Early next morning, the half-awake John sensed a strange aromatic fragrance. When he tried to move his body so that his head could stay away from that smell, his leg hit something on his side. John was startled awake and opened his eyes. He found an enchanting stranger’s face in front of him. He promptly retracted himself from that female body, but his elbow hit someone else behind him.
“Ouch,” another female shrieked from his back.
John sat up right away, and was astounded by what was before his eyes: three naked strange females were lying in the same bed with him.
He jumped back to the floor, and screamed, “Who are you?”
No one answered, but all three were looking at his body and laughing. John then found that he was naked as well. He grabbed the bed sheet and attempted to pull it from under those three females, but he could only get it moved a few feet. John grabbed the edge of that sheet to cover his private part.
When he was just about to question them again, John heard the sound of door opening. He turned to look at the door, and saw Dick walk in, who apparently was almost choked on the stench in the room and reflexively fanned his nose with his hand.
“What are you doing here? How could you get in this room?” John shouted at Dick.
“I am sorry, John,” Dick apologized. “I was knocking the door, but heard you were shouting inside. So I decided to come in to see if anything wrong in the room.”
John didn’t notice that Dick only answered his first question because he was not pay attention to Dick’s answer at all. He turned to those three women, “Get out! Get out of this room!”
Dick picked up the clothes scattered on the floor to the women.
“You leave here as well,” John stared at Dick with his blood filled angry eyes.
Dick helped to cover the women with their clothes and then went out with them. John locked the door after they all left the room, and dropped the sheet that he used to cover his private part. The little amount of the fresh air he breathed at the door helped to refresh his faculty of smelling. He almost threw up at the mixed smell of alcohol and perfume plus body fluids in the room after the door was closed.
John ran to turn the air conditioning fan to its maximum speed, and then rushed into the bathroom. He turned the shower to its maximum volume, and stepped into the tub. He grabbed the bottle of shower gel, and squeezed as much as possible the chemical slime onto his body. Starting from the lower part of his body to his head and then back to his legs and feet, John covered his complete body with the gel and then rubbed his body with hands as vehemently as possible. John wanted to get rid of any single cell or any single organic molecule from those women off his own body.
About half an hour later, John walked out of the bathroom. He went to open his luggage case and picked out some exchanges. Right after he put on the underwear and the pants, the mobile phone on the sofa started to ring. He went to grasp the phone from the sofa, and answered the phone immediately after he saw the photo of the caller on the screen. It was Alice.
“Hi Alice,” John called her name over the phone. But there was no response from the other side of the phone.
“Alice, Alice, … ” John called her name several times, each time louder than before. “Are you there, Alice?”
After half a minute’s silence, the other side hung up the phone.
John started to dial back right after Alice hung up the phone, but he was interrupted by the alert of the arrival of a video file on the phone, which was followed by a line of text written by Alice, “Disgusting! We are finished!”
John opened that file, and it was a typical x-rated sex movie with himself as the protagonist playing lubricious games with those three females; but he could not recall when and how he acted in that movie at all.
“I must’ve been drugged last night,” he told himself.
~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The previous evening, after he left the study of General K, John went to the banquet hall of the Palace with the Captain of the Palace Guards, and joined with his own team and Colonel X there. Although he had already been half drunk when he left the study, he had some more wine in the banquet. But that much alcohol would not have completely knocked him down. During his career as a salesman, John had experienced much worse situation when he over-drank during business trips, but the worst happened to him was just throwing up what was in his stomach. His brain had never been really hit by alcohol bad enough to get him lose his mind.
However, the half-drunk status could have caused him to lose vigilance when someone was trying to play nasty tricks on him.
“Something nasty must have happened in that banquet,” John told himself. He could not even remember when the banquet ended and how he came back to the hotel. There was not any bit of memory in his mind when and how he got to bed with those three females, but one thing he could be sure that they must be some AHs from the Palace. The only logical explanation was that he was drugged during the banquet and then sent back with those females.
Then a more scary idea came up in his mind, “Tom and Dick must be all part of this. Otherwise, they could have stopped the plot. Especially that youngster Dick! Why did he come up to my room in such an early morning without first calling me by phone? How could he open the door?”
“Why?” John kept asking himself this question.
But very soon, he was warned by the instinct of an experienced professional salesman, who had to make quick decisions when facing all kinds of tricky and nasty situations, that he must completely calm down. He must think.
John realized that it was the most critical moment in his life, not only because that he was in the most remote part of Earth, ruled by a vicious warlord and far from the civilized world, but also because he could not expect support from anyone, not his own team or company, not even his own wife back at home. Anything, or the worst thing, could happen at any moment, and thus he would not have much time to waste. But before he could make any plan or decision, he needed to have a better grasp on what was going on first.
He reclined on the couch, laying his head on the back of the couch and looking randomly at the ceiling, while his mind started to scan through all the scenes of the past two days. He needed to pinpoint a sign that could lead him to the solution or at least a hypothetical solution to the whole puzzle. But his brain was too slow, the aftereffect of alcohol or whatever drugs that he was poisoned with, and there were too many things coming up that he could not focus on anyone. He closed his eyes and furrowed his brow in an attempt to get his mind focused, but it did not help much. He was just sitting there and the time went by.
“bzzz~ bzzz~.”
