Chapter 2: The END…

With all these doubts in his mind, he left the boardroom. He knew this time he was done for; big time. Fully aware of his own inability to solve the problem, Monowi felt trapped in a deep mess. When all his thinking capacity seemed to burn out completely, he received a call from his old friend, the same friend who had helped him cheat.

His friend called Monowi to ask for a favor, he wanted Monowi to fill in as a replacement lecturer at the academy where his friend he worked. Monowi seized the opportunity, and asked for a return favor. Monowi then told him about his situation and asked for help.

After learning of the high stakes, his friend refused at first. But Monowi’s persistent pleas for help eventually softened him. He then asked Monowi to send the detailed logs and his access credentials to the server. Monowi did as instructed and ended the phone call, breathing a small sigh of relief that someone still was on his side.

After that day, time felt like a hanging axe poised at Monowi’s throat. Hours turned to days, and days dragged to weeks; yet no clue surfaced. With each passing minute, Monowi desperation grew. He kept pressing his friend to get the results, but the only answers he received were requests of “A little more time” and then there were delays gnawing him; pushing Monowi’s patience and sanity to edge.

After these endless delays, Monowi’s instincts grew restless, wild; even screaming at him to take matters into his own hands. He felt it deep in his bones, if he didn’t act soon, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

Monowi came up with a simple idea, to use social engineering, a term he became acquainted with when he was learning hacking. It didn’t require complex coding, and with his calm demeanor, he could blend in smoothly.

His personality merged with the shadows of others, small talks over lunch, quick glances at someone’s screen while casually passing by and greeting others. It took weeks, but little by little, his efforts began to show him results; or so it seemed.

Monowi sometimes felt as he was under constant surveillance. But he always dismissed it as paranoia or pressure of his current situation. One day, while casually chatting with HR team’s assistant, he glanced at the screen. The moment he did that, his eyes widened in shock at what he saw.

The HR assistant was preparing a list of former employees who had resigned from the company, but had been very successful in their roles while they were here. The purpose was to contact them for potential rehiring in firm’s future endeavors. What unsettled him was that in among those names, he saw a profile of his old friend; the very same old friend who worked here in his current role a few years ago.

That day, Monowi stayed late in his office, lost in his thoughts and doubts. He couldn’t understand why his friend was hidden this from him; or why he had resigned from this position, especially if the rumors of early employees leaving without any clear reasons were true.

In the same dazed state, he left the office. When he reached the parking lot, only two or three other vehicles were parked other than his. As he walked towards his car, the lights in the parking lot suddenly flickered and he heard the screech of tires. Less than a minute late, a minivan approached him, and several masked men jumped out. A sudden pain exploded in Monowi’s head by a blow of something hard on his head; and then everything went black.

When Monowi regained consciousness, he found his ankles and wrists tied. The sharp pain was still there in his head. He tried to utter something, but all that came from his mouth was gibberish. It took a while, to completely gain awareness of his surroundings.

He was in a large, desolate warehouse lit only by broken skylights and pale shafts of sunlight filtering through cracked glass and rusted metal beams. The space was filled with decay, peeling paint, broken crates; and silence that’s thick with neglect.

Time passed as he lay there, unaware of how long it actually had been. Then he heard footsteps approaching, as the sounds stopped, a man spoke: “You are awake!”. It flashed to Monowi, that this voice is familiar, eerily very familiar. It took some time, but when the realization came, it broke him.

Monowi, not wanting to believe it, gathered some courage and took a good look at those people. It was his old and so-called helping friend, with a very dark expression on his face standing in front. Beside him stood two dangerous looking goons in official attires, serving the purpose of his friend’s bodyguard. And then there was a shadow figure standing in the dark area behind, whose mere presence felt more intimidating than the goons.

Monowi’s friend broke the cold silence between them and spoke: “You know, you really like sticking your nose in other people’s business without any prior warning. Everything was going fine”. He crouched near Monowi and continued; “and you can say as well ‘As Planned’. And then came our guilt ridden Monowi, who wanted to clean up his trash but can’t even hold a broom elegantly.”

Monowi’s head, already throbbing with pain, started spinning after those words were fired at him. He couldn’t understand why his friend was acting like this or why was he in this precarious situation. The pain was clearly visible on his face, though it was just as clear that it was not from his head; but due to his heart.

