Chapter 146 - Relief and Worry

August 20, 2012 – Monday 8 am – Jebung Township, Nabla

"Boss! Boss!" Guerin met Liboo excitedly by the shop's entrance.

"What? What?!" Liboo was overwhelmed by the unusually energetic Guerin.

"Look! Someone left something in our mail box." Guerin reported as he handed Liboo a photo.

Liboo looked at the photo and felt chills run down his spine accompanied by a bout of nausea. 

The photo shows a beat up Kingbo tied up and hanging under an electric post.

"H- He's not dead, is he?" Liboo said.

"He's not. At least that's what the note says. It's behind the photo." Guerin tried to assure Liboo. 

[Kingbo is out of your hair now. Do not worry, he is not dead, at least he is not when we left him. My men will watch over you and your family in case we missed one of Kingbo's people. Please do not talk to people from Nacotu and Alib yet unless they contact you first. I took a liking to the car so I am also taking it with me. I will wire you the payment today.] Liboo read the note. 

"Good lord." Liboo was dumbfounded.

"Shit, I can't believe you've done this boss? I didn't know you were connected." Guerin said with a satisfied grin.

"No. I'm not involved in this. And I have no idea who did this. Basically, all the friends I know are some of my neighbors and the mechanics I hired. I don't even know how this person found out… You however … You didn't tell anyone, right?" Liboo said, which caught Guerin off-guard. 

"Whoah. It's not me, boss. Even if I did, it will take my 'friends' a long time to help us. Not to mention how much they will ask for it. The guy who did this took care of your problem for free. Oh! Plus! They did send us 55,000 BGC. I checked. They gave extra for the car. If It were the guys I know, they'd take the car for free." Guerin explained himself. 

"Hmm. Alright then. I'm gonna call my father, maybe he knows something." Liboo dropped his suspicion of Guerin and he pulled out his phone.

"Boss! No." Guerin stopped Liboo from dialing his phone.

"The guys who did this told us too. It will prevent us from having a connection with the hit on Kingbo. You didn't tell anyone about the trouble, right?" Guerin explained.

"Ah... You're right." Liboo sighed and shook his head.

"Tell Bagwis to take over for me today. I'm going home." Liboo said.

"Oh. Okay boss. I understand." Guerin nodded his head. Liboo usually do not skip work as he loves spending time in the workshop, but today serves for a celebration, at least it is what Guerin thinks.

Half an hour later, Liboo is back in his home in Okuba.

"Honey!" Liboo burst through the front door.

"Liboo! I thought you left for work?!" Kilat almost jumped in surprise. With Kingbo's threat looming over them, Kilat had been jumpy at the smallest things.

"Never mind that. I have news!" Kilat said. 

"What?" Liboo asked in curiosity.

"I was talking with my cousin earlier and guess what she told me? Kingbo's gang is over! Kingbo and his men were beaten up maybe in the early morning of yesterday." Kilat said. 

"You didn't tell them about his extortion from us, right?" Liboo asked.

"No. Why? Should I have?" Kilat asked.

"Oh. Thank god. Look at this." Liboo sighed in relief and passed the photo he received to Kilat.

"Oh, my goodness... Oh my goodness." Kilat felt light-headed at the image and had to sit down and read the note on the photo. 

"And, I have nothing to do with it. I don't even know how they found out. But this should not be traced back to us, alright honey?" Liboo said.

"Okay. I get it." Kilat sighed, recovering from the shocking image.

"So, is Kingbo alive?" Liboo asked.

"Yeah. But they said he might be crippled now." Kilat reported.

"That's good. That's good." Liboo sighed in relief. 

"Do you really know nothing about this?" Kilat asked, finding it reasonable that Liboo might have done something to get back at Kingbo.

"Whoa. I swear, honey, I don't. You know me. I've lost sleep over this." Liboo defended.

"Honey, it's okay. You did this to protect us." Kilat is still suspicious however. 

"As much as I'd like to take credit, I don't even know where to start to do something like this. Look, you know Guerin, right? The former felon I hired? I even thought it was him that called his friends, but he denied it. He said that his 'friends' would not be so kind to pay for the car that Kingbo took." Liboo explained. 

Kilat's suspicion subsided and decided to drop it for now. "Okay then. At least we're good now." 

"What's good?" The couple were startled when suddenly, Agew came out of nowhere.

"Oh. Why do you always sneak up on us? No. The shop is doing good. That's all." Kilat said.

"Oh. Okay." Agew smiled widely but when he saw the photo on Kilat's hand, his smile froze. Kilat was about to hide it but it's too late. 

