Renji knocked out Dr. Frederic with the back of his gun, leaving him unconscious on the floor.
Back in the now quiet office, Renji felt his shirt being gripped. Turning around, he saw Eileen, her face pale with fear, her eyes vacant, as if she had lost her soul.
Her mother was the only family she had in this world. The thought that she might have been sold to the ‘cleaners’, those merciless people who had no regard for human life, filled her with dread. .
They would cruelly dismember their victims to sell their ‘parts,’ all while the victims were fully conscious, forcing them to watch as their bodies were taken apart.
Eileen collapsed to the floor, overwhelmed by the horrific mental images.
Tears rolled in her eyes. She was paralyzed by the fear of losing her mother, unable to think clearly. Deep inside, she knew she had to pull herself together, but she couldn’t.
She felt like someone drowning in a stormy sea, but at least she had a lifebuoy to cling to. She gripped it tightly, it was her only lifeline.
However, Renji first held Eileen’s hand, then detached it from his shirt.
She looked at him, bewildered by his ‘cold’ actions.
If even this lifeline is washed away by the storm, she felt she’d truly start sinking into the abyss, consumed by darkness, her body rapidly growing cold.
“Listen carefully, Eileen. If you keep acting like this, it’s better for you to go back to Brian. I’ll go find your mother alone; you’ll just hold me back,” Renji spoke bluntly.
“I…I…”
“And let me say something a bit offensive. The fact that Frederic could sell your mother for such a high price shows her value. To the ‘cleaners,’ she is not just ordinary goods,” Renji stated.
Renji’s words were like a cold shower, intended to snap Eileen back to reality. The stakes were too high, and time was of the essence. They had to act, and they had to act now. 𝘦𝑎.𝒸ℴ
“Moreover, Frederic mentioned that your mother was once a nun in the church and experienced your father’s miasma outbreak. The residue of Tainted Miasma inside her could be causing her current illness. The concentration of miasma could have reached a critical level. All these factors combined make your mother extremely valuable.”
“A nun deeply infected with Tainted Miasma,” Renji summarized to Eileen.
He wasn’t saying this to agitate her but to set the stage for his next point.
“High-value ‘goods’ are usually transported very carefully. And to maximize her value, they would need some preparation time. In short, all of this takes… time.”
“In other words, we’ve discovered this fairly early. It’s been less than half a day since your mother was taken by the ‘cleaners.’ It’s very likely she’s still alive and well.”
As Renji spoke, light returned to Eileen’s eyes. She nodded eagerly, grasping at this lifeline.
“You’re right, she’s still alive. She has to be!”
Seeing her spirit lift, Renji removed the watch from Frederic’s wrist and wore it himself. Then he instructed Eileen to find something like a body bag to wrap up the unconscious doctor.
After all that, he checked the time. They had about five or six minutes before the ‘cleaner’ Frederic had arranged would arrive.
“Eileen, I have a plan,” Renji said.
—
In a dark alley behind Dain’s Clinic.
A pickup truck was parked, and a man dressed in work overalls and a baseball cap was leaning against it, smoking a cigarette and cursing under his breath.
“That damn Frederic, calling me at the worst possible time. I was just getting to the good part with a girl, and he calls me out. If this ‘goods’ is of poor quality, he’s gonna regret it, I swear.”
At that moment, footsteps echoed in the alley. The man quickly put out his cigarette, opened the back door of his pickup, and prepared to receive the ‘goods’ from Frederic. They had done this hundreds of times before.
The stage was set for Renji and Eileen’s next move. The clock was ticking, but if they played their cards right, they could turn the situation to their advantage. And above all, they might be able to save Eileen’s mother.
However, this time was different.
As the man looked back, he saw a face he didn’t recognize walking toward him.
Instantly on alert, the ‘cleaner’ instinctively put his hand on the holster at his waist.
But then he noticed that behind the unfamiliar young man was someone wearing the uniform of a clinic aide, carrying a body bag on their shoulder. He relaxed a little but still remained cautious.
“Hey! Who are you? Where’s Frederic?” he demanded.
The young man in the doctor’s coat calmly replied, “He got tied up with something, so he sent us to make the delivery.”
“Screw Frederic and his lack of professionalism! Stop! Don’t come any closer. I only deal with Frederic. If you want me to take the ‘goods,’ he has to be the one to give them to me!”
As he spoke, the man was about to close the back door of his pickup truck and drive away. Being a ‘cleaner’ required more caution than other shady occupations. But then—
“Our ‘goods’ this time are very special. Just one look and you’ll love them,” said the young man.
This made the man hesitate. Indeed, earlier that day, Frederic had delivered a nun that turned out to be an excellent ‘product’ He’d made a good profit selling her, leading to his plans for a night out.
“If there’s something similar on offer, then…”
“Fine, let’s see what’s so special about your ‘goods’ that you’re so confident!”
Curiosity and greed got the better of him. He returned and unzipped the body bag, looking inside under the dim streetlight.
‘That… that face…’
“Frederic!!!!?”
And that’s when he felt the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed against the back of his head.
Along with the voice of the young man.
“Alright, you’ve seen the ‘goods,’ and Frederic is here in person. So now, can we proceed?”
“To make the delivery?”
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