Still trying to find his grounds, Monowi spoke: “Fehrraht… I didn’t know you were this cold. I thought we were childhood friends; that’s why I trusted you to watch my back.”

Fehrraht smiled sarcastically, the smile soon twisting into a laughter. When he finally stopped and composed himself, still wearing that same sarcastic smile, he replied with same mocking tone, “At this rate you will make my belly churn, please stop fooling around”.

After hearing those words, Monowi’s expressions shifted from confusion and pain to sadness and regret. Standing in front of him, his friend seemed like a man he had never known in his life. Yet his bewilderment didn’t end there, because the more he tried to understand the situation the more tangled it became in his mind.

Fehrraht’s expression turned into a serious one as he said: “I never wanted to drag you into this, but you were the perfect pawn for this job. Well… that is the part that I underestimated. And now I actually feel sorry for you.”

Monowi interrupted is a shaky voice: “I just asked a favor… I never wanted you to do all the work while I took the credit”

Fehrraht: “Oh really! From the beginning, I have known you as a selfish person who is just constantly running after his dream in confusion, without taking the risk to follow the proper directions, to get what he wants.”

Monowi took a slow, deliberate breath: “You are right… I am selfish, that’s exactly why I am never going to forgive you for the rest of my life”. With those words, he somehow managed to free his feet. Summoning every ounce of his courage, pushed himself up and tried to bolt.

But before he could move any steps, Fehrrahts bodyguards violently lunged at him, slammed him down on the floor and started kicking and punching his body. During this struggle, his gaze flicked where he finally caught a glimpse of the face hidden in the darkness.

It was the same old man from the board room. Old man realizes quickly, that his identity is not a secret anymore, comes in the light and takes Monowi’s attention and says:

“It seems you’ve found me. I never thought we would meet in such conditions, but it seems our meeting was fated in such a way.”

Then the old man’s gaze turned towards Fehrraht and then again toward and continued: “You know, your friend here is an old confidant of mine”. With a lazy flick of his finger, he signaled the bodyguards to stop.

Bruised and struggling to breathe, Monowi fixed his friend with a glare. “Why… why would you betray me for this old timer? Why?”

Fehrraht: “Monowi today let me confess something. I never liked you even back then; when we both orphans were taken in by poppa. I always struggled and worked hard for everything, while you were carefree only fantasizing about your dreams.”

Fahrraht expressions darkened before he continued: “You never knew how poppa died, and how much pain he was in. He knew you were different and always was at your side to support you unlike me.”

Fehrraht then looked at old man and continued: “This man here acknowledged my struggles, and gave me a chance to polish my skills and myself. He made me realize, how much potential I have, and successfully turned me into his subordinate. I have no regrets for what he made me do, because now, I regard him as my father... more then poppa”.

The old man spoke snidely: “Since we are on confessing, I have something to add too. Monowi, I was the one who got you the job, I saved your skin in the boardroom and told Fehrraht to call you at just the right moment.”

The old man took a little breather, "I was the reason, that your position remained vacant for such a long time. But this time... your friend here had such high hopes for you. Nevertheless, life is not what we expect it to be".

Then with a grin on his face, the old man continued: “And last but not the least, the rival company that had won the project is my son’s proprietary. And… I am the one feeding them information, and you know no one doubts an old man who has been around when the foundations were laid.”

Monowi stared at the two faces before him; one he had called a friend, the other a supposed saviour; trying to make sense of the rot that bound them together.

The old man: “You have learned too much of our little secrets, your survival is a threat to us.”

The old man then turned to Fehrraht and gave him the nod to finish the job, and walked towards the dark area, from where he came.

Fehrraht knelt down in front of Monowi, took a knife out of his pocket and stabbed him two to three times in quick succession while looking upwards, maybe waiting for some retribution. He then stood up again, and said his final words to Monowi: “I am sorry! But you left me no choice…”. With this, he followed the old man’s steps and disappeared in the darkness along with his bodyguards.

This was the same condition in which he was at the start. All this time, when the old man was talking and then Monowi being stabbed, he was thinking, that maybe – maybe still there is some hope left in his old friend, but he was proven wrong.

The last words he muttered were: “Please…please don’t leave me like this please, I want to live…”.

Time lost all meaning. Pain gave way to a dull ache, then to nothing at all. His body went still with sensations fading. His mind slipped under. And finally… there was only blackness.