The Bloodline

07

That morning, there was an unusual activity shown at the mobile brigade police station. A group or raid force is ready next to their vehicle, ready to act.

“Move out!” shout the party chief which responded quickly by the group, and their vehicle skidded away, leaving the compound.

***

Inside the office room of the chief of the police Rolf Beckerman stood next to the window, watching the raid task force as they drove away. The owner of the room, sat behind his table, while in front of him, a figure of which is the head of intelligent nodding to Herr Zimmer that sit next to him, whose now handing over a briefcase to the police chief. Smile that he can’t hold back, as he opened the briefcase in front of him, and knowing that what inside it makes his pocket will be fatter significantly.

***

It was still early in the morning, but the activities at one of the most crowded and unfortunately poorest district of the city, already begins. Sound of peoples, passing motorcycle, and shouts of mothers to their children whose running around on that overly crowded tiny street.

There is a small temple, squeezed around the overly crowded houses. At this time, a man who is looks like the caretaker of the temple sitting cross legged in front of an altar, towards a dark red colored statue of goddess that looked antique. Smoke of incense spiraled up from the small clay bowl fills the room.

“Pita jee…” asked a little boy who just entered the room, then following the hand of his father who then usher him to sit next to him

“Yes mere beta…?.” He asked, looking at his boy, smile on his face, nursing the boy’s head gently …

“Whose is she?” the boy asked, his small finger pointing to the statue, “And why is she has a red color…?”

Kissing the top of his boy’s head, the man said “let us pray first, mere beta, then I will tell you the story of the statue that has been with our family for generations….”

The two of them then facing the statue, for a while the man smile as he looked at his boy, following what he’s doing, clasping his tiny palm together slightly above his head, closing his eyes. The man then does the same and started chanting the prayer…

***

Meanwhile, at the entrance of that district panic arises. Some inhabitants, especially the mothers’ shouts, calling their children to get inside their houses and locked the door behind them, while the other, mostly the men, scatter, running as fast as they could, away from the raid force that move tactically, with threatening gestures ready to capture them, since the district was famous where the drug dealers, thieves, and prostitutes resided

***

The man held his boy close to him after they finish praying, looking at the statue, he then said…

“That is a statue of….”

The thin wood door was ripped from its place, as it got kicked by the raid force that storms into the small temple…

The man shocked as he is being grabbed by force, and before he manage to speak, the butt of an assault rifle knocked him unconscious, with broken jaw, bleeding mouth, and some teeth that knocked out from his mouth…

His son scramble as he was shoved away, by a boot of one trooper. He screams and crawls to hold the limp body of his father, with dangling head, his bleeding mouth and broken nose leaves a trail of blood, as he is being dragged by his armpits by two of the raid troopers. Ignoring the party chief which stands before the altar, looking at the goddess statue with curiosity…

****

Murmurs, cries of unbelief fill the air as the troops moved away from the temple… They knew that it was impossible for that man to have that many hashish in the temple as the party chief shouts as they leaves the temple, they all know how humble that man is…

They know it was staged…

But there is nothing they can do as they saw the troopers dragged the man, and another troopers circle them with weapons pointing forwards, ready to be shot to any sign of resistance.

Just some women that hold the screaming,, crying boy back at the ripped door, blood of his father smeared his small hand…. All over his shocked face….

****

The last vehicle, which is an unmarked light vehicle, broke off from the convoy that headed back to the police station. It drove away towards a highway that leads to the city limit.

Driving the car cautiously, trying not to tract any unwanted attention, the party chief looking at the evidence box on the passenger seats. He could see the head of the statue, he know what makes that dark red color of the idol…..

****

“Do you understand your task?” asked the police chief, as he briefed him.

The party chief nodded to his CO, but he still feels uncomfortable because of the presence of those men…. He has no problem with the intelligent deputy chief…. But the foreigners? Their presence gave him pause.

Especially to the weirdest task he has encounter during his service.

****

What is so special about this statue?  He thought as he leaves the city, and found gravel paved road and drove his vehicle through it, up to the hill side.

****

The villa he arrived in is quite huge, made from protected endangered species of trees which he knows comes from evidence that supposed to be destroyed or meant to be auctioned. He stopped his car, taking the evidence box with him, sighing before leaving the car and knocked on the door.

He’s taken aback when a naked woman, only tiny apron covering her body.

“Come on in, sir… you’ve been expected” she said with naughty look  at him, turning her back on him, making him gulped a little as he saw the bare back of that exquisite body that walked as if she’s on the fashion show…

Damn, that’s why she is so familiar… He thought, as the notion struck his mind…

Yes that naked body that walked in front of him was one of the rising, promising young model on the country…

And the feast for his eyes is not finished just yet…

At the back balcony of the villa, overseeing the city beneath, he could see the five young girls, some of them were a rising actress, like the model that just escorted him. Two of them sit at the arm rest of the chair occupied by the heavyset foreigner, two with his partner.

The young model then comes and sits at the right arm chair of the intelligent chief, while on his left side, a promising soap opera actress, topless, only a side knotted lacy bikini covering the most private part of her body… He could see that she still a little embarrassed to have another man looking at her young delicate body.

The intelligent chief puffs his expensive exported cigar, then gesture the party chief to come close to him.

Ignoring the two foreigners, he put the evidence cardboard box at the coffee table in front of the intelligent chief, and then stands back to his position.

