Chapter 4 : A friend at death's door

"Are you sure it's him boss" asked Ivan, his face held some doubt.

"Without a doubt" replied Lloyd.

Lloyd couldn't believe that he had not recognized him, probably due to how beat up and decrepit he looked.

He didn't know if he should consider this his lucky day, or one of the most unfortunate days of his life.

One of the many goals he had when he came back to this city was reuniting with his old friend group, and Jacob was one of them.

This was probably fate that had brought Jacob right to him, despite how unfortunate the situation was.

He knew that the next logical step would be to find Jacob once again, link up with him, and then use him to gain as much information on the events that had transpired in Hilburg since his departure.

But he knew that finding Jacob in a dangerous city like Hilburg wouldn't be easy at all.

Despite having the man's ID with an address on the front, Lloyd knew that this didn't mean anything.

Judging by the way Jacob looked in his ID photograph, he was much younger… much more full of life.

This ID was taken before the specific event that occurred… the one that turned him into the criminal he was today, so the address on the ID was meaningless.

Lloyd wanted to know what that was… what exactly had happened to his friend that made him this way?

And if this was how Jacob and Lisa had ended up, Lloyd could only imagine how his other two friends ended up.

He was going to find out soon enough... and he knew he wouldn't like what he found.

With his next goal set in stone, Lloyd turned to Ivan and said, “Get the car ready Ivan, tomorrow we're going hunting”.

****

Lloyd kissed Lisa in the forehead before he and Ivan set out to find Jacob.

He had hoped that he and Lisa would officialise their marriage that morning, but duty called, so it'd have to wait until he made sure Jacob was safe.

The first place the men drove was the train station, an obvious location since he was a taxi driver.

But Jacob wasn't there, and as he learnt from the other taxi drivers, he didn't even come to work that day.

This information justified, Lloyd's concern for Jacob's well-being.

Perhaps it was how badly he had dealt with the criminals Jacob tried to have ambush him.

Maybe after witnessing that, Jacob was now far too scared to leave him home, due to fear of encountering him (Lloyd) again.

Perhaps it was due to fear of retaliation from his criminal buddies, who probably blamed him for the disaster that took place the previous day, so they took him out.

Lloyd hoped he wasn't mistaken to not kill those muggers.

"Let's head to inner cities, Ivan, a person in Jacob's position will most likely be there" suggested Lloyd.

Taking his Boss's request, Ivan would drive deeper into the inner cities of Hilburg.

Lloyd would hold out hope that Jacob was still alive, as it would truly be unfortunate if he failed in one of his core goals so early on.

Lloyds next destination was the address on Jacob's ID, but as expected, Jacob wasn't here either.

But Lloyd then remembers a detail that back then was insignificant, but now was was crucial.

Jacob was an alcoholic.

He had bottles of beer scattered across the front of the car, but more crucially, his eyes had started yellowing out due to liver damage.

Using this information, Lloyd instructed Ivan to make explore the various bars and clubs around the city.

Perhaps, Jacob had used his $500 Lloyd have him to on the drinking spree.

A mere 10 minutes of driving, the limousine would stop at an intersection, waiting for the red light to turn green.

Lloyd decided to take a brief look around the road, and what he saw, just a few metres away from him, was a man lying on his face close to a building.

Lloyd couldn't tell if the man was alive or dead, but that wasn't even the worst part.

Everyone was walking past him, and Lloyd couldn't believe that no one had bothered to help him.

Lloyd was so disgusted by the sight of this man, that he got out of the car and began to head towards him.

Ivan would head out as well, seeing that his boss was disgusted that the city of Hilburg had people who would allow something like this on the street.

"If no one was going to take this man's body to a hospital… or a mortuary, then I'm going to" said Lloyd to Ivan.

Lloyd eventually got to where the man lay on the floor, and knelt down to check his pulse.

He saw that indeed, the man was still alive… but barely, His breath and pulse were very low.

He wasn't far away from death at all.

Lloyd then turned the man around so he could get a proper look at him, and perhaps administer some first aid.

What he saw would cause his eyes to widen in shock, and he wasn't shocked often, even the Stoic Ivan was shocked.

IT WAS JACOB.

"what are the odds?" said Lloyd, partially to himself.

"I have no idea boss" replied Ivan.

This was the 2nd time he had unintentionally encountered Jacob in a bad situation.

A massive heroin needle was sticking out of Jacob's arm.

Probably the reason for this predicament… An overdose.

