Poison City

 

“What was this platform used for?” After bypassing the enclosure of the tapes set up by the local community watch and patrol team, Captain Ko asked Tyler Khan: “It’s made of concrete and brick right? Then it must have been built with a permit. And according to Detective Cai they have some kind of room down there, so it’s safe to say it’s not a very simple construction.”

 

“It’s a local community project to build a merchant space with some room for temporary storage.” Tyler Khan answered: “From what I know, it was used as a place for food stands, deli carts and flea markets. We’re still looking into those who filed the permit. But given how old this platform is, it could be very hard to track down.”

 

“Who owns it now?” Captain Ko asked with a heavy frown.

 

“It doesn’t have a definite owner, it’s a managed property from the local division of the community collective. We’ll be auditing the records.” Tyler Khan sighed: “I’m sorry Captain, but right now even we have to dig deep into some of the old records. Before today, this has been a busy spot for many locals and thus not many thorough inspections have been done.”

 

“Inspections - ” Marcus and Kevin spoke at the same time: “Find the inspector!”

 

“Yes, we’ll be onto that.” Tyler Khan nodded as he quickly typed up a message on his phone: “I’ll set it up, we should be able to find him in no time.”

 

Kevin shivered as he got close to the edge of the land, then he looked back at Marcus and asked: “Hey Marcus, do you feel cold?”

 

“It’s a little chilly, yes.” Marcus nodded: “Are you okay Kevin?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just…” Kevin slowly knelt down on the ground and reached forward a little just to take a peek at the water and what was underneath the now tranquil surface.

 

Marcus felt something tingling his senses, and he saw a stream of mist, cold and gray slowly arose from the water and flowed towards Kevin like shadows of snakes. He immediately stepped forward, grabbed Kevin’s back collar and pulled him back. Tyler Khan also moved forward with his hand reaching forward, but was just a bit slower than Marcus.

 

“What happened?” Kevin’s face was covered in sweat, and his shivering had gotten more severe, so Marcus immediately asked, while discreetly pushing a small amount of his Qi into his body in an attempt to warm him up.

 

“I - I feel the water calling to me and pulling me in.” Kevin immediately stepped away from the edge while wiping his forehead: “Yeah, I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right about the water here. My - my bad, I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

 

“Just be careful, okay?” Marcus patted Kevin on the back: “You should get back and rest. Maybe get a hot drink. You look tired.” Then he got close and whispered: “Maybe use one of those talismans, better be safe, okay?”

 

“I agree. You look like you’ve caught a cold.” Tyler Khan nodded: “Do you want something warm to drink? There’s a watch station nearby, we can go there and get you some ginger tea.”

 

“Nonono, it’s fine. I can stay for a bit.” Kevin shook his head, reached into his jacket to pull out a small packet of chocolate: “I’m fine. Let’s continue.”

 

“Okay, if you insist.” Captain Ko nodded then turned to Marcus: “You mentioned these men came in cars, where are the cars now?”

 

“I - I think they might have sunk into the water along with the platform.” Marcus thought for a moment, trying to remember where the three black SUVs were parked. But it just did not come to him: “My apologies captain, I don’t remember their exact positions.”

 

“That’s … that’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Captain Ko waved his right hand while blowing out a puff of smoke: “Let’s go check wit the kids. Where are they now, Mr. Khan?”

 

“They’re at the watch station.” Tyler Khan seemed to have let out a quick exhale of relief: “We can go and check on them. I asked my team to ask the parents to stay for a bit longer, but I am not sure how long we can keep them.”

 

The local watch station was just a three-storey brick building. And they already heard people arguing by the time they got out of the car. 

 

“... what do you mean I can’t go right now?! No! We’re taking our son back home!” A man’s voice resounded in the quiet night and crowded hall: “I know you’re the collective, but I don’t care! Our son was just abducted! He almost died! I don’t care what your investigators need! We’re taking him away!” 

 

“Order!” Another stern man’s voice exploded: “Where do you think you are?! This is a community watch center! If it weren’t for the people working here, much worse could have happened! Is it too much to ask for you to stay here a little bit longer so that we can find the one who did this?”

 

“Le! It’s okay, I’m back.” Tyler Khan headed first into the watch station and announced his presence: “And please, people, folks, it will be just a minute. I implore you, we need to ask your children some questions, so that we can find out who did this.”

 

“I don’t care!” The loud man and his wife held a crying boy in their arms as they slowly backed away from everyone and to the door: “Our son is hurt, and he needs to get home to calm down. Do you even care about him!? He’s not like you, he cannot face this kind of thing and still get asked a million questions! He needs a quiet and dim place to rest!”

 

“No! No one should get special treatment like this!” A man with an orange armband rushed from inside the watch station and said: “It’s a part of the investigation! Please! Stay! Just for a brief moment! You’ve gotta understand…”

 

Just this moment, the boy in his parents’ arms muttered something, while reaching his hand out and pointing at Marcus. His parents did not quite catch the words at first, yet when they leaned over a little more, they finally heard it clearly. Afterwards both the parents walked over to Marcus. And before anyone could say or do anything, they bowed towards Marcus at the same time.

 

“Thank you! Thank you so much for saving our son!” The parents said with sniffling voices, and even knelt down on the ground: “Thank you! I don’t know what to say besides… Thank you…”

 

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Marcus immediately walked over and gently pulled them up: “I’m just doing my job.”

 

“No! No!” The father looked Marcus straight in the eyes, tears running down his face: “You’re our hero! Our savior! I - we couldn’t even thank you enough…”

 

“It’s okay, it’s okay, you don’t have to…” Marcus was just about to put this family at ease, but he immediately saw the facial expression of Tyler Khan and the other members of the community collective: “Well, how about this? Can we sit down and have a quick chat? I just have a few questions for you. Not many, how about this? Of course, that is if you’re up for it - ”

 

The parents hesitated, then they looked at their son. The son sniffled and looked at his parents, then turned to Marcus and nodded. This made many members of the local community watch give out sighs of relief.

 

“Okay, first a quick question, do you remember anything they said? Or anything about the men that took you?” Sitting in a dim room with only a gentle light above them, Marcus asked the young boy, with Tyler Khan, Kevin and Captain Ko sitting behind him. There were other members of the local community watch and patrol team listening through a speaker in another room as well.

 

The boy shook his head: “I don’t remember what they said - they just yelled. But they - they smelled.”

 

“Smelled?” Marcus frowned: “What kind of smell?”

 

“It’s like an oily smell, like some kind of candles.” The boy hesitated for a short moment, then gave an answer: “All of them smelled like this. It’s - it’s a kind of big temple smell.”