All three of them looked satisfied with the work of the man, who is now being escorted with that blushing young actress to the front door of the villa, with one briefcase on his hand.

For a moment he once again savor the beautiful almost naked body of the girl before the door closing in front of him, and he then drove his car again towards the city

****

I watch the news, honey… is everything’s okay? Asked a female voice on his earpiece as he drove his car to another secluded area… It was his wife who genuinely concern about the safety of her husband…

“I’m alright, my love…” he said, assuring his wife… “I just have some paperwork’s and debriefing to attend to….. I won’t be home tonight…. I’ll see you tomorrow…. Give my kiss to the child…”

He then kills the connection, tossing his earpiece and concentrate on the wheel, making sure he’s not being followed.

****

It almost past midnight when he finally entered the basement parking lot of the three stars hotel at the city, then stashing the briefcase full of money under the leg space of the passenger seat the cover it with some rug before he leaves his car…. Then he opened the gloves compartment and took a small bundle of cloth from it.

For a moment his eyes studied the old metal that shaped like a part of broken arrow head inside the bundle, that just this morning still dangling on the man’s chest as a necklace, before he yank it out from him as his troops take turn beating the man, and he remembered how he ends up playing this dangerous game that could cause him the life of both his and his family.

****

He was seating in his desk, doing his paperwork when he was handed an envelope by one of the officer at his station.

He was surprised by the messages inside…

I use this method so it won’t be traced.

I need your escort.

Meet me at this district tomorrow by 09.00, I’ll be hard to miss, and be sure to blend in.

You can do that, can’t you?

Said the letter which was typed so it would be impossible to trace the identity of the sender and the poor wording, definitely shown that the sentences come out from a translation engine makes the identification harder, since he could not tell if the letter written by a foreigner, or a local people that make the letter in English then translated them to make it poor native sentences.

Before he put it in the shredder…

****

Being a wife of a policeman sure has its drawback, like today, when regular families have a family time in a Sunday morning, but hers?

She has to force a smile as she looked at her husband wake up early, even their children haven’t wake up just yet, donning his plain clothes, kissing her forehead before leaving their house in a cab.

****

He went to the place the letter mention, and arrived there thirty minutes early.

Fifteen minutes before ten, when he is about to leave the area he saw a female foreigner, with large hat on her head but some grayish hair protruding out from underneath it, loose shirt and loose pants covering her body, a flat shoes that looks quite worn, a thick glasses on her face, carrying a shoulder bag.

“Get close to me, or you won’t last long in this neighborhood” he said as he closed himself to the woman who definitely started to attract attentions from the local people who almost never have a tourist come to their place.

After squeezing through the women, children, old men who begging for some money from her, they finally arrived to that temple.

He has to keep watching over his shoulder, watching the younger men who definitely have bad attentions towards the woman she was protecting, who is more concern on taking photographs of the temple.

****

“If you ever get involved in the raid, be sure you take this item with you, and delivered it to me directly” the woman said, showing the picture of the necklace worn by the caretaker of the temple.

Before he could ask for more, she stopped a cab, and then drove away, leaving him in shock.

****

Sighing, he closed the bundle, donned the hotel uniform he placed on his seat before he left his car and went to loading elevator that carried him to the kitchen, when then he use the emergency stairs and climb up to the floor he was given.

Carefully not to show his face, he pulls out a card he was given before then entered the room.

A moment he scan the room and then he saw that door, he opened it to find another door behind it. He knocks on it and waited a moment before he heard the door unlocked.

****

The woman still dabbing her wet hair when she let the man walks in the room and closed the door behind him, the smell of fresh soap still linger on her robe covered body.

“Did you found it?” she said, to party chief who stood before her, tiredness from the long drive showed on him.

He took out a small bundle of cloth from inside of his breast pocket of his jacket, and raises it to the woman who still dabbing her hair.

If he feels annoyed, he obviously has trained himself not to it. The woman didn’t take the cloth from him; instead she gave a gesture with her chin…

“Why do you want this…?” He said as he lay the bundle at the coffee table near the curtain closed window, and turn his body facing the woman who still dabbing her hair, now sitting in front of the dresser.

“Souvenir” she said flatly in her thick accent fills the room, as she comb her grayish blonde hair

He need more answer from her. Years of interrogating people, good or bad makes him want to get answer for what all this craziness that happened today. But he knows better to hold his mouth shut. Not only because a lot of high profile people involved in this madness, but also he knows whatever he does, this woman will never reveal anything.

For a moment not a single word echoes in the room, then the woman opened a safe below the dresser, and took out a small jewelry box and toss it to the man who catch it easily, and looked at the glowing diamonds inside before putting it inside the breast pocket of his jacket. That diamonds valued as much as the money in his car…

He nods to the woman and started to leave when she said…. “One more thing….”

He looked at the woman as she stood up facing him, the slowly opened the robe she was wearing.

No one would ever imagine that this morning that same women looked so dirty, tired, unattended…

But what now revealed before his eyes makes him aroused… Yes some of the aging surely show, but for a woman in her late forties, her figure topped even some of the younger women…

Good thing that he said to his wife that he was not going home tonight, because right now he has to give his best to match up with the insatiable appetite of the woman, who is definitely hungry after months of endless researches and need a deserving release that now she’s having….