It’s the sound of his mobile phone indicating some messages coming in. John picked up his phone and saw a message from his secretary back in K Corp, “Please quit your activity in the Republic of New People. Tom and Dick will take it over. You are no longer entitled to take the corporate jet so that you need to take the commercial airlines back home.”
John did not respond, and he did not intend to make a phone call to ask why. He knew that everything had been set up and no use for him to say anything. Now it became a pressing task for him to figure out how to get out of that country. But on the other hand, the fact that K Corp even bothered to inform him that he was no longer in charge of the business mission implied that, at least, Steve was not informed of any plan to physically eliminate him on this sequestered island. Considering that both General K and Steve belonged to BMA, it meant that General K would not let his men to get rid of him, so he might be able to get out of this country safely.
He exhaled a long breath and said to himself, “That makes sense. If they wanted to get rid of me on this island country, they could have just made an accident, they don’t need to waste so much effort making the video and sent it to Alice.” But that sense of relief only lasted a few seconds, because he knew that what was awaiting him could be even worse than the threat of the immediate death. The worst part of the whole thing was that he had no clue of what was going on.
While his mind was wandering without any clear idea about what happened and what he should do, his finger was randomly skimming on the phone. Accidentally he touched some icon, and John noticed the change of his screen content. He glanced at the screen and found the call log page was on the display and the name of Sam was in the list.
“Maybe he could help me a bit or at least tell me what is going on,” John thought. He looked at the timer on the phone, and it was 8:00am. “Sam might have already been in his office.”
John decided to give him a call right away. His finger almost touched the callback button beside the name of Sam when he put the phone down on the couch. He looked at the landline phone on the dressing desk and decided to use that one.
John walked to the dressing desk and picked up the landline phone. But then he could not remember the number of Sam. Instead of going to grab his mobile phone, he opened the drawer and found a notepad and a pen. After tearing a piece of paper from the pad and grabbing the pen, John walked back to the couch. He copied the phone number of Sam from his mobile phone, and then he went back to the dressing desk. John didn’t really know why he did that, but he felt safer by doing it.
John picked up the landline phone and dialed the number of Sam.
“Hi, this is Sam. Who’s calling?” Sam answered the phone.
“Sam, it’s me, John.”
“Oh … hi, John,” Sam sounded a bit surprised. “How are you?”
“Hi Sam, I am leaving today. Just want to say goodbye to you before I leave.” John did not say what he intended to say.
“Really? So quick?” Sam’s tone was cold.
John didn’t answer the question.
“Are you done with your business here?” Sam continued to ask.
“Yeah...uh…I guess I am done with K Corp… I am out.” John could not help slipping out the truth.
“Really? That’s too bad,” Sam did not sound much surprised.
“I just wonder if you might …” John was hesitating what to say.
“Listen, John,” Sam interrupted him. “I am very sorry to hear this bad news. I wish I could do something to help you. But unfortunately I am on my way for something very urgent at the factory. I wish you a good luck and have a nice trip back home.”
“Sure…sorry to bother you. Bye” John hung up the phone.
“How could I be so stupid?” John asked himself.
The sense of being insulted by Sam was instantly superseded by the excitement of discovering the key to the answer of the question that puzzled him a moment ago.
“It must be Sam,” John told himself. “He was already an expert on illegally peeping into the life of others more than 20 years ago. How could I forget that?”
John now recalled that on the premise of the New Generation Factory, Sam pretended that he would be busy the whole day, but when Colonel X was just about to tell him something about BMA, Sam called in. Now it became clear to John that Sam was watching him all the time when he was in that factory, or maybe even since the moment he stepped onto the land of the Republic of New People. Maybe even the meeting with General K was watched by Sam or someone from BMA from the beginning to the end.
When the idea that Sam might be watching him all the time came to his mind, John could not help standing up to look around the room. But he could not see anything suspicious at all. After a few minutes, John gave up the effort of finding any bugs that might be installed in the room because he knew it would be beyond his technical capacity.
“Who cares?” John said to himself. He was sure that his room must be bugged by Sam, or maybe by that Captain of Palace Guards, or by someone else, who cares? What could be worse than the video that was sent to Alice, or maybe to everyone in K Corp?
“But why that arrogant Sam would like to set me up with such a nasty plot?”
“Untz~~~untz~~~untz~~~,” John heard the ringing of his mobile from the couch. He went to pick up the phone and saw the name of Tom.
“Hello,” John answered the phone.
“Hi, John.”
“Hi, Tom.”
“I am so sorry to hear what happened,” Tom said.
“I was set up…I was drugged…I didn’t know what was going on to me,” John tried not to cry out.
“I completely understand what you are feeling now,” Tom replied.
“Could you tell me what happened to me at the banquet?” John sounded almost like begging. “I even don’t remember how I got back to this hotel.”
“I left early,” Tom told John. “I saw you coming to the party with that captain. We had a few words of chat. Then I went to the bathroom. After I came back, I didn’t see either you or Dick around, and I actually asked Colonel X about you. He told me that you went out to have some fresh air with Dick. At that moment, a servant just passed by me with a tray of glasses of champagne, and I took one. I ate some food, but then I felt a bit dizzy. So I asked Colonel X to tell you and Dick that I would like to walk back to the hotel first. He actually let Sergeant Y to drive me back to the hotel.”
“Maybe you were drugged as well,” John suggested.
