Column | The Greenkeeper Writes
Published on June 25, 2020The Day After: Part 11
Roslan didn’t understand what was going on, and because of that, he didn’t tell Rose what had occurred at the meeting. He insisted on driving himself to work despite Rose’s objections. He wanted the flexibility of driving home himself at the end of the day – or be driven to hospital halfway through the day.
Why would men in black suits driving black SUVs be after him? Were they the police? No, they would have gone to his house. What had he done? He was late paying last month’s electrical bill, but that was because of the confusion from the discount or rebate given by the government for the lockdown. They wouldn’t be sending men in black suits to chase after him for late payment, would they?
As soon as he drove into the compound of the golf course maintenance complex, he saw a black SUV parked in the visitors’ slot. Who was that? Could that be them? No. Security wouldn’t let them through unless they got through the hole in the fence at rough behind hole 14. He knew he should have fixed that, but only his staff knows about that; his staff and anyone watching his staff.
Roslan parked his car and walked towards his office, which was beside the store. The storekeeper’s office door was open, and he could see Ah Seng inside. He walked in and saw Ah Seng tending to two men dressed in black on the floor. He was tying them up expertly with cable ties.
“Ah Seng. What are you doing?”
“Tying up the bad guys.”
“Where did you learn how to do it?”
Ah Seng stopped what he was doing, turned to face Roslan, grinned and said, “YouTube.”
“Who beat up these men? You?” Roslan asked, looking shocked and incredulous. Ah Seng was barely five feet tall.
“Nina.”
“Nina?” Nina was not much taller than Ah Seng! “How the hell could she have beaten up two men?”
“Your question should be, ‘how the hell could she have beaten up two men armed with guns’?”
“Okay. How the hell could she have beaten up two armed men with guns?”
“Well, she said she learnt if from YouTube,” said Ah Seng grinning again. He seemed to be enjoying this little excitement.
Roslan walked away, telling Ah Seng to call the police and the GM. He walked to his office. Nina wasn’t at her desk, which was outside his office. He walked into his office and automatically thought of the paperwork he had to do for today. No, he decided that today would not be another day in the office. Today was not going to be a normal day. That extra dose of painkillers may have dulled his pain, but he didn’t really want to push his luck; He’d better sit down and rest his back.
Suddenly the door burst open, and a gun showed through it. Roslan held his breath. As the person holding the gun moved into the office, he gasped.
“Roslan,” said Nina. “What are you doing here?” She pushed the gun into the small of her back and went to Roslan’s side. “Are you alright? How’s your back?”
“Answer to your first question: I work here. Second question: I think I’m alright, I overdosed on painkillers, and I can’t feel much now. Third question: in the context of the second answer; I have no idea.”
Nina smiled. “I think you should go home. Those men looking for me are dangerous.”
“Looking for you? They came to the meeting yesterday looking for me!”
“They couldn’t find me, so they looked for someone who they thought knew where I was.”
She half-lifted him up from the chair, and he stood up, leaning on her as they walked to the door. They only made it halfway when another gun showed up at the doorway, this time with a man in a black suit behind it.
Nina let go of Roslan, and he leaned on his table. She tried to reach for the gun, but the man raised his gun to her face and shook his head. She relaxed and put her hands in the air.
“Where have you been all this time?” the man asked
“Around,” Nina answered.
“You made the boss worry. He wants to see you.”
“I told him I want out.”
“After all the investment he has put in n us? None of us can get out. You know that. I know you have a gun on you, take it out and drop it on the floor.”
She did as she was told.
When the man was in front of him, Roslan made a move for the gun, but the man easily twisted his hand away and pushed Roslan to the ground. That twist pointed the gun away from Nina and gave her space to kick the man in the knee, punch his face and finish him off with a karate chop to the neck. As he dropped to the floor without a sound, Nina turned towards Roslan.
At that moment another figure materialised at the door behind Nina, his gun raised. Nina turned, but she was too far away to do anything, and there was nowhere to hide. Roslan saw everything in slow-motion. He realised Nina’s gun was on the floor beside him, he picked it up and pointed it at the man, who saw it and changed the direction of his aim.
Roslan pulled the trigger of the Glock 43 Parabellum, and the 9mm round left the barrel of the gun at 2,500 feet per second. Fast, but not before the man fired his gun and collapsed.
Roslan felt a punch in his stomach, and he felt a wetness on his shirt. Even though there was no pain, Roslan knew he was shot and lay down on his back. I don’t want to die, he thought. There’s so much to do!
Nina was upon him with a piece of cloth she found on his table, pressing it on his wound, trying to staunch the blood flow.
“Hey, Roslan. Listen to me. You’ll be alright. Hang in there.”
Another two faces appeared at the door, Chong and Balan.
“Chong. Call for an ambulance. Balan, come here,” ordered Nina.
“Nina. Who are these people?” Balan walked towards the two of them slowly.
“They were my former colleagues. Here, hold this cloth on the wound and press hard.”
“Your former colleagues?” Balan’s eyes were wide “I hope you’re not planning on resigning from here coz I don’t want to be your former colleague.”
Nina ignored him and focussed on Roslan who was starting to lose consciousness.
“Hey, Roslan. Stay awake. Focus on your dreams. Focus on what you want to achieve. Don’t give up on life. What was it you dreamed of? Creating a lot of professionalism in turfgrass management?”
Roslan managed a weak smile “Yes. Make Balan and Chong expert superintendents.”
“Yes. Yes… you want all the staff to stay on in the turf industry. You want to develop a career path for them. Remember you haven’t spoken to HR yet. I’m sure Madam Wong will support you.”
Roslan felt himself fading but tried to speak, just in case these were his last words. “When they start work after school, we call them Machine Operators. After three years, they are promoted to Groundsmen, another four years; they are Technicians or Greenskeepers. Then they can become Supervisors.”
“So easy?” Nina was desperate in wanting him to stay awake and lucid.
“Nooooo.” Roslan was amused despite feeling weak. “They need to attend 30 hours of training a year and must pass knowledge and proficiency tests before promotion.”
“Good. Hold on to that thought. Help will be here soon.” Nina stood up “It is time for me to go.”
Chong was beside Roslan. “The ambulance is here.”
