Him
It has been four days, twelve hours, twenty-seven minutes since I last saw her leave through my window. My heart has been breaking at the thought of her hand in another’s; but that part of me is not what I fear.
I fear what my demon will demand me to do once I get a hold of her again. Will I be able to be the gentle flirty guy? Because even the thought makes me want to laugh.
No... She’ll have to face her fear in the same way as I’m facing mine.
But even with all the havoc that she has wrecked, that has fucked me up for good, the progress that we are making is sensational. We have tracked down at least twenty different telegram channels, three suppliers through the dark web. One of who is going to be in town for the weekend. Another party in the outskirt, woods they said; discreet and loaded with a shit ton of cocaine.
Despite working day and night, I haven’t been able to stop myself from drowning in booze and weed. That is the only way to keep me stable and in working shape now that she is gone.
But not for long my love, I promise.
All I pray now is for her is to fucking test me, so I can let loose the leash that’s keeping me from tearing her apart.
My mind keeps drifting back to her; I believe the alcohol is not working. So, I pour myself another; right before I am about to drink, a hand halts me midway.
“What are you up to?” I see Black standing beside me, towering over me like I’m a little boy.
I never was a little boy, ever. Gritting my teeth, I say snatching the glass from his hold. “Can a man not even drink in peace?”
“You have nothing better to do than drown for a woman, who doesn’t even like you enough... Forget that, who doesn’t even know anything about you in the first place?”
“She likes me enough. And even if she doesn’t realize just how much now, she’ll do eventually.” Aggression and pain are clear in my voice, “She loves me. It’s not her fault if she doesn’t know what she wants...”
“Listen, I’ve never seen you like this.” He sighs eyeing me up and down with a look of concern, “Either let her go, or do something about the situation. Just don’t waste yourself away like this.”
That’s why he’s my best friend... because I know what he’s trying to talk me into. He knows me more than everyone else after all. Even though he does not know about the type of relationship I am sharing with my muffin, but he knows me too well to have an idea what lengths I could have gone, and what lines I would have crossed.
We know each other’s levels of moral corruption and the devil knows how good we hide each other’s tracks.
THE DARK POCKETS BENEATHmy eyes, is a telltale of how long I’ve been working continuously. It also talks about how well my buddy took advantage of the situation to feed me all kind of intoxicants to boost the productivity level of my brain. It’d be a shame if he didn’t take account that he was in fact, the one to introduce me to smoking and joints, marijuana to be specific. And every time it’s been to get me out of trauma and in working shape.
But he hit the jackpot when I agreed to do whatever he wanted me to; that’s when he introduced me to about all types of drug samples that we normally seize and destroy. He keeps a sample of each one for conducting narcotic examinations on our preys. This time around I was the prey, because I don’t know how many different things I licked, sniffed and smoked in the past two days.
Turning to the computer screen, I wait for the server to redirect and connect to a final IP before I can dial into the number, we procured from the chat conversation last night. Kraken is supposed to be taking this call, and he seems more than ready with everything set in place. For security purpose I connect the customized voice modulator I made for each one of us a few years ago.
When this shit goes down tonight, we’ll have names...
At exactly twenty-three hundred seven, I dial up to connect to the number via the address that I created about two months ago when Kraken first started chatting with this guy.
@lonerider266 – Hello there, you in?
@trippytripp057 – Hey!
@trippytrippy057 – Yes, I’m all set.
@trippytrippy057 – (typing...)
@lonerider266 – Don’t worry about the vid. We can do the audio.
I simultaneously send a link to join the call, making it look like he must be the one doing it while chatting with the guy.
@trippytrippy057 – I hope there’s no tracking code attached to that. Because I’ll already be dead before I’m caught.
@lonerider266 – I specified that last time. No tracking. Both sides. You won’t find me and I have no interest in finding you. Just gimme the details about the crack.
@trippytrippy057 – Okay. Gimme two.
The voice call appears exactly two minutes later; and the voice on the other end is a of a man. Unmodulated.
Just an ordinary one like he’s about to chat about home and kids. And it’s good for us because we have been tracing the route to this guy’s IP; so, the clueless he is, the better.
By the time my friend is done talking, we’ll be done tracing the IP back to where this call is being placed from. Black and me have been working like this since school times, and it is safe to say that we’re about unstoppable when we work together, regardless of the difficulty level or how time restricted the task is.
“So... How did you get into this business?”
“People like doing weed a lot where I’m from. They used to make me deliver and receive packages with stuff back as a university student. One of my friends and I got involved with a dealer once, started off drinking and smoking weed together; slowly worked our way up. Then he got murdered because he wanted to leave. I had no choice; I did not want to end up like him.”
“How much stuff do you have in possession?”
“We usually don’t keep much in possession until an order is received. That’s when the top gets the package delivered to us and we take it to the customer... but I still get to keep a kilo of coke and about six of cannabis for urgent orders. Normally don’t keep heroin or ecstasy until an order is received.”
“Do you use it on you?”
“Sometimes. In the beginning we used to party. Me and my buddies used to fuck with it, play around, party. Just abuse it... But that’s not how it is anymore.”