“I guess I was just too exhausted because of the stress from so much activity after we arrived here,” Tom replied. “I heard that you are leaving today. Are you going to take the same jet back?”
“No,” John replied in a sad tone. “I think I am out.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t think they would still keep me in K Corp after they have done this to me,” John replied.
“I am so sorry to hear that,” Tom consoled John. “I wish I could help but Colonel X is already waiting downstairs asking me and Dick to go with him to the Palace right now. I felt that I should give you a call before I go.”
“It’s very kind of you,” John expressed his appreciation. “Thanks so much.”
“Take care of yourself. I gotta go.”
“Sure. Bye.”
After hanging up the phone, John sat down on the couch and looked at the ceiling again. The room was scarily quiet, which made John feel like an outcast in an empty space surrounded by invisible demons that might swallow him at anytime. John’s heart was filled with sorrow and his mind was blank. What was much worse than the sense of danger was the feeling of the complete loss of the direction for life. It was scary for him to think about whether he could finally run out of this backward country, but it was also scary or even scarier to think about what might happen once he got back to his own country.
He bowed his head down with his eyes closed, and crossed his hands in front of his head. He started to pray. That was something he had never done for almost three decades. John’s parents were all from traditional Christian families, but they were not as much into the church life as their ancestors. Nonetheless, they still brought John and his siblings to the local church frequently. Therefore, John could consider himself as growing up in the church. However, after he left home for his college study, John had never attended any church activity again. Now when facing the sudden catastrophic change of life, which was not only beyond his control but also beyond his comprehension capacity, his instinct of worshipping was awakened, and he cried out in his heart to the most high for help. However, he could not find a prayer that could express his despair and his desire to escape from the tribulation.
“Help me!” That was all he prayed before he heard a message alert from his phone.
John opened his eyes and picked up the phone. He saw an electronic air ticket on his phone, which was for a flight in the afternoon back to his country. The ticket was sent from the front desk of the hotel. John picked up the landline phone trying to call the front desk, but then he heard the doorbell ring.
He put down the phone and walked to open the door. It was the hotel manager.
“Mr. Potter, this is the airline ticket for you,” the Manager handed a ticket to John. “I believe that you must have already received the electronic copy of it.”
“Yes,” John took over the ticket. “Did someone ask you to buy this ticket?”
“Sergeant Y asked us to buy this ticket, and he has paid us for the cost of the fare,” the Manager replied.
“Do you know who paid him for the ticket?” John asked.
“He did mention that it was your company,” the manager said.
“Thanks,” John felt a bit better since it sounded like K Corp might not have completely dumped him.
“By the way, Sergeant Y has already checked out the room for you,” the manager added. “So you need to move out within the next half an hour, by that time Sergeant Y would be waiting for you in the lobby hall. The next customer would move in after an hour from now, and our room cleaning lady has to come to clean the room half an hour before he moves in.”
“I hear you,” John stared at the manager while trying not to get emotional. He knew that the manager was lying about the new customer, but he also knew that the poor man was not trying to insult him but just doing his job. “Don’t worry I will go packing now and come down in a few minutes.”
When John turned back after the manager left, the first thing came to his eyes was the wide brim fedora hat that he put on the table two days ago. He paced to the table and picked up the hat. John was struggling with what he should do with the hat. He held the hat and looked at it for a couple of seconds. Finally, he put the hat back on the table and went to get a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote on the paper “Please pass this to Tom of K Corp”, and put the paper under the hat.
Then John quickly packed all his stuff, and left that president suite. He arrived at the front desk of the hotel a few minutes later, and saw the manager behind the counter.
“Hi,” John said to the manager. “You might let your lady to clean up that room now.”
“Thank you for your quick action,” the manager responded.
“You might also inform Sergeant Y that he can come to pick me up anytime he wants now,” John said.
“Sergeant Y is in the cafeteria. You might go in to find him,” The manager pointed to the glass door on his right side.
“He came so early?”
“He came here before I went to your suite,” the manager replied.
John looked at the door of the cafeteria and said to the manager, “I am not in the mood to go into that room. Could you please tell him that I am waiting him in the lobby hall?”
“Sure, I am going to tell him.” The manager left the counter to talk to Sergeant Y.
John found a bench in the lobby and sat down to wait for Sergeant Y.
A few minutes later, Sergeant Y came out. He greeted John as if nothing had happened. They loaded the luggage of John onto a minivan, and then Sergeant Y drove John to the National Airport of the Republic of New People. Sergeant Y dropped John outside the terminal and shook hands with him for valediction. Then he drove away, leaving John alone in the airport.
Unlike many other international airports around the world that John had visited during the past decades for his business trips, the National Airport of the Republic of New People, the largest international airport of the country was not very busy during that supposed rush hour for most major airports around the world. Actually, one important reason that John and his team had come by a corporate jet was because it was not convenient to come to this country by commercial airlines.
After checking in his luggage at the counter of his airline, John went to the security screening gate with his carry-on bags. There were only two other passengers ahead of him in the waiting line. John noticed that those two passengers were all required not only to empty their pockets, but also take off their belts and shoes. So John did the same once it was his turn, and then he passed the security check smoothly.
After John stepped out the screening gate, he could not find any of his stuff.
“Excuse me,” John was trying to ask one of the security guards for his personal belongings, while his left hand was in his waist holding his pants lest it fell down and his feet were on the ground without shoes. None of the security guards responded to him, but three men in black with dark sunglasses approached him.
