Chapter 2: Evidence of Accidents

"Many people lie, for it is human nature. For one to truly lie, he must lie and believe in that lie to make it not a lie. To tell the truth, I never lie.. honest..." -Uncle Alfonso-

The meeting with Uncle Wang was finally over, and they seemed to be very happy with what they were discussing for the past few hours. I was finally able to leave this boring place and I took a cheap thrill to kick Giorgio awake.

We took a cab to an old church. The church was empty, abandoned, old, stale... Uncle Alfonso knelt before the cross and prayed while we were looking around for anything to entertain us, but it is just an empty church with only moonlight seeping through the window louvers and stain-glass as our romantic wall lights... I was bored, and Giorgio grew impatient. "I am Giorgio Da Costa, and now I am stuck in this god forsaken land where no one could use my hand. Alfonso, why are we here and why the prayers?"

Before Giorgio could continue to whine, a local voice interrupted with a sarcastic tone, "Because you will soon see the Real Devil and not Ang Moh Gui! Hahaha!". The church soon filled with the local gangsters and that voice was all too familiar. Most people call him 'Kachuak', which meant cockroach in their local dialect, for he is able to be in anywhere at almost any time when it comes to stealing information. Also, he is someone who can take alot of punishment and not die. Perhaps this is how he got his name, a very hard to die kind of pest.. But to us, he is one of the best friend we could rely and trust.

Uncle Alfonso stood up slowly and wore the widest smile we ever seen as he turned to Kachuak. All of us in the church felt a heartwarming reunion, and we could see how happy Kachuak was by the tears he had in his eyes. Although he is not officially part of the family, but he is one of the most loyal associates we ever had, and for that, Uncle Alfonso treated him as if he was a son to him.

With arms spread wide open, he stride towards his Mentor for a hug, "Uncle All-Fun-So! Long time no see, I thought you mati!" As they exchanged hugs, Kachuak introduced his new name, "Uncle, by the way, I change to an Italian name like Giorgio. I am now called Lam-bo-genie, hahaha! oh yes, I brought the Devil-sssss you asked for"

As Kachuak snapped his fingers, some of the gang members dragged out five men who were severely bruised all over their face with their hands bound by handcuffs behind them. Two of which who looked familiar, as they seemed to have worked with us before, but the other three looked too decent to be gangsters, but too sturdy to be "innocent", and their shoulder holsters confirmed their identity.

Uncle Alfonso walked towards one of the men with the shoulder holster and drew the pistol and lifted the chin of its owner. In a low voice, Uncle Alfonso finally speak, "From my sources, we knew your sources have information of the dealings of which I was about to make afew hours ago. One thing I do not understand is that why haven't your sources have figured out that I was making a Mooncake deal for this Mid Autumn Festival?" As Alfonso flicked the chin off the pistol, he nodded at Kachuak before he continued his speech "I am sure you locals love Mooncake, so perhaps you could try some of my specialty. Really, it is just the best lotus paste in town, very tasty, and drug free..."

While Uncle Alfonso is talking, Kachuak was filling Snow-skinned mooncake into the mouth of the gun's owner. Alfonso continued "seriously, you couldn't resist to help yourself after finishing the first one right? Maybe five would be just be satisfied? and 15 would be just right.. no?"

Kachuak just kept stuffing the mooncake into the mouth of the victim despite his struggle and choking. Another gangster held his head in place while Kachuak forced those delicacies down the throat of the bounded guy. His colleague couldn't witness this any further and shouted with rage "You bastard! You will pay! We will hunt you down like how we hunt Uncle Wang! We are so close to end his business and soon we will end yours!"

Uncle Alfonso laughed the same way he laughed at the balcony, sometimes I really wonder if he is happy, or he find things are funny. "Uncle Wang, is untouchable as long as I am in here. Your sources..." he pointed at the two familiar faces "are just some of those whom I already knew who they are..." he cocked the pistol and shot at one of the gangster standing next to Kachuak. "and some, of whom you think I do not know who they are, are infact already in my blacklist."

Kachuak searched the body of the dead gangster and truly found a voice recording device. The other gangsters started to get restless and looked at each other with suspicion.

The Mooncake Victim finally stopped struggling and the Loud Mouth stopped shouting and shivering as if it was winter. Uncle Alfonso started shooting at afew other gangsters but this time they had shots on their thighs and stomach. The gang members start to tremble too, while some filled with anger. One of them shouted "Cao Ang Moh! Anyhow kill us! We own people right?!"

As the ammunition depleted, Alfonso wiped the pistol with an exquisite handkerchief and dropped the pistol on the floor and turned to the gangster "Not all of us here WAS own people, but now, everyone here is own people" Alfonso finished with a smile and turned his attention back to the Loud Mouth and squat infront of him. He whispered to his hear "So, will you be one of us, or one of them?" he pointed Loud Mouth to the Mooncake Victim. "So would you like to be co-operative and be rich? Or would you prefer your children to be orphans?" With that statement, Loud Mouth glared at Uncle Alfonso, but Uncle Alfonso gave a reassuring smile as if a waiter assuring the quality of the food served "Yes my friend, I know where you live and where you like to hide your family... So I assume you would like to co-operate, si?" Loud Mouth started crying and nodded hardly and replied with a loud but trembling voice "SI!!!" and continued crying.

Uncle Alfonso smiled and stood up "good, I will call you again when I need to, just don't change your number, it won't help. I just need to throw out some pocket change and I will get to talk to you anyway. As for your family, I will arrange the best maid for them to take care of their daily chores in Holland, and I don't think they want to move anywhere else since everything is so perfect there, am I right Andrew?"

