It all started in Amsterdam, where i was the right hand man for Van Cornelius Jansen, who was the man who singly handled the running of 'Adlar Enterprises'. It was a Transport Company for the General Public, but the money actually came from Drug and Human trafficking. Transport of legitimate goods accounted for merely 30 % of our revenues and the rest was all black money which amounted to 60 million Euros during the best days of our business. Yes, that was how deep we were into this .
Cornelius , had enormous trust and faith in me and that trust took shape because of an incident one evening, which was the 1st time i met him. The 1st time i saw him was at a Bar in Amsterdam on 'Gravenstraat' street when he was seated at the table next to mine . He was alone, did not seem to be expecting anyone, was suited and booted like someone who was among the high ranks in society but seemed to be in serious thought. It was an inexpensive place and people like him were not commonly seen here. Maybe he was just wanted a drink from the closest bar or did not want to be spotted in his usual bar.
I was smoking a cigarette and taking sips of a glass of dry martini alternatively trying to get over the frustration my step father had seeded in my head. It had been 5 months since i graduated but i still did not have a job. What could i do, i was a brown skinned Indian guy in a European country where we simply did not get preference . He would ask did you get a job and i would say "No", and his usual response to that would be "I seriously doubt your capabilities, had you been my son things would have turned out different for you" which would be followed by me hanging up on him. I never back answered to him, only because my mother had asked me not to.
All of a sudden i saw a man in a dark leather jacket enter the bar. He looked around, a quick glance all around at first to see how many people were there i suppose, then attentively looking all around with his gaze moving slowly across the bar until he spotted Cornelius. He walked slowly towards him. Cornelius unaware of his presence or approach was looking down at his glass. When the man was about 5 yards away, i saw him put his hands in his jacket, looked like a scene from the movies , but i was shell shocked when i saw what he took out. It was a black revolver with a silencer and he pointed it straigth at Cornelius. I..........had NO IDEA of how to react.
I shouted out to Cornelius "Hey , watch out !!", he looked at me and then at the gun man, the next thing is saw was 6 bullets being pumped into Cornelius . Cornelius fell to the ground motionless and blood started oozing out from all the punctured parts of his body. It all happened within a matter of seconds. I could not believe what had just happened right in front of my eyes .I kept staring at the dead still body of Cornelius. It took me a couple of minutes to get a hang of the situation . When i looked up again the gunman was no where to be seen . There was a crowd at the entrance as people were rushing out. I got off my chair and reached Cornelius's body, checked his pulse , and found faint pulses. To be honest i was surprised but i saw a ray of hope for him. This man needed a hospital and that too some place close enough. I sprang into action and bolted for the entrance. When i got out i failed to spot any building with RED CROSS within sight. I stopped a cab, and in my broken Dutch asked him if he could take me to the nearest hospital with an injured man. He agreed. I went in thinking why was i going out of my way to save this man, i could get into trouble for this, but then i thought to myself , getting into trouble would be bad but not doing anything knowing that i could feel his pulse would be worse.
We took 10 minutes to reach the nearest hospital. i tried to keep him flat for those 10 minutes to minimise blood loss as much as possible. When i walked into the hospital , people were staring at me when i was trying to put Cornelius on a Stretcher trolley (which are available right at the entrance, replaced every time one is used), after all there was blood dripping from all parts of his body. It was then that i realised that i was totally soaked in blood as well. I informed the receptionist that he had been shot 6 times and was about to say more when, she stood up looked at Cornelius body, shouted out at one of the other attendants there and looked like she was dialing an internal extension number. Within moments i could see 4 nurses and a doctor running towards me . Once there, I told them what i witnessed while they checked his pulse again and turned his trolley taking him inside, straigth down the aisle i saw a room marked 'Operateikamer' (operation theatre). I saw them rush Cornelius inside and then the door was shut close. Honestly , I had no hope that he can make it.
I stayed there for 2 hours before the doctor came out and said that , Cornelius was bloody lucky because all bullets had either missed or just grazed the vital organs of the body, They had managed to remove all bullets, he was still breathing normally but there had been too much of blood loss, his condition was not stable, they could say something definitively only the next day. I decided to go back home and come back the next day to know what happens next . On my way back i felt glad at the thought that i was the reason this man had a chance to live.
When i reached the hospital the next day , i was greeted with a smiling face of the doctor and i could not have been happier to hear what he had to say. Cornelius was stable and that i could go and see him , but i should not talk to him. I asked the Doctor if they had contacted any of his friends or family. They said they assumed i was family member when they did not find any contacts from his belongings. I walked into his ICU room and went close to his bed. He was resting , i did not want to talk to him or sit by his bed, after all he was a stranger to me, i was thinking to myself that the hospital guys can take care of him now and i should leave him alone. Once he gets better he will know whom to call. With these thoughts in mind i turned to walk out when i felt a hand grab the fingers of my left hand, i turned around and saw that Cornelius was uttering something such a low sound looking at me with his faintly open eyes that i could not hear him. When i bent closer , i heard him , "Wherever you are, i will remember you and find you".
4 months later i heard a car in my apartment parking lot. When i looked through the blinds i spotted a White Mercedes show up in my parking lot. I had a clear view of the vehicle because i was at the 1st floor. No one owned a Mercedes in my apartment, hence i was curious. I see two men in black suits walk out for the from two doors and one of them opens the rear door. When i saw the face of the man who stepped out of the rear seats i was mighty surprised to find that it was Cornelius. I went back to doing what i had left in between thinking he might have come to meet someone else. But when i heard the door bell ring i knew it would be him.
I opened the door and greeted him with a smile and extended my hand to shake hands, in return he held my hand with both hands with a smile that reached his eyes. I could feel he was filled with gratitude for what i had done for him. We sat and chatted about what was going on each others life. I told him that i was jobless when i had seen him in the bar and had finally found a job. He asked if was happy and i just shrugged my shoulders. That is when he popped up a question as to what would my reaction be if he offered me a job. I did not know what to say, I asked him how do i know if that job was suited to what i could do. He said, a job can always be taught, he was in the transport business and needed someone he could trust. When i asked how can he say for sure that i was someone he can trust, he said "i am sure you are someone who will not break some one's trust once they trust you". What could i say after that, i agreed.
That was the beginning of my stint at 'Adlar Enterprises' as the manager of daily operations. I was asked to visit the warehouse as well as the docks where we loaded everything that we were supposed to transported. I was supposed to make sure loading and unloading went fine and then report directly to Cornelius at the end of the day to let him know if things went fine. If labourers were creating problems or were things were smooth with them. To my surprise i always found things to be very smooth. Off and on there used to be broken shipments , which had to be taken to a mini warehouse at the docks if the damage was minor or the warehouse if the damage was extensive. That was when , they used to take away those boxes away from my sight apologising as if they had committed a big mistake. I used to think they can take it easy, need not apologise as it was a minor mistake after all. There used to be these large metal containers that used to be loaded of ships too and i used to wonder what must have been inside because i never heard a noise. When things are unknown to you , you are always curious. For 6 months hardly did i notice any kind of problem. Little did i know what was it that we were actually transporting or what we did we the shipments that were damaged. Sometimes i used to get suspicious with the behaviour of the labourers around me but , i just let it pass.
One day , i could not resist the temptation to see what was in those shipments that we were bringing into the Netherlands. I went into the mini warehouse at the docks after working hours. Found one of the broken shipments at a corner which had just been sealed again. But at the bottom of the box i could find some white powder. Cornelius had said that his company brings in goods from all parts of the world. It could have been chalk powder, talcum powder or many of the other things that could be white and looked like powdery crystals. But for some reason i felt like behaving like one of the detectives in the Narcotics department and i ended up tasting it. I was astonished at how i felt post that moment. Within a few minutes I felt an sense of awareness of the silence around me, my mind was extra alert. I said to myself "what is happening to me" and i realised i was speaking slowly, not at my usual pace of speech. I knew it was drugs although i had never tried any of it before but i did not know what kind of a drug i had tasted that had such an instant effect. I could walk straigth, but was not sure what other effects would this have. My 1st thought was to get home as soon as possible. As soon as i got out of the entrance, i took a cab back home. The only thing that i wanted then was to get some sleep But i got little of it.
