"How much of this does the council know?" The short-heighted man with a birdlike face and hairstyle asked as he looked at the file I just handed him.

"Well, none of it ... probably" I answered, confused as to why he would even ask that. "I mean, I bought this file to you before anyone else. Isn't that how it was supposed to be for these kinds of files?"

He smiled as he looked at the files again, as if he hadn't even heard me. Then, he looked back and nodded once and turned to start leaving. I was unable to understand what's going on in his head but well, I had done my duty, so it's none of my concern.

But suddenly, "Hey Sara, did you give the file to Cartel?" –came the voice of a rather fat but well-dressed man. This man, called by everyone Don, was the one who gave this file to me and told me to give it to Cartel, the man with a birdlike face.

"I just did." I said.

"D-did he say anything?" Don asked.

"No, h-he just gave a creepy smile on seeing the file and walked away with it." I told him. "I don't know … it was kinda weird."

Don looked in the direction Cartel just walked in earlier. He gave an angry expression and said, "Oh, I see."

*****

Later that day, after I was heading home from work, I pa.s.sed by an alley and heard some weird noises coming from it. It wasn't dark but there were still many people around so I thought I'd have the courage to check and see what's going on, because I could scream if anything bad happened.

So, I walked into the alley. It was dark and I was unable to make anything out so I pushed the torchlight of my smart-phone on. But, as soon as I did, I saw a horrible sight. It was a large amount of blood spilled in no specific manner in the alley. However, that wasn't the end of it. It also flowed out deeper into the alley, like a trail. No, there is no other way to put it but a trail.

At that point, I had realized that I should not pursue the matter on my own and call the police. But, by that time, it was already too late.

Within a second of laying my eyes on the trail, half of my face was covered with a chloroform-soaked cloth and my neck was being grabbed by a rough hand. It didn't take too long for me to fall unconscious.

*****

When I woke up, I was in the most generic place there is to wake up in after being chloroformed. It was an old, abandoned building. I tried to speak but couldn't, which led me to realize that my mouth was tied by a cloth, and so were my hands and feet. And obviously, I was also tied up to a chair – the most generic and pathetic way of keeping a kidnapped person.

However, I heard someone making weird noise on my right and turned to look at who it was. I then realized that it wasn't a kidnapping. But, something far worse.

On my right, at some distance, Cartel Hopkins was tied up the same way as me, only difference being that he was constantly struggling, trying to break out. Because of his rather unimpressive build though, it wasn't even a surprise that he couldn't budge a single cloth or rope that was tying him. Well, another difference between us was that he was beat up so much that I could just tell the blood I saw earlier was his.

Soon, a group of men fit to be called grunts came in and just stood by, waiting for their leader to come in. And then, their leader did come in. It was Don, the fat man whose actual name I don't even know.

Anyway, he first looked at me and had a look of pity in his eyes. Then, his gaze turned to Cartel and his gaze turned angry, soon leading him to kick Cartel in the worst place possible – his groin. Cartel would have probably given a bloodcurdling scream because of the pain but his mouth was tied up.

Don then stood at a place that was equally distant from me as it was from him. Then, he said, "I'm sorry, Sara. And f.u.c.k you, Cartel."

Cartel m.u.f.fled something, probably a retort. But whatever, Don smirked and continued, "You snitch our organization's secrets to our enemies and this is what you get. You knew that and yet you did anyway. All this is on you."

Cartel m.u.f.fled something again but Don continued, ignoring him, "The file I told Sara to give you yesterday – that whole news about the raid at our hideouts being successful and us suffering great losses, it was all a lie. In truth,"

He paused, took out a file from his suit and showed it to Cartel as he continued. "Their goons failed, miserably. And then they told us that you snitched on us and that's why they knew where our bases where."

Wait! So that's what it was? Then,

"I didn't want to believe it at first. That is why I told Sara to show you that fake file – just to observe your reaction and see for myself if you could be trusted. But, you really were the snitch."

Cartel m.u.f.fled something again, and very pathetically too. Don took out the cloth from his mouth and as soon as he did, "Believe me, Don, I didn't sni-" he put the cloth back on.

Then, he turned to me and said, ��I'm sorry, Sara. You just ended up seeing something you shouldn't have seen. There's no other way."

I tried making up excuses but my mouth was sealed too, so nothing came out. Don sighed once again and started leaving. As he left, he told his lackeys, "Shoot them and throw their bodies in the river."

"NO!!!" I cried out. Even if it was a m.u.f.fling sound, it should have been still pretty clear. But, he just sighed again and said, "Make her death painless. Make his one painful."

*****

His lackeys took us to the river's pier and started beating the s.h.i.+t out of Cartel. That continued for a while. After they had had their fun and Cartel was looking like a mess of bruises and torn clothes, they finally took out their guns – ready to shoot us. As Don had instructed, they were going to make my death painless by shooting me in the head. And they were planning to make his death painful by first targeting his legs.

However, we were saved.

*****