33 A Transaction I

The cold and mildly relaxing air seeped into my bones, through my leather jacket, as I sat on the wooden bench underneath the lit lamppost, the leaves of the trees surrounding the main walkway ruffling with the wind.

Young couples walked hand in hand with smiles on their faces, across the walkway, while some people traveled down it alone or with bicycles.

Some people were also seated on the field of verdant green grasses on my left and right sides, underneath or near illuminations with books, headphones, etc in their hands or on their heads.

The cacophony of the voices of the pedestrians and their soft footsteps, sounding everywhere.

As people passed by my bench, they either ignored me or gave me wary, curious, or weird looks, eyeing my outfit from top to bottom.

Ignoring all of their gazes, my eyes shifted all over the park and the walkway, scanning my immediate surroundings to find any trace of my uhm business partners.

It was eight forty. The appointed time to meet the agent was ten minutes ago but there was still no sign of anyone. Not that I didn't expect this but given the relative vulnerability of the site, I didn't think they'd take such precautions.

This was a common tactic for those involved with the Black Market, especially 'washing services'.

Due to the presence of law enforcement agencies on the site who could be posing as normal marketers, organizations or groups such as the one I was about to deal with had to employ some certain precautions.

And that involved minor things like this, being late or stalling for time. They'd deliberately be late to scout the surrounding areas of the meeting, scour various sources for any piece of information, and a whole lot about the client.

After all, no one wanted their hard work reduced to ashes just because they got involved with the wrong person. If I was them, I'd do the same.

This meant, they were already here, watching me, searching for any clues on me that would suggest any hint of compromise. Or even, any chance they could just get rid of me and take the money.

A regularity in this line of business and I wouldn't put it past this group to try the simplest way to make millions.

That was why I chose this location, most especially this particular spot. This park was small and open with wide uncovered spaces that didn't allow any hiding place to exist.

There were buildings or tall trees around also that would serve as a habitat for any snipers or gunmen and this was one of those parks that were active both morning and evening so there would always be witnesses or civilians around.

Plus, where I was seated was just in front of the main or only walkway to the insides of the park and it gave my eyes a wide obscured coverage area, allowing me to pick out anyone who entered into it.

If there was one thing I learned from my father, it was the fact that before you do something, you must think of every possible way it could backfire or go wrong so that you could increase your chances of success.

There were a lot of ways these people could screw me. And I wasn't exactly satisfied or fulfilled in this life to throw it away so whatever they had in mind, I had counters or measures set in place.

For one, my outfit. I wouldn't want them to find my identity now, would I?

There was either going to be a deal or no deal, there wasn't going to be any middle ground.

The moment there was any sign of things going south, then...some people were going to have a big case of insomnia...

My ears picked up heavy footsteps from my right so I turned to look there and saw a tall and buff man in a black trenchcoat, trousers, cap, and army boots, walking towards me with his large shaved head bowed down, his hands tucked inside the pockets of his coat.

I let out a breath to calm my nerves and dug my fingers into the fabric of my duffle bag that was laying on my lap, and shifted my eyes from him to watch my front.

It was time...

The man casually sat on the bench, on my right, and straightened himself so that his back pressed against the back of the bench. His black cap bent low to cover his eyes.

Silently, the wind occasionally whistled as it brushed against the leaves of the trees, both of us observed the civilians as they moved, my body tensing with my left hand sliding into the duffle bag to clutch my revolver.

Just as I was about to break the silence, he spoke, his voice gritty and deep, "Code."

"...." I whispered to him as the codeword instantly came to him, my fingers that were wrapped around the gun relaxing.

He nodded calmly and then stood up. Then, he turned his head to look at me, giving me a view of his eyes and face. He looked Slavic.

"Let's go. There's business to be done." He remarked, glancing at my duffle bag and my outfit, and then started walking away.

Narrowing my eyes at this, I stood up with the duffle bag handle held by my left hand and followed him, adjusting my shades with my finger.

Following behind him, my senses on high alert, we walked up the walkway, passing by joggers who eyed us suspiciously.

Judging by his words, it was likely he was just the carrier. Meaning, he was the one entrusted to take me to the business grounds. We were walking towards the nearest road, where the car or van was most likely parked.

Hopefully, no one would try anything funny during the journey...

We got to the sidewalk of the road and I saw a clean, all-black mini-van with fully tinted windows, parked in the apportioned space between the sidewalk and the road.

He turned his head to the side to give me a look and then strode confidently to the driver's seat of the car, picking a bunch of keys from his coat and opening the door.

As I paused a few meters away from the side of the car, scanning the car and the surroundings attentively as cars vroomed across the road, the skyscrapers looming towards the sky with heavy illumination.

He came to the side of the car, grabbed the handle, and then slid it backward, revealing the dark and empty interior.

He tilted his head to the left, gesturing for me to get inside, standing near the butt of the car.

Narrowing my eyes at the interior, searching for any clues of danger, I nodded approvingly when I didn't find anything and then stepped inside, settling on one of the hard metal horizontally placed benches that lined the sides of the interior. It smelled of papers.

He slid the door to a close with a bang, drenching the space with darkness, and then walked back to the driver's seat separated from the back with a vertical line of metallic barricades.

Unsurprisingly, the inner windows were also tinted, obscuring any view of the outside. Impressive. I wasn't dealing with kids.

As he entered and closed the door, he flicked something, and the back was immediately illuminated by lights attached to the ceiling.

He sparked the engine and within seconds, the car started moving. Wordlessly, the car drove, changing routes, taking unrealistic numbers of bends and intersections, and finally after close to thirty minutes, the car stopped.

Pensive, I activated my power as he opened the door to get down and pushed my hovering self back slightly to get my head outside the car.

The car was parked in a wide and dark alley littered with dumpsters, and bags of trash, and the ground had water running down it from an apartment building to my left.

I scrunched my nose at the rank stench as white smoke waved from an air conditioner fixed on top of the tall building to my right and pushed my head back into the car as the guy walked to the side of the vehicle.

There were no signs of danger....at least for now. And I had absolutely no clue as to where I was. It looked like these people weren't fond of any monkey business...

The door slid open and the guy nodded at me, his rugged and pale middle-aged face extraordinarily calm.

"We're here. Time to meet boss," He said and turned to step towards an old dark brown wooden door in front of us, in the building.

Clutching my bag tightly, I got down from the car as the guy grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. Just before he took a step forward, he turned his head to look at me behind him.

"Oh and remember, no funny business. We don't want to be bearers of bad news to anyone you know." He commented coldly, his black eyes unwavering and steely.

Staring into his eyes exuding unrestrained danger for a few seconds, I nodded seriously at him and his lips thinned, whether or not it was a smile, I didn't know.

"Good." He mouthed and stepped into the dimly lit passageway, his back, and shoulders straight.

I looked into the passageway for a few seconds and then sighed lightly. "Here goes nothing." I stepped into the building and closed the door behind me.

What could possibly go wrong?