The next morning i was as fresh as every morning, but i was determined to find out what i had tasted the night before. I googled it up , and tried to search based on effects it had on me and the amazingly less time it took me to feel it. Only one drug fit the bill, it was 'Methamphetamine'. A highly addictive drug that was sold by the street name of meth, speed, ice and chalk (it looked like powdered ice crystals) . I decided to confront Cornelius about it.
I reached the docks that day and walked straigth to Cornelius's office . He was alone and not on a call, i needed answers so it could not have been a better setting for the conversation that was to follow. I walked out of his office 2 hours later with whole new perspective on drug trafficking and life. I knew it was wrong but so were many other things that people did legitimately . Cornelius was happy that i went to him to speak about it. The 1st sentence that he uttered after my tirade of questions (with a a smile)was "What took you so long to find out?" and after that he brainwashed me.
We made a lot of money selling Meth. Our profit was initially 50 percent of our input costs. Then one fine day i asked Cornelius , that youngsters were as it is reckless, some of them do not know how much of the drug to take at times and end up suffocating to death after usage. Why not mix every pound of Meth with 1 pound of sugar . The sugar would not cost us because we imported sugar too from other countries and the person importing it through us , made us do him favours by bringing in women from different parts of the world into Amsterdam in one of those 'large containers' i used to be curious about (Cornelius had told me about the containers during our 2 hr brainwash session). I said to Cornelius with a cunning smile "Borrowing some sugar from him in order to keep the secret of the containers would not bother him too much i think. We can keep people safer, have the same people come to us for more dope and double our profits ". I was amazed at how easily i had started thinking like a THUG. He of course was delighted at the idea. We did a lot of business for 2 full years but then one fine summer i fell in love.
She was a simple a sweet girl from southern Netherlands who owned the bakery shop close to the docks which had recently opened. Her name was Aardina. She was enterprising, had an adorable smile and her eyes used to brighten up whenever she flashed that smile of hers. Right from the 1st time we spoke i felt she caring . Over time her carin turned into profound affection and she believed in me. Sometimes i used to think why does she love me so much unconditionally, but then i realised when it comes to matters of the heart we should not look for answers as long as you can feel the closeness. I never told her about what we actually brought into Amsterdam, was scared of loosing her if she came to know. She knew what everyone else expect Cornelius and myself knew , that were respectable gentlemen who ran a transport business at the docks. We got married in a years time and soon after that i came to know that she was pregnant.
I was going to be a father , and i was doing everything that i would never want my child to know that i did. I could not risk telling Aardina. But i knew i had to quit the illegal business. I had made enough money and could easily setup something legitimate and meaningful on my own. It was time to confront Cornelius again.
Soon after Aardina was pregnant, i walked into Cornelius's office one morning and was thinking of a way to start the conversation. He knew i loved Aardina and respected our relationship. I told him about what i felt regarding my future as a man with a family. I knew this business was not the kind where you can set someone free , once your hands get dirty there, nothing can wash them off. Cornelius was looking out of the window all the while i was speaking. I knew there were others who had spoken to Cornelius about such things , some who knew what his reaction would be never told him and fled the docks but sooner or later i would hear of murmurs of their bodies being found in outskirts of the city.
Cornelius said "You are aware of what happened to the other before you , who had such thoughts don't you ?". I said "yes"
"The same.......(looking down) is not going to happen with you". He said it with a straigth face not looking at me. Then he looked at me and said "i get once chance to repay you for saving my life and i am not going to squander it. I don't have a family, so i don't care about what will happen one fine day to me but you do, i am not going to stop you ". After he said that for the 1st time i felt that Cornelius had feelings too. We did business together but i could never totally trust him totally, may be because he rarely showed emotion but i cant complain about that. With the nature of business he ran, he could not afford to. We shook hands , he gave me a hug and we parted ways. As i was leaving the docks though i had this creepy feeling at the back of my mind that how come things turn out so smooth ?!
