The Hunter - Chapter 14 What exactly happen there?

Schonberg didn’t give up. He already promised to Jimmy that he will make the orphanage sell their land to Sunrise Real Estate. He looks for another people who willing to do his dirty job. And two days later he got the person he wanted. That man promises him to make the orphanage become cinders. Too bad, Reid always alerted because he knows that bad guys from before will not give up easily.

The new guy that Schonberg hires is not smart and tactful in arson field. He is just a crude guy with brute strength that afraid no one. If the previous guy observing the situation first, the latter said he will do it immediately after Schonberg shows him the place he should burn. Their conversation about that didn’t miss from Reid’s ears. So when the night comes, he already prepared to welcome this uninvited guest.

After midnight, a minivan stops near the orphanage. That brutish man comes out from the van carrying two jerry cans in each hand. There’s no one around the neighborhood at this time, only sometimes police car that does patrol passing by once a while. Reid already spotting the man coming from his site in the rooftop, this time he will do something different from the last time.

When the man entering the orphanage yards from the front gate, suddenly he feels the jerry cans in his both hands become heavier. He frowned and murmuring,

“What the heck, is this cans become heavier or just my feelings?”

The man pumps more strength into his arms to lift the jerry cans, step by step he comes closer to the orphanage and heading to the backside. When he arrived there, sweat already all over his body. While whipping the sweat with his hands, he exclaimed his wonder

“That’s weird, I only lift this two jerry cans, why I feel so tired? Am I got a cold?”

That man didn’t know that Reid secretly applied some pulls to the jerry cans, make its weight bit by bit increased, so when the man stop, its weight already ten time folds from its original weight. The man pulls a lighter from his jacket pocket and tries it several times. He nodded satisfied after seeing his lighter working normally and put it back in his pocket. Then he open one of jerry can lid and ready to pour it on orphanage walls. The jerry can still as heavy as before but the man didn’t mind it, all he wants is finishing his job as soon as possible.

After emptying one jerry can, he opens the other jerry can lid and pours it to other orphanage’s wall section. Finishing emptying the second jerry can, he put his hand to his pocket to get the lighter. He didn’t realize when he busy pouring the jerry can content to the walls, the lighter secretly slipped away from his pocket. The man starts panicking when he doesn’t find the lighter in his pocket. He searches every pocket in his body, jacket pocket, pants pocket, but all in vain. He didn’t find his lighter in there.

“God damn it. I just try that lighter a while ago and now it’s gone. I’m sure I put it back in my pocket but I can’t find it everywhere”

That man is grunted endlessly while keep searching his lighter. That’s when someone tugging his shoulder from behind and a bony hand holding a lighter stretched toward him. That man was glad he gets his lighter back

“Thanks. I’ve looked for that everywhere”. Although he was a crude man, he not forgets to say thank you. And when he about to light the lighter on, he remembered something ….

“Huh? I don’t remember seeing anyone near here?” and the man slowly turns his back, and ….

TAAADAAAA!!!

A skeleton is standing right behind him. One of its bony hand waving to him as if says hello. That man face become pale, sweat start dropping from his forehead and he can only say some broken words from his mouth,

“Ma … ma … ma … mamaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

Before he fainted and falls. His guts are actually smaller than the previous arsonist.

Reid, who is orchestrating this show from above only sighed. He doesn’t expect that man to faint in the spot. Now he must drag this man back to his van before he regains his consciousness back. After putting the man back in the driver seat of his van, Reid is waiting patiently in the nearby roof, to see what this man will do after his consciousness back. After a while, the man sobers up from his faint. He shocked to see he was in his van. When he still tries to reorganize his memory, he hears a knocking sound on the windows. He turns his head to see who’s knocking the windows. And what he sees is …..Something that makes his eyes almost jumps from its sockets. He sees the previous skeleton that he saw in the orphanage yard, now standing beside his van, knocking the windows glass with its bony fingers

Without thinking about anything anymore, the man ignites the van engine and drive fast from that place. He so nervous that almost hit the traffic sign near the crossroad when turning the van.

Next morning, Schonberg tries to call the man he hired to burn the orphanage. After a long waiting finally, he gets connected with that man’s phone. But the voice on the phone is not the voice of that man, instead, it’s a woman voice.

“Hello, who is this?”

“Hello ma’am, I’m tried to call my friend Howard, but seems I’ve dialed the wrong number. I’m sorry ma’am”

“No, you’re not wrong, this is Howard’s phone. He can’t answer right now and I’m his mother”

“Oh, so like that. May I know why he can’t answer my phone ma’am?”

“He’s currently not feeling well and in the hospital right now”

“I see, and then I’ll call him later ma’am. Thank you”

“You welcome”

Schonberg hung the phone. There’s a big question mark in his head. Two people he hired to burn the orphanage were failed. What exactly happens there? The first person he hired, act like a scared person and the latter act like a sick person. He tries to figure it out but come with no conclusion about what happened there.