The Song of a Little Ghost, page 9
part #6 of The Silent Assassin Series
A stream of applauses echoed through the hall.
Roy Pakuan announced the winner of the award. A young woman in an expensive blazer walked through the centre walkway and climbed to the stage. He shook Roy’s hand and begun her celebratory speech.
Audi took his communicator and placed the speaker near his lips. “How’s the situation outside?”
“Clear,” Matthew replied. “There’s no sign of Petit Fantome. Could they have given up on the assassination?”
“I doubt it,” the boy frowned. “Any suspicious activity inside the building?”
“Not that I know of,” Matthew said. “Bryant and I have been coordinating with the security guards. Moreover, every security footage and laser security console is open in front of me. At the first sign of intrusion, I will be the first one to know.”
Audi leaned back. “Keep me updated on the situation. I have a bad feeling—“
A girl’s giggle echoed next to him.
The boy flinched. He turned to his side, but it was an empty aisle. Audi stood in abrupt as he scanned around. He shivered. His breath turned rapid. His eyes opened wide.
“Audi?” Victoria asked. “What’s wrong?”
He grabbed Victoria’s hand and pulled her.
“Wait!” she yelled as people on the audience turned. “Why did you—“
“She’s here,” he spoke with shivers.
“What—“
“That girl is in this hall. She’s inside. You get out. Now.”
He dragged Victoria to Ayu and pushed the princess to her.
“Get her out of here, now!” the boy pulled his pistol out. “Everyone! Get the hell out of this place—!”
The light flickered.
Rapidly.
Until it turned pitch black.
The boy pushed Victoria and Ayu away. He took his UFX-PDA out and turned its screen to maximum brightness. Several others did the same, showering the hall with strobes of dim lights on the floor level, but kept the ceiling pitch black.
There are too many people in this place, and there’s no way I can pinpoint the Ghost Girl’s location, he took his communicator out. “Evacuate the people, now.”
“What’s going on?” Matthew asked. “My sensors caught a small blast of EMP—.”
“Petit Fantome hit the building’s power circuit and shut the lights in the hall down,” he walked towards the darkened stage and climbed up the stairs. “I need to find Roy Pakuan and—“
His foot bumped on a heavy object.
The boy turned his UFX-PDA towards the ground.
Roy Pakuan lied on the floor with his neck slit and blood freshly poured out.
…shit.
People near the stage screamed. They jumped off the stage and dashed towards the door. Others followed as the crowd turned into rampaging masses. They tried exiting, but no doors would open.
Another scream echoed.
Several people turned their UFX-PDA on, illuminating a dead body on the floor with her neck slit and blood pooling around: the award winner.
What? Audi jumped off and approached the body. She’s not member of the Board! Why—?
“Boo,” a familiar whisper echoed next to him.
Audi swung a punch in abrupt, but he hit thin air. He held his chest to control his breathing.
“Don’t hit me,” the whisper came behind him.
The boy turned, but there was no one.
“If anything, the dead woman deserved that punch so much more.”
He clenched his fist.
“She won the award based on a business she started in university: a data collection service which processes information gathered from various sources, from hospital to food delivery,” the whispers continued. “These information is then sold as a package to marketing companies, and is used to drive individual people into buying products they neither need nor want using various psychological tricks.”
“Are you paid to kill her too?”
“Not really, no,” she replied. “But you wouldn’t mind her death, would you?”
He frowned. “And what makes you think so?”
She giggled. “Remember what you told the Princess about fixing culture?”
What?
“I’m actually doing a service for you, killing a bastard who manipulates people by amplifying their consumerism habit. Aren’t you glad? Aren’t you happy?” her voice brightened. “She’s about to expand this business to other stellar systems, you know. Imagine if—“
“How did you know my conversation with the Princess?” the boy interrupted. “When did you start eavesdropping?”
“I can’t not eavesdrop,” she chuckled. “You were speaking next to me the whole time.”
Audi shivered. “You…what?”
“I was with you the whooooole time. Since the beginning,” she replied. “Remember when you came this morning and inspected the entire place on your own? You had three energy bars for breakfast, but left the last one half-eaten. Then you drank two cups of water before going to the toilet for three minutes, and then you sat—”
The boy tried saying a word, but it won’t come out. Cold sweat poured out of his skin as he listened to the Ghost Girl accurately recounted his routine from morning to evening.
“Nice plan with the laser sensors by the way, but they should’ve been placed a little higher,” she sniggered. “Did you forget that I can walk on ceilings?”
A shock thundered through his chest.
“Thanks for showing up tonight, but game’s not over,” the whispers came closer. “My next target is the director named Fitri Sumantri. The venue will be Benteng City’s Charity Gala in Hotel Tiga,” she paused. “What cute tricks will you pull to stop me this time?”
“And don’t start disappointing me; I love it when I see you squirm in despair.”