I sold off all my property in Amsterdam, so did Aardina and left with her to find a home in the outskirts of London. Not too far away from an economic hub and not too close to city life. we bought a house in Fulham. I was settling down and looking arranging meetings with important people in the city to project myself as a venture capitalist. Things were moving slow but the road ahead seemed exciting. Myself and Aardina were having a lovely time between the two of us. With no one in the city who knew us and our 1st child a good number of months away it was the ideal time for us have a nice time together. We used to walk along the river Thames talking continuously with each other , making fun of each other , sometimes overdoing it and then making up for it with a kiss. There were times when she said "I hate you" when i pulled her leg a bit too much , and within the next few minutes she would say with a smile "Do you realise how much i love you". Being with her and noticing everything that she said made my day and i did not need anything else to keep me going and forget my past. I used to feel lucky that i was with her and I wanted to keep her happy forever. But fate had other plans
Within a few weeks of us moving in i began to notice unknown vehicles being parked on the other side of he road. As soon i used to part the windows to see who it was they used to slowly drive away . I was not prepared for these things, we were being followed and i had little doubt about who wanted to know where we were. I never let Aardina know about these things. I just wanted her to be happy, her smile was a source of my strength. One fine day Aardina wanted to go for some household shopping in the morning and left home along with me , after some distance we parted ways and i told her i will be back home soon. She said with a smile "i will be waiting".
When i returned that day , there was a uncomfortable silence in the house. I called out for Aardina but no one answered. I searched the whole house but she was no where to be found. I knew she would not take so long to return home. I knew something was wrong. When it came to Aardina i used to get worked up too fast. So i picked up the land line phone to make a call the cops and then realised that the phone was dead. Someone had cut off the telephone wires . The moment i kept the phone and was about to turn around i heard a familiar voice stating "She is with us". When i turned completely i saw Cornelius standing behind me. He had a gun in his right hand pointed right at my face. I was surprised and did not like the situation.
He said "I knew it would come to this. I wanted you out of Amsterdam because you had made a lot of connections there in the last 2 years. " smiling to himself "Couldn't take you down there brother" .
"Aardina was the one who was driving your moves , had she not been a part of your life , we would have still been partners today. One day , when Interpol approaches you, you will think about your family's well being and give up my name very easily. Given you were head over heels in love with Aardina, it was not too hard to imagine what you would do if the cops came asking for me . It will be easier dealing with you if she was not around. Without her you have no direction in life and that is what i want. So i had to take her down 1st ". As soon as i heard that , in a fit of rage i caught the wrist of his hand that held the gun with my left, pushed his hand towards the ceiling, landed a blow on this nose with swing of my right arm. It all happened within a matter of seconds. I hoped that would either knock him out or make him loose grip of the revolver . But none of that happened. He was down , but he was up within moments, revolver intact in his hand. His nose was bleeding but he had a cunning smile on his face. He was a seasoned criminal and behaved like one at this moment. He had the gun pointed at me again . I said with tears in my eyes and an angry voice "you should have left her alone, she did not know anything". He said "Sooner or later you would have told her about everything. You could not kept it from her for long and i know it". I looked up at the ceiling, shut my eyes for a moment, felt sorry for having made Aardina a part of my life. I felt betrayed by Cornelius, i saved his life and this is what i get in return. I was fuming with rage within, it was evident from my face. I looked at him and said "Take me out , that will take care of your purpose here. But you will pay for what you did". The next moment i heard a gunshot . moments later , i felt my body on the ground, i had a warm feeling on the sides of my face , at the back of my head and then there was darkness.
The next time i woke up i was in a white 3 piece suit in Cornelius's office at the docks. There was a diary at the table right in front of me and a pen in my hand. The page had just been turned and the 1st line written on the new page was :-
'there was darkness.'
I went to the window and looked down, but found none of the workers. Then there was a knock on the office door, i opened it and found our oldest worker with a suitcase in his left hand. He kept it down, took my right hand in both his hands and shook it slowly with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes. "Thank you master, for letting us go and allowing us to start a new life with our families". After that he lifted his hat to show respect , turned and left. I went back to the desk, trying to understand what was happening. I noticed that daylight was falling on my face after being reflected from the mirror in the office. I casually walked towards the mirror and looked at myself out of habit, but the face belonged to CORNELIUS. I had ARRESTED his mind so that that he could not do to them what he did to me. I had to give up my freedom for a while to make sure others do not meet the same fate. A sacrifice existed in confining myself by will within someone who was not me. It would not be long before i go where the likes of me belong. Till then there were others i had to save from him. In order to save everyone else who worked for him someone had to make a sacrifice...........i did.