“Are you Mr. Potter?” One of the men in black who looked like the head of the other two asked John.
“Yes, I am.”
“We are from the National Security Department,” that man told John. “I am Agent P, and we have some questions to ask you. Would you please go with us?”
“Why should I go with you? Did I do anything wrong?” John questioned.
“You will get your answer once you come to our office,” agent P replied. “You don’t need to worry much, and we won’t hurt you. We just need to ask you some questions.”
John knew that it was no use to argue with them, so he requested, “Could you help me to get my belt and shoes so that I could put them on and then go with you?”
Agent P waved his hands, and another man in black handed a pair of sandals and a rope to John.
“You might put these on for now,” Agent P commanded with a condescending sneer.
“I need my own belt and shoes,” John protested.
“Don’t worry. You will not miss any of your belongings. We will give them back to you. But for now, please put these on and go with us.”
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John did not fight much before he complied since he was clearly aware what might happen to him if he did not comply with the command of those secret police in such a dictatorial regime. Those three secret police then escorted John towards the entrance gate of the terminal.
“I cannot go far because I have a flight to catch,” John said to Agent P.
Before that man answered, John heard a broadcast that his flight was canceled.
“You heard that,” Agent P said to John. “We were informed before we came here that there might be a storm on the ocean so that your flight would be canceled for today. Now it would be good for you to go with us for otherwise you might have to sleep in the waiting room of the airport.”
“Then what about my itinerary back to my own country?” John questioned.
“Don’t worry! We will get you another ticket without costing you any money.”
When they exited the terminal, a black minivan was already waiting for them. John got into that vehicle with those secret police.
~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Half an hour later, the minivan came to a small dock on the south shore of the island. The men in black took John off the minivan and then pushed him onto a speedboat. Another 20 minutes later, they were taken to an offshore island. After getting off the boat, John was brought to a thatched house not very far from the shore. Only one big room was inside the house, and the furniture was quite simple, one bed, one table, one chair, and one shelf with some basic articles of daily use. At the back of the room, John saw two doors.
“You will stay here until we let you go,” Agent P said to John.
John did not respond, instead he walked to the back of the room to open one of the doors. To his surprise, it was a quite nice small washroom with a flush toilet, a bathtub, and a wash basin. Then he went to open another door at the back of the room, and found a small kitchen inside.
John closed both doors, and asked Agent P, “Is this the office that you mentioned in the airport?”
“You don’t need to go to our office for now. You just stay here until we let you go,” Agent P responded.
“What do you want from me? How long do you want me stay here?” John asked.
“We don’t know it yet,” Agent P responded.
“What should I eat?” John asked.
“Someone will deliver food to you, and there is some food in the kitchen. Besides, you might go to the village to buy food for yourself. There are a few bars and restaurants,” Agent P replied.
“Really?” John almost could not believe what he just heard. “I am allowed to leave this house?”
“Yes,” Agent P responded. “But now please change your dress with what is on the bed.”
John looked at the bed and noticed some native style clothes on the bed. He went to the bed and found a set of shirt and pants with the same flower patterns as the bed sheet and the quilt.
“Why should I put on them?” John argued. “I like my own dress.”
“Mr. Potter,” Agent P said, “You are a smart person. Please be smart. If you don’t do what I ask you do, we have to help you do it.”
“Then I have to change it in the washroom,” John responded.
“Please don’t waste our time,” Agent P became a bit impatient. “You can keep your underwear, so you don’t need to go to washroom to change. You just change here.”
John did not have any choice but followed the command of Agent P. After John changed the dress, Agent P beckoned another man in black to take the John’s own dress away.
“Please enjoy your life in this beautiful island village, and we will see you later,” Agent P said to John.
“Would you please let someone send me some underwear from my luggage? I need to have changes if you want me to stay here for days,” John begged.
“Sure, we can do it,” Agent P promised. Then those men in black went out and left John alone in this thatched house in this small island village in the middle of the ocean. Before they left, they actually dropped some petty cash on the table for the daily expense of John in the village.
~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Time passed fast. John had been living in the thatched house for about one week.
During those days, the only dress he had was what the secret police forced him to put on. But then he found it was very comfortable for him to wear that dress walking around in the village. From time to time, he chatted with some villagers, and even took pictures together with them, men or women, old or young. Of course, it was all taken with their cameras since John did not have anything of his own with him, except for the underwear. John was even invited to a village party of celebration. Besides, he drank a lot alcohol during those days.
A few days after he was kidnapped to that island village, John stopped counting the days because he didn’t know if there would be any chance for him to leave, and more importantly, because he even didn’t know why he was put onto that small island. Just when John had lost any hope to leave the island, and even almost forgot who he was, one day, John was waked up from dream by someone early in the morning. When he opened eyes, he saw a nurse in blue scrubs stand in front of him, and the same three men in black were beside her. The nurse had one glass bottle in her hand.
John sat up and asked, “What day is today?”
“Today is Saturday,” the nurse replied, and then she gave the glass bottle to John. “Please go to get some your urine into this bottle.”
John looked at Agent P confusedly.
“Do as what she said,” Agent P commanded.
John didn’t ask any question, but just took the bottle and went to the bathroom. He had been used to complying with whatever was told by the secret police of that country.
