I Am A Voice - Concluding Part

Part I, Part II and Part III can be accessed here, in case you haven't read them
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Romeo never once doubted me. Before the confused murmurs of the people in the hallway could reach a discernible level, he jabbed D’mitri in the throat with the small needle he had been carrying in a hidden compartment in the sleeve of his blazer. A needle dipped in the deadliest of poisons available. A poison I had guided Romeo to. Then he laid him against the railing and nimbly squeezed between the people towards the elevators.

He was outside an elevator when the lights came on ten seconds later. It took a good two minutes for people to find their bearings after the sudden blackout. It took them two more minutes to notice the man sitting on the ground, his back to the railing, head hanging limply to one side. Romeo was by this time entering our room on the second floor.

I turned just as he entered. The feed from the cameras on the first floor was visible on three screens in front of me. I had hacked into the hotel’s system earlier without a hitch. I quickly shut down the laptops and shoved them inside bags just as Bravo came in.

“Are you sure it was him?” Romeo asked me.

I showed him the reading from the voice comparison device. “His voice came on perfectly through your wrist mike. It was a solid match,” I told him. Silently, Romeo took the SIM card out of his cell phone and went to the bathroom to flush it down the toilet, while Bravo stuffed voice analyser in a separate bag, along with his wireless earpiece and wrist mike. I handed him my own just as Romeo came out and followed suit.

“Solid timing on cutting the power,” I told Bravo, who shrugged off the compliment. I looked at Romeo, who was staring daggers at me.

“What?” I asked him.

“I could snap your bloody neck right now,” he growled.

I pulled my best innocent face.

“All that justice and vengeance and restoring balance stuff you kept yapping about it my ear…”

“Hey, it gets pretty boring in here, surrounded by all these machines, you know. Gotta do something to make it more interesting….” I said.

Bravo started chuckling. Romeo said nothing.

“Besides,” I told him, “It’s nothing compared to what I tell myself in my head.”

Bravo burst out laughing. I followed suit. Romeo continued to glare.

THE END

I Am A Voice - Part III

The story continues. Click for Part I and Part II
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At first, Romeo was still. Then he gave a small nod.

Yes, I told him, you are. Tonight, you will punish this man for his sins. Tonight, you will complete your destiny, fulfil your purpose. After tonight, you will be proud of yourself.

Romeo clenched his fist but quickly released it. I smiled.

Do it, I told him.

He pulled out his cell phone, while casually turning around and leaning his back against the railing. Then he typed a short message: Italian food joint, red curtains. 15 mins. I knew because he had typed exactly what I had told him to type.

The moment is close, I said. After tonight, people will be scared to kill innocents. They will think twice before stealing from the poor and trampling on the weak. And you will be the unsung hero behind this success. That is your destiny. To be the silent shadow that strikes fear in the hearts of evil doers.

The Italian food joint with red curtains was further down the hallway, where the line of eateries turned to the left. Ten minutes after receiving Romeo’s message, the man in the expensive silk suit walked out of the coffee shop and started walking towards it through the thin evening crowd. It was that time of the day when guests at the hotel were freshening up to prepare for the evening ahead after a day of sightseeing. Romeo had by this time resumed his pose of a man mounting vigil over the lobby.

I waited. Romeo waited. We both waited for it to happen.

Of course it happened. That is what I do. I make mortals do my bidding and I make things happen.

It happened exactly a minute later, as the man drew up to where Romeo was standing. It happened almost at the exact second I wanted it to happen. But then, that was hardly surprising. What I say, happens.

Darkness enveloped the entire building as suddenly and unexpectedly as lightning falls. Romeo whirled around, grabbed the man in the suit and pulled him close.

“D’mitri?” I heard Romeo whisper. The startled man obliged with a startled “Kto?” the Russian for, “Who?”

Now, I commanded.

TO BE CONTINUED

I Am A Voice - Part II

Next part of the story. First timers requested to read Part I before this one.
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For weeks, Romeo had watched him, had followed his every move. He had broken into his house and looked through his trash and stolen his mail till Romeo finally learned that he was scheming with a character as unsavoury as himself. To inflict further damage upon a world that had already suffered much at his hands. And this is where we came in. Romeo and I were the avengers as well as the protectors.

So we took the other character out of the equation. That is to say, Romeo did. I am just a voice, remember? I am just the voice telling Romeo what to do. And Romeo, the ever faithful soldier of my cause, did it without asking me a single question. He trusted me. He believed in me. He was willing to be guided by me. And I was only too happy to make him the instrument of my vengeance on those who deserved it so badly I could almost hear them begging for it.

With me guiding him at every step, Romeo replaced the other character and started corresponding with the man in the suit. We killed the other guy, of course, after extracting every bit of information from him. Again, Romeo did it all. I just showed him the path. And he walked it in wonderful, obedient silence.

Every single command was only met with prompt compliance. 

Crush another finger joint; he isn’t talking fast enough.

He’s lying to you, shoot him in the knee.

You’re done with him. Kill him. 

All I had to do was ask.

And so, here he was, the man in the suit, waiting for communication from someone he thought was going to help him make more money.

Let him wait, I told Romeo. No, don’t go too close to him. Maintain your distance.

Romeo showed no outward signs of having even heard me. Smoothly, he walked past the coffee shop and stood outside a burger joint down the hallway. He leaned against the railing, looking down into the lobby. His head made tiny movements in different directions, as if he were waiting for someone and trying to spot them as they entered the lobby. This man was good. I had taught him well.

Ready to restore balance to the world? I asked.

TO BE CONTINUED 

I am a voice - Part I

I am a voice.

No, I’m not just any voice. I’m not some sound made by some random man’s throat that human beings have learned to interpret to make sense as per the languages they invented a couple of millennia ago. I’m not the noise emanating from some fair maiden’s delicate vocal cords that men pretend to be in love with when all they really want it a night of fun, to put it mildly.

What I am is a nameless, faceless voice in the ears of people who listen to what I tell them. And when I tell them to do something, they do it.

For most of the world, I do not exist. But for the ones I guide, I am everything.  

So when I told Romeo to wait in the men’s room for a couple of seconds while the man in the expensive silk suit left, he dutifully pulled out a pair of glasses from his blazer pocket, pretended to examine them in the light and then put them on. Then I told him to move. And he did.

Romeo quickly set off on a trajectory that kept the man in the suit in his line of sight. And where he ran the risk of losing sight of his target, he had me. I see everything. That’s why they listen to me.

Romeo was good. He followed the man exactly the way I told him to. He never hesitated or lost a step. This was the kind of minion I liked.

Slowly but surely, I told him. Tonight is the night of justice. Tonight, we avenge the poor and the helpless. Take the escalator next to the one he took. Not now. Yes, now. Tonight we colour his expensive suit with blood. Not the innocent blood he has on his hands but his own blood.

A stranger would never have guessed that Romeo was following instructions; would never have guessed that a voice was constantly whispering encouragement as well as commands in his ear. For all the world, Romeo was just another man making his way from the ground floor of the lobby of a plush hotel to the first floor. For the ignorant, he was just standing on the escalator letting it take him upwards while checking his cell phone for messages.

You are the chosen one, I had taught him. No one has the right to know your mission. No one is worthy enough.

The man in the suit stepped off the escalator and looked around at the restaurants and bars on the first floor before entering a coffee shop. He settled into a chair facing the entrance and placed his cell phone close to his hand. He was expecting a call, or a message. And he wanted to respond to it quickly.

I smiled.



TO BE CONTINUED