offer(8)

Offer

A green ball rolled into the hall on the side of the table. A man wearing a black button down coat stood up and smiled with satisfaction.

“It’s not that bad,” he said as he touched his black hair. “I guess I’ve improved a bit.”

A man with white suit sighed and looked away. He had brown hair and he was holding a long piece of wood.

“Who cares…” he said. “Billiard is never easy for me, so there you go and play.”

The man looked at the table and noticed that there weren’t many balls left. There were only a red ball, a yellow ball, and a black ball.

The eight ball.

“The eight ball is still there,” another man said. He had a deep voice and he was holding a shot glass. “If you can put it in the corner hole, I’ll give you a glass of this fine whiskey.”

“I don’t like whiskey,” the man with black coat said. “Just drink it yourself…”

He then smiled and looked away.

“But I’ll score it anyway.”

He took another pole from something that looked like a hanger for poles. The man with white suit sighed again.

“My, always that pole.”

“I just like this one,” the man with black coat said. “This is kind of interesting.”

The other man drunk up his whisky, then he turned to the man.

“Interesting…?”

The man pointed the pole towards the eight ball as he closed an eye to get some accuracy. He could see his target hole very clearly – as if it has been waiting for him.

“Camelia sinensis is dead,” he said. “So this will be a whole lot easier.”

“Yes, but still, that girl isn’t,” the man with white suit said. “She can be troublesome at times.”
“I’m not worried about her,” the man with black coat said. “As long as I can score in my eight-ball, everything will be alright.”

The other man poured some of his whiskey – a 12 year-old Chivas, into the shot glass.

“And who will be that eight-ball…?”

The man smiled as he struck the ball with his pole. The ball rolled slowly, then it got into the hole in the corner.

“Why do you ask…?”

•••

0800 hours

“Morning.”

“Morning,” Anthony said as he wrote something. William looked around and sighed.

“Those people aren’t here today…?”
“Looks like they’re doing some kind of hunt or something,” Anthony said as he kept writing. William looked at him for a while, then he sighed.

“It’s odd,” he said. “Usually you don’t do office works, and isn’t this quiet…”
“This isn’t!”

William smiled as Anthony crumpled the paper and threw it into the grey dustbin. The paper fell right into the bin, then Anthony took another paper.

“Now, that’s Anthony,” he said. “What are you doing, if it’s not an office work?”

Anthony looked up to William, then he sighed and looked away. William noticed that his friend blushed a little.

“That…”

William kept looking at him for a while, then the blush got brighter and brighter. Anthony sat down again and started writing again.

“My,” William said as he put his bag on his desk, in front of Anthony. “Looks like I will be the only one who’s single very soon…”

“Noooo, it’s not that…” Anthony said as he hit the desk a few times with his fist, showing frustation. William saw a chance, then he quickly took the paper from Anthony’s desk.

“Wat, Will…!!!”

William turned his chair away to make sure Anthony didn’t take the paper again.

“To my…”
Anthony walked to William, then he tried to take the paper again. William simply turned his chair everytime Anthony tried to take the paper from him, not giving him a chance.

“Scribble, then you corrected it with ‘To Miss Huang, with love…”
William put the paper back to Anthony’s desk and smiled.

“From Anthony with love…”
“Will…” Anthony said in an annoyed tone. He took the paper, crumpled it again, then he put it into the dustbin again.

“Global warming,” William warned. Anthony shook his head hard and sighed.

“Why don’t you just take your morning coffee…”
“I drank some espresso last night,” William answered as he opened his bag. “I’m supposed to be taking caffeine once a day, but yesterday I took twice when I met a friend. So today I’m not taking any.”

He took out a can of tonic and put it on the table.

“So I have to drink this today,” he said as he opened the can. “Want some?”
“No, after you ruined my romance life,” Anthony said. “Geez, why must you come this early…”

“Better safe it somewhere before the boss sees it,” William said. “Or you’ll get a good deal of lecture.”
“I’ll just have to buy him ice cream, then,” Anthony said as he took another paper. He took his pen and started to think again.

“By the way, somebody dropped a letter for you this morning. I put it in the first drawer,” he said. “I don’t know who he is. He looks a bit too tidy for a postman.”
William opened his first drawer and noticed a white envelope there. He took it and noticed that the envelope was blank.

“He must’ve wrote this, since there aren’t any address or stamps,” William said. “How does he look like…?”

“A young man, with brown hair,” Anthony said. “He was wearing a white suit – that makes him look a bit suspicious…”
“People dressed in white are always taken as suspicious, except for women,” William said. “Because they’re trying to look very good, as if they have never commited any sin…”
William turned the envelope and tore the envelope. He took out the piece of paper inside and saw a few Chinese writing.

“My, how should I write it for her…”

William kept looking at the Chinese writing. He drank his tonic slowly as he read it carefully.