Cornelius , had enormous trust and faith in me and that trust took shape because of an incident one evening, which was the 1st time i met him. The 1st time i saw him was at a Bar in Amsterdam on 'Gravenstraat' street when he was seated at the table next to mine . He was alone, did not seem to be expecting anyone, was suited and booted like someone who was among the high ranks in society but seemed to be in serious thought. It was an inexpensive place and people like him were not commonly seen here. Maybe he was just wanted a drink from the closest bar or did not want to be spotted in his usual bar.
I was smoking a cigarette and taking sips of a glass of dry martini alternatively trying to get over the frustration my step father had seeded in my head. It had been 5 months since i graduated but i still did not have a job. What could i do, i was a brown skinned Indian guy in a European country where we simply did not get preference . He would ask did you get a job and i would say "No", and his usual response to that would be "I seriously doubt your capabilities, had you been my son things would have turned out different for you" which would be followed by me hanging up on him. I never back answered to him, only because my mother had asked me not to.
All of a sudden i saw a man in a dark leather jacket enter the bar. He looked around, a quick glance all around at first to see how many people were there i suppose, then attentively looking all around with his gaze moving slowly across the bar until he spotted Cornelius. He walked slowly towards him. Cornelius unaware of his presence or approach was looking down at his glass. When the man was about 5 yards away, i saw him put his hands in his jacket, looked like a scene from the movies , but i was shell shocked when i saw what he took out. It was a black revolver with a silencer and he pointed it straigth at Cornelius. I..........had NO IDEA of how to react.
I shouted out to Cornelius "Hey , watch out !!", he looked at me and then at the gun man, the next thing is saw was 6 bullets being pumped into Cornelius . Cornelius fell to the ground motionless and blood started oozing out from all the punctured parts of his body. It all happened within a matter of seconds. I could not believe what had just happened right in front of my eyes .I kept staring at the dead still body of Cornelius. It took me a couple of minutes to get a hang of the situation . When i looked up again the gunman was no where to be seen . There was a crowd at the entrance as people were rushing out. I got off my chair and reached Cornelius's body, checked his pulse , and found faint pulses. To be honest i was surprised but i saw a ray of hope for him. This man needed a hospital and that too some place close enough. I sprang into action and bolted for the entrance. When i got out i failed to spot any building with RED CROSS within sight. I stopped a cab, and in my broken Dutch asked him if he could take me to the nearest hospital with an injured man. He agreed. I went in thinking why was i going out of my way to save this man, i could get into trouble for this, but then i thought to myself , getting into trouble would be bad but not doing anything knowing that i could feel his pulse would be worse.
We took 10 minutes to reach the nearest hospital. i tried to keep him flat for those 10 minutes to minimise blood loss as much as possible. When i walked into the hospital , people were staring at me when i was trying to put Cornelius on a Stretcher trolley (which are available right at the entrance, replaced every time one is used), after all there was blood dripping from all parts of his body. It was then that i realised that i was totally soaked in blood as well. I informed the receptionist that he had been shot 6 times and was about to say more when, she stood up looked at Cornelius body, shouted out at one of the other attendants there and looked like she was dialing an internal extension number. Within moments i could see 4 nurses and a doctor running towards me . Once there, I told them what i witnessed while they checked his pulse again and turned his trolley taking him inside, straigth down the aisle i saw a room marked 'Operateikamer' (operation theatre). I saw them rush Cornelius inside and then the door was shut close. Honestly , I had no hope that he can make it.
I stayed there for 2 hours before the doctor came out and said that , Cornelius was bloody lucky because all bullets had either missed or just grazed the vital organs of the body, They had managed to remove all bullets, he was still breathing normally but there had been too much of blood loss, his condition was not stable, they could say something definitively only the next day. I decided to go back home and come back the next day to know what happens next . On my way back i felt glad at the thought that i was the reason this man had a chance to live.
