Chapter-6 : Chinese products do not last very long

Nora P.O.V

I turned off the ignition and parked my car in the underground garage . The garage was empty , only one or two tube lights were on . I stepped out of my BMW and went straight to the elevator.

When the elevator arrived I stepped inside the empty cart and pressed my floor number and waited for it to reach the floor. It was night time so no one was in the corridor . Other than me there are two other families that have apartments on this floor. If it was up to me I would have brought the entire floor. The entire hallway was almost dark and the only light was shining outside my door. As I stood outside my door to pull out my keys ,I looked at the doormat and then pulled out my phone to disable the security alarm of the apartment. Upon unlocking the door I entered the apartment, switched on just the hall light and closed the door behind. I walked deeper in the apartment, into the living room.

“ I did not see that my shoelace was open, I think work is catching up to me ”. Crouched in the dim light of my living room to tie my shoelace . I feel the air has changed .My senses went full alert. I looked in the front at the couch and pulled a dagger from the hidden sheath inside my pant leg and with a force I thrust it backward,feeling it sink into flesh with a little resistance. A painful gaspe echoed through the silent apartment. I stood up fast and spun on my heels to face my attacker, instantly drawing my second blade out. My attacker was a man who was wearing all black clothes. His face was covered in a black cloth and only his eyes could be seen. He was not much taller than I am , maybe a few inches over me .

He had pulled the dagger out of his shin , the area was getting soaked in blood. I knew before entering the apartment someone was there. The doormat was not in the same way I had left it in the morning, while disabling the alarm system I had checked the event history of my alarm system , though they have hacked into the system it will still update the timing in the secured cloud server. Gave them a show that I was tying my shoelace , actually waiting for the fish to fall in the trap.

The soft creak of a floorboard behind me was all the warning I needed.I gripped my dagger tightly and ducked just as the large porcelin vase flew through the air where my head had been.Twisting, I drove my second dagger backward, rewarded by a grunt of pain. My momentum carried me forward, and I spun around and punched him square in his face and kicked the other one in the centre of his chest. Turning to face the second intruder to see he was holding a big knife that was millimetres away , I grabbed his wrist in the meantime, this one was bulkier than the other one.

What has his mother fed him?

His strength was overpowering mine as the sharp tip of the blade was inches away from my eyes. He was too keen to stab me until it was too late to realise that I had lifted my leg and knees him in the balls . That caught him off guard and stumbled backward in pain with the knife, he groaned in agony .

I did not notice that the other intruder was standing behind my back with a polythene bag until my face was covered by it. The intruder pulled the end tight, almost cutting off my air circulation. There was hardly any air left, I was fighting to get out of it when I was suddenly yanked back causing me to hit the floor. I could feel the man had strangled my torso and was squeezing my neck . I was on the verge of passing out . My instinct kicked in to survive , I was kicking, pushing, trying to get him off me and to get rid of the bag but was of use.

This leaves me with one thing. I stopped my breathing and calmed my heart to a level that it stopped. My body went still and hands fell on the floor. The grip on the polythene loosened, the weight on my torso lifted , a rush of air hit my skin , I still kept myself unmoving as they were talking amongst themselves in some other language.

I felt one of them lifted my wrist to check the pulse then my temple.

“She is dead”. He let go of my wrist.

“Are you sure?”

“There is no pulse , now get me a rope. We will hang the bitch’s body from her room’s ceiling fan and make it look like she has attempted a suicide in her own apartment ”. There were a few rustling noises then everything became silent. I cracked my eyes a little to watch, the first attacker was placing a few centimetres away from where I was lying.

Taking advantage of his distraction I pushed myself up , picked the telephone from my left and looped the cord around his neck and pulled it tight, not tightening enough to kill just enough to make him pass out . He gasped in shock, his hands instinctively flying to his throat. I braced my foot against the back of his knee and forced him to kneel as I pulled the cord tighter, cutting off his air supply. He thrashed wildly, but I held on, using every ounce of strength to maintain my grip.His struggles grew weaker, his attempts to claw at the cord feeble and desperate.Finally, his movements ceased, and slowly his body went limp. I let go of the cord and checked his pulse. He was alive but was unconscious. There was something written in Chinese on his wrist. I moved the mask of his face to see that the man was Asian. His head fell to the side.

“Chinese products do not last very long”. Saying I stood up .

“I got the rope…” The other attacker entered the room with a rope in his gloves covered hand and just like his partner his face was covered with a mask. He looked at the unconscious man at my feet and back at me . The rope fell on the floor as he moved his hands to draw his weapon from his back pocket but I was faster . In a split second, I drew my gun, the cold metal firm in my grasp. Without hesitation, I aimed at the second intruder and squeezed the trigger. The bullet hit him square in the forehead.His eyes widened in shock as his body crumpled to the ground.

I stood there, gun still raised, heart racing, watching as a pool of blood formed around his lifeless form. I lowered my weapon and took a deep breath, the adrenaline still coursing through my veins. I pulled my phone out and called the number .

“Hello , send your men to my apartment, there are men lying on my floor. One is dead and the other has passed out ” . Moved around the centre table to sit on the couch . I crossed my legs and leaned back to relax.

“ They were already in my house before I came home. Send someone fast. I do not want this to rot here”. Disconnecting the call I tossed my phone on the table , laid my head on the back pillow of the couch and closed my eyes.

This is a never ending cycle .