by Fresh8 on Sun Mar 05, 2006 11:52 pm
Chapter 7
Jing Xu was silent as he sat in the quiet room. He looked around it and could see straight outside through the tinted window. Two men walked past and Jing went through a re-run of what had happened the last night. He had done just as the man had told him to do and he knew he had completed his job. There was no clock inside the soundproof room. Jing’s lack of awareness of how long he had been in there was starting to get to his head. So was the fact that it was dead silent- all he could hear was his own breathing.
How long have I been locked up for, he thought, One hour, maybe two or three?
Suddenly the door swung open behind him, the sudden noise causing Jing to jolt and nearly fall out of his seat and onto the icy tile floor. The lanky police officer with a goatee rushed back into the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
Vince Thompson took a slight glance at the guy seated before him as he inserted a video tape into a VCR. He switched on the TV and played the tape. The video only lasted a little longer than half a minute but Vince felt that he had made his point. He switched off the television set and flipped the knob next to a recording camera in the corner of the room. He sat down in his chair opposite the Asian teenager.
“That was what you wanted to get, wasn’t it?”
The teen opposite him hesitantly nodded.
“Ok, let me get this straight. We will make a deal,” Vince started to compromise, his voice calm, “If you tell me why you were after this tape and if someone payed you to do it, I’ll make sure you are protected by our police department from any danger.”
He got no response.
“Right- you see, not telling me anything isn’t going to help your case or mine.”
The teen then blurted out, “A man told me to do it.”
Vince raised his eye brow, “A man?”
“Yes sir.”
“You got a name? A man sounds very broad and vague.”
“He was tall sir. I think his name was Albino”
“Interesting…” Vince mumbled as he wrote down the information in his notepad.
“And he told em to get all the footage I could get. Everything that you would see that was similar to this tape and get rid of it. Destroy it.”
The teenager paused before asking, “Am I going to jail?”
Vince chuckled, “Oh no, of course not. What’s your name boy?”
“Jing Xu.”
“Jing Xu, would you testify in court if you were asked to?”
Jing suddenly looked very pale, “I wouldn’t want to but…”
“It’s ok, I was just asking. You have a choice to say no.”
“Than you sir,” Jing said, looking a bit more relaxed.
“Here’s what’s going to happen Jing. We won’t be pursuing this matter any further so we will let the three of you go,” Vince stated, “But if you are ever approached by this mystery man again, ring the police.”
“Yes sir,” Jing beamed and nodded at the same time, Vince standing up and opening the door for him.
Another officer was waiting outside, ready to whisk Jing away in order to get him to sign some paperwork before he and his friends could be released.
“The effects of shock have started to wear off, I suggest he takes a bit more of that medication,” Doctor Watson instructed.
The bald, chubby man with a soul patch sat in his comfy office, talking to both Sit and Albino. He was wearing a very bright Hawaiian shirt which made Sit think, This guy is either homosexual or has no idea…
“There’s nothing wrong with me,” Sit firmly told Watson, “Don’t need to prescribe me any medication buddy.”
Watson shook his head and smiled, “Denial is always a sign of shock and it’s ok.”
Albino shook his head and chimed in, “Seriously, he’s ok. What kind of a shrink are you? We thought you knew there was nothing wrong.”
Watson wiped the grin off of his face straight away, “Wait, you’re from the Government aren’t you?”
Sit and Albino looked at each other, both of them as puzzled as the other.
“Here to take away my license? Aren’t you eh? Here to lock me up for 25 years, eh?”
Sit yelled at the man, “You’re bloody crazy, you are!”
Albino reassured the abrupt nut-case of a shrink, “We’re nothing you should be afraid of. We’re only normal guys.”
Then Sit laughed out aloud, “Wait, I get it! You’re not an actual shrink are you?”
Watson nodded, his head hung in shame as Albino laughed too.
“It’s good money…” Watson started, “All I needed was the money. I went broke in the stock exchange with gambling debts. And I drink too much to save any money, I mean- look at me two years ago!”
Watson pulled out a picture of a younger version of himself and made Sit think, You sure got overweight fast.
“Don’t turn me in… please.”
“You’re a fraud!” Sit said in a serious tone before he broke into laughter again, “Mate, you’re a legend. Keep up the good work!”
Albino added, “Well, since we all know something about each other we shouldn’t know. I say it’s best we keep quiet about everything.”
David Weaver discreetly walked up to the desk of Detective Vince Thompson. The built, Greek man looked down at Thompson and smiled but at the same time tried to look very intimidating.