When i reached the hospital the next day , i was greeted with a smiling face of the doctor and i could not have been happier to hear what he had to say. Cornelius was stable and that i could go and see him , but i should not talk to him. I asked the Doctor if they had contacted any of his friends or family. They said they assumed i was family member when they did not find any contacts from his belongings. I walked into his ICU room and went close to his bed. He was resting , i did not want to talk to him or sit by his bed, after all he was a stranger to me, i was thinking to myself that the hospital guys can take care of him now and i should leave him alone. Once he gets better he will know whom to call. With these thoughts in mind i turned to walk out when i felt a hand grab the fingers of my left hand, i turned around and saw that Cornelius was uttering something such a low sound looking at me with his faintly open eyes that i could not hear him. When i bent closer , i heard him , "Wherever you are, i will remember you and find you".
4 months later i heard a car in my apartment parking lot. When i looked through the blinds i spotted a White Mercedes show up in my parking lot. I had a clear view of the vehicle because i was at the 1st floor. No one owned a Mercedes in my apartment, hence i was curious. I see two men in black suits walk out for the from two doors and one of them opens the rear door. When i saw the face of the man who stepped out of the rear seats i was mighty surprised to find that it was Cornelius. I went back to doing what i had left in between thinking he might have come to meet someone else. But when i heard the door bell ring i knew it would be him.
I opened the door and greeted him with a smile and extended my hand to shake hands, in return he held my hand with both hands with a smile that reached his eyes. I could feel he was filled with gratitude for what i had done for him. We sat and chatted about what was going on each others life. I told him that i was jobless when i had seen him in the bar and had finally found a job. He asked if was happy and i just shrugged my shoulders. That is when he popped up a question as to what would my reaction be if he offered me a job. I did not know what to say, I asked him how do i know if that job was suited to what i could do. He said, a job can always be taught, he was in the transport business and needed someone he could trust. When i asked how can he say for sure that i was someone he can trust, he said "i am sure you are someone who will not break some one's trust once they trust you". What could i say after that, i agreed.
That was the beginning of my stint at 'Adlar Enterprises' as the manager of daily operations. I was asked to visit the warehouse as well as the docks where we loaded everything that we were supposed to transported. I was supposed to make sure loading and unloading went fine and then report directly to Cornelius at the end of the day to let him know if things went fine. If labourers were creating problems or were things were smooth with them. To my surprise i always found things to be very smooth. Off and on there used to be broken shipments , which had to be taken to a mini warehouse at the docks if the damage was minor or the warehouse if the damage was extensive. That was when , they used to take away those boxes away from my sight apologising as if they had committed a big mistake. I used to think they can take it easy, need not apologise as it was a minor mistake after all. There used to be these large metal containers that used to be loaded of ships too and i used to wonder what must have been inside because i never heard a noise. When things are unknown to you , you are always curious. For 6 months hardly did i notice any kind of problem. Little did i know what was it that we were actually transporting or what we did we the shipments that were damaged. Sometimes i used to get suspicious with the behaviour of the labourers around me but , i just let it pass.
One day , i could not resist the temptation to see what was in those shipments that we were bringing into the Netherlands. I went into the mini warehouse at the docks after working hours. Found one of the broken shipments at a corner which had just been sealed again. But at the bottom of the box i could find some white powder. Cornelius had said that his company brings in goods from all parts of the world. It could have been chalk powder, talcum powder or many of the other things that could be white and looked like powdery crystals. But for some reason i felt like behaving like one of the detectives in the Narcotics department and i ended up tasting it. I was astonished at how i felt post that moment. Within a few minutes I felt an sense of awareness of the silence around me, my mind was extra alert. I said to myself "what is happening to me" and i realised i was speaking slowly, not at my usual pace of speech. I knew it was drugs although i had never tried any of it before but i did not know what kind of a drug i had tasted that had such an instant effect. I could walk straigth, but was not sure what other effects would this have. My 1st thought was to get home as soon as possible. As soon as i got out of the entrance, i took a cab back home. The only thing that i wanted then was to get some sleep But i got little of it.
The next morning i was as fresh as every morning, but i was determined to find out what i had tasted the night before. I googled it up , and tried to search based on effects it had on me and the amazingly less time it took me to feel it. Only one drug fit the bill, it was 'Methamphetamine'. A highly addictive drug that was sold by the street name of meth, speed, ice and chalk (it looked like powdered ice crystals) . I decided to confront Cornelius about it.