好久不見，小安。。。可能你不認我了？

我也但心我不能認你。。。但我想我需要見你一下。。。

我有東西要告訴你。。。

所以， 小安。。。 不，他們叫你 William。。。

等下十一點，有人來接你。。。

(Long time no see, Xiao An… Maybe you can’t recognize me anymore?

I’m afraid I can’t recognize you as well… But I think I need to see you…

There’s something I have to tell…

So, Xiao An, no, they call you William…

Later at 11, someone will pick you up…)

William looked down to the bottom right corner, but there weren’t anything that could be used as a signature there. He sighed and out the paper on his desk.

“Will…”

William turned to Anthony, then he smiled.

“Something I can help?”

Anthony leaned down to the desk and held his head.

“Can you teach me…?”
William looked at him for a while as he sighed in his heart.

“Try for yourself, damn…”
“I don’t write such a thing to Tracy,” he said. “Haven’t we told you we met in the library…?”

“Then, how come you two got along so well…” Anthony protested. “I’m jealous. You met such a pretty girl and she simply fall for you…”
“No, it’s not that,” William said. “When I was in the academy, I went to the library often, and she also went there for something like everyday…”
“I don’t care about that,” Anthony said. “How do I get a chick for myself…”
“Is that Rebecca even a chick?” William asked. “Find someone normal. You might get killed if you date a policewoman…”

The door suddenly flew open. Jason walked out of the room, holding a white paper cup.

“William…” he said as he tilted his head a bit. “Come here, please.”

•••

“Are you surprised not to see those people here today?”
“No, not really…”
Jason spooned some of the ice-cream that looked like pink balls into his mouth.

“Is something wrong, sir?”
“No, not really,” Jason said. He looked at William for a while, then he ate the ice-cream again.

“Have you read that letter…?”

“Yes. It told me to go somewhere at eleven.”
“Are you going, then?”
“It depends.”
Jason sighed and looked away.

“Give me a certain answer.”

William nodded - then he bit his lower lip as he thought.

“Do you actually know the person?” Jason asked. “If you don’t, don’t go. This might be a trap.”

‘Ke neng ni bu ren wo le…?’

“The person seems to have known me for a long time, sir,” William said. “But I can’t really remember…”

Jason sighed again, then he nodded and leaned back. He opened a drawer and took out a piece of paper and a red square glasses, then he started reading.

“It’s up to you, then,” he said as he wore the glasses. “Last night, a girl was found dead in an alley near Waterloo Road. We took a sample of her blood and matched it with our database, and…”

He lowered the paper a bit so he can see William, then he smiled.

“Her DNA was very similar to yours,” he said. “The only similiarity you can get if two persons were from the same parents…”

William could feel something choked his throat, but then he gulped and nodded. Jason smiled in satisfaction, then he read again.

“She was found around 2300 hours last night by a group of students…” Jason continued. “From her blood, we presume she died around 10 in the morning…”
He put down the paper and smiled.

“Do you happen to have a long lost sister…?”
William could feel that something choked his throat even more, then he coughed a few times, to clear his throat, and smiled.

“If I do, I don’t know.”

Jason could feel something inside him felt annoyed. William has been saying the word ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I don’t remember’ today. That wasn’t like him.

“Why are you so forgetful today…?”

“Sorry, sir.”
Jason sighed again, then he slid the paper to the front.

“And your apartment was exploded yesterday, around that time,” Jason said. “Do you think there are any connections?”

“There’s a possiblity that they’re moving in a group,” William said as he took the paper. “One will kill that girl – whoever she is, and the other will try to cause some kind of terror…”
“Will they pose a threat?”
William lowered the paper and noticed his boss wasn’t looking at him with a very happy face. He put the paper to the table again and smiled.

“I think so…”

•••

William stepped out of the building and looked around. He looked at his watch, which read 11 o’clock. He looked around again, but he only saw a few people walking around – mostly women carrying things.

“It should be just a joke,” he thought as he glanced again at his watch and saw that it has turned into 11:01. He sighed, then he turned back and walked in.

He could suddenly hear the sound of a machine. He turned back and saw a black Suzuki Swift slowed down in front of him. He sighed as he turned back again. The car stopped right in front of him, then a piece of glass moved down, exposing the people in the car. He could see a man wearing a white suit inside. He was the only one inside the car, and he was smoking.

“Ah, you’ve grown,” he said as he took out something of his pocket. He looked at it for a while, then he turned to William and smiled.

“Hop in, kid,” he said. “It’s up to you where you want to sit, but I think it’s better for you to sit at the back…”
“Before I go with you, who are you?” William asked. “And why me…?”
“Hop in to find out,” the man said as he smiled sarcastically. William looked at him for a while, his heart filled with anxiety, but then he nodded.

“But let me warn you.”

