Pools of Blood

Chapter 39

"Please don’t kill me! Please! Please! ", Rumi begged with tearful eyes.

"Your time is ticking. You better start", Jasmine yanked a handful of hair from his head and pulled harder.

He howled in pain and tried his best to shake free.

"One day a call came from Boss. We don’t utter his name. It's not allowed. Only Boss. That all. He said that a man was poking his nose into our business. He should be killed soon er than the man realizes it".

Jasmine came and sat down beside Khwajim and Mo Ang. She switched on the recorder just like she did when Woori confessed. But deep inside our hearts, we knew that recordings of confession are very unlikely to prove anyone guilty unless the man remains alive to be exposed in court. If the criminal dies before, the accusation party can sue us in the case of fake confession or corroboration of voice or a recorded drama act. That’s going to be useful only if we can keep Rumi alive till he is taken to court.

" Then? "

-" Boss gave us details about Alfred. Where he stayed. With whom. His family. Friends. Every one came under our radar. Alfred probably got a whiff that someone was after him. He probably deduced the figures and solved the equation long ago who our Boss was. That’s why Boss directly participated in his killing. That never had happened before. Every time only bio-data and photos are sent to us and we do the project in our own way. But this time- this time I don’t know why Boss took so much interest on one Interpol man."

Jasmine and I locked eyes and silent agreement took place between us.

"Continue."

-"I can recall one thing. Boss had said once about you".

He looked at me and stopped.

" What did your boss say about me? "

-" Well, he once casually flicked that he and you went way back from the beginning of the story of your lives."

-" What does he mean by that? "

Rumi shook his head. He had no idea.

-" Tell us more about Frank? "

He wanted a drought of water to satiate his parched voice. Khwajim handed him a glass and he gulped down all of its content in a single breathe.

Then rubbing his face with his bloody hands he began, " We are not allowed to question anything regarding our Boss. We are brutally trained into becoming contract killers. Nearly all of us are like this. Forced and pressurized into submission. He selects his goons who are already running away from police after committing some time, provides them safe refuge and means of sustenance, and then provides them work to do. If you deny it, he threatens to hand it over to the police. No one buckles up. I have been working under him for nearly two years and all I have known about him is that he is a maniac. He loves no one. Shows his face to no one. No one knows what his original name is or why and how he is related to FTH? He is one hell of a mystery man."

But we have deduced that part. We knew that he is the owner of FTH, thanks to Alfred and his diary. We also know that he and Woori have a thing between them no matter how casual or motive related it might be.

Rumi stopped. He looked at us with fear in his eyes. He probably knew, after Lenus and Woori, it was his turn to die. The boss always has kept his name and records clean and under no circumstances he would leave a stain mark upon him.

" Michael, come out with me for a moment", Jasmine beckoned me to follow her to the garden. I ordered Khwajim to look ut for the two handcuffed brothers and went out.

She was waiting for me beside the bougainvillea flowers. The rays of the sun were falling directly upon her face and her eyes looked tired and frustrated. No matter what we did, we always ended up in a gigantic Cul de sac. No way out. A deadlock at every turn we took.

She pulled out her pad and started to scribble.

"The first thing we need to do is to pull out our bugs as soon as we return to the city. But not in Seoul. I do have faith in the doctors there. One of them might be a paid one of Frank’s”

I nodded silently.

She continued scribbling.

“ What can you conclude from Rumi’s words ?”

I took the pad and wrote down:

“ Nothing except the fact that Frank knows me way longer than I Do. But how?”

Jasmine thought for a second and took the pad from me.

“ I think I can deduce one fact from this. I may be worn. And I want to be proved wrong. It's just something that came up all of a sudden.”

-“ What?”

She scribbled down and handed me the pad.

“ I think, you and Frank are related. Not because you two have the same title. But if you think carefully, his words indicate this only remaining option. Biologically or maybe in some way or the other, I think, you and Frank Ting are related.”