I reached the docks that day and walked straigth to Cornelius's office . He was alone and not on a call, i needed answers so it could not have been a better setting for the conversation that was to follow. I walked out of his office 2 hours later with whole new perspective on drug trafficking and life. I knew it was wrong but so were many other things that people did legitimately . Cornelius was happy that i went to him to speak about it. The 1st sentence that he uttered after my tirade of questions (with a a smile)was "What took you so long to find out?" and after that he brainwashed me.
We made a lot of money selling Meth. Our profit was initially 50 percent of our input costs. Then one fine day i asked Cornelius , that youngsters were as it is reckless, some of them do not know how much of the drug to take at times and end up suffocating to death after usage. Why not mix every pound of Meth with 1 pound of sugar . The sugar would not cost us because we imported sugar too from other countries and the person importing it through us , made us do him favours by bringing in women from different parts of the world into Amsterdam in one of those 'large containers' i used to be curious about (Cornelius had told me about the containers during our 2 hr brainwash session). I said to Cornelius with a cunning smile "Borrowing some sugar from him in order to keep the secret of the containers would not bother him too much i think. We can keep people safer, have the same people come to us for more dope and double our profits ". I was amazed at how easily i had started thinking like a THUG. He of course was delighted at the idea. We did a lot of business for 2 full years but then one fine summer i fell in love.
She was a simple a sweet girl from southern Netherlands who owned the bakery shop close to the docks which had recently opened. Her name was Aardina. She was enterprising, had an adorable smile and her eyes used to brighten up whenever she flashed that smile of hers. Right from the 1st time we spoke i felt she caring . Over time her carin turned into profound affection and she believed in me. Sometimes i used to think why does she love me so much unconditionally, but then i realised when it comes to matters of the heart we should not look for answers as long as you can feel the closeness. I never told her about what we actually brought into Amsterdam, was scared of loosing her if she came to know. She knew what everyone else expect Cornelius and myself knew , that were respectable gentlemen who ran a transport business at the docks. We got married in a years time and soon after that i came to know that she was pregnant.
I was going to be a father , and i was doing everything that i would never want my child to know that i did. I could not risk telling Aardina. But i knew i had to quit the illegal business. I had made enough money and could easily setup something legitimate and meaningful on my own. It was time to confront Cornelius again.
Soon after Aardina was pregnant, i walked into Cornelius's office one morning and was thinking of a way to start the conversation. He knew i loved Aardina and respected our relationship. I told him about what i felt regarding my future as a man with a family. I knew this business was not the kind where you can set someone free , once your hands get dirty there, nothing can wash them off. Cornelius was looking out of the window all the while i was speaking. I knew there were others who had spoken to Cornelius about such things , some who knew what his reaction would be never told him and fled the docks but sooner or later i would hear of murmurs of their bodies being found in outskirts of the city.
Cornelius said "You are aware of what happened to the other before you , who had such thoughts don't you ?". I said "yes"
"The same.......(looking down) is not going to happen with you". He said it with a straigth face not looking at me. Then he looked at me and said "i get once chance to repay you for saving my life and i am not going to squander it. I don't have a family, so i don't care about what will happen one fine day to me but you do, i am not going to stop you ". After he said that for the 1st time i felt that Cornelius had feelings too. We did business together but i could never totally trust him totally, may be because he rarely showed emotion but i cant complain about that. With the nature of business he ran, he could not afford to. We shook hands , he gave me a hug and we parted ways. As i was leaving the docks though i had this creepy feeling at the back of my mind that how come things turn out so smooth ?!