“That you bring a gun or whatever with you,” the man said. “Hop in, hop in.”
William could feel something stopped his heart suddenly, but then he bit his lower lip and opened the door. The man pressed the cigarette to a metal ashtray on the dashboard as William closed the door.

“Where are we going…?”
“Somewhere.”
“Where is that somewhere?”

“You don’t have to know…”
The man turned back to William as he took out another cigarette.

“Do you have to come back at a certain time?”
William shook his head as he looked out. The man lit the cigarette with the car’s lighter and smiled.

“Let me introduce myself,” he said as he started the car. “You can just call me Steve.”

“I don’t care,” William said. “This will be the last time I go with you to that somewhere.”
The so-called Steve man turned back to William and smiled. William was looking out with a sour face.

“Well…” he said. “I’m afraid it won’t, after all…”

•••

“Boss.”
The man could hear a car’s machine roar became louder as a footstep became louder as well. He turned back and smiled.

“Well…” he said as he could hear a ship’s roar. “This is going to be kind of interesting…”
He smiled and turned back again. He took out a cigar and lit it.

“I’ll be there shortly,” he said. “But I’ll make sure they don’t wait.”
He turned back and started to walk. He threw away the cigarette to the sea, and it floated for a while.

“That kid must’ve grown…” he said. “That’s awful. Just at the time I thought I can finally escape.”

He could hear a slam – the sound of a door closed harshly. He turned back and smiled. Another ship just left the harbour.

“Kevin.”

He turned back and saw a man wearing a white suit was standing there. There was a man wearing a black police uniform standing behind him. He smiled and took out another cigarette.

“Good…” he said. “Leo may leave. And Cancer may leave as well…”

The man with white suit nodded, then another man with blue suit walked past the man and walked away.

•••

“You sent that letter?”
“Not precisely.”

The man poured some liquid from a big red ceramic bottle into a red plate-like glass.

“Wine…?”

“Police can’t drink when they’re on duty.”

“And policemen are always on duty huh…”

He smiled and poured some of the wine to William’s glass.

“It’s fine to relax, once in a while…”
The man pulled away the bottle and smiled. He put the bottle in the middle of the table and smiled.

“You remember me…?”
“What I remember is we met when I was a kid.”
“Before it started?”

He took out a small piece of paper from his pocket and smiled.

“My,” he said. “I must’ve aged.”

“Just tell me what you want,” William said. “I have to go, quickly.”
“My, really?” the man said. “I just think I need to tell you something.”
He took his glass and smiled. William looked at him with a disgusted look, then he looked away. A big, red ship, left the harbour as some smoke puffed from its chimney.

“Isn’t it a bit frustating?” he said as he walked to the edge of the steel stand. “It’s noisy when a ship leaves the harbour every few minutes, even on holidays…”
He spitted out the cigarette from his mouth and and smiled.

“You have the right to kill me,” he said as he looked back. “But you don’t. Why?”
“Don’t get it wrong,” William said. “I can kill you if the topic isn’t interesting.”

Kevin could feel something choked his throat, then he turned back and coughed a few times.

“So, I have to make it as interesting as I can,” he said as he spitted the cigarette again. “Let’s talk about Camelia first…”

William looked up to him as he could feel something inside him became uneasy.

“You know something…?”

“More like my men has cleared the scene before you came,” he said. “It was simple. Lau’s men killed her…”
“Who is Lau?”

‘That woman you gave the seat to.”
William felt his heart almost stopped.

“What…?”
“How do I know?” Kevin said. “Is that what you’re going to ask…?”

He turned back to William as he took out a pipe from his pocket and filled it with some leaves.

“I can tell you just everything you want to know,” he said as he lit the leaves inside the pipe. “But still, not for free.”
William bit his lower lip in frustation as he could feel his head heated up.

“As I expected…”
“Why don’t you work with me as your payment,” Kevin said. “That’s one simple deal. No lives gone, no money wasted. Just some brain and…”

“Do you mind if I ask you just one thing…?”
“No,” Kevin said as he put the edge of the pipe into his mouth. “But, only one question.”
William looked at his own reflection on the wine, then he sighed and took it.

“Who killed Camel…?”

He poured the wine down to the sea, and the water he poured the wine into turned a bit red. A few waves then washed away the colour.

“You’re going to take a revenge…?”

“Not really.”
“I told you, it was one of Lau’s men,” he said as another ship left the harbour. “But to be quite precise…”

William put the glass back to the table and walked away.

“Ariel Zhou,” Kevin said. He turned back to William, who has left the place. He sighed in disappointment as he poured some wine to his own glass.

“You don’t want to kill Darren?”

“Not now,” William shouted. “At least.”

Kevin watched William’s silhouette became smaller as he smoke again. The man wearing the white suit appeared and walked to Kevin.

“Is it alright…?”
“Of course,” Kevin said with a smile. “He’ll come to us soon.”

The man frowned, feeling that something wasn’t in place.

“When is soon?”
“Guess.”