The Network

Chapter 10 - The Leak

Today

When he went out onto Coronation Road, the clouds were slowly retreating and the rain was stopping. He was greeted by the usual noise and confusion of voices, the low humming of engines of bikes, scooters, one-wheel drives, and whatnot. Apparently, Coronation Road had become the most populated street in the world just a couple of years before. Niko enjoyed being in the middle of it, but now, more than ever, he enjoyed one thing—his privacy in the middle of the masses, although he did stand out, being a whole head taller than everyone else. A strong smell from the Hawker center across the street drew his attention. Weirdly enough, from all the heads he could discern there, a rather tall figure stood out with an exceptionally bullish face, seemingly staring at him. He looked down to pull out his glasses, but when he looked up again, the figure was gone. One more of these instances where he wished he had done eye surgery. It was completely normal and safe nowadays to do so, but weirdly enough, although an MD himself, he didn't like to have any manipulation on his body, he even disliked taking drugs. Except alcohol, that is. This was the reason why, even though he knew that his "NanoChip" was safe, he didn't implant it himself, although they sure as hell tried to convince him many times. Several others from the team, Ryan, Edmundson, even General Mayer, all were early healthy test subjects. That would increase the trust of the public, they said.

Of course, the public couldn't know that he was one of the few members of the team who didn't do it because it would seem that the CEO didn't trust his own product—that would be like the Apple CEO using Windows. It wouldn't matter to anyone that almost everybody else in "NAPPA" did. The official message was: "We implanted the NanoChip ourselves first, and look how healthy we are now." That two of their co-workers who beforehand were in a wheelchair due to accidents could walk again was a public sensation and was one of the triggers of the speech that Niko had to give and would be his doom in the company. No matter what happens, at least he would keep his shares, he thought.

As soon as he bent into Lor Mambong Street, he saw his destination: Qasr's Mezze, one of his favorite restaurants. He sat down and ordered the standard: a mixed mezze platter and baklava, both of which reminded him of home. The restaurant was, as always, almost empty, which was a really hard feat in a city like Singapore. Only Hassan was still working in the kitchen at this hour. The more unusual was that at that moment, a guy in a big gray hat and rain jacket, which was still dripping, sat across from Niko. This type of thing was very unusual for Singapore, where people would avoid each other as much as possible. Like most Singaporeans, this person was wearing a mask because the air was becoming worse every year. His eyes sparkled above the mask and looked sternly. They had something fearsome in them that made Niko shiver. He took off the mask.

"It's YOU," Niko surprised himself with his reaction. In the blink of an eye, he bent over the table and punched him in the face with all his strength. It was the first time that he ever hit anybody, although he experienced a lot of abuse himself. He was surprised that the bulldog-faced man did not react at all while Niko was still panting, uncertain of what to do next.

"I guess you might say I deserve this," he said and spat out a bit of blood into a handkerchief. The brown eyes were still fixated on Niko as he spoke in a Singaporean dialect.

Niko was able to take a look at him for the first time more clearly. His face was red with big, puffy cheeks which showed clear signs of former acne. His stature was very burly as the head sat on his beefy, short neck.

"I'm here to talk business, Mr. Tesic."

"I don't want to have anything to do with you, whoever you are. And for sure I ain't giving you any interviews."

The man lit a cigarette, which wasn't allowed in Singapore for more than 50 years. He offered Niko one, who willingly ignored the gesture, so the bulldog-man put them back into his pocket while shrugging his shoulders.