"Oh no… someone got killed…" Agew uttered as his face paled.

"No! No. He's not. But he was badly beaten up." Kilat said, not wanting Agew to be traumatized by the photo.

"Oh. Okay." Agew said, his relief obvious to the couple. 

"Son. Sit down. And calm down. What do you know about this?" Liboo while having the same concern as Kilat, noticed Agew's odd reaction and his use of words.

"Liboo! Don't you dare pass suspicion on your son!" Kilat was shocked at Liboo's question. 

"I know you will hate me for this, honey, but I found his words strange. Son, what do you really know about this?" Liboo insisted.

"I-I … Know about what?" Agew tried to play innocent, but not being a skilled liar, Kilat and Liboo saw through him. 

"We won't get angry. Just tell us what you know." Kilat was finally convinced at Liboo's conjecture, so she asked in a gentle expression. Agew meanwhile was torn between confessing what he knows or to keep what he knows to himself. 

"Son. This man right here, is a bad man. He took advantage of many, many people in my hometown; that includes your grandfather and my friends. So, if you know who did this for us, for my friends, we want to thank them." Liboo said, trying to convince Agew to come clean. 

Agew feeling like Liboo's words made sense and that Liboo wants to express gratitude, has decided to confess.

"Dad, I thought that you were going to be arrested by the police, or Kimbo, I don't know! So, I asked Tayaw for help. BUT! I'm sure that Tayaw didn't do that!" While Agew confessed, he still wants to defend Tayaw. Agew however, knew deep in him, that with Tayaw's 'oddity', it is a fair assumption that Tayaw has indeed took action.

Kilat and Liboo fell silent. A minute later, "Thank you for being honest, son. And you're right. It wasn't Tayaw who did this." Liboo said, consoling Agew with a smile.

"Really? That's good then!" Agew sighed in relief.

"Good. Honey, don't you still have pottery to do? I want to be alone with your father." Kilat said.

"Okay!" Agew gladly complied. 

The two finally being alone, Kilat and Liboo's faces morphed into complicated expressions.

"It's Tayaw, huh." Kilat said, disbelief on her face.

"As much as I don't like it, honey, it might be him. You and I didn't do it. Guerin also didn't. Kingbo and his men obviously would not sabotage themselves. Then Agew. I don't know how he found out but he's the only one who told another." Liboo eliminated suspects. 

"And that other is Tayaw… I can't believe he can do this." Kilat shook her head.

"Yeah. Let's call him." Liboo said. 

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

Meanwhile in the outskirts of Nacotu Village

"Ugh. I tap! TAP!" A man said as he felt the threat of injury from his twisted arm. Feeling his arm was released, the man sighed in relief.

"Phew. If you can beat all of us at the same time, why bother calling us here at all?" The man said as he pointed to his buddies who are now at watching by the side after being defeated by Tayaw.

"I can beat you. But that's not the point. I can't watch multiple men at the same time." Tayaw explained.

"Okay. So, did we get the job? We didn't come so far just to be beaten by you and go home empty-handed, right?" The man asked. The man is the leader of the group of thugs that Gonzalo sent over through his connections. The connection being a high member of the Landopil syndicate of the Teungeb branch. 

"Yeah. You got it. At least you lot are tougher than the former gang here. Here's the list of the thugs that are still in Nacotu and Alib. You are to watch them here for a month. If they do not leave Nabla after they recovered from their injuries, intimidate them to do so." Tayaw instructed. 

"Ah. No wonder the boss chose us. This is what we're good at, not fighting. How about our pay?" The leader asked.

"I know your boss said to give me a discount but let's go with your regular pay. 30 days and 30 of you, 500 BGC each day." Tayaw said.

"Isn't that generous." A thug on the side quipped with a smile.

"It is. The rent is cheap in a place like this too." The leader agreed.

"By the way, just out of curiosity, why not just whack them? Doesn't that solve your problem?" The leader asked. 

"Well, I just want to spare the good people of these supposed to be peaceful villages of any more unrest. So, don't try to take over Kingbo's rackets here. It's best if you avoid tarnishing the relationship of the Landopil and Coniglio, alright?" Tayaw casually threatened. 

"Whoa there. We don't do that shit. We're the sophisticated sort." The thug who quipped earlier quipped again.

"That's good to know. Anyway. You can start today, yes?" Tayaw asked.

"Yeah. We're good to go." The leader said. 

After having lunch with the men he hired, Tayaw is back in his motel room. As he was packing up, Tayaw's phone buzzed. He opened his Facebook app, looked at the recent message he received, and sighed.

[Please call us as soon as you read this. We have to know if you're okay.]