Chapter 6: Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart

“What do you mean?” I asked, standing in front of my boss, Elijah Jonson. This balding forty something year old man with a definitely overweight figure looked at me with a pale expression on his face, reading through the folder I had handed him.

“What I said,” his voice had a strong tone of adamance behind his words as he continued, “We cannot let this info get out to the world.” He was sweating buckets, and had his head held in his hands. What was he getting so fidgety about? I mean, this kind of information is warranted to cause some sort of reaction, but this makes me think that he already knew of this. His main concern seems to be me knowing of this, I thought.

“Sir, isn’t it our duty as journalists to ensure that the people know the truth?”

“Are you dense!?” He screamed at me, throwing the folder at me, “You don’t understand shit about how the world works, you kid. They’ll be after us, if word gets out… And, they won’t just stop after taking our heads, they’ll go for our whole bloodline… We are done for if this gets published…”

He raised his head to look at me, his face contorted in rage, “You’re fired. Get lost. I do not need a watchdog who doesn’t know where to not stick his nose into. We’re done here.”

“Then I take it that I’m free to do whatever I please with my findings?”

He laughed, before he spoke, “What happens here on out is none of my concern, but here’s a word of advice from someone who’s been in this world for twice your time… It won’t end well. Not only will every trace of your findings be removed before they’re published, but your life will come under threat soon… Hell, it probably already is… Be careful lad, the ravens have eyes and ears everywhere. I’ll send in your paycheck before the 15th. Have fun without a job.”

—

If you thought being fired from the job was the worst that could’ve happened to me on that day, you’d be grossly mistaken.

As I walked through the dark alleyway in the outskirts of the Residential Area 22 that led up to the small apartment complex I lived in, I couldn’t help but take notice of the not so subtle graffiti in red spray paint against the brick wall that repeated the same bible verse as the note I had received the night before. “For the wages of sin is death.”

God damn it… Why? Why was this happening? Just after I had made up my mind… Just after I had made up my mind to do something about this… Just after I had finally found a purpose in my life…

I made my way back inside the apartment. It was clear that I was being targeted, and they didn’t even bother to hide that fact from me. But giving up wasn’t a choice for me anymore. I had already figured out so much, I had promised on Maria’s soul to let the people know, even if it was the last thing I’d do.

As I shuffled through the bills and spam mail dumped inside my letterbox, I found an unusual black envelope with red text printed on top of it that read, “From, L. Beiker”

Mr. Liahan had sent a letter to me? Or was this some sort of trap?

I hesitated for a moment, considering the situation carefully, but I decided to trust Mr. Liahan, and I opened the envelope. Inside, there was a letter that I pulled out and read.

Dear William Korspole,

I hope that this letter finds you in good body and spirits. I, on behalf of PRECIPICE, would like to extend an offer to you: one that’s unusual, even for us.

Join the agency. You can think of this as an excellent offer made by our higher ups after they’ve been made aware of your skills. However, bear in mind that refusal to this proposition means death. So you may think of this letter as equal parts an order.

Meet me at Central Park, by 8 AM at the latest on Monday next.

We shall consider the deal sealed once you place this letter back inside the envelope, and then set the thing on fire before chucking it out the window. That shall be the signal for our agent who is on standby, right outside your place. Of course, if you were to refuse the very same agent would be very much able to send a bullet through your head this very instant. Therefore, I’d advise you to weigh your options carefully.

With love,

Liahan Beiker,

PRECIPICE.

My hands trembled, my body froze in place, as I was done reading the letter… I mean, they didn’t really leave me with much of a choice did they? But this could be good, I thought. Maybe, I could gain their trust and security while I sneakily published the info… Regardless, this letter had opened up a lot of doors for me… Hah, who thought I would find a new job this soon after getting fired from my last…

—

I looked from a distance, my Steyr AUG A1 cocked in place and ready, when I saw William open his window and the burning piece of black paper slowly fell to the concrete road.

I disarmed myself, undoing the hairband and letting my hair free. I jumped down from the rooftop I had been camping at.

Ironic isn’t it, Han? I thought, Look at the two of us becoming what we’ve always hated

As I walked back home, memories started flooding into my head. The promise we made all those years ago.

“I, Han Xiaolei along with Jacob Islodo, swear today that we shall one day figure out everything about the unknown history of our world, and then let everybody know of it”

“Oi idiot, you’re being too loud and clear… What if they find out?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s only us. Nobody else can reach in here unless we let them in”

“Well, this does seem secure enough… But how will we even find out anything? We have zero leads and I can only imagine that we’ll get zero support for what it is we’re doing. We’ll make all of Precipice our enemy when they find out.”

“That just means we have to be extra smart and sneaky about it, right?”

Hah… I still remember his face from that day. It was just as stupid and optimistic back then as it was when he suggested his idea of recruiting William into Precipice to me.

Stupid men, and their stupid dreams… That makes three of us, William Korspole.

> To be continued

Author's Note:
Sorry for the shorter than usual chapter!! I got this done in like an hour or so. I've been struggling a bit with writing this novel.

Important announcement: I shall be going on break for a week. So, no more chapter updates for another 7-8 days. I'll be back with daily updates again, in a week's time. 
However, I have withdrawn from the contest, because there is NO WAY I'll be making it in time before the deadline. 

Also, I am not 100% satisfied with the quality of the chapters that I've published so far, and I might go back and rewrite some of them during this week off that I'll be taking. 

Thank you, once again, to everybody who has been reading the novel. And a very special thank you to my editor and proofreaders for doing God's work.