Pools of Blood

Chapter 25

"I wanna go with you guys", Jasmine pleaded to me as I got ready to go to get Woori from Gunsan. It was around a few miles from our place and to catch her before she got abducted by her Boss or probably killed.

"No Jasmine, you can't. You are not in a position to move without your wheelchair. Plus there might be a hustle. I won't be able to protect you".

She hung her face in gloom and started to sulk. I was helpless. I couldn’t have managed both her and Woori at the same time.

"There is one thing you can do Jasmine", Bo Chang said from the door. He was standing there without our knowledge and probably have heard everything.

Jasmine turned her mechanized wheelchair to face him.

"You can wait for us in our Base. And then I would leave that woman to you. You would have full authority on how to deal with her."

Jasmine looked at him with a mixture of shock and happiness.

"Are you sure about that?", she asked.

-"Absolutely. A woman knows better how to deal with another woman".

Her eyes flashed anger and she gave a lopsided smile. Something was going inside that small head of hers.

"Let's go Michael", Bo Chang strode off towards the car.

***

We were in civil dress, disguised and perfectly hidden from the number of people rambling around in the church. Since it was an undercover mission of Bo Chang, Angela, and I, we entered the holy place along with other guests in complete camouflage. I was dressed in a fancy French suit with a bushy beard and a fat mustache attached over my cleanly shaven face. A pair of thick-framed goggles covered my eyes. Bo Chang was dressed in a black apron, the dress of a priest of a church with a grey beard and shaggy hair, holding a Bible in his arms. Angela was a total knockout. She couldn’t decide what to wear and at last, she sneaked into the rear ante-chamber of the church where the bride maids were dressing up. She knocked one of them unconscious after luring her into the bathroom and took her place and dress.

I had never seen her in anything except black pants and formal shirts but that day she totally blew it off. A slit thigh turquoise dress with laces around her waist gathered together and high knee boots. A belt of glittering stones buckled around her waist and she had let her hair down which cascaded till her waist. A loud makeup of blue mascara and red lipstick covered her identity fully. She was wearing a flowery crown just like the other bridesmaids, who were standing clustered together waiting for the bride to emerge from behind.

I felt bad for the groom. He was standing on the dais waiting for his bride, totally unaware of her past crimes, unaware of what the future held for him. A good-looking young man he was, bright-eyed, curly black hair, tall and well built. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a rosebud pinned onto his breast pocket. A Rolex watch on his wrist said about his bank balance. He was smiling and talking with the priest who was about to marry them.

"Do you know the name of the groom ?" I asked Angela through the small microphone hidden deep into our ear.

-"No", she whispered. "Who cares about the groom? He is going to be shattered anyway."

-"I feel pity for him."

"Yeah. Me too."

- "Where is Woori? Did you find her?"

-"Yes. I found the room where she was getting ready. It was locked from inside. I could hear the voice of her seamstress."

-"Hmm okay."

At that very moment, someone nudged her and she stopped speaking to avoid curiosity 

-"How much longer do I have to wait?", I asked Bo Chang.

-"It's time I think."

-"How can you say so?"

-"Look at the father, arranging his ceremonial dress and the eyes of the groom trailing towards the door. I feel sympathetic to the boy. He deserves better than a criminal".

-"He probably is of my age, don’t you think so?"

-"Yeah. Maybe a year or two older than you Michael."

I was feeling cramped and my legs were stiffened, sitting on the front row of the church. Our pistols and other police accessories were safely hidden from view. Angela was shifting on her legs. She wasn’t used to wearing cocky dresses like that. I couldn’t understand why the dress code of the bridesmaid was like sluts. Although the guests enjoyed the view of half-clad girls, it was so obscene to look at!

I wondered how could a Woman . after helping in the r**e of another, fall in love with such a good-looking man and marry? Maybe the man was a rich billionaire and that was her ulterior motive. A luxury life, far away from her past. Maybe that’s why she probably had lured that man into the trap and instigated the marriage.

Suddenly the big ornate doors were opened wide and a young woman, in white off-shoulder pinafore emerged wearing a set of red rubies on her neck and a bunch of red roses in her hands. The organist started to play a beautiful tune. She was the same woman we saw on the monitor singing a Filipino song for her husband. Woori aka Alicia James. The third spoke of the wheel. The next in command of the mission is to exterminate Alfred and degrade Jasmine. That holy alter was not a place for daughters of Satan like her.

She walked slowly down the aisle with her weirdly dressed bride maids trailing her from behind. Angela looked at me. Our eyes locked and she nodded. Slowly from under her exposed thigh, she pulled out a small electric teaser and aimed it on Woori’s back.

"Woori. You are under arrest for committing the murder of Alfred Wang and supporting the r**e of his wife. Put your hands on your head where we can see you and do not move."