The one liner
A sales assistant found out how a hobby can turn into a dangerous business when her boss tasked by a client to represent him to sell a extremely rare collection
The Opening
Alyssa just finished her college decided to work as a part-time sales assistant at a newly open numismatic shop.
The owner of the shop hand her a numismatic book and told if any of the customers come with money similar to the picture in the book, she just needs to give him a call.
The shop is rather a simple shop without much banknotes or coins collection for sales. It seems like she is hired to act as a front.
The owner is Isaac who seldom appears unless the customer visits the shop to buy or sell something. He is a young man often seen wearing a short and a shirt when he does appear.
For Alyssa, she will work as long as he pays her wages despite feeling uneasy with Isaac not looking like a successful businessman.
Most of the days Alyssa found herself have nothing to do because most of the time the shop is empty. Once in a while, a customer would come in to sell which Alyssa would take a picture of the thing and send it to Isaac which most of the time will be rejected due to poor condition.
The collection
One day, a man in a suit with a suitcase with 2 men behind came into the shop and told Alyssa they are looking for Isaac. A few minutes later, Isaac appears. The men pass the suitcase to him. Isaac says “I will personally represent you once I confirm whether these coins are the real deal. I will get back to you as soon as possible”.
The men reply “No worry, I trust you. My friend told me you can be trusted. To be honest, I thought you will be wearing a little bit more formal. My friend rarely vouches for others but for you, It is the first time he does so.”
Isaac reply “I am honor by his trust in me. Once it is sold, I will transfer the fund to you.”
After a few minutes of casual chat, they both partway leaving Alyssa in confusion. To her, everything seems not right seeing a casual cloth person doing a deal with a businessman with a personal guard.
Isaac reaches home and begins to examine the coins in the briefcase while making a phone call to someone for information. He takes some pictures of it and shares it at a chat app. