Cigarette Boxes and Paddy Fields

Cigarette Boxes and Paddy FieldsAll was silent. Nothing could be heard except for a momentary thunder sound. There was no movement until a small van rumbled on the small roads lining the paddy fields. Van Trang Coong-Ninh looked at his watch. It was 10 minutes past midnight. Then, he looked at his partner, Frederik Nietzsche-Nhu, who was driving on the left.

"Fred, what time to reach Mr Nguyen?" Van questioned with broken English.

"Van, there's still another 30 minutes more," Frederik answered with his Anglo-German-Viet accent.

Van nodded. He was new on the job and very inexperienced. He could still vividly remember the day he joined the drug syndicate. Frederik, a long time friend of his, introduced him to the drug lord as Van was currently unemployed. On his first assignment, his group had a close shave with the police due to his errors. He was not forgiven, and was beaten up by ten henchmen.

Frederik

Crowns of Nguyen Emperors, Vietnam

statue of Nguyen Trung Truc in Rach Gia, Vietnam

However the drug lord took sympathy on him, and decided to give him a second assignment, which he is doing with Frederik now.

Something had disrupted his thoughts. The van had ran against a sharp rock that punctured it's tyres. Frederik jumped out of the van and inspected the vehicle.

Shaking his head, he told Van, "I don't think I can rescue this van. If we wait for a mechanic to come, it will be sunrise because the next town is 400 kilometres away. We will have to carry the goods ourself."Immediately, Van questioned, "You sure? Police catch how? Safe? Die?""Nonsense! Nothing bad will happen. We'll deliver the goods to Mr Nguyen, get our money, and head back to Hanoi," Frederik comforted Van.

Van unconvincingly nodded his head. Soon, the pair were on their way to Mr Nguyen's house, armed with only...