Seer – Chapter 1

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Chapter 1

The casino was loud and colorful the first night onboard the MP Athena Cruiser which was set to sail across the beautiful seas and islands of the Philippines. There were about 500 tourists aboard the ship.

It was easy for Agent Leto to blend in with the crowd, watching the games and joining in once or twice. Though he seemed like someone having fun, he still closely observed the table where his target was currently playing at. Based on the creases on the brow of the opponents of Leto’s target, Leto knew who had the advantage.

The graying hair was an evident sign of Mr. Johansen Lao’s aging. He is one of the top business personalities whose net worth in the last decade beats others by a large margin. Mr. Lao is known as one of the richest Filipino-Chinese business tycoons based locally. Cunning and merciless in the field. With the number of businesses he has established in and out of the country, it could be said that he’s a man of his game.

But Leto knows better.

Mr. Lao might be a shining star, but Leto can still smell the stench coming off his back. He doesn’t understand, does having wealth of his kind always come with a curse, or was Mr. Lao just being too greedy?

A business tycoon in the morning, a notorious drug lord by night.

Leto knew that it was in the dark corners of Lao’s bars and establishments where the outright trade and production of drugs were.  Mr. Lao has been in this business for a while, Leto bet that all his other companies where founded from this.

It was alarming that Mr. Lao has been doing this for so long and yet no one has been able to catch him. How many presidents has gone past? Yet Mr. Lao’s drug trade continued to be a blockbuster hit.

It seemed like things were really different when it comes to drugs; law and justice is easily bought. Mr. Lao has never been caught, not even once. He has probably even bought one part of the Philippine National Police (PNP), since he always manages to escape whenever there was a raid after him. Declines pushing through with buy-bust operations*, drug factories packed away just hours before the police gets there, dead witnesses even before they start speaking.

That’s how sly he is. As if a demon is whispering in his ears, enabling him to escape before he is jeopardized.

And it is exactly this demon whom Leto wished to meet. The Pontius Pilate** character, a government personnel who has been singing*** of the police’s plans.

Leto is part of the new division of the police force known as the Illegal Drugs Unit. As an undercover and surveillance agent, his focus is on the movement of illegal drugs. Mr. Lao, as one of the roots of the large syndicates scattered nationwide, is his principal target. Although a bit nervous, Leto volunteered to keep an eye on Lao. But it seems that he had underestimated how tight the man’s security would be. Leto cannot find any hole in its defenses with the number of bodyguards surrounding him. Not that he will chicken out though. Those lackeys wouldn’t be enough to stop him.

Leto has a natural talent for recognizing and remembering faces, and he had expected to see some government personnel. However, to his wonder, none of the people Lao was playing with was familiar.

Leto continued to observe, hoping for something better. Mr. Lao had his poker face on while holding his cards. Sexy and beautiful ladies were hanging off his arms. He was playing with five others: 3 were Chinese, one was an American National, and another Asian.

Leto surreptitiously stole a glance at their table, and no one noticed him, because the six were busy studying their cards. He let his eyes wander to the men, from Mr. Lao to the other Asian. Much to his surprise, the said man suddenly took his gaze off his cards. His languid eyes caught him.

For a second, their eyes met. Leto didn’t avert his gaze. That would have been more suspicious. The man grinned and threw him a wink. Leto only kept a straight face, though deep inside he felt embarrassed. The man gave him the creeps. He kept his eyes on Leto in spite of Leto’s apparent disinterest, so in the end, it was Leto who broke his gaze away first and subtly turned his back.

It seems there was nothing to gain tonight even if he continued tailing Lao. He was sure these people have no plans to sleep—they’ll just be burning their money the whole night. It was better to stop here and to think of another plan. At least, he was able to study their movements and security.

The cruise will last for seven days and will have some stop overs. He needed to be crafty then with such limited time.

Evidences, accomplices, dates and locations of the transactions, and the snake that was Lao’s key in evading the authorities. Time and chances were limited. This mission was harder than he had anticipated. Leto was too engrossed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the eyes of the other Asian**** man following him until he was out of the room.

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** Notes on the Translation**

* A buy-bust operation is a form of entrapment, whereby a police agent disguised as a buyer of illegal drugs undertakes a sales transaction with a seller.

** Pontius Pilate was the Roman procuarator (governor) of Judaea living in Jerusalem during the trial of Jesus. According to the story, he washed his hands to indicate that he believed Jesus was innocent of any capital crime – if he was killed – it wasn’t on him.
In Filipino idioms, it is used to describe someone who washes himself of the crime, someone who refuses to take responsibility of something. As an undercover and surveillance agent, his main focus is on the movements of illegal drugs.

*** revealing

**** TBH it was a bit weird to be calling the dude “Asian” cos everyone except the American-National in this chapter was Asian???

Translator’s Message: Hello! I’m translating as I read the story. I’m no pro, but I’m trying my best to get the story across in the closest possible way it was in the original text. Also, please support the creators by buying this book! 😀

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