After giving the urine to the nurse, John was allowed to wash himself up and had breakfast. Meanwhile, the nurse was conducting some medical test with John’s urine using a small machine they brought in.
Almost at the moment when John finished his breakfast, the test report came out. The nurse nodded to Agent P after she read the report. Agent P gave a signal to another man in black, and that man went out. A few minutes later he came in with the carry-on bags of John as well as another two plastic bags.
“These are all your belongings,” Agent P said to John when the man handed those bags to John. “Please go to change back to your own dress.”
“Where is my checked in luggage?” John asked.
“Don’t worry. They will be checked in for you to the flight that you will take,” Agent P said. “Now go to change your clothes.”
John opened those two plastic bags and found his own clothes that were washed and folded nicely, as well as his shoes and belt. So he went to the washroom with those two plastic bags and changed back to his own clothes and shoes. After John finished changing his dress, they set off for the airport. About two hours later, John was escorted by those three men in black onto a flight to S city of his own country.
~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When John’s flight landed at the airport of S city, it was around the noon. John took a driverless cab back to his own house. On his way home, John imagined various scenarios about what might happen once he saw Alice face to face. Since it was a weekend day, John would expect Alice at home. John warned himself not to get into emotional conflict with Alice. The worst scenario would be a divorce, and that would not be too complicated since they don’t have any children.
John got off the cab in front of his house. He stood on the sidewalk for one minute without moving, looking at this familiar property which had been his harbor of life and center of joy for the past decade. There was no car on the driveway, and the garage doors were closed. John dragged his luggage towards the garage. When passing by the mailbox, he opened it and looked into it. It was empty, which implied that Alice had picked up the mail for the day.
He opened the garage doors, and only saw his own car in the garage. Alice’s car was not there, which meant that she was not at home.
John entered his house from the garage. When he got to the dining room, he saw a paper packaging box and a few envelopes on the table.
When John walked to the table, he found a paper stuck on the box with transparent tape, on which it was written “John Potter’s personal belongings”. He opened the box and found his personal stuff that he left in his office of K Corp. It became obvious that he had been kicked out of K Corp.
John pushed the box aside and checked the mails. Two pieces of mail were from the family court of S city, one of the regular size, and one of the jumbo size; two others from K Corp, one of the regular size, and one of the jumbo size; the last one was an unstamped and unsealed envelope of regular size, on which it was written:
To: John
From: Alice
When he grabbed that envelope, John could sense the weight of photos. He opened the envelope and found a dozen photos with a letter. John picked out the letter and poured out the photos on the table. They were all pictures involving him and other women, some erotic ones were taken in that Palace Hotel, and some others were even taken on that small island, when he was dancing or drinking with some female villagers. John almost cried out that even putting him onto that small island was part of the plot against him.
He unfolded the letter that Alice wrote to him, a very simple and clearly expressive letter, which showed the style of Alice. It was written in the letter:
I am so sorry for what you have become. I wish you would know what to do to end this gracefully. Please contact my attorney first in case you need to talk to me. I will be on a business trip for a while, and I do not wish to see you in this house again when I come back. Pack all your stuff and just leave the house.
Please don’t forget to attend the court session on next Monday morning unless you can have an attorney to go there on your behalf.
Alice
The message delivered by those photos and the letter was very clear to John: he would lose everything that he had earned during past decades. He had witnessed how some of his friends overwhelmingly won the divorce lawsuits because they had the infidelity evidence of their spouses.
However, surprisingly, John did not feel much pain for what was happening in front of him. He had experienced much worse psychological shock during the past week, and cried too many times when he was alone in that thatched house, especially after he swallowed glasses of locally vinted alcohol. Almost all his desperation and emotional pain had been drained out together with the tears on that island.
He opened the small size mail from K Corp, and it was a letter of ending his employment with K Corp due to his violation of the ethical code of the company. John twitched his mouth in disgust and threw that letter on the table; then he opened the large envelope from K Corp, it was a continuation of health insurance document according to the law. Next, he opened the small envelope from the family court and found a notice of appearance in the court on next Monday morning.
Lastly, he opened the large envelope from the family court, inside which was a stapled letter size document of 80 pages divorce petition filed by the attorney for the plaintiff, Alice.
“They have really worked very hard over last week,” John scoffed.
He quickly went through that document, and made some notes about how to split the common assets, as well as the responsibilities of the defendant. Although he had already lost any interest to fight for this sudden and ridiculous divorce, he knew that he still had to be very careful about the divorce document so that he would not fall into any snare set by the attorney for the other side.
It was clear to John that a new fight was awaiting him, and he had to fight wisely and carefully. The first thing that came up to his mind after reading the divorce petition was that he needed an attorney for himself as well. John had a few attorney friends, but none of them was a divorce attorney. He sent a few texts to some of his friends, including his attorney friends asking for references of divorce attorneys.
The second thing, after attorney, that came up to his mind was that he needed a physical examination to see if he could get any evidence of being poisoned. That seemed even more urgent than finding an attorney at that moment.
John thought about his buddy and private physician Bob, who was actually one of his classmates in high school. John dialed his number.
“Hi John,” Bob answered the phone. “You came back from the trip to that island country?”
John had a vaccine in Bob’s office before he went to the Republic of New People, so Bob was aware of his trip to that country.
“Yeah, I just came back home,” John replied. “Could you do me favor?”
