Corax and Grum Pt. 02

And for a while, that was life.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kevin stopped, having finished his bottle, he reached a point to break. The liquor which loosened the tongue had stopped and so had Kevin's story.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Corax," his tongue felt thick and dry in his mouth. "I'm not used to talking lately ... about anything really. But this especially." He moved to stand.

Corax was on his feet, steadying him. "I see. Of course. I greatly appreciate hearing your story, Kevin." Corax was guiding him out of the small shopfront, the gawking crowd hushed and parted for their passage and then closing back up, effortlessly hiding any trace that they had been there at all. Corax ducked his head on passing through the doorframe on their way outside.

Outside, Corax released him. Kevin staggered, barely able to stand, not entirely from the alcohol. Confessing his story had taken a toll.

Corax attracted a small crowd, from his size and sheer strangeness. Kevin was suddenly spurred into action, diving at a small, slender wraith of a man who had approached Corax from behind.

"Diu lei! Fuck off, you useless scum!" he bellowed, barely maintaining his balance. The man scampered away into the night's shadows.

Corax gathered him, righting him again. The giant's look was mildly questioning.

"Fucking thieves," he slurred in a low tone. "Gonna steal your wallet!"

Corax smiled gently, teeth hidden, and released him a second time. "Thank you for your protection Kevin. It's very kind of you to make efforts on my behalf."

Rising to full height, the giant looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing. "Forgive me, Kevin," Corax's face was cocked at an angle, the look of anticipation. "I appreciate the confidence you have shown me in our discussion. But I feel that I we may benefit from hearing the rest of your tale in the presence of a colleague."

Kevin stiffened, appearing much more in control of himself. "That would be Mr. Grum?"

"Ah, no. Grum is right there," Corax noted, standing aside. Kevin looked past him, but there was no one in the area at all. Apparently, there must've been something in Corax's tea and he was seeing things. The sidewalk was empty except for a plump pigeon that trilled at them; the only notable feature of it was that a yellowish liquid dripped from its mouth in a puddle on the ground. While it looked well fed and in good health otherwise, the bird was neither big enough to be mistaken for a man, nor was it man-shaped. Kevin looked warily back at Corax.

A small thought came to Kevin; it was odd that not only was a pigeon out in the street, late at night, but that it sat there almost completely still, unmolested. None of the neighborhood's feral cats or hungry beggars had tried to make a meal of it. Maybe it was sick, and the yellow stuff was a sign of its illness? Kevin knew a thing or two about the shunned.

"And Grum is not the most socially adept at interpersonal discussions," Corax continued.

'I'll bet', thought Kevin. 'Pigeons aren't particularly suited as for listening to personal problems in the Agony Aunt role.' He smirked at his joke at Corax's imaginary friend.

"But I feel that you may relate to my colleague, as his history has events seemingly similar to yours. Perhaps there may be value in adding his opinion?"

"I, ah, well I suppose I've come this far," Kevin wavered a little in his decision making. The events had conspired that there was little that could be done for him, so talking about it was pretty much just an exercise in mental masturbation and self-delusion. On the other hand, just talking so far with Corax had been, well ... strange if he was being frank, but also somewhat enlightening. Even therapeutic? "I don't see what it would hurt..." He trailed off, pacing slightly.

The pigeon moved, but not in a way that he had ever seen any pigeon move before; no aimless bobbing or prancing. It slid sideways before becoming completely still. Something about the bird was extremely disconcerting - it appeared to keep Kevin in direct line-of-sight, like how a predatory animal would stalk prey before pouncing. For a brief moment, a huge area of space around it shimmered. Kevin's perception was as if a public transit bus was hidden by some special effect, before the air again stabilized around the bird.

Kevin blinked hard, but the pigeon sat there motionless except for the drooling.

Corax turned to observe the bird, and muttered something low in the bird's general direction before returning to the conversation.

"Well Corax," Kevin edged away in small steps, "I'll wish you good evening then." The bird moved to match him. "And please, my best regards to Mr. Grum," he added almost as an afterthought. The bird ruffled its feathers and began grooming itself.

