The Kingpin's Possession

64: Shooter on the Loose

Kim:The chase hadn’t been successful and Kim had to return to Kit’s friend’s house empty-handed. It was P’First who greeted him at the door and pulled him aside so that the boys didn’t find out what situation they were in.

“How’s Ben?” Kim asked, knowing that there was something going on between the boy and the Channarong don, that wasn’t as obvious to most people.

“Ben as been taken to the hospital due to his injuries.” P’First sighed, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “He has glass embedded onto his back, but since the bullet didn’t hit him, he should be fine.”

“That’s good to hear,” Kim nodded. “Though I am sorry to hear about his injuries.” When Kim finally turned his gaze to the rest of the people in the living room, he saw a worried-looking Earth huddled on the floor with Kit, both of them looking confused and frightened.

While Earth was rocking back and forth on the floor, his knees pressed to his chest; Kit, on the other hand, stared at the floor with fear written all over his face, and the sight of him made Kim’s heart ache; he never wanted to see his lover in such a state ever again.

But he knew that he needed to talk to Kit as well. Before P’First could continue their discussion, Kim walked over to Kit and he too rose from the floor, so they could walk to one corner of the room to talk privately.

“Why did you leave the house without letting anyone know?” Kim asked, trying to keep his voice even. But he could not keep the alarm from bleeding into his words.

Kit still wasn’t looking at him, instead burning holes into the floor with his eyes. He seemed to be staring at some blood splatters on the floor that hadn’t been wiped away.

“Kit?”

“I told P’Kanya beforehand,” he said slowly. “And it wasn’t like I was going to a club or something; I just wanted to come to my friend’s house and celebrate the end of the semester. I didn’t want things to turn out like this, nor had I expected it to...”

Kim couldn’t help but frown. “You were caught in the middle of a shooting not even three weeks ago,” he reminded Kit sternly. “And you know that the culprit hadn’t been caught yet, so you should have been more careful!” Kim didn’t mean to raise his voice at the end, but he had been so stressed about the situation that he wasn’t able to control his voice well.

Kit flinched at his tone. If he didn’t want to look Kim in the eyes earlier, then he sure as hell didn’t want to do that now.

Kim instantly regretted the way he shouted as Kit’s expression morphed into something akin to fear. Was he afraid that the culprit would come back and finish them off? Or was he… was he afraid of Kim himself?

He wanted to apologize for raising his voice, but at the same time, he didn’t want Kit to think that what he did should just be forgotten. It was better to be safe than sorry, after all.

“The least you could’ve done, was to have one of my men drive you here.” Kim said, as patiently as possible. “I’ll need to talk to P’First, but this discussion isn't anywhere near over. For now, just go and rest.”

Nodding, Kit left to join Earth on the floor once again, both friends huddled together as if drawing strength from one another. Kim wanted that to be him, but he had important matters to deal with. So he called Aawut over as soon as he arrived at the house.

“Make sure all the repairs are taken care of.” He instructed Aawut, who had brought his team to clear up the mess. “Make sure the boy’s family doesn’t trust a thing. And…make the glasses bulletproof.”

“Yes, sir.” With that, Aawut got to work with his team.

Finally, after seeing that the house was being taken care of, he pulled P’First aside and asked him about how he knew where Ben was.

“When I called you, I didn’t really expect you to know the exact location.” Kim smirked, despite the situation. “But how did you get here so fast? How did you know about Ben’s injuries?”

“Well, the gun that I had given to Ben had a tracker chip in it, which lets me know every time the gun is fired. When I got the signal, I immediately rushed over here, knowing that something was off,” he explained. “I got here just as the paramedics arrived.”

It was obvious from P’First’s expression that he had been genuinely worried about Ben. Something about the man had changed, and it was clear as day to anyone who knew P’First. He was no longer the maniac who had kidnapped Kit and his friends, no longer the person who could end a life without a second thought.

In fact, now that Kim thought about it, that incident seemed like an eternity ago. Almost like a fever dream.

Truly, the changes in P’First were remarkable and he was glad that the man had changed for the better.

But this was not the right time to point out such things aloud. There were more important matters for them to discuss.

“Then,” he said instead, “You should go to the hospital and check on Ben. You said he was alright, but he is still injured. Besides, he saved Kit’s life, and I’m grateful for that.”

“Of course I will,” said P’First, rolling his eyes as though Kim had just stated the obvious. “But first, tell me what happened when you chased the car. Did you managed to get anything? A face or…”

“Nothing. Nothing at all” Kim frowned, his frustration evident. “That son of a bitch… Something strange kept happening as I chased the shooter. Whenever we were at a crossing and I was right on his tail, I noticed that the lights turned red as I crossed. I did not let it stop me the first time and managed to cut it close. I thought it was just a coincidence, but after three red lights, I knew that they must have had some kind of a traffic hacker controlling the lights to give them an advantage. True enough, I lost the car at the fourth light, when two cars collided in front of me and blocked my way.”

“Do you think that was a coincidence?” P’First asked.

Kim shrugged. “I don’t know. Is anything a coincidence anymore?”

P’First pursed his lips, deep in thought. “All we can do right now is to make sure the kids are alright,” he said. “Both physically and mentally. They must be shaken to the core; what happened could be traumatizing to them.”

Kim didn’t let it show, but he kind of found it funny how P’First was saying all these things now about checking up on Kit and his friends when it was him who had kidnapped them back then. Did he not think his actions had also traumatized them?

It was amusing how someone could change so drastically in a relatively small amount of time. But Kim was sure glad for it.

But he didn’t want to tease P’First now. There was real danger with that shooter on the loose, and they had no time to waste.

“You go and check on Ben at the hospital,” Kim said with a nod. “We can regroup tomorrow. I’ll visit with Kit as well, and we can talk about this with Ben, since he may have witnessed something as he chased the shooter down.”

P’First nodded, before Kim watched him bid goodbye and head straight to his car, and then he left the area in a hurry, without turning back.

Kim let out a deep breath before he turned back to face the house.

It was in a relatively new compound, so not a lot of people had been around and most of the houses nearby were all empty. Good. That just meant less damage and fewer explanations to the families.

However, this also meant that Kit’s friend might be in trouble. He was right to instruct Aawut to install the bulletproof glass.

But now, as he turned back and headed inside the house, he knew that he had a bigger issue to tackle, and that it was finally time for the discussion that he couldn’t avoid any longer.