“Sure. What do you need?”
“Could you give me a complete physical examination?” John asked.
“What happened? You just had your annual examination last month.”
“I was drugged in that country,” John replied.
“Oh, no way,” Bob exclaimed. “Are you serious?”
“I am quite sure,” John replied.
“Listen, John. Right now I am in the middle of seeing a patient. I don’t think you need a thorough physical examination. Why don’t you come here late in the afternoon after my office is closed, and I will give you a checkup then?”
“What time?” John asked.
“How about 6:30pm?”
“Okay, I will be in your office around 6:30pm.”
“See you soon, buddy. Take it easy.”
After the phone call, John felt hungry. He opened the fridges and found all of them were empty. So he decided to go out for lunch. When he was just about to leave the house, he heard the landline phone ringing.
“Hi, this is John,” he answered the phone.
“Hi John, it’s me.” It was his dad.
Somehow John’s nose went sour and eyes became wet. He almost cried out when he heard the voice of his dad.
“Hi, Dad.”
“I haven’t heard from you guys for quite a while, so I decide to make a phone call checking out what’s up,” his Dad said.
“Thanks dad,” John responded. “I planned to call you tonight, but you called first.”
“How are you?”
“Not very good,” John tried not to let himself to burst into cry.
“What happened?” Dad’s voice was full of the kind of paternal care and concern with which John had been so familiar since he began to remember things.
“It’s a long story. I will tell you later. I might need to move back to your house for a while.”
“This is your own home and you are always welcomed. But may I ask why?”
“I am done with Alice,” John replied.
“What happened?” Dad asked again.
“It’s a long story,” John repeated the answer again, and then he added, “I will tell you the story when I move back. But before that I have quite a lot to handle. It might take some time for me to pack what I need to bring. The earliest might be next weekend.”
“Do you need any help?” Dad asked.
“No. I am good by myself,” John replied.
“Okay, come back when you are ready. Meanwhile, please take good care of yourself. Don’t fight with Alice,” Dad said.
“I know. Don’t worry,” John promised.
~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John came to the clinic of Bob five minutes after 6:30pm. The clinic had been closed for the day and Bob was the only person there waiting for John. The door was not locked, so John walked in the clinic without the need to ring the bell. Before he entered the clinic, he took the battery off his mobile phone, and put the phone and the battery in two different pockets.
“Hi John, it’s good to see you again,” Bob greeted John with a hug. “Tell me what happened in your exotic trip to the Indo-Pacific region.”
John briefly told Bob his story of being put on bed with three females without his own awareness, and Bob was shocked by the story of John.
“Let me show you something.” Bob was about to take John to another room, but John snatched his arm. He put his right index finger on his lips, and then moved his mouth near Bob’s ear. “Please leave your mobile phone in this room. I will tell you why.”
Bob was surprised by John’s action. He shook his head and left his mobile phone under the counter desk.
He brought John to the small lab of his clinic.
“What’s the matter? Are you okay?” Bob stared at John with the suspicious eyes of a doctor seeking from John’s face the sign of psychological sequela of disaster stress.
John did not answer Bob’s question but first walked around in that test room. He emitted a long breath at Bob after he found no PCs in that room.
“Let me tell you an old story that you might not believe.” He pulled a chair and sat down.
Bob also sat down on a chair while still suspicious about the mental wellness of his buddy.
“The story happened in two decades ago when I just started to work for K Corp, and I was sent to a company named SEESALL. In the basement of the compound of SEESALL I saw the whole room of equipment used to hack into every single mobile phone and PC in the country just to watch and listen what they were doing.”
“Are you serious about this?” Bob was obviously more shocked by this news than the story of the Republic of New People. “How could you hide this from your friends for the past decades?”
John shrugged his shoulder with a wry smile.
“You should report it to the government or present it to the media then,” Bob suggested seriously.
“I might,” John responded. “But I need first to collect some more evidence.”
“We just go there to take some pictures of their compound and then leave the rest to the media. They might push the SEESALL to admit what they are doing.” Bob became excited and eager to take action for the justice of the society.
“Actually there was some media report about what SEESALL was doing around one decade ago. But it was all quieted down by BMA quickly, no any official investigation on that report. Then the old compound of SEESALL was demolished after the company announced bankrupt shortly after that media leak.”
“Who is BMA?”
“A powerful secret society,” John replied. “I am sure that the same bunch of people of SEESALL is still doing the same thing somewhere else, but I have never been involved in any of that activity.”
“What a pity,” Bob sounded sorry for being unable to carry out his plan.
“Anyway, did you want to show me something in this room?” John asked.
“Oh yeah … look at that,” Bob pointed to one machine on the table, “We just got that machine last week, which is specially for the use of drug test so that we might take the job of employment screening for local companies in this clinic now. You just come in time.”
“How long does it take to do the test?”
“Very quick with this new machine,” Bob replied. “Only about 30 minutes.”
“That’s terrific. Do you need my blood or urine for the test?”
“I need both,” Bob replied. “But as a doctor I might remind you that, even if you are tested positive for drug use, you cannot prove that you were passively drugged by someone else; instead, that might become the evidence of substance abuse against yourself in the court.”
“I never took any drug,” John responded.
“How could you prove it?”
“I don’t know,” John’s face turned pale. “Trust me… I would never touch any drug as you know me.”
“Of course I trust you. But how would you convince the judge if you would present the test result in the court?”
