Stevie Hires Jennifer for a JobIt had been almost six months since the last time Jennifer finished a hit job. She needed to work soon since she was running out of money. She had belatedly found out that women needed a lot of clothes and accessories to maintain their beauty, and some of them didn't come cheap.She was waiting on Stevie, who had told her earlier there was a new job that required her special set of skills. She had gotten a tidbit of the job the other night in Waste, but he was too drunk to convey it. He had told her to get together again later today in their usual meeting place to discuss its entire breadth.The meeting place was in a secluded eatery near Banana Hammock Avenue, formerly Taft Avenue of Old Manila. It was a one-time school canteen of De La Salle University, once a prestigious school in the Colony, now closed forever. It was a broken-down establishment that served the cheapest grub an ordinary resident of Neo Manila
Who Is He? Chief Church took pride in that he was always one step ahead of anyone else. It was a natural talent honed from his strict upbringing by his parents, who were religious zealots. As a child, religion, particularly Catholicism, was forced into Chief Church's young mind, who barely even understood its concepts. He was taught how to pray the Rosary by his mother, who had a penchant for whipping him with a belt if he made a mistake in one of their marathon praying sessions. He was taught all the intricate rituals and soon grew to love it. His father was an old-fashioned Southern gentleman who espoused antiquated beliefs that had no place in the present, like racism and white supremacy. All of these made an impression and instilled in young Mathias' consciousness, thus warping his sensibilities. He became exceedingly self-righteous and used this heady mix of knowledge to become successful in his station in life. All of these were especially useful in his work as the Chief of
Significant Progress Zeke and Trevor had made substantial progress in digging the escape tunnel from their makeshift hut towards the outside prison walls. Due to the arid environment of the island, the soil offered little resistance, and they were able to dig with relative ease. They made sure to install wooden planks on the inner sides of the hole at particular points where pressure was the weakest. They had to be strong enough to hinder potential cave-ins. They were too busy in their excavation and forgot to watch their backs from curious parties who could potentially blow their escape plan wide open. One was Andy, the proverbial prison snitch, who was more of a nuisance than a direct threat. The worse thing he did was to make weird faces as he stared at them whenever they encounter each other. The other was prison guard Sgt. Bruce Wang, who had a scope and a long-range rifle, and unbeknown to them was watching from afar. Andy still updated him on the various occurrences in the
Bad News The Secretary glanced at his watch: it was ten minutes to six in the evening, almost time for the local evening news to begin on TV. Stevie had texted earlier to watch a segment about the supposed assassination of a particular thorn on their sides: Chief of Staff Matthias Church, their boss. Secretary La Selva was anxious and also excited. He was fully expecting success in the assassination plot that Stevie had concocted and will finally get to breathe a sigh of relief. He switched the TV on, clicked to the local news channel, and waited with bated breath. He was anticipating it to be the top story since the Chief was boss among bosses in the Colony, and any news concerning him was always treated as a big deal. But the first news segment was about the inflation crisis affecting the Mother Country and its colonies. It talked about an increase in crime, widespread poverty, and food shortage but no mention of anyone assassinated. Hmm, that's weird. Maybe it will come up on
Jennifer's New Job Jennifer had found new employment as a hotel maid in an ultra-exclusive five-star hotel called Olympus. Stevie had pulled some strings and gotten her this stint. She had been working for three weeks. At first, she wasn't used to doing manual maidservant work since she had grown up blessed with affluent privileges. However, she was a quick learner and mastered the job immediately. Olympus Hotel was the location where the Higher Echelons and other top Colony brass came together and have meetings. They would also bring their families, and once the business was over, use its amenities for relaxation and pleasure. The hotel has everything enjoyable on its premises, which included a shopping mall, movie houses, a swimming pool, a bar and dance hall, and a few restaurants. They usually resided and remained in the penthouse and had everything brought up to them. There was only one way in and out through an elevator using biometric thumbprint authentication, which was en
Going Up the North Tower While Trevor and Brother Jomar were taking care of the other essentials to facilitate the escape, Zeke was preparing himself for the difficult task he was about to do: infiltrate the Valley's defenses, go up to one of the towers, and operate the GPS on the smartphone. The goal was to look for exact directions to navigate the boat to the closest inhabited island where they could find their way home. Brother Jomar had said that the only way for a prisoner to go up on one of the towers was in a circumstance that a particular convict had died, got injured, or became sick. It meant they had to feign an injury or sickness of some kind to be brought to the prison infirmary located at the north tower. The best scenario was to be sent up due to a medical ailment. Pretending to get an injury might be risky, and get shot in the process if it was discovered as fake all along. It had to be regarded as a real condition to merit acceptance from the infirmary staff. By sh
Following Breadcrumbs In times of need, Secretary La Selva discovered that he didn't have anyone to help him in the Colony that he could trust. He knew many people he came into contact with in Waste, but he regarded them as acquaintances only. Stevie was the only one he considered a close friend, even though he constantly belittled and made fun of him. Stevie's supposed death made him feel guilty, but only a little. He was more concerned about the possible fallout that might happen and if he might be implicated. The only thing new for sure was this: something fishy was going on, and he had to find out his role in this conspiracy. To begin his inquiry, he wanted to call someone, but he didn't know who to contact first. As he was considering his next move, the phone on Stevie's desk opposite him rang. He stood up to answer it. He picked up the phone and said: "Hello? Who is this?" "Hello? Can I talk to Secretary Jorge La Selva?" "Yes?" "I'm a reporter for Channel 5 News calling
The Escape Night arrived, and it was time. Zeke checked and double-checked the necessities to facilitate their escape from the Valley, and everything was accounted for. He had asked for a small compass from Brother Jomar to calculate the information from the GPS and navigate their way to the nearest island. He patted it in his pants pocket. The only thing left was to steel their nerves and follow through. They needed to make two trips each to bring everything in the tunnel towards the awaiting boat at the harbor. They divided everything in two and tied numerous bags and gallons of gas together to make for easier delivery. Zeke went into the tunnel first. He tied the stuff to each other with one end on his right foot, went down on all fours, and slowly crawled and dragged along. It took longer than usual to move in the tunnel and lug the load. As he arrived at the other end, he was out of breath. He popped his head out to check if the coast was clear, and it was. He carried all the