Morbolfr’s bedside phone rang. He grumbled and groaned. Picking up the phone, putting the receiver to his ear, said, “Krone here,” and waited for the caller to speak.
“Liberty Park 4 am the red bench near Donton’s Memorial today.”
That voice drove the sleepiness right out of his mind. He sat up straight in the bed as the caller hung up.
‘Shit!’ He knew that voice. This voice promised a horrible day.
He turned on the bedside light. 2:45 in the morning. Moving quickly was a matter of utmost importance now. If his contact called this early in the morning on his private phone the situation was urgent.
Clothes went flying through the room. Morbolfr stuffed his house key, wristwatch, and wallet into his pockets, grabbed the car keys, and just like that, he was on his way.
Liberty Park wasn’t far, but that didn’t make the drive any easier. If his time in the trade taught him anything, then no good news came from that source.
Donton’s Memorial stood as overbearing as it ever stood. It was overlooking the pond that lay perfectly still under a thin layer of ice. His breath condensates in the air. Being too early wasn’t always a good thing. Knowing his contact, however, he wouldn’t have to wait long.
“You do not have a lot of time,” A voice behind him said urgently. “Someone delivered an extremely damaging exposé to us on Monday evening. Can you imagine? There might be a murder today. A hired hit if you will. Does anything come to mind on that front?”
Morbolfr paled a bit. ‘A rat?! In my house?’ “Tell me EVERYTHING.” His voice was low and even, but his mind was racing.
“Somebody sent us photos and voice recordings of you and your men planning something. Since I know you, I knew the evidence we just got would get you and your entire crew into prison IF I didn’t call you. The job is supposed to happen today. I assume you don’t have much time to fix this. That’s that. At our next regular meeting, I expect a big thank you. I believe this goes well beyond our arrangement.” The man behind him turned to leave, then stopped. “Now, I do not know if that is relevant, but they also handed over a stone bowl. It seemed like someone burned things in there.”
Morbolfr let the man walk away while he processed the information. A single vein on Morbolfr’s temple started throbbing. His men didn’t do that. None of them would dare take an ancestral relic of his family and hand it over to the police.
‘Then who?’ Morbolfr hurriedly walked away from the meeting spot. He looked at his watch. Three hours to inform his men on the issue. A plan formed in his mind. There would need to be a few adjustments, but overall he thought he could still turn this around.
Running back to his car as fast as possible, Morbolfr had to reach a pay phone and start making personal visits. The who would have to wait for another day. Only one thing was for sure; it wasn’t the authorities themselves. From now on, there will need to be a more secure method of arranging things. He had been too reliant on his arrangements for far too long. Morbolfr needed more distance after he weathered this storm.
Ravela got off the bus. She had 5000 dollars on her to buy two cars for her upcoming work and projects. Humming a happy tune, Ravela walked through a street in outer Pliada City known as the Industry Mile. Snaking along the river, it was home to many warehouses and factories. Among them were plenty of car salesmen. Their lots are always packed and ready to sell.
Wandering into one of the many lots with price tags on the windshields was the most uncomplicated feat. Trying not to get immediately pulled into a neverending sales pitch was a different monster altogether.
Three salesmen had already offered to show Ravela around the lot, find her the perfect car, show him the newest models, and tell him all about them before she made it down the first aisle.
After a while, she was finally left alone. Browsing the car section in peace was a welcome change.
She spotted a pickup truck in a mat red color. Its bed was big enough to transport a good amount of material. This would be perfect for her project. Now she just needed a car she could drive to work. Something inconspicuous, maybe a bit modest even, would be great.
Ravela walked through the lot until she spotted a model at a reduced price. It looked older than the others through its form. Less colorful than the mint blue or red and orange cars.
The metallic dark green almost shimmered black. Round headlights in chromed frames, a thick bumper, and a white rim on the tires gave this car a bit of an older model flair. Its white steering wheel somehow contrasted oddly with the seats. It looked to Ravela as if someone had installed this white steering wheel to modernize the car’s looks somewhat but didn’t invest in the seats, which left the greenish seats not mashing well with the new steering wheel.
