Chapter 143 - Introduction to Infiltration and Hand-to-hand Combat

During dinner, Agew observed Liboo even more closely. He noticed that Liboo and Kilat are quieter than usual. Usually they would talk about mundane things, but such atmosphere is not present tonight. 'They must have talked about something when I was in the shower.' Agew's suspicion grew.

"Thanks for the dinner mom. I'll do the dishes." Agew said.

"Okay honey. Your dad and I also have to go to bed early. We're both spent at work." Kilat said as she and Liboo both stood up.

'Same weird smile as dad's' Agew noticed Kilat's forced smile. 

"Okay. Good night mom, dad." Agew said and he was left alone by the dinner table. 

*Clack* After he heard his parents' room's door shut close upstairs, Agew quietly made his way there and stuck his ears against the door. Shortly after, he heard Liboo and Kilat's voices.

"(indistinct) trouble. (indistinct) the shop. (indistinct) destroyed!"

"(indistinct) police?"

"No police! I think (indistinct)"

"(indistinct) Kimbo (indistinct) why?"

"(indistinct) hurt the kids, hurt dad. (indistinct) Kimbo will…"

"(indistinct) get away?"

"No! (indistinct) Kimbo…"

Agew then heard Liboo and Kilat become silent. Hearing the panic in his parents' voices, Agew stepped back from the door, and felt his stomach sink. Agew pressed his ears once again against the door but hearing Liboo and Kilat's voices become more indistinct, Agew gave up on eavesdropping. 

"The shop… Dad's in trouble…" Agew said in realization and he rushed down the stairs. Ignoring the dirty dishes on the dining table, he went to his bed room.

"I hope Tayaw can help." Agew muttered to himself as he turned on the laptop Tayaw gave him and went online.

[Hey man. What's up?] Tayaw immediately answered, making Agew sigh in relief.

"Hey Tayaw! Uh… I think dad is in trouble!" Agew immediately reported.

[What?! What happened?]

"Dad came home tonight and his face looked weird. During the dinner, him and mom were being all quiet and weird. They even went to their room early, so I tried to listen in…" Agew reported everything he overheard. 

[Wait. Did you say Uncle Kingbo?!] Tayaw exclaimed.

"Kimbo? Kingbo? I don't know. Uncle?" Agew on the other hand, was confused.

[You also said dad say something about his dad?] Tayaw asked again.

"I don't know? Is that what it was?" Agew confirmed, his confusion growing. 

Seeing as Tayaw went silent and put on a thinking face, Agew became worried.

"Is dad really in trouble?" Agew asked.

[Yeah. He is. But he's not in trouble with the cops, so he's not going to jail like you think. This is different. Thank you for telling me this as I'm sure dad never would have.] Tayaw said. 

"So, how can we help?" Agew asked.

[I'll handle it. You on the other hand, just act like usual. If you notice something, just tell me. Don't tell dad you told me, okay? I will tell you what's happening after this is over, alright?] Tayaw enumerated a series of orders, which Agew all noted in his head.

"Okay. I won't tell. Should we call the police?" Agew suggested.

[Not yet. Dad is not in danger, yet, so I have time to fix this. Don't worry, alright?] Tayaw assured Agew. 

=============

Jericho 

"That son of a bitch!" Tayaw shouted in anger as he connected all the dots after talking with Agew. Kingbo, his uncle, in his previous life, is the relative he hated the most.

"That f*ckin asshole. Threatening MY family?" Tayaw started pacing back and forth in his study. 

In Tayaw's previous life, he knows Kingbo as Liboo would always express his grudge against Kingbo from time to time. Tayaw thought it was only Liboo that Kingbo wronged until the day his paternal grandmother passed away.

During the funeral, Tayaw saw Kingbo do his hustle of borrowing money and gambling. What he witnessed confirmed to Tayaw that every gossip he ever heard from his relatives about Kingbo's atrocious nature were true. Since then, Kingbo became a dog in Tayaw's eyes. 

Now in his current life, that Kingbo targeted his father and his family, Kingbo's status became that of some vermin in Tayaw's eyes, and deserves to be crushed. 

Tayaw stopped pacing and his earlier anger turned into sharp focus as he thought about how to deal with Kingbo.