"Very good, Kevin. Grum thanks you for your concern," he smiled, lips parting to reveal a line of teeth. "Until we meet again."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jimmy was pissed.

"You're killing me!" he hissed into the phone, trying to keep his voice down. Joyce was still on the offensive, but it had changed to a charm offensive, and he really didn't want to upset her to the point where she would revert back to frigid mode.

She was riding him gently, her cunt massaging his manhood inside her while grinding her pelvis against his when his phone rang. Normally, she would kill him for using the phone while they were together in bed, but he made it clear it was business, and that particular call was important. Joyce assented, but she didn't stop either, making it difficult for him to focus.

"Wei Mun, you've got to help me here, I'm begging. I will be a dead man if I can't get the next batch." He was exaggerating a little. Maybe. But he was definitely in trouble if he couldn't deliver what he had promised both to his bosses as well as his customers. "The orders for the new compounds are coming in. This might be the biggest hit yet. Club kids are begging for this stuff, the high is great and the hangover seems minimal. It's the perfect storm!

"I need as much as I can get." Jimmy's free hand rubbed her breasts in small circles. Joyce took his hand, sucking sensuously on his fingers, groaning as her hips rolled against him. Jimmy's pulse rate soared from her teasing.

His supplier was not having it though. Jimmy could feel the heat rising through his side of the connection as Wei Mun seemed to sense Jimmy's distraction through the phone. "I'm listening!". Pause. "No, she's not here..." Joyce put her hands behind her head, increasing her volume. "I swear!"

Jimmy yanked his hand away from her to cover the mouth piece of the phone before Joyce's delight was loud enough to be heard over the other end of the phone. He looked angrily at her, shushing her. She ignored him, as usual, taking her pleasure as much from putting him into uncomfortable situations as she got from the actual sex. The bastard was gonna fix things for her or she'd get her own back.

He had got her into bed two years earlier after meeting at a local cultural luncheon, with his boasting of connections and power. He plied her with gifts, but she already had all she could want from her rich expat husband.

What she didn't have was a Chinese guy that her family could embrace. Jimmy had been savvy enough to play that card for a bit to get her used to the idea of him, and once he had momentum, it just became self-fulfilling. She admired her husband, but the lure of a local and something a little more dangerous had made her take the plunge. And it was all fine, until her fucking maid got in the way.

When her husband discovered the affair, she overreacted and ran, turning to Jimmy, who had to become a family man overnight. That shit wasn't easy! The nature of the affair meant that both of them kept the identities of each other completely secret. Her family didn't even know Jimmy's name, just that he was a local and was supporting the kids after her husband went crazy. They had bought that line, since they had never embraced her gweilao husband; as long as they got to see the grandkids regularly.

There was a time limit she had until she had some security. They would always need to be careful, but the time until they could be free of paranoia was counting down. That is, if he could keep her cool until then. But he knew Joyce was not one to be calm, and she wanted her freedom now, and Jimmy was to arrange it for her.

His current attention was torn between business and pleasure, as his connection spoke in his ear about logistical issues with meeting his supply requests and his hot mistress using him as a dildo. Getting distracted with either one could hurt him, but his ego told him he was at his peak and capable of enjoying Joyce's hot show and, hopefully ironing out the kinks of his supply chain.

Someday, such distractions might get him into trouble but Jimmy was convinced that day would not be soon.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kevin walked into Oliver's office to find his friend hanging up the phone with a disgusted look on his face.

"Problem?"

"No," Oliver sighed. He smiled at his friend, before sitting at the desktop control terminal.

From that terminal, Oliver could create small batch runs of the latest products and chiral designs. For a run up to a few kilos, it was almost completely automated, and really sped up the development process. Oliver could design a particular compound design on the terminal, send it to an automated micro-reactor where the active ingredients can be compounded, processed and refined for analysis and testing. The whole process is free from human touch and could output new and novel products. It was an amazing system.

When the product would be scaled up for commercial use, there were a huge number of human intervention controls and safety checks put in to prevent contamination and ensure product consistency. But for what Oliver needed, and for lightning-fast synthesis and development, the system was part of the magic that the chiral group had built.

"You don't look so good," Oliver noted.