Chapter 2 / Part 6
The seventh floor of Simonovsky Tech’s headquarter was an administrative office for Finance and Accounting. A large room filled with eggshell chairs served as a lunchbreak lounge for employees. In-house designed vending machines lined up in a corner, each serving quick snacks and drinks—both hot and cold—with prices lower than typical market value. The clock struck three in the afternoon, and the room is empty—save for Audi Prabian.
He sat on the chair, leaning back on a nap position yet his eyes were wide open. The boy stared at the ceilings for one minute, two minutes, five, ten, an hour. At four o’clock, the entrance door slid open. Princess Victoria entered with baby steps with her two maids behind. She raised one hand. Ayu and Dina bowed and retreated outside.
“Are you…free?” the princess asked.
The boy kept silent.
Victoria sat on an egg chair next to him. “Thank you for saving me,” she said. “Had it not for you, I might—“
“She was next to me the whole time,” the boy said in monotone. “The only reason you didn’t die was because she chose not to kill you.”
“But—“
“A game, she said,” Audi continued. “This assassination contract is but a playground to her. And me?” he paused. “I’m the perfect toy to spice it up.”
Victoria stood and walked to his front. “She has optical stealth. There’s no way you would’ve known.”
“I should have,” the boy raised his seat and sat straight, looking at the princess. “Since childhood I was bred for combat. Living in a hellhole of a planet as to hone my wit, grit, strength, and senses. To what end? Just so she could pull me around with a string?”
The princess tightened her hands.
“What do I do next?” he clasped his hands on his head’s both sides. “If I show up in the next venue, would I be thrown around again? Would my defence plan be useless again? Would I end up crafting a complex tactic just to have her walk around without me knowing—“
Victoria slapped both of his cheeks.
Audi stopped as she pulled his face up.
“Failure is painful, isn’t it?” the princess lowered her voice to a near whisper, and her soft breath touched the boy’s face with every heave of air. She used her index fingers to pet his temples with gentle strokes. “I was once terribly hurt by my failure to protect others, just as you do.”
Silence.
“Have you ever loved someone so much that you’re willing to get hurt for them?” she asked. “Have you ever been hurt so much, that instead of shielding others from pain, you end up inflicting that pain tenfold on others?”
The boy opened his lips slightly. “I—“
“I’ve spent the past three years haunted by a past I wish I hadn’t gone through,” she continued. “Every day my chest would thump so much from regret it hurts. I fear every night would be sleepless and tormenting. The choice I’ve made. The person I hated. The person I loved. These memories never cease.”
“What happened?”
Victoria glanced away. “It’s not something I’m ready to talk about,” she said. “But it was a crime that drove the person I loved the most away from me. I thought he understood me. I thought he cared about me. But I’m just a princess, a symbol of the state to him.”
The boy kept silent.
“I almost gave up on love,” she turned to him. “I kept thinking to myself: why should I love if I am not going to be loved back? Why should I be kind if nobody’s willing to be kind to me? That thought kept going. Night and day. There was a time when I even considered killing myself.”
“Why didn’t you?”
She gritted her teeth. “Because I know, deep inside, that it’s just another attempt to gain his attention. I thought maybe, if I kill myself, at least he would care for one second. He would cry when he stood in front of my grave. So I stopped,” she looked up. “He’s not worth dying for.”
Audi smiled, albeit dim. “I used to disbelieve in social attachment, you know.”
Victoria turned to her.
“I’ve never understood the meaning of friendship, let alone love. I’ve always considered attachment to people as damaging—a chain of bondage akin to slavery.”
“That’s a radical view.”
“But certain people proved me wrong and shattered the illusion I had about myself,” he continued. “I once blocked a bullet from hitting someone using my arm, even though I know bullets can’t kill her.”
“Bullets can’t kill?”
“Long story,” Audi replied. “But they showed that I can care so much for others, to the point I’m willing to get hurt for them. I used to think that’s impossible.”
Victoria chuckled. “That’s love,” she said. “The willingness to get hurt for someone else, even when you know you won’t get anything out of it other than…expecting to be loved in return.”
“It shouldn’t be hard for someone like you to be loved, Princess,” he said. “You’re cute, kind, and caring. Whomever that person who rejected you is must be one heck of an idiot.”
She chuckled. “Why are you suddenly trying to flatter me?”
“I’m not, that’s just an opinion shared by a lot of people in this galaxy,” he replied. “Too bad most of them are commoners, they have no chance of getting your attention.”
“What makes you think I can’t love a commoner?”
“Because it’s unrealistic?”
Victoria sighed. “Let’s straighten your view a bit,” she said. “Assuming that I can only love someone rich and powerful is flawed. I am a Royal Family member, remember? What would I get from marrying someone with power, when I already have one that is near infinite? What material benefit would I get from marrying someone rich, when my wealth is already beyond the top?”
Silence.
“All I want in love is someone who’s human,” she said. “Someone whose interest and reason for living is beyond their material self. Someone who can teach me, show me wisdom I never knew existed. Someone whom I can grow together with as a person, to become a better one tomorrow.”
“So he doesn’t have to be a member of our society’s elite?”
“I don’t care if he’s a prince or a pauper,” Victoria replied. “I just…want someone who can restore my faith in humanity.”