Truly, Jacob was very far gone, and Lloyd could only hope it wasn't too late to bring him back.

He (Lloyd) quickly, but carefully took out the heroin needle sticking into Jacob's arm, and tossed Lloyd over on his shoulder.

"The neatest hospital Ivan, NOW!" Yelled Lloyd, as he tossed Jacob into the limousine.

Ivan drove to the best-looking hospital he could find, and Jacob would be rushed to the emergency room.

"We'll take care of him, Mr Harland" said the doctor, "but it might take some time, so please return tomorrow for a follow-up"

Lloyd sighed as he returned to his limousine, he couldn't believe how crazy things had been since he got to Hilburg.

He was good under such high-stress situations, but this entire city was angering him greatly.

The buzzing on his phone would cause him to look at it.

Finally, something had come up that would take his mind off Jacob's crazy situation.

It was Lisa, calling him to come take civil affairs centre.

"Take the limousine away Ivan, I'll take a taxi back to Lisa" Llyod said to Ivan.

His limousine drew far too much attention, especially since it was his favourite one, and he had used it back at the capital as well.

It was too recognizable.

So Lloyd took a taxi back to Mirland where Lisa awaited him.

"Are you sure you want to do this today?, Simon, it can wait... You seem quite busy" said Lisa, as she saw Lloyd's expression.

Smiling, in an attempt to reassure her, "Absolutely not Lisa, I'm not too busy to make you my wife" he said.

Lisa blushed hard at this remark, Lloyd already knew how the perfect words to say to her.

"And to celebrate our new-found marriage, I'll have a surprise for you" added Lloyd with a smile.

The couple would take another taxi to the civic affairs ministry, where they intended to make their marriage official.

They informed the branch manager, a very dark woman with an afro, of their presence

Lloyd had already had Ivan arrange the documents as soon as he was chosen to be Lisa's husband.

So all the branch manager needed to do was sign the document.

The dark woman had worked in the ministry of civil defence for years, that's how she became the head of this branch of the ministry.

Looking at the couple in front of her, she could see by Lisa's obvious wig and pale skin that she had cancer.

So she couldn't help but wonder why a man like Lloyd, handsome and tall would ever marry a cancer patient.

Lloyd was good-looking but didn't look particularly wealthy, so she felt that perhaps it was a financial move.

Lloyd and Lisa would wait at this waiting hall for over an hour, and the woman still hadn't signed their documents.

So Lloyd decided to confront her.

"Is something the matter?, my wife and I have been waiting for over an hour, yet you haven't signed the documents" asked Lloyd.

Despite being a public servant she'd worked here too long to care for the needs of these couples.

she worked at her own time, not theirs.

"Sir, I'll let you know when the document is signed, I'm busy, go sit down" she said rudely.

Lloyd could see that only thing she was busy doing, was eating some chips while watching a movie.

"Ma'am, with all due respect, you're not doing anything here, just sign our documents so we can leave"

And at that moment, the manager became visibly angry.

"I work on my own fucking time, sir, and if you don't go back to your seat, I'll see to it you and your wife never get married!" she yelled, furious that Lloyd had demanded anything from her.

"I'll sign it when I'm ready" she added, before going back to her movie.

Lloyd said no more words…

He simply looked at her desk, she had a name plate on it, “Karen Fingerman” it said.

With that, a slight smile would appear on his face as he took out his phone and made a brief call.

Barely 5 minutes after this, the manager would burst into the waiting hall where Lisa and Lloyd were staying, holding the signed documents in her hand.

“PLEASE FORGIVE ME!” she said as she fell on her knees in front of Lloyd.

"Your documents have been signed, I am so sorry to have wasted your time" she said, panting heavily.

"I didn't know you knew Mr Kerry, please forgive me"

Lloyd could only smile as he grabbed the documents from the frightened woman, and left with Lisa.

They were now officially married.

"Who is Mr Kerry?" Asked Lisa, confused by the whole situation...

"Oh he's no one important" replied Lloyd, smiling mischievously.

Mr Kerry Lance was the minister of Civil affairs, a position that Lloyd, as the dragon duke could take away at the snap of his finger.

So a simple call to him as expected, gave the branch manager the “motivation” she needed to sign the documents.

“So…now that we're officially married, where is the surprise you promised me?” asked Lisa, in a playful, yet excited voice.

"Of course, how could I forget" replied Lloyd as he turned to his Lisa.

In a flash, before Lisa could react, Lloyd would smack his new wife at the back of the neck, knocking her out immediately.