Bad morning.

"Are you for real? That site alone has 150 samples and counting and you're asking if they survived?! No one did! Listen the f**k up!"

Rodney crawled back to the bed side and leaned. He held his hair in frustation. This is such a big lost that we need to cover up. Our emergency fund can cover the entire site but investors will still shoot us with prying questions making us look bad and unable to protect a 100 million site.

I suddenly remembered something and looked at Rod. That site was wired to self destruct when there will be a deliberate force applied to open the vault. It will trigger the artificial intelligent controlling the laboratory.

"Someone sneaked in and tried to get some of the samples."

He straightened up. Looked at me incredulously when he connected the dots. He was the one who set the entire self destruct sequence.

"Who could it be? Don Juan has 100 percent access to it."

I picked up a pin and throw it to him. The flag of the United States of America is in between his fingers. Ever since everything blew out of proportion, they've been rushing to finish this mission. Who ordered to eliminate Rodney if they failed to remove Don Juan? Ofcourse.

"You think so?"

"I'm not really sure but what I'm really sure is Don Juan won't burn his profit to the ground. Senator Rivas needs to know who's in charge. I told him to leave this mission to me. Credit grabber assholes." I gritted my teeth.

"What you gonna do now?"

"Pack your things, Rod! Bring some sunscreen. We're going to Rio de Janeiro!"

I picked up my phone. I don't do revenge. I get even.

                              ****

Sao Paulo Airport

09:00

The four oblivious gentlemen carried their bags in a hurry. Still confused why we decided to leave the town in a hurry. As much as I want to share my dilemma they surely don't have any idea about that assault. Which is probably done by the military.

"Have you heard about the explosion on site A? All of the scientists died! Did you know about this?" Marco asked suddenly as he walked my pace.

"Why are you acting so surprise? Military intel didn't give you a head's up?" And quickened my pace. I should take precedent.

A man who I only talked on the phone appeared at the gate. He led us to the hangar where the plane I rented was hidden. Rodney was already there waiting for us to arrive. I didn't greet him. I'm still pissed. 100 million dollar pissed.

Rodney greeted the four gentlemen behind me. They all asked him what's going on and he said he'll explain everything on the plane. He better be. I don't intend to explain anything to those snakes.

I waited few minutes and let them board the plane first. I need to remind everyone that no one has to know that I'm leaving Sao Paulo. Don Juan doesn't need to know. Our guy, Benido approached me. I handed him an envelope. Payment for his usefulness so he can be utilized when I need him again. My car arrived. The driver opened the door for me.

I faced the plane where five dumbfounded men tried to get out as the plane started moving towards the runway. I waved them goodbye and called Rodney. A series of profanities instantly roared from the other line.

"If I wanted you dead, Rodney, your picture will be on the obituary listing the dead of the explosion from the site." I answered ignoring his additional curses.

"What if this blows up?"

"You mean the plane? That's so expensive. The site alone cost me a new yacht. I want you to blow up the Site B. No traces. Aui Revoir."

Now about that assassination. Don Juan needs to pay his debts. I nodded to the driver and we left the airport. Alejandro's phone started ringing to the other line. He should know better that I don't like waiting.

No one answered my call. And that made me twice mad than this morning. The driver noticed my arch eyebrow because he stiffened when I shot him a sharp look. Good. He's nice enough to be dead. My phone ring. Alejandro's name appeared on the screen. I ignored him to get even. Now he knows what it feels like.

We parked to a very nice villa. The arch has the owner's name to remind anyone that dares to enter this dominion. Martinez sure has a style. A maid opened the door for me when we arrived to a gravelled driveway. She's wearing a maid's uniform, obviously. I quickly walked towards a very gothic wooden double door. A dragon was engraved to each door. Why is it even close? Do I have to knock?

"I'm sorry, señor." The maid rushed to the door and opened it for me. Nice.

"You're like so nice." I complimented her to brighten her day. I'm sure she doesn't get that kind of treatment around here. I can tell from the door itself.

Again, the maid ushered me to the backyard where a maze was located. If Martinez plans to lose me inside of it, I swear to God I'm gonna burn it to the ground. Good thing I researched his villa before I scheduled a meeting.

Henrico Martinez greeted me with a warm hug after he scared away the poor maid. Told you she doesn't get that much of equality. I tapped his back to reciprocate the hypocrisy. He held my back as he guided me to the table.

"What do you want to drink, señor Alderige? Muchacha!" He then called his maid.

He only has one maid? Like for real. That's exhausting. He mandated her to bring his finest wine from his cellar for his most important visitor. How touching.

"You don't have to do that, Don Henrico. I'm not gonna stay here for long."

"Why not? Why such in a hurry?" He asked as protest to my lack of time.

The maid suddenly returned with an open bottle of wine and left after Martinez waved her out. He poured me my glass half full. That's too much. But I could clearly use a drink given the circumstances. His smile widens when he saw me emptied my glass. Damn, that's good.

"Woah! Morning news seem to patch up your appetite."

"You bet." I said.

"Now, about what you've said this morning." He started in.

"I told you. Don Juan is losing a lot of people and money this time. He's sitting duck."

"What do you propose?"

"We both know he managed to monopolize the entire drug trade here. He put down numerous drug cartel and pushed them to trade locally. And that include yours."

He put down his glass on the table clearly contemplating my words as he tried to control his anger to the reminder of his defeat to Don Juan.

"But we can now put him down with no delay. He has no power, money, and private armies here in Sao Paulo. They all died to the explosion."

"What do I have to do?"

I smiled and sipped my wine.

"Simple. I already arranged his death tomorrow. All you have to do is to sent your men to disguise as guests to a restobar tomorrow night. Then, we watch him die slowly."

He was purely shocked to hear his only involvement. Ofcourse, I don't want to ask him the heavy lifting. That would be a big favor on my side. I raised my glass to him.

                               ****

White House, Washington D.C

14:00

A man escorted by some secret service rushed to the oval office. Complete rage and panic were plastered on his face. The president's worried face greeted him the moment he stepped inside the office. A news channel is blaring from the office table where a laptop was having live news reports.

"A scandalous picture has gone public involving Senator Clint Rivas of Texas this morning. It appeared that Senator Rivas is having an affair behind his wife to a seventeen year old girl here in Washington D.C. This has exploded to the internet enraging the entire country as the Senator was branded as a pedophile man. Few senators have raised concerns towards this incident. Senate Majority leader Senator Ted Cruz has released an order to investigate Senator Rivas."

"I'm sorry, senator. I have to remove you to the Brazil mission. Until you will be cleared from this chaotic situation." The president stated carefully to the dumbfounded senator who is still in process of absorbing everything.

The senator was escorted quickly out of the oval office. The president's telephone ring ominously. He took the phone to his ear and he heard the one man completely responsible to these attacks.

"Careful, Mr. President. You don't want to see your skeletons dancing on National TV."

Then the line was cut. The president sat on the most powerful chair in the entire world. But as he hanged up to a particular person, he is starting to doubt if he has any power to begin with.