Assassin at Greenbelt 4

Duped

At 6:30 AM the next day came the inevitable: I was not dreaming at all. This was real! Her wearing that purple spandex-like attire! Me being beholden to her when at the back of my mind I should run away and turn her over to the police. However, I could not be as alert as I'd want to be, for I was reeling off from an unknown drug that is about to wear off.

I asked her "What? Nina, what on earth am I here for?" raising my voice.

"Ha, ha, ha! You did not seem to realize what going on, didn't you? I was looking for an accomplice for a vigilante mission," Nina went on, staring at me in a charming, psychopathic manner.

My guard was totally down, with barbital rendering me unable to have the strong urge to escape. Little did I know I am reeling of the side effects of barbital that day.

She told me that I will be one of her accomplices in her missions. This time, it involves the proverbial War on Drugs.

She oriented me on what tasks I could do, so she drew out rolls of paper that were as large as architects' drawings on the desk of the hotel room. The papers were probably of A1 size, or as large as eight A4-size papers put together. This was followed by her drawing out permanent markers that have fluorescent colors.

"I know you're a chemist, so I'll put you as a lab manager-cum-snitch on a clandestine drug lab," she told me as she pointed to the map of some unknown place in Pampanga. "For the day, I'll assign you as the lab manager, but you will tell me everything as soon as I get back. Then I will take care of the rest."

"I don't want to get arrested for consuming drugs, or worse, being a conspirator to the illicit drug production!"

Nina sensed that I made a wrong assumption, but this kind of assumption infuriated her. So, she pounded the table with her pen and she stared at me.

"Look at me!" she ordered me. "That's nonsense! Do you think that I am here to get you to do drugs?"

"N-N-No..." I stammered.

"OK," she said to calm us down. Then she stashed some printouts related to the lab. One of them involves a chemical synthesis plan. This was followed by her encircling the site of the lab in her largest printout using a fluorescent purple permanent marker.

"That clandestine drug lab in Pampanga has about 4 employees," she oriented me, and she drew out a folder that contained face shots of the four people who I would be working with. She went on, "They will teach you what to do from there. Here's the catch: whatever you do, don't drop my name or that of the police. I'll take care of them."

I looked at all the papers she rolled out for the mission—the map, the chemical equations, and the mugshots. I tried to make sense of what she was asking me to do. At first, I tensed up because I knew that something wrong could go on there. Then Nina told me her plan as she showed me the floor plan of the lab and its surroundings.

She started telling me about my hideout using the map of the lab, "OK, so as soon as I tell you to hide, make sure that you hide on the trapdoor that is located on the left side of the lab. It's like the left side of the lab, if you are facing the entrance of the lab." Then she drew the trap door where I will hide in case she deals with those "employees".

"So, the end goal here is to pretend that I am the head of the lab, and you will take care of busting those drug lords?"

"Yes."

She offered a reward if I succeed as her accomplice, she told me that I can have whatever I wish. "Name your reward," she whispered to my ear to trigger my goosebumps. I told her that I wanted a graduate level scholarship in Dublin or London.

"OK. I can be your sponsor for that... I know professors who I've talked into this scheme."

I thought, in a fit of rage, that she must be laundering money. However, it fell off my mind as she guessed another reward that I could have in mind.

"Well, I am the very embodiment of what you want..." she teased me, caressing my face gently with her hand. As she enticed me as she did, I felt a tension within myself. I had barely a second to do a Sign of the Cross when...

"You can have my body, if you so please," she promised me, showing off her figure by standing stiffly straight to show off her "prominent features"—her confident bust, her voluptuous curvature, and some musculature to enhance her overt feminine features! Talk of strength and beauty being "alloyed in platinum"! In that moment, I was enraptured by her self-assured pose, with a confidence that would topple most men! The ecstatic surge has led my mind to a revolt against prudent restraint. My heart overwhelmed by the surge of emotions that I cannot comprehend! More so, I feel flushed and I was able to look at the vixen straight in the eyes, in admiration! It was the first infatuation I felt after two years! It was a climax that did not need any "contact", an indescribable excess!

Will I end up succumbing to her?

Overcome by the surge of mind and body, I said yes instantly to her, followed by gasping for breath.

"Great!" she affirmed, and she kissed my forehead very gently, followed by combing the tendrils of hair that go messy. "Now I have a job for you..."

As soon as we both calmed down from that moment, Nina briefed me on my first plan that during the Christmas break, I will be heading a clandestine drug lab in Angeles City, Pampanga. She rolled out all her blueprints to start.

"Alright, I have intel that there is a clandestine amphetamine lab in Angeles City, Pampanga, about 50 miles north of Makati, where we are right now. Before we begin, does your company have a Christmas break?"

"Yes. December 19 to January 2."

"Alright then. You will be running the lab on December 19 until December 22. However, every night, make sure that you report to me everything you see, and I will bust the lab on December 23 in the morning. That should enable you to go back to your home on December 24."

"OK."

"So, it helps if I show you the map," she continued. She drew several circles using fluorescent markers: one circle quite far from the Angeles Exit of North Luzon Expressway. "I'll bring you to the amphetamine lab on December 19, starting at 4:00 in the morning at your house. Then, if all goes well, we should be in that lab at 7:30 AM. Then from there, the chief cook will orient you on what to do from there. Don't drop my name or even hint us to the police!"

"Wait. How do I get to go from my place to that lab that you speak of?"

"I'll pose as a Grab driver. Prepare about PHP2,500.00 since this is a long ride."

"Nice plan. I need personal protection equipment, like an N95 mask and a hazmat suit! I don't want to inhale the drugs lest I feel like I'm consuming them!"

"Don't worry. I'll provide you your hazmat suits and all that. Just take good notes of the plan I'm giving you and you should be all set."

"OK."

Little did I know that I was serving as an accomplice to that vixen.

As soon as I recovered from my high, I freshened up and told her that I need to go home lest my parents berate me. Then at around 10:45 AM, she left the hotel room. I was tense, hoping that she would not get back at any time. "Sana wala na iyang Ninang iyan! (I hope that Nina's gone forever!)" Then I pocketed these items from the room: a pencil bearing the name "Ascott Hotel", a ball pen bearing the hotel logo and a small notepad bearing the same logo. Fortunately, they all fit in my pocket and so I sneaked out of the hotel room.

There I was, waiting for ride to Sucat via UV Express. Good thing that there was no line in the UV Express so I was able to go home in about 1 hour. By the time I went out, thunderclouds dominated the sky, threatening that rain will fall in any minute. Good thing that I was able to go home at around 1:15 PM. Fortunately, my parents and my brother were out. My brother was out, buying his supplies. My parents were working. Good thing that my family had no hint at my whereabouts.

On Nina's end, however, her frustration went on top of the roof when she saw that I was gone. She went back to the hotel room at Ascott at around 12:45 PM. All that were there are: a bed with flat sheets, complimentary hotel stationery gone, and a raging assassin who lost an accomplice who she thought that she would trust so easily.