Chapter 11. Wide Awake

The room is characteristically dark, exactly how they like it, with an intoxicating incense burning on the mahogany table. The decor is a mixture of muted green, black, and brown. Rich and eccentric. Slender figures sit on a throne-like chair behind the table, fat cigars dangling between their teeth. They pull on it at different intervals, puffing out large ‘o’s of smoke.

They are not alone. With them are seven other people in the room, shaking with trepidation, for the wrath seething out from their master is palpable and their very lives at stake.

“So, have any of you seen the news lately?” The shadow at the center rasps, puffing out another batch of ‘o’.

No answer. One of the subordinates is so vibrating with fear, that he is edging close to convulsions. A compassionate colleague holds onto his arms to keep him steady. The silence screams until the figure on the chair chuckles, pulling two pieces of newspaper from the piled-up papers on the table and pulling them