Alexander, Francisco and Victor were seated in a Alexander’s study. The three men looked so fresh one would not know they had just gone through a stressful period these past days.“What would you do now?” Alexander asked Francisco.“Well, something I should have done long ago. Probably put people to oversee some things so I can live the life I always wanted.”“What life if I may ask?” Alexander seemed curious.“Explore.” Francisco replied “I always wanted to travel round the world, go wine tasting, try new food, stuff like that. I actually have a bucket list”“No troubles?” Victor asked.“Not at all. No troubles.” Francisco responded, smiling.“Anyway, I would do the same if I was in your shoes” Victor said as he lifted his bottle of beer to his lip.“Maybe you can be” Francisco teased“How?” Victor seemed interested.“A change of name would do.” Francisco suggested.Victor turned to Alexander with raised brows like he was seeking validation.“Feel free. You are of no use to me…” Alexa
Octavio, a shrewd businessman who was ready to get involved in any business provided it wasn’t legal. He always thought legal was boring. Average height and bulky, his face was always clean shaved as he claimed it made him look younger. Legally, he was into the sales of modern artworks and ceramics. On the side, he ran a smuggling ring and underground sales of rare objects. His latest job was to source for a collection of rare artifacts for a buyer he often referred to as the Collector whom to Octavio, was a regular as they had done several businesses over the years. Octavio and his men waited patiently for their buyers. He pulled out a cigar and sniffed at it the whole time - maybe it was some source of inspiration, no one could tell. A couple moments later, a number of black jeeps stopped at the entrance of the trade venue. It was all dark as it was night already, so the vehicles belonging to both parties had their headlights on. A good number of men came off the black jeeps a
Kristine sat on the jetty and took in the environment. She had taken off her head scarf so that the mild evening breeze blew through her hair. The mood was great, the scenery was perfect. The dark blue waters met the light blue sky at a farther point. The waters were a perfect match to Kristine's blue eyes and her yellow sunflower woven dress fit perfectly in the background, making her presence a beautiful work of art. She watched as the mini waves hit the shores, a number of boats riding at a distance and surfers waiting for the bigger waves. But one thing that wasn't a fit in this environment was the voice the male voice she least expected. "Still on your bucket list of favorite places?" It was the voice of Darius her ex-boyfriend. A little over two months back and Kristine would had been overly excited to have heard that one voice. They were lovers for a staggering four years until Darius started keeping late nights and missing dates. It went on for many months and for each miss
The area of operation was large and teemed with workers in teams. Kristine came into the tent and dropped some map she retrieved from the jeep. “Hopefully this one turns out to be worth it.” “What do you mean?” Camille feigned as if she was upset. “I didn’t mean to upset her majesty” Kristine mocked and bowed. Camille began unfolding some maps. “It’s not like I forced you to come with me anyway.” “But then, what will you do without me?” Kristine asked and went over to hug her friend. Kristine loved ancient history and stuff that came with it. Although she wasn’t a collector, she wrote journals on historical and rare artifacts. She also did some papers on archeological sites and luckily for Kristine, her best friend Camille was an archeologist. Whenever she had a job that concerned something of interest to Kristine, she took her along. This was such a time. Camille’s team had been contacted after a ruin was discovered which was believed to have some sort of ancient artifacts.
An infuriated Octavio paced around his office. It was a well lit white-walled office in a large and busy warehouse. “I never lose- either in business, actual fights or anything.” he repeated continuously. “You already lost a few pounds just pacing around this little space and if you keep on with it, who knows?…you may take part in the next olympic.” Mr. Matteo, his lawyer mocked. There were a few giggles from the guards to which Octavio reacted by clearing his throat, causing everyone to revert to their serious looks. He sat in his chair and brought out a box of cigar. “So tell me, what's your plan, and how do you intend to execute it?" Mr. Matteo asked. “I intend to solve it like I’ve always done in the past. I’ll hunt. Him and maybe everything linked to him that breathes, recover my stuff and go on like nothing-” “Tsk tsk tsk.” Mr. Matteo waved at Octavio to stop. “Definitely not this time. This is someone equally or I should say, a little bit more powerful.” he sat back in his
It was already four days after they retuned from the trip and they were yet to speak to each other. Apparently, Kristine was the one facilitating the silence owing to the fact that Camille already left plenty of voicemails for her friend, who got them but never responded. And whenever she stopped by the house to check on Kristine, she acted like she wasn’t home.On one occasion Camille had coincidentally arrived at Kristine’s just as the later got home. And when she tried talking to her, Kristine went in and slammed the door in Camille’s face.But lately, Kristine felt the urge to call her friend. She had sort of a heavy heart and needed someone to rant to, but when she picked up the phone, a whole new thought creeped in. She thought of what led to where they were now, how childish she had acted towards someone who had been in her life a long time and even when they had fights like this, Camille always still showed she cared about her somehow.Kristine dialed into the phone and it rang
Kristine arrived at the location she agreed to meet Alexander, which happened to be a café. Built within a green area with sparse vegetation, it was designed to fit into the natural landscape. It was surrounded by pine trees and a stream passed by the east side. Kristine couldn’t have asked for a better location.Immediately Alexander set his eyes on Kristine, he was carried away by her beauty. She wore a flower patterned shirt short dress which hung just above her knee, revealing her hot legs.“Hi.” Kristine greeted.Alexander seemed to wake from a trance. He immediately got up from his seat, walked over to her and helped her pull out her seat so that she sat in easily.‘That’s gentleman of him. I’ll give him a pass on that' Kristine though while she smiled and sat in. “Thank you.” She said as he returned to his own seat.“I have to be frank, I thought you’d turn me down.” He opened up.“And I have to be frank as well, my friend edged me on. You have her to thank for my showing up.” K
Kristine looked at her wrist watch, they had been over thirty minutes on the road. It was at that moment she came to her senses and it dawned on her that she was being kidnapped, but then there was no blindfold, no cuffs, no gags, she wasn’t in the trunk. She was fully aware of her environment. She took quick glances at the men who sandwiched her, they acted like she didn’t exist. She tried to get a view of the driver’s face through the rear view mirror to no avail. When the driver noticed what she was trying to do, he adjusted the mirror so that it served the purpose she wanted. It troubled Kristine when she tried to piece everything together. Kidnappers were said to blindfold their victim so they couldn’t take note of routes or get clues about their identities. But these ones went against such rules and didn’t care if she noted their faces. ‘This is weird' she thought ‘maybe it’s a surprise’. In short distances the car made two stops and two Rudy looking men dumped two black bags in