BXBX NOVEL Chapter 83: Like in spy movies
This wasn\'t the office where I had my first meeting with him, but a small room with just two sets of doors, one leading back to the main corridor while the other…
The other led to the adjacent room, connected by the mentioned door and a long but narrow Venetian mirror. The one I\'ve only ever seen in spy movies before, where we could see everything on the other side while, in the other room, this particular piece of glass filled the role of a simple mirror.
"As requested," Makary spoke once we finally got into the room while nodding his chin over at the mirror. "A junkie fresh after taking a dose," he spoke in a slightly darker voice than usual, befitting the tense and displeased look on his face.
\'Assuming he really is as against drugs as I believe he is, finding someone like this had to be quite a headache for him,\' I thought, worried for a second that maybe, just maybe, I went a bit too far.
But as much as Makary could hate the drugs and people who distributed them, he couldn\'t fully prevent his part of the town from being infested with them. He only had control over a single district, meaning, nothing stopped people living on his turf from simply walking over to the territory of other gangs in the area to get their illegal supplies.
And as I looked through the Venetian window, I confirmed Makary\'s words with my very own two eyes.
There was indeed a shady-looking person inside. They were sitting by a simple desk on an equally simple chair, both of which were bolted to the ground.
\'This really looks like an interrogation window from some spy movie,\' I thought. And while normally I would hardly be able to hold my excitement back… The sight of the poor, drugged man in the other room easily quelled all of my enthusiasm.
Still, I was the one who requested the presence of this kind of person, so the best I could do was at least not to act childish and waste no time with the little show I\'d prepared. As such, after just a quick look, I hastily stepped away from the mirror while allowing the unsavory feeling I felt in my soul to reflect on my face.
Seeing the changes in my expression, Fay stepped forward, keen to check the other room out. And while, at first, I rushed forth to stop her… I ended up stopping myself instead.
\'Am I going to keep this moment a secret from her?\' I asked myself, watching without a single move how the girl leaned over toward the glass. The only movement I allowed myself was clenching my teeth. \'She has the right to know what I\'m doing here, even if it will make her disillusioned with me.\'
I gritted my teeth to the point my gums started to hurt. But this physical pain was nothing when compared to my worry over how Fay\'s perception of me would change once she figured out what was about to go down.
\'No secrets. I\'m not going to keep in the dark about the darker parts of who I am and what I do,\' I decided, taking a deep breath when Fay finally leaned over and took a glance through the Venetian mirror.
Fay squinted her eyes as she followed the erratic movements of the drugged man, stared at his hands and eyes twitching literally every second, and observed the look of complete bliss and detachment visible on his face.
Then, Fay turned her head around and looked at me, baffled by something.
Quite noticeably, I wasn\'t the only one following the changes on Fay\'s face. And although Makary noticed her expression, he didn\'t bother to comment.
\'I guess it\'s time. The sooner we get this over with the better,\' I thought, reaching out to the small bag I brought along before pulling out a simple, sealable food container. Inside, a bunch of fresh leaves floated in a bit of the tap water.
For the herb to work, it had to be fresh. I kept Leinei\'s advice close to my heart, making sure to slow down the decay of the herb by putting it into a container with nothing but cold water. Whether or not it would work, though… I was going to find out soon.
"Pull out the leaves from the water and have someone boil a tea from them. Then, as soon as it cools to a manageable temperature, have that man drink it."
My instructions were as clear and as simple as they could get.
I wasn\'t going to make the junkie in the other room smoke the leaves or make them into some sort of injection. No. I was going to follow the exact same, simple steps that Leinei did while brewing the tea with this herb while hoping it would still work the same in this world.
Grabbing the container, I reached out and passed it to Makary.
"Just a third of the leaves I\'ve brought should suffice," I added, only to watch him take the container, and heave a long sigh before passing it over to his aide.
"Go," Makary spoke softly before averting his eyes and turning silent as if he lost all interest in the topic the moment his aide grabbed the box and rushed outside the room.
\'I guess they don\'t have a kettle here,\' I thought, growing more and more uncomfortable as the silence prolonged.
"You don\'t have any plans to tell me what to expect, do you?" Makary finally spoke while giving me a long stare.
A question I could answer only with a sigh.
"It will be far easier to explain it once you see what happens," I revealed as little as I could while hoping to buy just a little bit of the man\'s patience. "Also, it might take a moment for the effects of this herb to kick in, so how about we get some chairs?"
Makary\'s eyes twitched only for his face to darken even further.
"We can wait while standing," he replied, opting not to push me any further and allowing the silence to creep back into the room.
Soon, before the silence could turn the atmosphere tense and awkward atmosphere to an unbearable level, Makary\'s aide returned. This time, however, a simple, clear glass replaced the box that he carried when going out.
"I\'m quite curious to see the degree of this herb\'s effect on a man under the influence of hard drugs," I muttered under my nose, only to feel Makary\'s eyes piercing my back. Turning around, I looked right back at him.
Now that I was so close, I couldn\'t back out.
"What? I\'ve tested it on myself before, but I could only get my hands on alcohol at the time. And, to be frank," I shook my head, "I don\'t think I would be willing to drug myself just to test it."
I took a deep sigh while keeping my eyes on the gang\'s officer.
Now, the time came for me to go for the one, last push.
"Do you have the other thing I asked for?"