Loud Mouth Andrew let out another cry as he nodded hardly. "Now Andrew, remember, you have to start lying from now on. Many people lie, for it is human nature. But for one to truly lie, he must lie and believe in that lie to make it not a lie. To tell the truth, I never lie.. honest..." Soon after, Uncle Alfonso nodded to Kachuak, and Kachuak gave Andrew a slash of a parang at his back, rendering him unconscious, and the other gang members were left to hack and slash at the remaining captives.

As Uncle Alfonso was about to leave the Church, he instructed Kachuak to make the scene to look as if it looked like there was a fight going on, as he tapped Kachuak on the shoulder as a sign of appreciation, he added, "Car-truck, I think I kinda like your new name, I shall make known to the rest that you will now be known as Lambro. Really, I love it." Lambro hugged Uncle Alfonso before we all depart.

Giorgio and I couldn't figure how he knew which gang member was the mole so we asked him, and all he replied to us was "Mooncake Reaction", along with his signature laugh...

Chapter 1: Singapore

 "This place... is a place where tons of legit money all over the world flows. Unfortunately, there is no Jackpot Machine in there... Whoever owns one, will have all their earnings legit" -Uncle Alfonso-


It was late at night, when the stars glitter and the full moon shines bright. The suite is filled with fragrance of Jasmine with a tinge of Pu'er Tea and Lotus Paste.

I thought it would be perfect if it is a couple cuddling each other at the balcony where they can both look at the night sky and be mesmerized by it while exchanging sweet words and kisses. But what was in front of me is two old men smoking cigars talking "Business" in the middle of the night. Sometimes I wonder if this is what they meant by "Money Never Sleeps"...

Back in the days, they said Singapore will never have a Casino, but later, they had two Integrated Resorts. Ever since they had the third IR, we now sit in the Presidential Suite of their first Casino.

At the Grand Family Dinner a decade back when Singapore had newly established the two Integrated Resorts, Francesco told Godfather the possibilities of Casinos in Singapore due to the Economic Improvements of the South East Asian Region, and they will have no choice but to have atleast one in order to keep up with the rest of their neighbors. So he proposed that it is great for a place to start "diversifying" investments, especially during the Euro Debt Crisis. When Francesco finished with his proposal, all the other Capo burst into laughter and even Godfather chuckled.

After the Dinner that night, Godfather, Francesco and Uncle Alfonso had a walk in the garden for almost two hours. When I saw Uncle Alfonso back from the walk, he smiled and told me, "We are going to visit Uncle Wang, do you like Mooncake?" At that time, I was like, "What the hell is that?".. And today, after a decade, I am back in this, Singapore, eating Mooncake again.

Uncle Alfonso once told me "This place where Uncle Wang lives, is a place where tons of legit money all over the world flows. Unfortunately, there is no Jackpot Machine in there... Whoever owns one, will have all their earnings legit"

Now that Uncle Wang owns one, with the help of Uncle Alfonso for three years when we first visited him, life is never the same for him after that. Not that Uncle Wang couldn't adapt to new life, for he have survived many stunts his rivals had on him, but this time is different. It is so different that Godfather had to send Uncle Alfonso back again...

The laughter at the balcony, it is all the same.. Somethings never change, just like the signature laugh of Uncle Alfonso will always be followed by words like "Accidents always happen!"

PROLOGUE

Richard and his colleagues huddled behind the wall.

It was a cold and windy night, the ground still wet from the heavy downpour earlier.

He felt his holster to see if his sidearm was still present. Obviously it was, but this was a habit Richard found hard to kick ever since the incident.

He was just a rookie cop then, an Inspector fresh out of the Academy and it was his first "real" assignment.

He had been tasked to supervise the cordon of a crime scene when he noticed a suspicious character lurking in the shadows. Full of verve and youthful enthusiasm, he confronted the suspect who ran, and he gave chase, neglecting to call for backup.

He ended up in an alley and soon found himself outnumbered three to one. Not that he was going to give up, but the odds were not in his favour.

He remembered reaching for his revolver and realising that it was not there.

Things almost went downhill when the thugs realised that he was not armed, and closed in for him.

Fortunately for Richard, a Senior Staff Sergeant in his cordon team had noticed his disappearance and arrived in the nick of time with four others and arrested the thugs.

But where was his gun?

The Senior Staff Sergeant pulled Richard aside and silently handed him his revolver. The retaining cord had been cut and it has fallen out from his holster while he gave chase.

Since then, despite being in plain-clothes most of the time, and having a secured holster, Richard always checked the whereabouts of his sidearm, in this case, a 9mm H&K USP.

Richard was now an Assistant Superintendent with the Specialised Crime Branch and his team were following up on a lead about an entity they only knew as "Uncle Alfonso". In this day and age, triads were relatively unheard of in Singapore, and the mysterious tip-off about "Uncle Alfonso" raised many eyebrows amongst Richard's bosses. However, no lead should be left alone and Richard's team was given the task of investigating.

The four of them, though it was not his full team, were lying in wait outside a warehouse in an industrial estate in the Northern part of the island. Preliminary scans of the area detected no activity, but Richard was none the wiser.

Having located a back entrance, they planned to breach the door and sweep the place.

They crept up slowly to the entrance.

Just as Station Inspector Tony was about break the door down, Richard's team received instructions over the communications set.

"Viper team, this is HQ, abort. I repeat, ABORT!"