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The Book of Dio 2 : Chapter 3

Tailing

It is a pleasant day, a few clouds and mild temperatures. A light wind coming from the west. It is a normal day in Punjab. A normal day, like any other. It isn't a normal day for Shuorok. He is sitting in a hotel room, waiting for his contacts to arrive. He already checked the entire room. It was clean. He could talk freely, but just in case he tends to turn up the TV. You never know.

We had talked on the phone before. They knew me, I knew them. They were trustworthy partners, I was assured from the central. The two of them. Their codenames are 'Python' and 'Boa'. Weird names. Here I am now, just waiting. The longer I wait the more nervous I get. My palms are wet, my forehead feels like a sponge.

Suddenly I hear the knocks. Three knocks, like they said. I look through the bullhole and see two heads covered by black ski masks. I panicked a little, they didn't seem to have weapons on them. They were both wearing black leather jackets and brown pants. One of them had brown shoes, the one closer to the door I couldn't tell.

I quickly opened the door and greeted them by nodding my head. They were taller than me, one seemed stronger, the other man is thin and had glasses on top of his ski mask. 'Do you have everything?' I asked them, hoping I didn't appear nervous. 'It is all in the bag.' the stronger one, pointing at a backpack he swung onto the bed. The thinner one was checking the room 'I already checked.' I told him while he was opening the television. He stared at me and just continued as if I said nothing. 'Here' the stronger man stretched out his hand, in it was an outdated cell-phone 'you will keep this with you at all times. We will call you once.' he looked me straight in the eyes and nodded 'Then it will happen.' I stared into his emerald eyes and they fixated me. He put the cell phone into my hand and I then stared at the cell-phone in turn.

Then the thin man began to talk, he had a slightly higher tone of voice 'Your objective is a high ranked Pakistani politician. He lives here in Punjab. You will go to the designated location as discussed and wait there. You will reach the location by car. The keys.' he threw the keys to me, I was startled and barely caught them. 'That is all. Any questions?' he stared at me. The bigger man, with his hands folded in front of him, stared at me as well. I looked at the keys, then back to the thin man and just shook my head. 'Good. You have -' he looked down at his watch '6 hours left. Good luck. May god be with you.' He then muttered a prayer, as did the stronger man and they then left the hotel room.

I ran to the bathroom and vomited. I haven't felt this nauseous since... yesterday. I am a wreck. I stare at the keys in my hands and am startled by the fact that my death will be so soon. I try to shake it off. I am still sweating. I am trying to remember why I am doing this in the first place.

It was 3 months ago. A dioist was my new boss. They say he was the best for the job, the bigshots in Washington. Right, whatever I thought. As long as things don't change. They did change, for the better at first. At the time no one knew they boss was a dioist. It was just a rumour. He was a good boss, a kind man. Then one day it went really fast, the police came, arrested him. High treason they said. It turned out that the boss was a Pakistani dioist. He was a great man, the company flourished, but because of his background the company was in a big scandal. The company had to be 'renovated' they said in Washington. Suddenly there was outsourcing. A cute word for firing people. I lost my job. My wife was a homemaker, we couldn't support anything without me having a job.

I began to drink. It didn't make things better. It appeared as if the entire workforce of the old company was suspected of treason as well, just for having a heathen boss. Those damned Dioists. I was arrested for treason as well, interrogated. They said they had proof that I was spying on America as well. 'I am an American citizen, you can't do this! I have my rights!' I repeated endlessly. I must've been a broken record. At the time I was unemployed 6 months already. My wife left my and went to her mother. Better for her. The men who interrogated offered me a deal to save me from execution. I would have to spy on Pakistan.

I agreed. Now I am here, I will probably be doing another recon mission. Watching a guy all day, noting down when he arrives, what he does there. Annoying really, but I get good money and it all goes to the family. I still always get so nervous when they come. I know they have guns with them.

I'll try to go to sleep, have a beer. I'll set my alarm clock to 17:00. That's when I have to drive to the location. It's only 30 minutes from here and the politican won't leave until 18:00. So I have some buffer time, just in case he leaves earlier.

I wake up. 16:58. This happens every time. I turn off the alarm and get up. I take a quick look in the backpack. Inside are the usual emergency tools. A gun, a knife, 5000PKR. Oh, this time they also added a grenade. I hate it when they do that. I took the backpack, the keys and left the hotel.

The car started up, no problems. I am on my way to the location, it is a more noble area of housing for politicians and the like of Pakistan. I park in front of another car, diagonally and on the opposite side from the target’s house. It’s 17:36, I go over the plan again: The target will leave his domicile at approximately 18:00. Thereafter I will follow the target to his next desired location. Rinse and repeat and do this for 5 days. Then we will work from that, they told me. So far so good.

I put on my sunglasses as not to be recognized. I am so cool. This is one of those feel good moments, where you know that everything is going to be alright. Oh, I am looking into one of the mirrors and I happen to see an asian man coming down the sidewalk. He could be Japanese or Chinese? I don’t know but continue watching him walk down the street. He seems to be blind, using a cane to orientate. Poor man. He stops right beside my car, hitting it repeatedly with his cane beforehand. He stoops down and seems to want to talk to me, I lower the window. ‘Can I help you?’ I ask him ‘Yes, I am rooking for a snake. Have you seen one?’ I am confused. ‘No, there are no snakes around here. Do you need help?’ he seems to be taking something out of his jacket. It’s a gun! Oh fu-

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30072009SN71364
Location: Punjab, Lower West Side
Target: Shuorok Nari
Codename: Coral Snake
Subject: Target Neutralized

The Coral Snake was neutralized by the Dragon at 17:43. Target was designated to trigger IED at 18:00 when W was leaving the nest. IED was neutralized by demolition experts.

Sincerely,
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