“I don’t want to present it to the court. I just want to prove to myself that I was drugged while I never used the drug by myself,” John replied.
“Do you have any witness to support your claim?” Bob asked.
“Two of my team members were with me in the Palace that evening. But I don’t think they would come out to support me. As a matter of fact, they might even be part of the plot.”
“Okay, let’s do the test and you keep whatever result for yourself. I won’t let anyone else know the result unless you want me to provide the report to someone in support of your claim.”
“Thanks buddy.”
Bob started the machine after he collected the blood and urine from John. “Do you need me to check you over to see any sign of physical injury that might also serve as the evidence?”
“They did not really physically torture me. At least did not do it when I was sober. I guess it was because I complied with their command whenever they threatened me,” John explained.
“That’s smart. It’s more important to come back in one piece than you might have some physical proof for the court.” Bob patted John’s back to show his understanding. “Don’t feel bad for your weakling acts.”
“Thanks… I won’t,” John replied. He really appreciated it because he badly needed some nice words of understanding from someone or anyone. The condolence from an old friend was especially priceless to him at that moment.
“Let’s go to the computer room,” Bob said.
“Do we need to use computer?”
“No.” Bob explained, “Once the test finishes, the report would be automatically printed by the printer in the computer room.”
“That sounds nice.”
“Well, technology and automation is a double-edged blade,” Bob shrugged.
“Absolutely,” John agreed. “Actually what happened to me has a great deal to do with the other side of this blade. By the way, do you have any PC in that room with internet connection?”
“We have. But don’t worry.” Bob lowered his voice. “I will turn off the wi-fi first, so they won’t be connected to the internet anymore.”
“Excellent.”
After they entered the computer room, which was used as Bob’s office, Bob first went to unplugged the power cord of the wi-fi router. Then both of them started to laugh with a relief.
“Please tell me more about what happened during your trip,” Bob requested.
After they sat down in the computer room, John told Bob in more detail what happened in the Republic of New People, especially what he witnessed about the real AHs living in that country and the treatment of the so-called useless population.
“The whole thing sounds horrible,” Bob exclaimed. “It’s completely insane to have the idea of replacing humans with biotech products.”
“So you can know how I was feeling when I saw what they are doing and heard what they have in their mind.” Finally, in his own country John found someone who shared the same feeling with him.
“Did you tell them how you felt?” Bob asked.
“That’s exactly what I told that dictator in his private study,” John looked at Bob.
“That might very well explain why they put you into the trouble,” Bob said. “I guess they figured out that you were not one of them and thus you would expose their conspiracy once you come back here.”
“But then they could simply get rid of me right in that country. Why would they bother to set up such a nasty plot?” John questioned.
“Well, I guess probably I could give you an explanation on that,” Bob grinned.
Bob was a fan of detective stories, and when he got together with John he often had various theories about things as if he worked as a detective. John used to laugh at him and called him a fake detective. But very often, John had to admit that Bob’s speculations made a lot senses. Obviously, his professional knowledge as a doctor contributed much more than what he read from the fiction books.
“What’s your theory?” John asked.
“I think whatever they did to set up the plot does not really cost them much in a dictatorial regime. It might be some kind of routine jobs for those secret agents,” Bob looked at John, complacent with his own theory. “But if they get rid of you physically, that might make a headline story in the media. At least rumors would spread among your family members, friends, and former coworkers back in this country.”
“But wouldn’t they need to be worried that I could expose their conspiracy or even sue them in the court once I come back to this country?” John was not quite convinced by Bob’s analysis.
“That part is something that I could understand better as a doctor,” Bob grinned again. “Based on those photos and videos you just mentioned, you could very well be qualified as a substance abuser or immoral due to sex addiction or even mentally insane by all standards, unless you could provide evidence that you were a victim of a scheme. But unfortunately, you could not prove your own innocence. Therefore, you could not make a legal case against them.”
“But I still could spread the news about AHs to the world. I am sure the public would listen to me,” John’s face turned red because of excitement.
“Well, people have talked about the so-called Unidentified Flying Objects for more than a century, even some top guns came out to tell their stories about UFO.” Bob questioned, “But how many people are really taking it serious even though most people might be interested in the topic?”
“AHs are not like UFO’s. AHs are for real,” John argued.
“See, you are now just denying the reality of UFO’s even though there have been many more people claimed seeing UFO’s than seeing AHs so far,” Bob sighed. “You know what? I even think they want you to tell the story of AHs to the public, and a lot of UFO’s stories in the past might have also been released as rumors on purpose.”
“Why should they do that?” John sounded very confused.
“It’s simple. They know that someday they might have to announce the truth to the public. So instead of causing a sudden shock to the public, they might prefer having someone who could be characterized as lunatic or morally uncountable to leak the story out first,” Bob explained.
“What can they gain by doing that?” John questioned.
“They could create such an effect that people are familiar with the buzz words about the issues so that in case it becomes obvious to the public someday in the future, they won’t overreact; but meanwhile, they don’t need to risk any social upset at this moment,” Bob explained.
“So they sacrificed me for their own benefit?” John’s anger was accumulating.
“Unfortunately, yes.” Bob showed sympathy to his buddy. “That’s because you expressed your disagreement with them.”
“But don’t they need to worry about Dick and Tom? They might sell them out someday in the future,” John argued.
