The Convention (Ab)Use

Consulate

Wes walked down the stairs as he got ready to leave his office building. It was his break time and just past noon. He had struggled all morning with pains. He knew he was going to be in pain but did not want to call in sick. He did not want Tess finding out about his condition or the accident. His phone rang as he walked towards the company reception area.

"Hello Ed," answered Wes.

"Hey Wes," I'm already on the way to the consulate. Where are you now?"

"I'm just leaving the office now."

"Okay then, later."

Edward had identified the SUV in the photo Vinod sent him as the same one he saw at the repair shop. News of Vinod's daughter's status spread among the friends. Edward and Vinod decided to go to the consulate office in Sarpari where they guessed the diplomat worked. Rajeev convinced Wes to go along with Edward because of the injuries he sustained on the Halloween night. Edward and Vinod found a car parking space on one of the little roads in the area. They parked and made their way to the embassy. The embassy building was still two minutes away when they were stopped by some men in military uniforms.

"Hello, this is a restricted area. May I know where you are heading?" Standing ahead was a hefty soldier wearing dark shades over his eyes. He held a gun to his side as he approached Edward and Vinod. The friends were slightly intimidated at his sight.

"We are heading to the consulate," said Edward.

"Are you a member of staff here?" The man looked at them inquisitively.

"No, no, we need to speak with someone at the consulate."

"Do you have an appointment with someone who works here?"

"No we don't, but we need to see a member of staff. We have a case that needs clearing up."

"A case? Entry into the embassy is strictly by invitation. You must have been invited to get in." Vinod looked past the man in the uniform. Something had caught his attention in the distance.

"How can we get an appointment?"

"You have to..."

"Hey, Ed, sorry I'm late," a voice said.

Ed turned and noticed it was Wes.

"Who are you?" asked the man in the uniform.

"He is with us," said Edward.

An SUV had passed through the gates of the consulate. It looked like an important dignitary was leaving the premises. Vinod looked carefully at the SUV. The voices of Edward, Wes and the uniformed man seemed to be in a different world to him. His mind flashed back to the repair shop, and the diplomatic vehicle which he had seen a good number of times now. He remembered his daughter in the hospital at that moment. He looked at the number plate of the car as it approached. It was the same as the one in the photo he got from the taxi driver at the hospital. He jerked. He ran onto the middle of the road before it could go past them. He caught the sight of the driver. It was Dzmitri.

"What do you think you're doing?" shouted the soldier. The man pointed his gun at him.

Vinod raised his hands in the air but remained in the way of the SUV. Edward and Wes were stunned at Vinod's action. The rear passenger door window was down. Wes quickly recognised the other diplomat.

Two other soldiers pounced on Vinod. They took him down. Wes and Edward were now forced to stand still as guns were pointed at them.

"Move, move!" commanded the uniformed man. The friends at gun point, were now walking away as the men directed. The SUV drove off as they were led away. They were taken into a room. All 3 men were now alone in the room.

"You've got to calm down," said Edward to Vinod. "This is difficult and we must not worsen things and get ourselves in any more trouble. Just calm down, at least let's make our case here. Let's see what they say."

"I can't believe he just drove away like nothing happened," said Wes calmly. "Apparently he is untouchable."

"Would you care to explain what that was all about?" said the soldier as he walked into the room. His eyes moving side to side as he looked at Wes, Edward and Vinod.

"Okay, I'm Ed Vayle, and these are my friends, Wes and Vinod," said Edward.

"We were hit by one of your cars," said Wes. "The guys who were in that car were the ones involved. There were two different, but related accidents. They happened on Saturday and Sunday. They have caused damage, and not just to our cars. His daughter was..."

"Idiots, idiots!" interrupted Vinod. "My daughter, my daughter is in hospital because of them. Ehn, they will pay for it. Why does somebody drive like that? You people should stop protecting them. Because they are foreigners, they think they can do anything."

The soldier left the room for a short while. He said he was going to get one of the senior staff at the embassy. Vinod kept on complaining even while he was out. Wes and Edward advised him to be calm. The man returned with another man who then asked them to tell him what the case was about.

"Hello, can you tell me what the case is?" said the man. "Also, may I ask who you are?"

"Huh, we already did that," said Wes. "What was the point of explaining all that before." Wes was now a bit frustrated. It was clear he did not want to repeat himself. His tone had become serious.

Edward sensed this and decided to speak instead. After relaying the events to the man, they were made to wait again. When the man returned, they were not very pleased with what he had to say.

"Okay, I have spoken with our boss regarding the issue and we are sorry for the inconvenience. At the moment, there's not much we can do but if there is, you will be contacted."

"How long are we looking at," asked Wes. "When should we expect something from you?"

"Like I said before, I can't say for now. Our boss has to deal with this himself. When he does, you will be contacted."

"So what if we can't pay the hospital bills, are we just going to keep waiting?" said Edward. "Please do try to get back to us immediately. Actually, is there a phone number or email address we can use to contact you? I really don't trust this waiting game."

"We will try to get back to you when we have something concrete," said the man. "I can't give you a number. I'm sorry."

"So I can't get a rough idea of when we will be contacted?" Wes stretched his legs out as if he wasn't ready to leave.

"You should hear from us by the weekend," said the man reluctantly.

*It's exactly a month since my last update. I've been so busy with work that writing has slowed. Slowly but surely my rough story is coming together*