BXBX NOVEL Chapter 11 - Room Service
Inside the hotel room, there were five well dressed men engaged in a heated discussion. They were all huddled around a coffee table at the living room, arguing about a consignment. The luxurious room they were in oozed of grandeur and elegance. A large chandelier hung above them, glittering like the golden sun while the furniture were nothing short of regal. The hotel they were at was the topmost hospitality chain of Country K, hosting only high profile diplomats and sometimes, even the royal families from abroad.
The men sitting inside the room held very influential positions in the ruling government. A dark haired man in his fifties with back brushed hair and hooked nose leaned forward. His name was Hyun.
"The goods can\'t be brought using the northern route," he argued. "That belongs to the Yakuza. They\'ll confiscate our products if they find out."
"The Yakuza are weaklings!" a blonde man in his forties spoke up. His name was Mikhael. "They\'ve been trying to wage a war against us for decades and every time, we kicked their bloody butts back to their turf! Even if they try to steal our goods, they\'ll be defeated."
"That doesn\'t mean we\'ll start the war!" Hyun exclaimed. "We need to use the western route-"
"We all know that you\'ll try to gain dominance through the western route," a man named Hao said. He had curly hair with lopsided eyes and he spoke in a slur. "The western route falls under your turf and you\'ll have complete control over the supply of the drugs."
"I\'ll be able to transfer them smoothly!" Hyun argued.
"Hyun, you\'ve been trying to gain control of the supply from the very beginning," a red haired man in his sixties wheezed. They called him Ray and he was the oldest amongst them. "The western route favors you the most."
"I agree," a chubby man with balding hairline agreed. He was Ray\'s subordinate, Zilmer, and also the Embassador to Country A. "The western route favors no one but you, Hyun."
"But the yakuza are waiting to get their hands on our drugs!" Hyun said hotly. "If we use that route-"
The rest of his sentence was interrupted by a knock on the door. The men went silent and looked at each other, suspicious of whoever it was disturbing them.
"Room service!" a female\'s voice came from the other end. "There was an order for a Domaine De La Romanee."
"It\'s the wine," Hyun muttered. He stepped forward to open the door. A petite girl with a bubbly face and bright eyes stood there. She was barely an adult, probably still in school.
"Your order for wine, sir," she said in a professional tone. Hyun stepped aside and let the girl enter. She held a large tray in her hand and set it down on the coffee table. The men did not speak in front of her lest she told someone about the drugs they wanted to bring into the country. They wore the mask of respectable citizens of the country and with their intact reputation, they would not risk their squeaky clean image.
The girl put the glasses in front of each of the men and carefully poured the wine in them.
"Enjoy your drinks, sir," she said in a professional tone. Hyun was eyeing her with curiosity.
"The hotel allows underage girls to serve the guests?" he questioned her.
"I am a part time trainee server, sir," the girl replied with a smile. "I train here after my school hours."
"Probably using her cute face to entice more guests," Ray snickered. The girl kept her smile intact. Bowing at them, she quietly left the room. Hyun waited until she was out of sight before shutting the door and going back to his partners. Calling them partners would be a stretch. There was an invisible rivalry between them which was reaching very dangerous levels and the fragile foundation their association was based upon would collapse any day which would lead to a full fledged gang war.
It was only a matter of time.
"We are not using the western route," Hao stated firmly. "We don\'t trust you with the goods, Hyun."
"I can take care of the shipment better than any of you!" Hyun exclaimed, drinking from his glass.
"No," Mikhael objected. "We\'re not going to trust you. Our shipment would go through the northern route as planned. We\'ll be using a cruise ship to transfer the drugs inside gold jewelry which will be hidden by one of the passengers. The head of the coast guards ahs already signed the shipment for the gold and she\'s allowed to take them via legal routes. The Yakuza will never find out."
The others murmured while Hyun\'s face darkened. They would never trust him with such an important shipment. Angry at their denial, he gulped down his whole wine and glared at them.
"If my words turn out to be right," he gritted. "Ya\'ll will regret your words. I\'ll wage a war if the Yakuza get their hands on this shipment!"
"And if they do," Ray said menacingly. "Then that would mean that one of us has leaked the information to them. And right now, it feels as if you\'d be the one who would take a step like that."
The other men also agreed with Ray. Hyun was the most dangerous one amongst them. His regular duties consisted of being the Minister of Finance in Country K but in reality he was a ruthless criminal who wanted absolute control over the narcotics entering the country and benefit his own wallets. He had seized several such shipments before and sold them off to wealthy parties abroad.
Hyun looked outraged and the other delegates did not care about it. They did not want to give himany leverage.
What they did not know was that they had walked right into his trap. He wanted them to use the northern route so that he could get his hands on the goods and blamed it on the Yakuza.
All is going according to my plan, he thought gleefully while maintaining an angry expression on his face, trying his best not to laugh at their stupidity.
….
The girl walked through the corridor, passing by the other staff members who were too busy with their own work to notice her. If any of them had seen her carefully, they would have known that something was wrong.
As she walked by, she began to discard the things she had. Putting the tray on an empty trolley outside one of the rooms, she took off the red jacket which was part of the staff uniform and let her hair loose. Taking out a card, she smoothly swiped it on one of the employee only access points. Usually, the access points would not take any card which was not owned by an employee but the card the girl held was a special invention.
She did not meet anyone\'s gaze and went straight into a supply closet. Locking the door behind her, she took out a box containing a janitor\'s uniform and changed into it. Wearing a hat, she left the closet and headed straight for the employee exit. The other people at the hotel were so engrossed in their work that they did not notice the girl at all. And even if someone had noticed her, she doubted they would say anything as long as she had the temporary ID card with her. It was a common practice in the hotel industry to hire temporary trainees so no one would have given much thought to her.
The girl quietly left the hotel and walked a few meters away towards an alley. Hiding in the dark, she took out a laptop and turned it on.
A blue eyed man appeared on her screen.
"Everything went as per plan, Orea?" he asked in a smooth tone.
"Yep!" Orea said proudly. "Of course it would! All I had to do was put a nano tracker in Hyun\'s drink. The guys was so obsessed with making his plan a success that he didn\'t even realize what he was drinking."
"Good," SD said, impressed at his protégé. "Time to create a little havoc."
"Aren\'t you going on that cruise?" Orea asked. "I heard it\'s for couples only. Whom are you taking? The lawyer?"
"Oh, I\'ll not be the one to take her there," SD shrugged. "But someone else might."
"Ehhh what the hell is this plot twist SD?" Orea complained.
SD\'s lips curved into a smile. "All part of the bigger game, my dear student," he said in a cryptic tone.
Orea stared at the screen for a while before saying out loud, "You\'re an ass."
"I know."