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The Wolf of Karachi
Dec-7-2018 16:55
It could not have been more than a week since they defeated the mysterious Jack, the mastermind behind the Order of the Sphinx, and his dastardly plan to create a "perfect world", a world full of eunuchs making everyone the same.
In that time, Marc made an enemy and then a friend though Edward Carlyle, a soon-to-be disgraced FBI agent. Edward's team died fighting Sphinx, he was held responsible for each of their deaths. But it was Jasper who sacrificed himself to create the perfect distraction.
Marc sat alone in the dark nursing a bottle of gin, reflecting on the past events. He jumped at the sound of a lout rapping on his door.
"It's open!" He called out without looking up.
Riza walked in. "We're heading to the train station. The train leaves in an hour to Karachi. You ready?"
Marc gulped the last of his gin and tossed the bottle behind him, shattering the glass against the wall as he stood up. He heafted his bag over his shoulder and smiled.
"Let's go get our friend."
Feb-6-2019 18:33
"Any idea what this means?" Edward asked staring at the symbol that Zeo showed them. "If did," Joseph said, "I would have told you already."
"Ow!" Marc yelled, jerking his arm.
"Damnit, Marc," Zeo snapped, "hold still. This isn't easy." Joseph was sewing Marc's wound shut with some thread and a sewing needle provided by none other than Molly, who always seemed to be prepared for anything. Not exactly an ideal way to get stitches, but the hospitals weren't always trustworthy. Marc knew Vulkie didn't mean to shoot him, or so he thought. It wasn't like her to accidentally hit a friend, but cases of friendly fire had been common in the past. No, he thought to himself. Vulkie was hypnotised. The trans she was in, was a trans that Marc knew how to put people in. A trick he was taught by some underground connections he got close with.
"There's only one way to find out what this means," Marc said, after Zeo finished. He snapped the paper from Edward, who yelped. "Watch it!" he yelled at Marc as he nursed the new papercut.
Marc walked out of the room, Zeo right behind him, followed by Edward. All three of them left quickly, leaving the women behind in the room.
"Excuse me," Marc said to the concierge. "Can you tell me what this word means?"
"Ah," he said in his thick arabic accent. "It says 'Wolf.'" Then he froze with a concerned look on his face.
"Does this mean something to you?" Marc asked.
"Not here," he said, looking around. A gesture showing that there was too many ears in the room. He whispered in Marc's ear where to meet him.
"Ensure that you are not followed," He said.
That evening Marc found himself sitting with Joseph across from this concierge from the hotel. Edward, reluctantly stood watch outside of the small home where the man lived, making sure no one was watching.
"This is the signature of the one called 'The Wolf.'"
"Who is he?" Joseph asked.
"No one knows for sure, but people go missing when this signature shows up."
"Anais…" Zeo whispered.
"Who?" He asked.
"A friend of ours went missing," Marc said. "She was last seen here in Karachi."
"Not long ago," the concierge whispered, "there were some Americans here. One was a pilot, I don't know about the other one. Then this name shows up."
"So," Marc said, "we find the wolf and start asking questions. Where can we find him?"
"That's all I know. Look in the underground. You're sure to find information there"
Marc and Joseph thanked the man and walked outside. The three men got back in their car and headed back to their hotel to share their new information. The game of cat and mouse was about to begin. No one knew what they were about to be in for.
Joseph Zeo
Tale Spinner
The game of cat and mouse was about to begin. The question was, were they the cat or the mouse? Their clues felt more like baits.
The Wolf. How was he connected to Anais' disappearance? And what's with the pilot, Amelia Earhart? How was everyone connected? Was Anais trying to help Amelia and got in trouble with the Wolf, or was it the other way around?
Why was the Circle of Light went out of their way to attack Marc? What were they after? And the biggest mystery of all, what was wrong with Vulkie?
'Before we regroup with the ladies, there's a few things I must make clear.' Joseph stated, their car a sanctuary in the dead of the night. 'Marc, the tattoo on the man who attacked you... You knew very well it was the symbol for the Circle of Light, but you asked Vulkie what it meant...'
Marc nodded solemnly, 'and her answer surprised me, or should I say, it confirmed my suspicion.'
'Vulkie should know about the fractions like the back of her hand...'
'Exactly! Instead, she suggested going to a library to find out! Seriously?' Marc smirked, the wound on his shoulder throbbed with pain, 'and damn this freaking shot! It was no accident.'
'So you noticed too? I thought you were too busy struggling with that burly man at the time.' Reluctantly, Joseph continued, 'Vulkie was aiming at you, I was sure of it. You could have died.'
'Vulkie was hypnotized.'
'You sure about that?' Ed interjected.
Marc confirmed with a nod, 'The trance she was in, I know how to do it too. I just need to put her under it, and we can find out who's behind this.'
Joseph was impressed. 'If this is true, then it could explain a lot. I just couldn't believe Vulkie would turn against us otherwise,' the three detectives could see the neon sign of their hotel looming ahead of them now, 'just let us know how to assist you Marc, we must find out which bastard did that to our friend.'
Marc sat across from Vulkie, who currently sat in a trance that he put her in. Reluctantly, she agreed to let him hypnotise her to get some answers. He pulled out his pipe after a moment of silence. He lit it and puffed it a few times, creating a smoke cloud around him. For a moment, a brief moment, Marc forgot where he was, and his thoughts immediately went to Riza, once again, and he couldn't help but think about here. Snap out of it, he thought to himself. Back to Vulkie.
Marc held the pipe in his mouth long enough to pick up his tape recorder, a cheap one that he bought when Vulkie agreed to let him hypnotise her. It wasn't exactly easy getting it. The hardest part about being in a foreign country is communicating with the locals. Even if this was part of the English empire, people around here couldn't speak a lick of English to save their life. But he got one after finding someone who could speak English and directed him to the right place.
Click. He turned on the tape recorder and spoke. "Session 1, I have hypnotised my friend Victoria Nousson, also known as Vulkie, who was hypnotised by someone called The Wolf." Marc hesitated. Could she really be trusted? Is Zeo right about her? Marc remembered years ago, how she sold out to the La Cosa Nostra, and almost cost him his life. A pneumothorax and two scars where the bullets ripped through him like a hot knife on butter.
Vulkie was, by no means, perfect, but is anyone perfect? No. "Victoria," Marc said, "I'm going to ask you a few questions, I need you to speak loud, and clearly for the microphone to hear you, do you understand?"
"Yes," Vulkie said in a completely different, monotone voice."
"Now, what do you remember?" Marc asked slowly.
"Sphinx…" Vulkie said "...All dead...all of them," she mumbled.
Marc frowned. Sphinx? They couldn't possibly be part of this, could they? Weren't they done for? Didn't Molly make the final kill?
"Go on," Marc said after Vulkie paused.
"He killed them.." She mumbled again.
"Who killed who?" Marc asked.
"Who is the Wolf?"
"The wolf stalks his prey...he's after her…"
"After who?" Marc said, quickly, now hoping to get an answer, "Who is the Wolf after?"
"The American...He killed the pilot,"
"Pilot? What pi-?" Marc started, but then remembered the airport. Amelia Earhart. But how did this tie in with Anais being gone?
"Where's Anais, Vulkie?" Marc asked, cutting right to the chase.
"He's after her," Vulkie said, turning her gaze to Marc. "And he's coming for you, and everyone else."
"The Wolf?" Marc asked. He hesitated. Of course, who else could be coming for him? but why?
She sat up, pulling out a knife from behind her. Then, without hesitation, and before Marc had a chance to snap her out of her trance, she lunged at him.
Apr-5-2019 12:42
Joseph saw the knife glistening through the smoke cloud. By reflex he quickly hit Vulkie's wrist and twisted her arm backwards. The knife dropped to the ground with a loud clink.
'No!' Marc interjected but he was too late. Vulkie dropped unconscious, the white of her eyes showing through her half closed eyelids.
Joseph was surprised by Marc's reaction, given Joseph had just saved his life again, but seeing how Vulkie suddenly went limp on them he sensed that something was really wrong.
Marc knelt down holding Vulkie's head between his palms. 'Vulkie! Vulkie!' He checked her vital signs. Vulkie's breathing was shallow but she was unable to wake up.
'I haven't had a chance to snap her out of her trance yet!' Marc explained.
'Shit.' Joseph muttered. 'Is she going to be okay?' Vulkie was convulsing a little, as if she was in a nightmare.
Marc shook his head. 'I really don't know,' he lifted Vulkie up and took her into her bedroom. 'We just have to wait for her to wake up on her own.'
Vulkie continued to shake as she battled whatever was in her mind. Joseph felt guilty, but he knew Vulkie would be strong enough to get herself out of it. She always did.
Ed trailed in behind the two other men into Vulkie's room holding the tape recorder. 'How do you turn this damn thing off?'