Sounds like a lie to me.
“But you never got caught?”
“Nope never.” He pauses, “One of my buddies did get caught once, his bitch of a girlfriend caught a gram of heroin in his jeans pocket when they were fucking. Made her suspicious. He was bought out of the sentence, only to be killed later on.”
“So, these are dangerous people you’re working with?”
“Yes. Extremely. They’ll kill you in a heartbeat.”
“Then what made you come out? Why are you telling me these things?”
“Because I have a family. And if I’m going to hell, I am not dragging them with me.”
“Meaning you’re here to seek help?”
“Maybe... Look, I have a daughter, and I don’t want her to end up where my wife did. Because she is already deep down the hellhole ever since the day... ever since the day they found out about her.”
Why do I sense this has more importance than the issue we have at hand.
Kraken continues, “Your wife is working with you?”
“Sort of...She happens to work with them in getting women.”
“Women?” The blood from our faces is draining fast. “For what?”
“To drug and rape; and make movies. Don’t you know how fast the porn industry is growing? The demand is immense and they are looking for fresh faces.”
All three of us shoot each other a dreadful look. This is new; none of us anticipated about this new arc the whole conversation has deviated to.
“Who are they? Do you know who your wife is working for?”
“I don’t exactly know who she’s working for... but she used to be called by the top who used to supply the packages to me.”
“Okay. And what about your daughter? Does she live with the two of you?”
“No. The day they started summoning my wife without my consent, I decided I needed to move her out of the city. Thankfully my wife agreed. However, she is supposed to get two women for them and in return they would stop tracking down our daughter; they’ve been threatening us ever since we moved her out.”
“Where is she now?”
“I should not be talking about this right now. She’s safe where I’ve kept her. But I’m afraid this woman will do anything to find her out even if she gets her replacement.”
“Woman? So, the top a woman?”
“Yes. That’s what I’ve heard by my supplier. I haven’t seen or met her, so it could or couldn’t be true.”
“Okay, where do we find rest of the stuffs and when?”
“The remaining crack is coming by the end of next month. By what I’ve come to know, the stuff will be smuggled and distributed via a drug fest in the name of a social event.”
“What kind of event?”
“I have no clue about it... perhaps if I survive, I’ll be able to bring in more information for you.”
I gesture him to wind up.
“That’s all! I’ll get back to you by the end of next week.”
The line disconnects, leaving behind the four of us stunned; sitting in silence for the next two minutes processing the stuff in front of us.
When we created this group first in college, the drug problem was a huge one and all of us had in some way or another dark history with the same. At the time, we were only a group of college students getting together to break the supply in the university; but it soon escalated to focusing on the underground operation of this chain as a whole, one area at a time.
The alleged side businesses should not have been our subject of focus; but now when we have the issue served in front of us, the only way is diving deeper into it.
“I’ve got the real IP.” I break the silence.
“We’ve got the real IP...” Black, the manchild retorts beside me... Like I have any business stealing his limelight.
“Are we done with the immaturity Black?” Kraken growls.
Black rolls his eyes when Hades glares at him to shut the fuck up.
I am listening to all the conversation silently to process the current events with a few of my personal observations, but I can’t speak until I have enough evidence. I have a feeling; my baby did good to take a break from this place for a few days; that’ll give me enough time to reorganize the situation back to livable here.
My mind begins drifting from the issue before me to devastating curves and life-threatening contagious smiles... Focus back here, asshole. I can day dream about my sweetheart in peace later on.
Kraken’s thick voice helps me back to the moment, “Can you two, look into it? Trace it back... we need to find him.”
“Yes. We can do that. I’ll get back to you as soon as we find a lead.” I speak before Divit can crack some stupid joke about it.
We disperse soon after deciding we’ve had enough for the night. We actually did a good progress with that conversation; it’s going to be crucial in the next raid. But I have a feeling this raid is going to be life changing for each one of us; and I have an especially bad feeling for me. I hope it’s not as bad as I think it is going to be.
BACK IN MY ROOM, Iquickly run in the shower and change for the night. I’ve stopped going back to the apartment since she left. I don’t quite like it here as well, but that place, that place has memories painted all over.
I’ll go back once I get her back there.
At least I can hear their conversations via the chip I placed in her cell phone. I rewind and hear the same monotonous conversations between her and her friends family... all the same. Then something catches my attention... She went shopping with her would be.
He is not her would be... I am. But that’s something she doesn’t know yet.
She went out with him to get an engagement ring. And God! this guy has some crack in him to insult his would-be fiancée in front of others.
She’s not his would be. She is mine.
But he is still roaming around with her making her feel all guilty for a fault that’s not her begin with. The bastard!
I login to my PC and start digging. Abhay Verma; age thirty-one. Job – check. Schooling and University – check. Family background – check. Social standing – check.
But then something catches my eye... Criminal records – Once caught and released in a drug abuse case at some rave event. Interesting! I feel a sudden spark.
Just what I was waiting for... one reason is enough. And I laugh wholeheartedly after quite a long time.
I wish I could tell you right away, muffin. You are coming back to me.
I’ll have a happy sleep tonight.
New Delhi, I’m coming back.