But Ravela didn’t mind that. To her, this looked ideal. It would give her the appearance of someone that isn’t of much status or wealth. Ravela had wanted a car that would allow her to get around without raising eyebrows, at least for work.
Having found her desired cars she found one of the salesmen on her own. She didn’t negotiate much, but she got the salesman to agree to have her new pickup truck delivered to her property.
“So, 3003 Duck Road, Core Valley. Do you think you can get it there today?”
The salesman pursed his lips. “I won’t be too bold and say we get it to ya house by tomorrow, but as a bonus, it will be without scratching or bumping it because we were in such a hurry. How does that sound?”
Ravela grinned as she stood up, “Works for me.” She shook the man’s hand and took her new keys and paperwork with her.
“Alrighty, then let's put on the provisional plate and you can take your new car for a spin through the city.” The salesman said while passing her and guiding her to her newly acquired vehicle. “Please, visit the gas station down the road. There is enough gas in the tank till you get there, but I am afraid that’s as far as our generous establishment can provide for you after purchase.”
Ravela nodded her agreement. And after a few moments of adjusting the seat and mirrors, drove the car off the lot and straight to the gas station.
When she got out of her beautiful new car at the gas station one of the pump workers came to her and said, “Good morning. How much should I fill in?”
Ravela smiled broadly, “Fill her up. I just rolled out of the dealership. I’ll be inside and get some blueberry pop.”
The gas station was small, but there was a coffee machine and a soda station behind the register. She ordered pump three and her beloved blueberry pop. While the worker filled her car, Ravela took her time to enjoy the sugary prickling soda inside the station.
She couldn’t wait to get to know the city a lot better. After all, Ravela had many new goals in life. Some of which would take a lot of research before she could get to work on them.
Finishing her blueberry pop, Ravela returned to her car. Sticking the pump worker with a five-dollar note in passing.
She drove off into the inner city. It was time to do some shopping and Ravela couldn’t wait to find some minor things for her new home. Way up on the list were some drawing utensils to map out her plans properly.
While driving through the inner city Ravela saw a bunch of blue lights flashing past, behind her, in her back mirror. She wondered what would get such a tremendous police response. Searching for a good spot to turn the car around, Ravela decided to check out what was happening.
After all, why not? Now that she was independent of bus drivers.
Sirens were blaring and howling through the highrises of Pliada’s inner city. Konno Namon left Kennaja Bank with a case full of his family’s war chest for their projects in this city. He pulled his hat deeper into his face, as police cars swarmed the street. Gem Grinder Street was usually one of the safest places to conduct your business. Something big must have happened for the police to disrupt the peaceful day of this district, and Konno wasn’t sure he wanted to be here for the conclusion of their business.
A nod to his driver and righthand man was enough of a signal. They ignored the frantic police and slowly steered through the chaos. Leaving for their headquarters had just become a priority.
When they drove off, Konno saw two men from the swaddy families held up by the police officers. It looked almost comical with a bunch of armed officers pointing their guns at two swaddy men carrying a wedding cake. One of the men made eye contact with him, and despite the man looking away quickly Konno realized at that moment that he was their target and that this cake was nothing more than a facade.
It had been clear for a long time that their northward expansion was a thorn in the sides of the swaddy families, but Konno now knew that their recent setbacks had driven his opponents to order a hit on him. He had thought them too preoccupied with their mess.
How wrong that assumption was he understood in that split-second eye contact. “Ramori, you didn’t take your eyes off this car for even a moment, right?”
His driver locked eyes with him through the back mirror. “Not for a second, boss.”
Konno relaxed a bit upon hearing that. He had to take more precautions from now on. More guards, different cars, and most importantly not leaving the headquarters as often. Years had passed since their family had lost almost all operations around Ulundi, but with the recent troubles of the swaddy, Konno had every intention of bringing back proper structure to Pliada and later Ulundi itself.
Rooting out the swaddy would be his next goal and his father had given him broad permissions to operate.
He barely set up their business in town, and the swaddy wanted war already. And war they would have now. Knowing that the police were on their case gave Konno a good idea. He planned on hiking the pressure from the police on them by arranging certain incidents near their businesses.
