Poison City

“Marcus! Marcus!” Gloria caught up to Marcus and pulled him by his left elbow: “What are you planning to do? Do you have a plan?”

“No - not really.” Marcus looked down at his phone, waiting for Kevin to answer his call: “I need to find Kevin first. I know a place he would go to hide. If he’s not there, then maybe he’s at Captain Ko’s place - I’ll find him.”

“Okay, it might seem like a bad time for you, but you need to wait.” Gloria tightened her grip: “If they would be so blazen to attack your precinct, a city police precinct, they would surely know where you would be going when you make it out of the forest alive.”

“... you’re right.” Marcus took a few deep breaths before nodding at Gloria: “You’re right. I can’t just go to the obvious places. If they dare attack our precinct, they’d have some inside help. Tyler Khan, if I was him, I’d bug the entire precinct and steal some personal files for backup plans.”

“That’s right, so we’ll need a plan. Even if you made contact with Kevin, you’d need to figure out if he’s being held hostage as well.” Gloria pulled Marcus to sit on the side of the road: “Don’t worry, he’ll be okay.”

“What about your friends then? Don’t you need to contact them?” Marcus looked Gloria in her eyes.

“I told them, if I don’t get back to them, they should find a place to hide. Don’t worry, my mentor is there, so they should be fine.” 

“Yes. But this place is closer to your place. Go to them when you need to.” Marcus stood up walking towards the side of the road, looking around and trying to see if he could catch a taxi. “I’ll - I’ll let you know what happened. And - please be safe.”

Gloria looked Marcus in his eyes, shook her head and gave him a quick hug: “And you too.”

“Mister, Miss.” A staffer walked out of the noodle shop: “The chef called you taxis. Please wait inside for a moment. And - he’s offered you each a new change of clothes, if you are open to them.”

After changing, the staffer threw their old clothes in the furnace just to assure them that nothing personal would be left behind in the store. Marcus had a hat to help cover his face, while Gloria got a pair of large sunglasses. Their rides stopped in front of the store shortly after this was done.

The taxis were obviously some kind of expensive reservation-only ride. Marcus had only heard about this kind of premium taxis with relatively plain exterior but clean and luxurious interior before. The driver was mostly silent. The only sentences he spoke to Marcus were to greet him, ask him if he thought the air conditioning was too cold, and to confirm with him where he wanted to go.

Marcus chose to be dropped off at a place near the store where his father worked. After all of this, making sure that his father was safe was the first thing on his mind. If they were to act, he needed to make sure his father would be safe.

He did not rush in directly but checked out the surroundings first. He deliberately limped while he did so to avoid being recognized.

There were no suspicious people outside of the shop. So he came in, picking up a small pack of chips while passing by a shelf.

Elvin was busy stocking up the racks near the cashier, while a young woman sat behind the counter scrolling through something on her phone.

“Thank you for coming, we accept credit cards only on 10 dollars and above, if below please use cash. ” The young woman did not even look at Marcus.

“Here.” Marcus threw 3 dollars on the counter before going to his father’s side and whispered to his ear: “Dad, don’t panic, it’s me.”

Elvin almost jumped. He looked Marcus up and down before whispering back: “What? What are you doing here? I thought you were working overtime on the big case - what happened?”

“Something serious happened. And I need you to leave with me.” Marcus whispered to his father: “Do you have a car or a truck here? Or a motorcycle? And do you sell burner phones?”

“We - we only have a delivery moped - it won’t fit us. And - we can’t sell burner phones..” Elvin thought for a moment before answering: “But - there are some abandoned cars in the back - do you need to drive?”

“Nonono that won’t work, we need to get outta here.” Marcus shook his head: “Let’s just go then. We need to leave right away. Do you know a safe place we can hide?”

“Okay. Okay.” Elvin was wise enough not to ask too many questions, he walked up to the counter: “Sabrina, I’ll need to check the storage in the back to see if we have any more of this -  this tiger smoke. ”

“Alright, have fun.” The young woman behind the counter did not even look up.

“Okay, let’s go around the back.” Elvin led the way into a narrow alleyway in the back, with litter everywhere and a foul smelling metal dumpster resting by the wall around the midway point: “There’s a small alley here - people sneak here to smoke and do drugs at night. Once we’re outta here, we can take a taxi, or steal a bike or something - ”

“Shit.” Marcus cursed as he flared his nose. A faint smell of blood lingered in the air. He stepped forward and kept Elvin behind him, keeping one hand on the pistol he got from the stolen truck: “Stay behind me - something’s not right. I smell blood.”

Marcus took a few steps forward to check behind the metal dumpster. A homeless man was curling up in the corner, snoring lightly. On his side scattered a few syringes.

“This - this is not unusual here, unfortunately.” Elvin explained.

Marcus’ phone rang. He answered it without even a hint of hesitation, even though it came from a strange number.

“Marcus? Are you safe?” It was Kevin.