“Hi, I’m not gay. Don’t even think about trying to pick up.”
Weaver didn’t expect Vince’s reaction and tried to ignore him before Vince shot another question back at him.
“So, do all Greeks don’t shave?”
Weaver didn’t give him an answer and said, “Detective Thompson, we’ve spoken before. I’m here to collect the video tape.”
“Tape?”
“The one you got last night.”
“And how did you know about that?”
Weaver smiled, “I have my sources.”
Vince tentatively reached for a piece of paper and started to scribble through it then handing it to the lawyer.
“You got to sign for it.”
Weaver scratched his name into the signature box on the paper and thanked Vince as the detective clicked his fingers in the air. Another officer came to him straight away and Vince gave the form to her.
“Get Mr Weaver this video tape. I have put down all the info you guys need,” Vince instructed, not taking his eyes off of lawyer, “It’s going to be an important piece of evidence for his case.”
The lady officer led Weaver away from Vince who was sitting there thinking, Sit is dead now. This guy is the best lawyer in town.
“How are we going to win this case?” Sit asked Albino.
Albino shrugged, “It’s going to be tough- you’ve got to think of a way to bail yourself out of this one. Anything that makes you not look like a suspect and pushes the blame on someone else could work.”
Sit was lost for ideas, “Nothing comes to mind.”
Albino replied, “It’s cool. I will think of something…”
All of a sudden, Sit had the greatest idea, “What about you try and show the court that I’m being framed?”
Albino seemed to agree immediately, “Damn, that could work!”
Sit nodded as Albino said, “Quick Sit, and write down a list of people we could link that to. Anyone we could make the court think twice about!”
“C’mon boys, you got to win by two!”
“Sure, sure Marv,” Al Harrington shouted out, “Quit changing the rules! We’ve already won this one.”
Joe Johnson swung the ball to Al who passed it to little Tyronn Lue. Lue then went one-on-one against Salim Stoudamire. Everyone moved to the side to watch on as the quicker and faster Lue started to break Salim’s ankles.
“Man Ty, slow down man! You ain’t AI!” shouted Johnson.
Lue reacted to the comment instinctively by quickly faking right and then completing the killer crossover by driving to his left. Salim fell over hard onto the wooden floor as Lue reached as high as he could, pushing up with all of his might. The ball hit the back of the iron and rebounded off the glass. Lue’s fingers grazed the rim as everyone started to laugh.
“That was hot man!” Al laughed, giving Lue a high five, “But you missed the dunk.”
Lue received high fives from the guys on the court. There were Joe, Al, Salim, Josh Smith and Marvin Williams. Lue was on the team with Joe and Al. Salim had picked himself off of the ground and retrieved the ball ready to start play again.
“It went out,” the sharpshooting guard said.”
“You’re still going to lose,” Al boasted.
Josh got the ball and playfully tried his best ‘And1’ move, getting past his man and dunking it over Harrington.
“That’s how you dunk Ty!” He taunted, swinging his arms around in the air.
“Oh, things just got little more serious boys,” Al announced as Josh got the rock back.
Josh’s second drive toward the hoop was stopped by Al who swatted his shot. Marvin picked up the ball and dribbled to the left. He passed to Salim who threw it to Josh. Josh back downed on Howard and sent the pass back to Marvin who dribbled in. Lue followed the ball with his eyes as he kept his arms stretched out guarding Salim on the left hand side of the court near the baseline. Marvin let the ball fly to his left, sending it out of the key. Lue thought, Nice, he passed it straight to our team!
Then Lue realised that Josh and Al were standing right next to him. Marvin and Joe were underneath the hoop and then Lue started to think fast, Where did Salim go?
“Ty, you getting too old for this!” A voice taunted him from his right.
At the top of the key was Salim spotting up for the triple. He let fly a shot from behind the arc and started to walk off the court. His shot was flawless as everyone heard the swish. Lue shook his head thinking, You cats are indeed too young for me.
As the guys started to pack their things up to leave the gm, Al caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look around the surroundings but there was nothing there so he ignored what he thought he had just saw. Al turned his focus back on packing up his belongings. He gathered up his shoes, drink bottle and towel and stuffed them into his sports bag. He slipped on a team shirt and turned around, meeting the gaze of a man only a few inches shorter than he was. This was followed by that he thought was a small dark object being waved around in his face.
“Detective Vince Thompson,” The man proudly asserted, “Al Harrington, may we have a chat please?”