Point of no Return

Trouble

Nine

Trouble

Kennedy was speeding crazy towards town. But he didn’t have an idea as to anywhere particular he was going. He just wanted to place a wide margin between him and the residence of the now dead spiritual healer. It was unbelievable but it was true. But why would it happen this sudden? Now it was clear he didn’t have answers and he was responsible for Tile’s disappearance. He kept blaming himself as he sped his car on beastly motion. Soon, a comforting thought began to creep into his head. “Nobody even knew he was involved with Tile at that level. And the Baba who was the only witness was now no longer.” Even with this comforting thought, another nagging one kept streaming: “But how could he live with all these?” So as much as there was no living witness, his presence alone was witness enough. Besides, Jennifer had started suggesting that there was some foul-play that must have led to Tile’s kidnapping. Who else knew about the deal if not him? And as a close friend, he was the primary suspect in line. It was also clear now, that Tile had messed with the commands and had somehow died in the process. The thought of his been responsible for his friend’s death was very unbearable. His phone rang and jerked him from his thoughts. It was Jennifer. He realized he had not returned Jennifer’s call and now was the time to make sure she did not grow suspicious. He picked the call.

“Ken where are you?! You said you were going to call back shortly,” a distressed Jennifer’s voice said through the phone’s speaker.

“I am speeding straight to you now,” Ken said, trying to sound calm.

“Are you sure you are okay?” Jennifer asked.

“How do you mean? Are you okay yourself? Our friend has gone missing Jennifer, I am not okay,” he said sincerely.

“Okay, I am waiting for you at Tile's door,” she said and dropped the call.

It was a few minutes to eleven o’clock when Ken arrived at the rendezvous. He parked his car outside and walked through the gate to the compound. A distraught, panicky Jennifer stood by Tile’s still closed door.  She looked very old with worry.

“Where have you been?” She asked, almost angrily.

“I went to check in possible places I thought I could find him,” he replied in a convincingly calm voice.

“And where are those?” she asked, a little skeptical.

“There are some hotels I used to take him to, I figured I should check to make sure, before I could come to you,” he lied.

His story sounded believable for the moment. And Jennifer too seemed to believe him. She stood for a while thinking, then she asked: “and you didn’t find anything… not even information?”

“Not even information,” Kennedy said resignedly.

“What have I done to myself?” Jennifer whispered under her breath.

“Do not blame yourself for this; I want to believe that it shall be well.”

“But how can that be?” she snapped. “It seems you are yet to fully comprehend the precarious position I am in. Mr. Atir called me about two hours ago to request that I come with Tile by 12pm at the club. He is expecting us.”

“Wow, that’s really messed up,” said Ken, sadly.

***********************************

It was exactly 12:30pm when they walked into the cozy lobby of the District 7 club. Mr. Atir was seated in one of the large leather settees in a corner with two very young girls and puffing profusely on a large Cuban cigar. There was a large bottle of whisky on the low table and a few glasses. He nodded the duo to their seats and took a sip from his glass.

“Call for them to bring you a drink and make yourself very comfortable.” Mr. Atir said to Ken, with a leering smile on his lips. Jennifer ignored where she was directed to sit, and went over to Mr. Atir and sat by his side. A small message to the girls that in some way, she had an upper hand in Mr. Alex’s jurisdiction.

Kennedy was seeing Mr. Atir for the first time in daytime. As soon as he arrived, he saw through the guy to his very soul, like an astro-reader. And it was dark, for what he could see. Today, he was wearing an expensive jeans trouser with a nice T-shirt that Ken wished was his. He had his usual All-Stars sneakers shoes on. But today’s was of a different colour, red to be precise. “There was something about this old guy and sneakers,” Ken thought. “And that signature of a cigar too.” However, amidst this costume, Ken saw a mischief he couldn’t place; something dubious, even deadly. He had never been failed by his hunches, and it got even stronger now. He suddenly realized that his hesitation might be misread by Atir, so he quickly lounged in the leather settee he was shown and beckoned to a waiter.

