The notification chimed on his high tech computer. It reads as
'Price closed at 2908.67'
'170000 USD'
"As it should be..." William Junior alias Black smirked as he loosened his bow tie to enjoy some ease. He checked his wrist, and stood up.
"It's about time I touched some grass". Picking up his suit, his office phone rang. Black picked up his phone,
"Yes?".
"I don't have any appointments with anyone".
"Who are they?"
"Law enforcement? Oh, I see. Let them in".
Black dropped the call and sat down on his chair. He scanned around his office, checked his wrist and adjusted his shirt.
Two minutes later, a knock came through his door.
"Come in".
The door opened and 4 men clad in blue and black uniformed attire came in, with a pistol by the thigh side, a baton, a cell phone and a badge attached to the chest pocket. Alongside a tall, blonde woman with pearl-shaped eyes, as sharp and laser-focused as a hawk.
"I don't think I have any appointment with the police department today..."
The woman responded, "We're not the police".
The room became cold. Black coughed and sat upright.
"So, why are you here?..."
*************
7 years ago, Black graduated with a BNSc. in Nursing Science and planned to further his studies, but was unable to because of inadequate funding. He decided to learn a high income soft skill for that purpose.
Being an orphan, who was surviving on his own means, navigating his daily life and career was tough and unpredictable.
He could barely eat once per day, had to scrap the cheapest of carbohydrates to fill the belly. Proteins were never in the picture, they were luxury he couldn't afford.
He was a bright kid once, and from a good home, until tragedy struck and he lost both parents to the misfortune, just few months to graduation.
With no considerate family, relatives to look out for him, he had to fend and build himself by himself. He knew what's at stake. The world is cruel to the poor.
"I'll like to announce the valedictorian, William Junior, as I present this plaque to him and let him have his speech".
As the claps and the chants roared, almost raising the roof of the auditorium, Black eyes became blurry as he stood up. He scanned around and a heavy darkness enveloped his heart, the most important people in his life were not there to grace the occasion with him.
5 months after graduation, Black went to offer a cleaning service at a grand, modern high taste house. After cleaning, he went looking for master to inform him that he was done cleaning, he couldn't find the master, but on the desk of this strange and rich master, he saw wads of dollar bills, a smart phone , a laptop which seem to be connected to a bigger screen. Beside the laptop was a personalised jotter and an exquisite pen, a cup of coffee which was obviously turning cold.
Black was stunned by the view, as he has his mouth opened, not by the wads of cash, obviously a lie, not the coffee though, but the large print digit in blue fluctuating at different price.... 'in USD??'.
"Is that 784,651 USD right on the screen?" Black asked aloud.
"Yes, it is...and you're welcome, are you done with the cleaning?" Arthur, the master of the house asked.
Black reeled back, taken off by the unexpected response of the master. Stammering, "So...sorry for the intrusion, I just wanted to....yes...yes, I'm done cleaning ".
"Okay, good. Because I'm getting ready to leave and resume work at the office. Those dollar bills is yours, pick it up and you can leave". Arthur replied while shutting down his computer.
"Thank you Sir, but the cleaning service is just $20, but I have $230 here...and also what's that on your screen, can I learn it or work for you?" Black raced through his speech.
"You sure do ask a lot of questions... and yeah, take that money as a bonus for a job well done. For the remaining questions, I guess there'll be another time, for now, I'm almost late.."
That meeting as fate would have it became a turning point for Black, but fate can be a sweet poison, a cruel thing, as vile and unpredictable as it can be.
After that day, Black kept on expecting a cleaning service at Arthur's house, so he could have another chance to meet with this mysterious master, but it never came. Until 4 months after the first meeting, Black was in his bed, at 7:30am thinking about the usual day to day activities and how to get to survive the day, with feeding on the top list of priorities. His phone beeped with a notification for a cleaning service. He swiped at the notification and glanced through the address, thinking it was another uneventful day of cleaning. He dropped the phone and began to dress up, then he suddenly stopped.
"Why is the phone number hidden? And why is there an encrypted message below?" Black asked.
Rushing to the phone, he checked the message again, and confirmed the unidentified number,
"Who is this person?".
"Lmao, the address is not even readable, what type of home address is this? how will I be able to reach you?".
Frustrated, Black scrolled down the text and tapped on the xxxxx encrypted message on his screen.
Nothing.
He double tapped, nothing. Then, a few seconds later, the message changed, for a very short time and became encrypted before deleting.
"Shit! Deleted? Why?".
Then it dawned on him. Suddenly aware, he swiftly jumped into a trouser, picked up his cleaning equipment and paced out of his room.
With no money to hail a cab, Black jogged, taking the road lane towards his destination. The wind blew at his face, cooling his body. He took a curve down the street lane, different luxury duplex lined up the street, each with its own spectacle of tasteful views.
The sun was up, illuminating the entire earth and landscape. It golden hue shone on the street, with decorative tastefully planted trees lining up the lanes, casting their shadow across the road, acting as a shield away from the sun.
Black took advantage of the shadow, as the breeze relieved his body heat. He scanned the street looking for the street that showed up on the encrypted message.
Has he kept on moving he asked himself,
'Why is the master suddenly choosing another place to be cleaned?'.
'Why not his house this time?'.
'What has suddenly happened and why has the master gone ghost for almost a quarter of the year before reaching out...and for f*ck sake, why does he have to send an encrypted message?'.
Black raced down the street, sweaty and tensed as he pondered on this sudden occurrences. The message he had been waiting for almost 4 months suddenly came and it was not on a good note.
"Oh my!..." Black tried hard to swerve so as not to barge into a tall man with a walking stick, a hat and a black sunshade. But it was to late. He was too close and he slammed into the man and they both collapsed into the ground.
With an adept hand, the man slot a paper into Black's pocket and coughed.
"Young man, please look where you're going next time" The man adjusted his shades, picked up his walking stick and left without a word.
"I'm so sorry, Sir". Black dusted his dress, looked at the man one more time and continued running.
He got to the address and looked around the surroundings,
'This place is quite strange, what do I do now?'.
He scanned around one more time, and checked his pocket for his phone. His hands caught in something unusual and he brought it out...
Opening the paper, Black read aloud, "Take that route with bricked path to the end of the street, you'll hear a dog bark twice, enter the building with the dog, I'll meet you there in 30 minutes.