Fire & Flame

Chapter 9 : Suspicious

Louis believes he is a good police officer, a great one even. When he was still in the police academy, he always came out as the top student, whether it was in academics or physical fitness. He graduated as the valedictorian and didn’t need to pay his student loans. When he started working, he always did everything instructed by his superiors and never failed a single one yet. However, this time, it seems like he might lose his streak, and possibly his job.

“More than 36 hours have passed, and none of you have any news yet?”

The men in the room shuffled nervously. All of them looked like zombies with their prominent dark circles underneath their eyes. They barely have time to finish their daily tasks, how could they think of sleeping?

“No, sir,” one of them spoke.

Louis rubs his forehead using his knuckles. “Please tell me, why?”

“We are trying our best-”

“Your best? You call this your best?”

“Sir, we understand that you’re anxious, but there is no need to raise your volume towards us.”

Louis looks up to the man who spoke. His eyes trailed from his face to his name tag which read, ‘DANIEL’. If he was not mistaken, this man reported for duty only a week ago.

The other men in the room felt their heart skip a beat. They could see their life flash beyond their eyes as Louis smirks.

“Daniel, would you mind repeating what you said?”

“I said, there is no need to raise-” Daniel spoke. His colleague beside him nudged him urgently, signalling him to stop speaking if he valued his life.

Daniel gulps as he broke into cold sweat. However, he stood with his head high as he believed he was in the right. No matter how angry his superior is, he should not be raising his voice.

Oh how terribly wrong he is!

“I should not be raising my volume? Fine.” Louis spoke in a normal tone.

“Daniel, have you memorised the police handbook?” Louis asks as he stands up from his seat.

“N-no sir, I hadn’t got the time-”

“Rule number 2064, a police officer must always adhere to his superiors regardless of the instruction. If he or she fails to do so, the aforementioned superior will give punishments as they see fit.”

Daniel widened his eyes and gaped. What rule is this? It’s clearly biassed towards superiors only.

“Sir Louis, I believe Daniel didn’t know-”

“Shut it. No more excuses. When I instructed all of you to catch Konnor, you couldn’t do it. Sure, I scolded you but I gave you a chance to rectify your mistakes. And when I asked for progress, what did all of you give me? Don’t raise your voice? Are you sure you graduated from the police academy?”

Louis clenched his fists. His anger is rising dramatically, and talking to them was definitely the main contributor. 

“I raised my voice, what’s wrong with that? Are all of you police officers or babies? Answer me!”

All five men stood up straight and saluted their superior. “We are police officers, sir!”

Louis took the folder one of them was holding and threw it onto his table. The men flinched.

“Explain your progress, right now!” Louis yelled, expressing his anger and anxiety at the same time.

“Yes, sir. Recently, we have been trying to implant a GPS tracker on Konnor.”

Louis laughs. “A GPS tracker? How do you implant one if you don’t know where to find him, hm?”

The man widens his eyes in realisation. What his superior said was plausible, and it was something he had never thought of before this.

“I can’t believe I am leading a bunch of idiots!” Louis roars in anger, slamming his hands onto the table. His eyes burn with rage, like a dragon forced to wake up from its long slumber. Louis reaches out for his chair and lifts it up. Just as he was about to slam it onto the ground, a knock on his door was heard.

“Come in.”

The door creaks open and a man walks in. He is wearing a formal navy blue suit and an earpiece inside of his ear. He looks like an established tycoon, who should be sitting on his swivel chair on the 50th floor of his company building.

“Who are you?” Louis asks as he places the chair back onto the floor.

“Unfortunately, I can’t disclose my identity. I do have something to show you, though,” the man replies as he shows a blue marble to Louis. Realising what it is, fear crept onto Louis. The unknown man has quite the background.

The unknown man walks around the office, inspecting the room meticulously. “You’ve got quite the temper, Louis. You should control it if you don’t want your underlings to run away from you,” the unknown man mentions as he spots a few pieces of paper scattered on the floor.

“What brings you here?” Louis spat, feeling pissed at the comment.

“Oh right, I’m here to bring you a special message from an even special person. Are you curious?”

Louis stares at the man intently. He was not curious at the very least. But, he can’t answer that can he? Otherwise, it’ll be a breach of the agreement he had with the unknown man’s superior. And that would be a dangerous thing to do.

“Calm down, Louis. I was just pulling your leg,” the man chuckled as he leaned against the metal cabinet at the far corner of the room.

Louis remained quiet as he observed the unknown man, trying to ignore the bubbling nervousness growing in his heart. He didn’t know what to expect because this unknown’s man superior is crafty and unpredictable. His employees should have the same personality.

“My boss, a friendly acquaintance of yours I believe, told me to recite these exact words. Time is running out, Louis-bug! If you want your prize, speed up, will you?” The unknown man cackles as he holds his stomach.