Charles and Joseph met up at their usual joint where Joseph was downing alcohol uncontrollably, he was furious about the mess that backfired at him. He didn’t have the slightest doubt that his plan would fall through, he was confident.
“You should take it easy, you can always strategize again and shoot another shot. You will get sick if you down alcohol like that” Charles warned but he only responded with silence. “This is why I say you are pathetic sometimes, you let your emotion get the best of you. You should remain cool headed all the time” Charles lashed at him and removed the alcohol bottle from his front.
“Then what am I supposed to do? Laugh like a crazy being? Cry? Or whine? I can only take the anger out on alcohol so return my bottle!” he roared at Charles who wasn’t even moved a bit. “If you get drunk this night, you will wake up with a blissful head-splitting headache tomorrow and the loss will still be there to stick its tongue right at you, in the face. Instead of wasting your strength on drinking endlessly, you should map out another plan as soon as possible” Charles lashed back and that finally cooled him down.
“Next plan? Nothing is coming to my head right now! That punk, Tom is way too witty. He calculates my every move before I strike, he already has a countermeasure. He’s like a stone that wouldn’t budge” he whined but Charles only laughed hard.
“That is because you keep charging at him, you should find out his weakness and people close to him, things that will affect him if you touch them. You have to shake him with what is making him stand strong because strength lies in what you love but underneath that strength is also a weakness” Charles advised.
He was still thinking about the lines Charles just said when his secretary came in with a file in his hands. “This is the information on Miss Amber” he said to him and handed it over to his stretched hand.
“She has been working with him for close to three years. She’s the one in charge of most activities that concerns his attention and is known for her strict and professional attitude so she rarely make mistakes. She left for a few months but came back to pick up the job. She worked as a stripper too at Star club but recently quitted” he explained and Joseph scoffed.
“She worked as a stripper? Wow what an unexpected twist” Joseph smirked as he flipped the pages of the file.
“She lived with her roommate, Emily who attends a university here until recently and broke up with her boyfriend, Eddy who is a close friend of Emily. She’s currently out of the country to attend the art exhibition of Lawrence Manon, a popular French artist as the hidden artist, Umbra” the secretary added and Charles clapped.
“She has a great profile to her name, she seems to be the ambitious type and someone also full of surprise” Charles commented with a weird chuckle.
“Lastly, she has a sick mother in the hospital waiting for a kidney transplant and she seems to be struggling financially even though it might not be the case anymore because of the success of the exhibition, her paintings were the bought at the highest price” he added.
“Seems we have something we can shake Tom with finally” Charles remarked and Joseph wondered what he meant by that.
“Tom will never want to lose someone competent like her, she’s a like hands and brain to him. If you shake her a bit, it will get to Tom. A collapsed building starts with only a vibrating sound” Charles explained and he snapped his fingers, getting the meaning of his words.
****
Joseph hired a man who went to the hospital in disguise and found Amber’s mother where she was taking a stroll. He approached her to shake her up, knowing fully well that she’s a patient that should be careful of pollutant. He pushed the cleaning trolley right in front of the bench where she was sitting and pulled out a phosphine gas can. He was already wearing a mask under his cap that was covered with towels on both side and crouched down beside her to spray it to her surroundings.
She didn’t get what was happening and just sat down wondering why there was a fishy smell all of a sudden. “Someone dropped a raw fish on the grass here, they really have no regards for cleaners” the man shouted and dropped the raw fish he had brought himself inside the trash can before quickly pushing it away.
She inhaled the phosphine for several minutes before she decided to go back in. She started feeling dizzy and felt nauseous. She managed to pull herself to the bathroom but the difficulty in her breathing was getting to her every pass seconds.
She tried calling the nurse but realized that her phone was not with her, she struggled to get out of the bathroom but failed and ended up collapsing on the bathroom floor. The nurse who had come for her round of checkup then noticed her absence, she was still searching for her among other when Amber’s call came in.
She was angry and scared at the same time, her mother never leaves her room without purpose. Different thoughts ran through her mind as she thought about the possible whereabouts of her mother. After multiple thoughts, she finally thought of calling Tom to help her out because she cannot bear the pain of losing her mother.
Tom was leaving the office when his phone rang, he picked up and was met with her urgent request.
“Please help me” she cried and he wondered what was going on with her.
“I hope all is well, is something wrong? What is happening? He queried and she broke down in tears, “My mother is missing” she answered amidst the tears.
“Can you calm down a bit? Tell me where she is, where I can find her or any relevant information” he said quickly rushing to the elevator. “She’s a patient at the EVE hospital and a dialysis patient waiting for kidney transplant. She usually stroll to the garden around the evening but the nurse said she’s not there. They have been searching for her for quite a while” she informed him, trying not to choke on her tears.
“I will go over there as soon as possible so please calm down” he assured her and zoomed off in his car.
He got to the hospital and found out that she had been found, collapsed in the bathroom. She was rushed for emergency treatment but the doctor insisted that she paid upfront first because of the expensive treatment.
“Do everything that is needed, I will pay” he yelled at them and they proceeded with the treatment. They managed to save her life and she calmed down after a while with her breathing returning to normal.
“Please move her to a VIP room and deduct the fees of every dialysis she will be undergoing for the rest of the year here” he ordered, stretching his debit card to the nurse at the reception.
She was moved on his order and everything was set in place. He finally called her back to inform her that her mother is now fine and she couldn’t help it anymore, she broke down to tears.
“She’s all that I have, I cannot afford to lose her. She is the only family I have left so nothing must happen to her” she wailed and Tom just consoled her with “She will be fine, you don’t have to worry about anything”.
She could only calm down when her mother woke up and spoke to her on the phone. The doctor brought the report of Phosphine founded in her blood stream which meant she was exposed to some dose of Phosphorus which was thankfully not high enough to cause fatality to her health.
“Phosphorus gas? In the hospital? How come?” he questioned with a raised brow. He could not get the reason why such a harmful gas was in the hospital in the first place and at a place where a dialysis patient was at too. Anger seeped through his cell at the thought of the patient dying or getting hurt, he could not hold himself anymore, particularly because it was Amber’s mom. They made her cry.
“It is better you find the person behind this before I sue your hospital, and take care of your patients!” he lashed at them, making them apologize swiftly.
Her mother was confused about who he was and the sudden change in her room and asked when she could not bear the curiosity any longer.
“Who are you if I may ask? Why did you change my room and pay for my treatment?” she asked carefully and he moved closer to her with a small smile.
“Nice to meet you, I am Amber’s boss” he introduced himself but the confusion she was already feeling only got bigger, why would Amber’s boss be here?