A minute later, "I'm going home." Tayaw said in a voice that if one would have heard, would see that his words mean more than just their definition.

=======

Nacotu Village, two weeks later.

Tayaw is back in Teungeb for almost two weeks now without the knowledge of anyone he is close with. He booked a room from a local inn and started his actions according to his plans. 

Over the past two weeks, Tayaw scouted out Kingbo and his gang. Tayaw found out that Kingbo's gang is in fact, quite small, with only thirty-seven men, but enough men to be feared by small villages like Nacotu and Alib.

He also overheard that Kingbo and his gang committed acts of violence and maiming of people who would stand up against them. One example is a young man from Alib who refused to part his earnings from his food truck. This led to Kingbo ordering his men to stomp on the poor young man's hands, taking away the young man's ability to cook. 

As to why the villagers would not report to the police, they could not bear to part with their farmlands or afford to leave their hometown for generations. The threat to their relatives when they do move away is also a strong deterrent. 

"Thug 1, thug 2, thug 3 …." Currently, Tayaw is sat on a chair beside his bed, sorting a pile of photographs he took for the past few days. 

The photographs are of the gang members and their families. One loophole Tayaw found is that the gang members are from neighboring villages of Nacotu, so he had no problems running around and following the gang members home. 

"Thug 37. Phew. Let's do this." Tayaw said as he wore a black colored, tight fitting outfit, matched with ski mask. He then put the photographs inside his backpack along with other tools he will be using for his activity later.

Tonight is the perfect time that Tayaw found to take action. While scouting out Kingbo's gang, he found out that the gang members would gather every Saturday to pile on their earnings for the week. The place of meeting is also Kingbo's own residence. 

After a few minutes of running in the dark and jumping from rock to rock, Tayaw arrived outside of Kingbo's house. Kingbo's house is located on top of a hill and is quite large; made of concrete and bricks with tin sheets for the roofing. While the house is large, any architect or engineer would frown at the house's structure. It would not surprise Tayaw if the house does not even have a bas.e.m.e.nt which is a norm in large houses.

"And then… PUHAHA!.. And then… The daughter said 'Please. I'd give you my body, just stop bothering my mom.' Oh boy. Was she TIGHT! AHAHAHA!"

Tayaw then overheard Kingbo bragging to his men from inside the house. Tayaw almost stumbled as he felt his blood pressure rush at Kingbo's anecdote. He had to stop himself from blindly rushing inside. 

Tayaw then scouted out the exterior and found a possible entrance. He jumped up and rose to the air and landed in front of a trapdoor on the roof. After entering, he noted that the attic is very dusty and is filled with all sorts of junk like broken furniture. The most important thing Tayaw saw however is the house's circuit breaker, which Tayaw found funny as it made no sense for the electrician who wired the house to put it in the attic.

"Alright. Screw it." Tayaw said as he pulled the circuit breaker down. The next moment, he heard the house become silent, followed by curses from the gang members.

"F*ck. Look at the houses next hill, they have power." One gang member remarked which prompted Tayaw to put on his night vision goggles he bought with his connections with the Coniglio.

He then quickly made his way down to the first floor where the gang members are gathered.

*Smack* *Smack* *Ugh* "What the f.u.c.k?!"

"Who the f.u.c.k did that?"

"Ahh!"

Tayaw started hitting the gang members in glorious fury. His suppressed anger resurfaced and he despite caring about how much he controlled his strength, he did not care about how many times he hit someone as long as they drop to the floor unconscious. 

Kingbo and the rest of the members who are still standing hurriedly pulled out their phones or flashlights and started to look for Tayaw. It did not take long for them to see the form of a man who alone is incapacitating them one by one. 

"Who the f.u.c.k is you?!" Kingbo exclaimed and pulled out his knife, which the members followed with what they can grab for a weapon. 

Tayaw did not answer and just kicked or slapped away whatever is being used as a flash light to maintain his advantage in the dark. Then he heard something that almost neutralized his anger.

*SNAP* "My hand! AH!" One thug's hand whom he kicked broke and the thug rolled on the floor nursing his hand. 

Thinking however of the people the gang terrorized over the years, Tayaw did not feel guilty and kept on his work.