I sold off all my property in Amsterdam, so did Aardina and left with her to find a home in the outskirts of London. Not too far away from an economic hub and not too close to city life. we bought a house in Fulham. I was settling down and looking arranging meetings with important people in the city to project myself as a venture capitalist. Things were moving slow but the road ahead seemed exciting. Myself and Aardina were having a lovely time between the two of us. With no one in the city who knew us and our 1st child a good number of months away it was the ideal time for us have a nice time together. We used to walk along the river Thames talking continuously with each other , making fun of each other , sometimes overdoing it and then making up for it with a kiss. There were times when she said "I hate you" when i pulled her leg a bit too much , and within the next few minutes she would say with a smile "Do you realise how much i love you". Being with her and noticing everything that she said made my day and i did not need anything else to keep me going and forget my past. I used to feel lucky that i was with her and I wanted to keep her happy forever. But fate had other plans
Within a few weeks of us moving in i began to notice unknown vehicles being parked on the other side of he road. As soon i used to part the windows to see who it was they used to slowly drive away . I was not prepared for these things, we were being followed and i had little doubt about who wanted to know where we were. I never let Aardina know about these things. I just wanted her to be happy, her smile was a source of my strength. One fine day Aardina wanted to go for some household shopping in the morning and left home along with me , after some distance we parted ways and i told her i will be back home soon. She said with a smile "i will be waiting".
When i returned that day , there was a uncomfortable silence in the house. I called out for Aardina but no one answered. I searched the whole house but she was no where to be found. I knew she would not take so long to return home. I knew something was wrong. When it came to Aardina i used to get worked up too fast. So i picked up the land line phone to make a call the cops and then realised that the phone was dead. Someone had cut off the telephone wires . The moment i kept the phone and was about to turn around i heard a familiar voice stating "She is with us". When i turned completely i saw Cornelius standing behind me. He had a gun in his right hand pointed right at my face. I was surprised and did not like the situation.
He said "I knew it would come to this. I wanted you out of Amsterdam because you had made a lot of connections there in the last 2 years. " smiling to himself "Couldn't take you down there brother" .
"Aardina was the one who was driving your moves , had she not been a part of your life , we would have still been partners today. One day , when Interpol approaches you, you will think about your family's well being and give up my name very easily. Given you were head over heels in love with Aardina, it was not too hard to imagine what you would do if the cops came asking for me . It will be easier dealing with you if she was not around. Without her you have no direction in life and that is what i want. So i had to take her down 1st ". As soon as i heard that , in a fit of rage i caught the wrist of his hand that held the gun with my left, pushed his hand towards the ceiling, landed a blow on this nose with swing of my right arm. It all happened within a matter of seconds. I hoped that would either knock him out or make him loose grip of the revolver . But none of that happened. He was down , but he was up within moments, revolver intact in his hand. His nose was bleeding but he had a cunning smile on his face. He was a seasoned criminal and behaved like one at this moment. He had the gun pointed at me again . I said with tears in my eyes and an angry voice "you should have left her alone, she did not know anything". He said "Sooner or later you would have told her about everything. You could not kept it from her for long and i know it". I looked up at the ceiling, shut my eyes for a moment, felt sorry for having made Aardina a part of my life. I felt betrayed by Cornelius, i saved his life and this is what i get in return. I was fuming with rage within, it was evident from my face. I looked at him and said "Take me out , that will take care of your purpose here. But you will pay for what you did". The next moment i heard a gunshot . moments later , i felt my body on the ground, i had a warm feeling on the sides of my face , at the back of my head and then there was darkness.
The next time i woke up i was in a white 3 piece suit in Cornelius's office at the docks. There was a diary at the table right in front of me and a pen in my hand. The page had just been turned and the 1st line written on the new page was :-
'there was darkness.'
I went to the window and looked down, but found none of the workers. Then there was a knock on the office door, i opened it and found our oldest worker with a suitcase in his left hand. He kept it down, took my right hand in both his hands and shook it slowly with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes. "Thank you master, for letting us go and allowing us to start a new life with our families". After that he lifted his hat to show respect , turned and left. I went back to the desk, trying to understand what was happening. I noticed that daylight was falling on my face after being reflected from the mirror in the office. I casually walked towards the mirror and looked at myself out of habit, but the face belonged to CORNELIUS. I had ARRESTED his mind so that that he could not do to them what he did to me. I had to give up my freedom for a while to make sure others do not meet the same fate. A sacrifice existed in confining myself by will within someone who was not me. It would not be long before i go where the likes of me belong. Till then there were others i had to save from him. In order to save everyone else who worked for him someone had to make a sacrifice...........i did.