The boy leaned back on his chair. “Faith in humanity, huh?” he muttered. “That’s why you wanted to protect the Climate Restoration Technology.”
Victoria smiled and nodded.
“Princess,” Audi stood up and turned to her.
He kneeled in abrupt.
“Eh?” Victoria flinched. “Why suddenly—“
“I apologise for my uncouth manner,” he lowered his head. “My first intention of coming to Bandar Prime was to obtain a drug, but your presence and being changed everything.”
“What…what do you mean?”
“You have a noble goal. A vision for humanity embodied in your passion to protect this Climate Restoration Technology,” he replied. “As a loyal subject of yours, I promise that I will protect this company and its people to ensure the project runs smoothly, and with it, the realisation of your vision.”
The Princess sighed. “You don’t have to kneel to say that, Audi,” she said. “Rise.”
He stood up.
“You have a job to do,” she said. “Don’t let that Ghost Girl break your spirit. Fight on. You can do this,” she lightly punched his chest.
“Is that…supposed to be a pep-talk?” Audi cocked an eyebrow. “You’ve got some work to do yourself.”
“Shoosh,” she spun the boy around and pushed him towards the door. “That’s really embarrassing, you know. I’ve never done that in such a casual setting.”
Audi chuckled. “I pity those two maids. I wouldn’t want to tend to you every day.”
“They are not maids, they are my good friends!” she pouted.
“And who says I want you to tend to me every day?”
CHAPTER THREE
“Evil always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.”
-Albert Camus-
Chapter 3 / Part 1
The Charity Gala was the largest philanthropy event in Bandar Prime, annually hosted and attended by the biggest names of the planet’s elites. Its venue was Hotel Tiga’s most expensive ballroom with a capacity of one thousand guests. Its ceilings were high with terrace balconies on its side, and the floor area was decorated with seats and buffet tables. Advanced lighting system and curtain mechanism fitting for a theatre hung high atop a stage with crews calibrating their functions.
Audi stood in front of the ballroom’s entrance, fixing his black suit and straightening his black-rimmed glasses. He scanned the outside corridor. Security guards patrolled with their eyes sharp like an eagle. Laser sensors, placed high on the ceiling level, decorated the wall from one corner to the other. “There’s no way she could sneak past through that,” the boy glanced at Bryant and Matthew next to him.
Bryant and Matthew wore Simonovsky Tech’s signature maroon sweater with pistol concealed underneath it. Matthew opened his UFX-PDA and showed it to Audi. “I’ve installed an even more advanced detection system than last time,” he said. “Sensitive optical sensors and much more thorough camera placements.”
“Excellent,” the boy nodded. “Exterior site all good?”
Bryant crossed his arms. “All guards on standby, but I reckon this is overkill.”
“Can’t be too careful with Petit Fantome,” Audi replied. “Last time I tried going lean and efficient, only to be humiliatingly outsmarted. Now, I’m going to show her my resolve: covering all avenues of entrances and exits, both physically and strategically, as to completely deter her advance,” he grinned. “Let’s see how smart she can get with all this.”
“Petit Fantome is a three-woman team, you know?” Bryant shook his head. “This counter-measure tactic is mostly dedicated to fight against one of them: the stealth Ghost Girl.”
The boy clicked his tongue. “Are the other two as lethal as she is?”
Matthew closed his UFX-PDA. “Not sure about lethal, but certainly not to be messed around with,” he said. “They are strong enough to fight off a group of trained security guards while being outnumbered twenty-to-two.”
“Sounds tough,” the boy replied in monotone. “But they will be outnumbered forty-to-one in a frontal assault this time,” he grinned. “You’ll need an armoured unit like JOTUN to barely scratch a victory.”
“Wish us luck then,” Bryant tapped the boy’s shoulder. “Tonight we shall celebrate our first victory against Petit Fantome. Drinks and fast food on me, but go pick up a lady from this party and bring her friends, okay?”
Audi rolled his eyes. “It’s a charity ball, not a nightclub you idiot.”
With lights turned off and spotlights blasted onto the stage, the charity ball’s host opened the night with a light-hearted humour and witty speech. Guests of the night were part of the richest few percent of Bandar Prime.
Audi walked around with baby steps from one corner of the ballroom to the other, making mental notes of the surroundings as he manoeuvred through the dim ballroom.
Fitri Sumantri should be showing up in the third event of the night, Audi snatched a biscuit from a table and munched it fast. When she enters the stage, I should hide nearby and ready myself to jump for her protection.
He paused.
Hold on, what is the event before that? The boy opened his UFX-PDA and displayed the itinerary. Oh crap! It’s slow dance?
The boy looked around. Every guest came as a couple, and he was the only single man. He took his communicator while marching to the ballroom’s corner. “I need a woman, big guy.”
Bryant burst out laughing over the channel. “What’s with the sudden carnal urge?”
“Not funny,” he whispered. “As soon as the dance event starts, I will be the only one standing in the corner, and the Ghost Girl will spot me right away.”