“This lot must be unto something fishy… nasty even,” Alex Atir was thinking. Having dealt with several people of different and dubious characters in his line of business across the world, he had learnt to read people by the hairs. He could look a person and conjecture almost exactly what they were thinking in their mind. And this smart-looking fellow, whom they say is a software engineer, and whom he hoped to use his skills judiciously, seemed to be something of ‘too-smart-for-his-liking.’ “But not to worry, since his friend had swallowed his bait – hook, line and sinker, he now had them on the leash to do his bidding, even beyond what they thought was a technology and software deal,” he thought as his leer widened. “Even Jennifer wouldn’t know when she’d be swept under the feet. But wait, where was that desperate but shy-looking fellow he gave money the previous night?” Alex Atir thought better not to start, they’d come through at the right timing. So he just went on puffing without a word.

Jennifer was now jittery. She looked at Ken who was sipping his beer which had been already served. Perhaps she was looking for some form of moral support. They had carefully rehearsed a story that would buy them some time. But now that they were here in flesh and spirit and the scenario active, her usual talkative tongue had turned to lead. Alex noticed that something was amiss by her fidgety manner, but he still didn’t make the move of asking. It will all come out in due time. Then Jennifer asked: “how is your day going?”

“As you can see,” Alex said with a shrug and raised his palms to the air to make her see the obvious enjoyment he was having, “I’m here with my girls, and fun is all we want to have.”

“I see,” Jennifer said and fell silent again, unsure of what next to say.

When they drank in the deafening silence for about thirty minutes and nothing was coming forth, Alex decided to speak.

“How about your consultant boyfriend? I can’t see him anywhere around,” he said.

Jennifer decided to boycott the story they had rehearsed. Ken had told her to tell Alex Atir that Tile had rushed early in the morning to fix some stuff that had gone amiss in the village and needed urgent attention. But now that she was facing reality, she had to come clear. After all, Mr. Atir was her good friend and telling him the truth would make him have more faith in her.

“We cannot find Tile,” she said with a sudden finality.

Mr. Atir poured a shot from his whiskey, gulped it down in a fell swoop and said: “I see,” His manner showed as if he had expected this outcome all along. There was a little silence of three minutes. Ken had been astounded by the sudden outburst of Jennifer, and it was evident on his face. Mr. Atir seemed to be enjoying himself more now, reading the two.

“So why can’t you find him?” he asked casually and took another gulp of shot. “Have you tried calling him at all?” There was a way he squeezed his face after taking a shot, that someone would think he didn’t have any intentions of taking more.

To cut the story shot, Jennifer said with a bit of regret in her voice: “we wouldn’t be here without him if we had not tried everything possible we could to get to him and failed.”

“So he disappeared in thin air suddenly,” Mr. Atir said. “That’s interesting… very interesting,” he added.

Now, Ken noticed that the lingering evil he had suspected about this older guy was beginning to surface. He could see through the effort he was making to suppress anguish and anger and a biting murderous bitterness.

“You drank to stupor and slept off yesterday,” Atir said, nodding to Ken, and trying to strike a nonchalant attitude, changing the line of discussion completely as if it didn’t matter anymore. Ken only smiled sheepishly. Mr. Atir puffed on his cigar a few times more, ended it in the ashtray and lit another one.

“You see, business is always good,” he continued in the nonchalant pose he had recently acquired. “But when it goes bad, there are measures one must always take to protect his own interest.”

Jennifer shifted uneasily in her chair. Then Mr. Atir went on.

“How well do you know this guy?” he was referring to Jennifer now.

“As far as I’m concerned, he is a nice guy, and not a bad or dubious person if that’s what you mean,” Jennifer answered, trying to make an impression.

“Clearly, you didn’t know him very well,” Mr. Atir insisted, “Besides, the presence of money can make anyone dubious in a second. Well… I am tired of this never-ending chit-chat. It has been my ethic to always move ahead with business even at instances of death, so we move,” he said resignedly.  

Frustrated after Jennifer’s sudden change of plan and his nudging instinct on not trusting Mr. Atir, Ken decided to speak.

“Sir, we hope to go the police as soon as we leave here, they may help us to find Tile,” he said enthusiastically.

“No,” Alex replied curtly, “the police are bad for business. Besides, who said anything about you guys leaving? As far as I am concerned, you are the mortgage for my five million, and I didn’t pay it for refunds, I paid it for business. Even if your man had come along to refund it, I would never have taken it back. I paid it for us to make business, and business we shall make.” Then he added with a stern voice that shook even Jennifer: “I am a businessman, and I never loose. Shall we go now?”

The worried look on Jennifer’s face made Ken to conclude that even she, did not know this weird guy very much.