Marc took the machine from Ed and rewind the tape a little.
'He killed the pilot,' the tape recorder spoke in Vulkie's muted voice.
'Pilot? What pi-?' Marc's voice came in, 'Where's Anais, Vulkie?'
'He's after her,' Vulkie's voice continue to sound removed and eerie, 'And he's coming for you, and everyone else.'
Marc stopped the tape, 'we need to get a move on this, fast.' Joseph nodded in agreement, his body already halfway out the room.
'But Vulkie is still unconscious!' Ed voices out, eyeing Joseph accusingly.
'Vulkie will be fine,' Joseph replied, sounding cold-hearted to anyone not knowing how well he knew Vulkie. 'You can stay with her and the ladies to monitor her progress.' Ed stay put, glad to be able to spend more time with Molly.
Marc quickly trailed after Joseph, retrieving their jackets and necessities from their rooms. 'The first female pilot ever to attempt to fly across the globe. I am sure she won't go around unnoticed,' Marc analyzed.
Joseph nodded in agreement, 'We just need to find an eye witness who has spotted Anais with her.'
Why did the Wolf had to kill Amelia? What did she know? Or could they boldly conclude, what information was Amelia carrying which forced Wolf to silence her? Joseph wished from the depth of his heart that they will be able to find a lead to Anais before the Wolf strikes again.
Molly Maltese
Molly peered around at the smoky melee, quite unimpressed with Vulkie's usual banal need to stab, shoot, and say alarming things at the drop of the hat. She absentmindedly tucked her hair behind her ear, pasting an agreeable expression on her face when Joseph bade Ed stay with the women and left the room with Marc.
As the door closed behind them and Ed turned to look at her with a warm, gooey gleam in his eye, she gestured to Vulkie.
"You've got this under control, I expect?" She asked cheerfully, patted his shoulder and ducked out. Though she and Ed had made up in a fashion, it wasn't as though Molly would soon forgive him for forgetting to join her continents away. Besides, her constant character trope of needing a man for this and that was quite tiring, and she imagined if she were any sort of writer penning her own life she'd quite get on with it and do something bold and fearless.
"I shall do something bold and fearless." She announced to the empty hallway, before slipping out of the hotel. Molly pulled her silk scarf over her hair and ducked her head, quite sure that while the men were gallivanting around twisting arms and intimidating people, she would try a different method, quite among her own set.
Outside the hotel, she stood upon the corner and signaled one of the more curious modes of transport in Karachi, a quaint taxi cart pulled by buffalo. The driver looked at her curiously, and she leaned out the window to declare, "Burns Road."
The swarthy man nodded and set off. Burns Road was a predominantly British neighborhood, and several old family friends resided there. Their arrival in Karachi neatly corresponded with one of the ladies nights at the prestigious Sindh Gentlemans Club, and she intended to circulate among the bored British elite and most importantly, their loose-lipped servants to glean any information possible about the missing pilot and her dear friend Anais.
"Okay," Zeo said as they drove to the airport. The investigation was finally getting somewhere. "Run it by me again."
Marc sat in the passenger seat staring at his notepad, reviewing what information he had. "Anais last seen here in Karachi. The Wolf killed Amelia Earhart, according to Vulkie. We know the question to 'Who?' and part of 'What?'but we don't know 'Why?' or 'How?'".
A moment of silence passed by. Marc could see the wheels in Zeo's head turning as he tried to piece this all together. "The million dollar question now, is why is the Circle of Light here?" Marc said.
Another moment of silence passed before Marc opened his mouth to speak. He wanted to tell Zeo how he truly felt about Riza, but how would that turn out? Would Zeo be mad? Didn't he have feelings for her before? Or was it Anais? Or both? Marc couldn't remember exactly but he wanted to skip the drama for now. Telling Zeo would have to wait.
"You ever think...all this," Marc started, "is just too repetitive?" Marc felt a knot form in his stomach.
"All this...the shooting...the traveling, does it ever get old to you? Have you ever longed for something more?"
Zeo remained quiet. "I guess," Zeo said, "I never really thought much about that. Are you saying you're done?"
"I don't know," Marc said. "I've got a reputation, I've got money, I've got almost everything I've ever wanted. And now? I don't know...part of me thinks it's time to retire after this."
"I don't know that I'm going to yet," Marc said, after yet, another moment of silence. "It's just something I've been debating." He knew Zeo wasn't purposely ignoring him, he was going over the notes in his mind.