They had chased his family out of town, they had cost him so much, and now they thought their troubles would end with him in a box. They should have considered themselves lucky that only he came here to take revenge, for now, anyway. Once he thoroughly secured the foothold the rest of his family would follow to retake their hometown.
“Drive back to Clipper’s, but take a long way around. I want to steer clear of any trouble. We will move up our plans. I want to meet with the bikers today. Casal, call Tombo when we get back. There is an opportunity to be seized here.” He looked out of the window pondering how he could distract his competition to the point that he could move uninhibited. A few ideas came to mind the first thing he’d have to find out is how the police of all people knew the steps of his swaddy foes.
Them becoming competent was the last thing he needed for his family’s return. He would get to the bottom of this, and once he did he would turn this situation in a way that would nail those swaddy rats to the wall. Konno smiled, this time it would be them doing the chasing out, and he wouldn’t stop till they chased them out of Pliada City and Big Ulundi.
*Ding Dang Dong*
The bell promised Safora’s liberation. She jumped up and got stopped by the teacher saying, “The class ends when I say it ends, Safora Pontis,” in his usual professorial warm and a tad cracked voice, “I believe I said so many times already… mhmm yes, indeed.”
Safora liked the teacher but hated the subject. Slumping back into her chair she wrote down the homework. Mr. Grambell was costing her miles in the cafeteria line, she would die for some food right about now.
“Alright, class dismissed,” The gray-haired old man finally showed mercy.
Safora wasn’t even the first to make it to the door since she held back on her powers.
“Mrs. Pontis, a moment of your time, please.” Mr. Grambell flagged her down just when she almost made it out into the hallway.
A sigh escaped her lips as she walked back to her teacher’s desk. Inwardly she was pulling out her hair. She felt hungry enough to bite someone, and if this wasn’t important she just might.
“What’s up, Mr. Grambell?” Safora asked, hoping her stomach would grumble loud enough to remind the teacher that he was interrupting her lunch break.
The teacher slowly sat down in his chair. “Mrs. Pontis, I’ve been talking to other teachers and found that your recent climb in grades is consistent across the board. Normally I would have only praise for your newfound appreciation in my class. I can, however, not help but worry. I know some of the teachers tried to encourage you to seek counseling, but you seem to shrug off their well-meant advice.” He looked up through his thick round glasses. “Many wouldn’t take their two-time brush with mortality and invest their efforts in academic pursuits. While not an unwelcome reaction, it is not good to bury yourself in books instead of talking things out with a neutral source. Not that I wish to lament your newfound vigor in my physics class, no no.”
Safora huffed. ‘This again.’ If she were at all like her cat, Mrs. Fluffles, her hair would stand up right now. “Like I told the other teachers, it is because I got so much more free time after quitting sports. As for your class, maybe you’re just finally getting through to me. You, adults, are looking too deep into things. Now, Mr. Grambell, can I go? My lunch break isn’t getting any longer.”
Mr. Grambell raised a doubtful brow at her, and for a moment it looked like he would say more on the matter. He shook his head after a moment of consideration. “Ah well, the recklessness of youth. Fine, go forth and get your deserved lunch.”
Safora was out of the door as soon as the teacher finished his sentence running after Laena desperately hoping her friend saved her a spot in the line. She was positively famished.
Outside the school building, she took a few minutes to reach the school cafeteria, and Safora was almost tempted to run just with a little bit of her power to get there faster. The cafeteria was already overrun by students. The lines reaching the door there was precisely zero chance that she could just walk through all these kids to join Laena without getting the stink eye.
Safora sighed usually they ate in one of the not-so-packed cafeterias, but recently Safora and Laena craved a lot more food than before. She stood in the back of the line, starving. Getting back to her dorms she resolved to spend some of her allowance on snacks and chocolate. She thought about calling her father to ask for more money just because she felt ravenous all day. Secretly, she pinched her belly to check if she had gained weight. To her delight that wasn’t the case.
The line had moved forward a sliver, while she was distracted, and Safora groaned at the snail's pace.
