Pools of Blood

Chapter 19

"I can never explain the situation, I went through. A numb sensation prevailed all over me as if I had been injected a gallon of anesthesia. They dropped my leaden body on a paddock, tied my hands, gagged me, and ripped open my dignity."

Jasmine paused. She was breathing heavily. Tears flowed faster and she clenched her fist to control them.

"You don’t need to explain to me the details. I can understand what you went through", I placed my hand on her hand to console her.

-"There was a woman among them. Being a woman herself, how could she accept the r**e of another? A bloody money-minded demoness she was!"

-"What? A woman? Can you remember what they called her?"

-"Woori".

Lenus had mentioned the name Woori. At first, I thought that since the names were provided by their Boss, so they probably overlooked the gender identified with each name. Woori was the name of a woman, but it never struck me even in my wildest dreams that a woman could be a part of this event.

Women are the embodiment of compassion and love. But when a woman partakes in crime, along with a man, she loses herself in the lures of sin. She turns a Lilith herself. A child of Satan.

"Hold on!", I said. "Doctor said they have found six samples of semen upon you. If one of the six is a female then-"... I was confused.

-"You have to listen to the whole story Michael", she replied.

I nodded. Things were getting weirder and weirder.

"I was lying on the paddock, half-naked in cold with nothing but a stream of tears trickling down. Not a finger I could move. I was nothing but a bag of stones for them. Or rather, you can say a bag of soft toys. Then one of them asked when would their boss arrive. This lady Woori was guarding the door. She called someone on phone."

-"Do you remember what she said or to whom?"

-"No. couldn’t hear everything. I was trying my best to keep my senses alert but the drug was wreaking havoc upon me. Everything was blurry and every word seemed like an echo."

I tried my best to imagine the situation but failed. It was way above my level of imagination.

-"After some time the main door opened and a man in a suit came in. his face was masked but his apparel revealed him to be working under some corporate service. Suit, pants, and tie", Jasmine continued. "He came in and kicked me on my shins. I couldn’t feel it but with every passing moment, my soul was cracking from inside."

"Did you call her husband?", enquired the suited man.

-"No sir. We were waiting for your orders", replied Woori. She seemed to be the one next in rank and position.

"Call that bastard! And use the voice makeover of this b***h. He is cleverer than you think him to be."

Woori nodded and activated the voice regeneration system of jasmine. She had already recorded her voice and was going to use it to lure Alfred into their trap. That was what she was appointed for.

She took out my phone from her pocket and dialed Alfred’s number. After a few rings, he picked up. Without even listening to anything, he blurted out.

"Jazz. I am sorry, Hon. I was trapped in my work and I didn’t even notice your calls before. I am on my way to get you from the hospital. So sorry honey. So where are you by the way? Is the operation done? How did it go?"

His voice was like ambrosiac to my ears. But neither could I move nor I could cry out to him. I was trapped in a dark place and he seemed like a light glowing too far away, in some another dimension.

"Shh.. shh... Jasmine, it's okay! We can continue this some other time", I reached out to her and held her hand.

"No Michael. I need to say everything. I need to pour out whatever happened that day. Maybe after that, I would have nothing to keep inside my shattered heart. I would be at peace.

Woori switched on the voice modulation system and very fluently she started to converse with Alfred in my voice.

-"I am still in my chamber babe. The operation went well. But I still have to go for a routine check-up."

-" But it's our anniversary today", Alfred protested on the other end.

-"I know babe. But you know how work is, right? I will be home soon", mimicked Woori.

All around her I could hear the men sniggering in silence. Her performance was marvelous.

There was a pause. No one could tell what Alfred was thinking. After a few moments, he spoke out.

"Who are you? Where is Jasmine?" His voice sounded angry.

-"What are you talking babe?", Woori tried her best to continue the act.

-"Stop the nonsense", he roared on the other end of the line. "I am asking you for the last time where is Jasmine?"

-"What has happened to you, Alfred. Why are you behaving like this?" Woori placed the final nail on her fake act.

" How did Alfred come to know that it wasn’t you, Jasmine?", I asked.

Jasmine pushed a lock of hair from her eyes and looked towards me.

"I never called Alfred by his name or a 'babe'. We followed a code for situations like this if ever arrived. Especially after Amiya’s death. Slowly we drilled ourselves into practicing it. We had to speak passwords on the door, like Harry Potter, and specific names on phone. He was my Aladdin and I was his Jasmine. I used to call him 'Aladdin', not babe not even Alfred and he called me 'Jazz'. No matter how much anger I ever been upon me, we never changed this."

"He must have realized from her way of addressing him as 'babe'.

"Yes".

"What happened then?"

" He shouted in rage and he asked where I was. When they didn’t answer him, he warned them saying, 'I am coming for her. Whoever you are, you want to get to me by this, or else you would have switched off her GPS location. So be ready. I am coming' ".