“Well, so far, you don’t have any hard proof that they were involved in the action of drugging you. You were even not sure if they did see someone poisoning you.” Bob sounded more serious about Tom and Dick because he did not want to mislead John when it might involve someone else. “But they did see that you were messing up with those female AHs, right?”
“But I am quite sure at least one of them, I mean Dick, was involved in the plot,” John said.
“Even if they were involved in the plot as you have suspected, then it means that they must be qualified in the eyes of whoever behind the whole plot. They might do it as an act of pledge of loyalty to their boss.”
“Okay, if they don’t need to worry about any, why they put me on that small island?” John questioned.
“You just mentioned that they have already worked out the divorce petition, right?” Bob asked.
“You mean they need one week to work out all the legal preparation for Alice?” John questioned.
“Not just for Alice, they might do it as part of crisis control, which probably follows some kind of preset protocol,” Bob remarked. “At least it could serve as a warning to you by demonstrating their operational efficiency.”
“I have witnessed their efficiency. I have no doubt about it,” John sighed wryly.
“But that is just one part of the reason for putting you onto that small island,” Bob added.
“What are the other parts?” John asked.
When Bob was just about to answer John’s question, the printer started to print the test report.
“That will tell us the answer,” Bob pointed to the report that was being produced by the machine.
John walked to the printer and picked up the report. He looked at the report but did not have any idea about what it was telling him. Bob took the paper from John and quickly skimmed the whole report.
“See, my guess was right.”
“What is it?” John asked.
“There is no any sign of drug use history in the report. But it showed that you have drunk a lot in the past week.” Bob looked at John compassionately. “As I have guessed, they put you onto that island for a week because they must know that the sign of the drug in your body would completely disappear after one week. They must have used some very special drug, and they know how it works in human body.”
“No wonder,” John blurted.
“You recall something?” Bob asked.
“Yes,” John looked at Bob seriously. “Yesterday morning I was waked up in the thatched house by those secret agents and a nurse.”
“A nurse?”
“Yes. She gave me a bottle and asked me to pee into it. Then she ran a test with my urine in a machine that was smaller than yours. They sent me to the airport only after she finished the test. I guess they wanted to make sure that there was no any sign of drug use in my body before they let me leave the country.”
“That’s it. Considering the fact that your friend’s factory could even produce artificial life, it would not surprise me if I am told that they know how to drug humans,” Bob remarked. “Now everything becomes clear. Unfortunately, you were set up by them because you were considered as unqualified for their conspiracy of developing AHs. But on the other hand, you were still very lucky to come back home alive.”
“But they ruined my whole life. How could I survive now with all my reputation is ruined by them?” John shouted.
“Don’t be too sad. Actually, they are also making some big mistakes,” Bob responded.
“What do you mean?”
“They underestimated the strength of humanity. For example, they did not expect that we could figure out their plot on the first day you come back to this country.”
“What can we do now?” John asked anxiously.
“We will figure out some way to beat those scoundrels.” Bob then asked John, “What was the name of the organization you mentioned?”
“It’s called BMA, meaning Brilliant Machines Association.” John replied.
“Could you repeat it again?”
“It’s called BMA, meaning Brilliant Machines Association.”
Bob went to open a drawer and took out a name card box, from which he picked out two name cards. “I cannot believe such a coincidence.”
“What coincidence?”
“Do you remember Jessica Morton from our high school?” Bob asked.
“Sure. How could I forget her? We were neighbors. Actually, she came to visit me with Josh and Amanda about 20 years ago,” John replied.
“How come I didn’t know that?” Bob asked.
“I think you were still in the medical school at M city. The rest of us already started to work after college,” John replied.
“You are right,” Bob said.
“What about her?” John asked.
“Early this year, I went to B City for a conference and ran into her on the street. We had a very short chat on the street because I was in a hurry, and she gave me these two name cards.” Bob handed the cards to John.
John looked at one of the cards and it showed that Jessica was the CEO of a technology company.
“As I remember, she worked for her uncle,” John said.
“Now she owns the company,” Bob responded. “Take a look at the other name card, which would be interesting to you.”
John looked at the other card as Bob suggested.
“BHA? No kidding,” John exclaimed.
“Yes. Brilliant Humans Association,” Bob said. “It sounds to me that they are meant to be a rival of that BMA you just mentioned.”
“Oh my Lord! It’s hard to believe,” John shouted excitedly.
“I think you should give her a call. I have a feeling that they might be able to help you,” Bob said.
“Well, I don’t know what to say if I call her.” John lowered his voice and looked at Bob sadly.
“Just tell her whatever you told me,” Bob encouraged.
“Did she tell you what this BHA is doing?” John asked.
“I did not get a chance to ask about it. But it’s worth making a phone call, I guess.”
“You think so?” John sounded hesitated. “It could be just a coincidence of name… They might not have anything to do with BMA... Besides, I am still not sure what I should do for the next step yet. I need to think it over carefully.”
“I understand,” Bob patted John’s shoulder. “But do you mind if I tell her your story?”
“Well…uh…no, I don’t mind.” John’s face was serious and his voice was firm. “Nothing could be much worse than what I have been going through. I just don’t feel like to proactively make a phone call talking about it yet.”
“Okay, then let me find out what their organization is doing and what they can do to help you,” Bob said.
“Sure…I will appreciate.”
…….