"Rough night," Kevin grinned wryly. "Actually, I feel a bit better." Oliver raised his eyebrows to encourage him to go on. "I met some strange guy in a bar and started talking about these problems I have. You know ... home and all. Just some random guy, but ... it was like therapy.

"I realize I've kept this inside for so long, and it's been eating at me. Just talking about her to someone who isn't involved and doesn't take sides."

"Does this stranger have ideas how to help?" Oliver hated seeing his friend suffering the way he had been since his wife had run off.

"He's not a local. A gweilao like me," Kevin shook his head.

Oliver cringed reflexively. The term was a put down for foreigners, and considered rude to use in front of them. Westerners weren't culturally sensitive about the put-down, so it had lost some of its punch over the years, and ex-pats like Kevin used it as self-deprecation - a joke. But for locals, that type of humor was often uncomfortable. They were friends and Oliver knew Kevin well enough to know his humor, but Oliver's reaction was a habit ingrained over years.

"But that's good, as he's completely detached. He's got some friend who says he can help. Dunno how. PI's haven't got any signs from her, and time is running out before she can file for desertion in a Chinese court against me and get an automatic judgement. Then she'll be in the wind, and I'll have no hope of seeing the kids again. But the trail has gone cold since just after she took the kids and ran."

"What can you do?

Kevin's face sank. The strain of losing his wife and kids had all but consumed him over the last twenty months. His self-worth was tied up in the happiness of his kids, forget the wife. He knew Joyce was volatile going into the relationship, and in the back of his mind, he sensed their time together was always going to be limited. But the kids were forever; they were his legacy. And they needed the support and guidance of their father.

"Nothing. And it's killing me.

"Anyways, we're scheduled for an afternoon patent review. Are we still on track for that?"

Oliver slapped at his forehead. "Ah. I forgot. I'm in the middle of working on something. Can we reschedule?"

"Sure. Tomorrow?" Kevin was already on his way out.

"Yeah," Oliver called after him.

Oliver shook his head. He sent his recipe to the reactor.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Gotta go, my Uber's here," the young woman said.

"Bye Lexy," her friend hugged her. "You OK?"

"Yeah," she lied. Her mind was a million miles away.

The young woman left the bar, waving good bye to her to her friends. She walked to the corner where her ride-share waited. A quick check confirmed the car was her ride and she climbed in, again confirming the destination with the driver.

The ride was quiet. She was lost in her thoughts and didn't pay attention to the route. The driver was cautious and followed road safety rules. Lexy noted he checked her in the mirror frequently throughout the ride, but not often enough to be creepy. Twenty minutes into what should've been a ten-minute ride, Lexy realized she was lost. She didn't recognize the neighborhood she was in. Instead of the quiet residential apartment blocks, she was in an industrial area with large open parking lots and a few shipping containers.

"Umm, excuse me? Where are we?" The driver's eyes flicked to the mirror. Lexy couldn't read his expression at all. "Hey! Where the fuck are we?" Her stomach dropped in genuine fear.

The car skidded to a stop, slamming her into the seat back. Woozy and panicking, she reached for the door handle, but there was no movement. Child locks had deactivated the handle. She was trapped.

The driver turned to her, leering and grunting under his breath. Lexy realized, he had not spoken the entire ride. Undoing his lap belt, he began to shift to crawl into the back seat with her. Lexy closed her eyes and screamed, thrashing at him blindly.

There was a smashing of glass followed by a violent rocking of the car. In an instant, the only sound was Lexy's scream and her panicked gasping breath. A soft thunk and the door on Lexy's side opened; when the cool night air blew across her, she opened her eyes. There was no driver, there was no threat; her escape was at hand. She leapt from the car, eyes wide with terror and breathing deep sobs. She backed away from the idling car, trying to look for any signs of danger, but she couldn't locate her attacker in the open space around her. He had to be waiting for her, hiding on the other side of the car ...

She backed into a solid post behind her and screamed, turning and flailing in one motion, ready to flee.

A young man, maybe only a few years older than her, stood behind her. She had no idea who it was, but he was smiling. It was an easy, genuine smile, kind and free of any menace. He was most definitely not her driver, yet he was the only one around besides her. And he was definitely not aggressive.

"Hello Alexa." His voice was soft, and despite the distance between them and wide-open space, she heard him as if he had spoken in her ear.

She screamed again, but it died quickly in the open air. He made no threatening movements or gestures. He slowly raised his hands.

"It's OK. He's gone."

"Who-who are you?" She looked closer at her savior. Cute bordering on handsome. Close cut hair. Nicely tailored dark suit, no tie. Medium build, a shade below six feet tall. Easy smile.

The smile warmed and calmed her. She could feel the adrenaline and its hyper-vigilance drain from her almost like flipping a switch. She felt a familiar, homey comfort come from him. A stranger who was there and did ... something to save her. She wanted to go to him, to embrace him.

Until she saw his eyes.

A different kind of fear, almost subliminal, slid through the primitive parts of her brain. An animal fear of a predator waiting just ahead in the dark, of night and unknown things that the mind could not understand. The pupils of his eyes glittered and danced to an unheard and ancient song, one that ears would never hear. It was a lulling, almost hypnotically charmed danger, serpentine in the way it made her passively stand, rooted to the spot. Some parts of her limbic system were not-so-swayed, telling her to get the fuck out of there already.

"I'm Brian," he said. He made no moves towards her. In fact, he didn't move at all. He was preternaturally still. Lexy slowly realized that nothing on him moved, even in the breeze, his clothing was as if it were solid, which was as unnerving as the slithering parts of his eyes.

Lexy stood frozen for ... how long?

Brian kept talking, breaking her out of her trance. It hadn't been moments or hours that she was standing there, staring at his familiar yet eerie form, although it felt like it. It had been seconds.

"You're safe. He's gone." She knew him, somehow.

"W-w-where is he?" she shivered, just short of a convulsion.

"He's gone," he repeated, smiling with a disarming charm, which only slightly masked the roiling depths she was sure were hidden beneath the smile, waiting there in the solid dark shadows of his suit. "I'm sorry this happened to you. It's a terrible thing, but you're OK."

Another internal switch flipped, and she staggered, when both relief and sadness flooded over her. She swooned. Brian was suddenly there; he caught her easily, and guided her back to the car.

"Alexa, I know you're scared. I know you have a lot on your mind outside this, with your folks and all." His hand caressed her face, wiping a tear before gently moving a stray hair behind her ear.

Completely passive despite the parts of her brain shrieking about danger and fear, she let herself be led to the car where just a few minutes before she had been trapped as a prisoner. Something he had said sent a new wave of shivers through her but, as her mind raced, she couldn't grasp what exactly it was.

He led her to the driver side. The window was completely smashed and chunks of broken safety glass were all over the seat. He reached in and quickly brushed it out onto the pavement around them. He clearly had no concern about cutting his hand on the broken safety glass. Once he was happy, he steered her into the seat.

"I need you to be safe. Can you drive this car home?" he asked. She nodded blankly, looking up at him, as if he had the answers for the tumult of emotions racing through her. She swung her legs into the car. A quick look through at the keys in the ignition, an automatic transmission, GPS and half a tank of gas.

"Yeah. I need a minute, though," she was on auto-pilot, flat and emotionless. Looking back up at him, she noted his eyes were focused, brown and kind. What had she seen earlier? Was she hallucinating? Was it a trick of the sodium lamps nearby?

"That's OK. You can do this. You're strong." She still felt that his easy smile camouflaged something that she instinctively knew was below the surface. She nodded. Something itched at the back of her mind. He was hiding something.

Or something hid behind him.

It came to her. "Why are you here?"

He closed the car door, and a few of the remaining chunks of the tempered glass that were still in place tinkled out. The smile widened. Not predatory, but not far from it either. An unspoken secret passed between them.

"You were always so smart, Alexa. So clever. Go home. Get some rest and take some time. Heal. From everything. A good night's sleep will start to fix a lot of things."

She looked a little nervous.

"Go. Now," a little more firmly, but not hostile. "Once you're home, leave this car on the street and the keys in it. Don't look back. Go directly home."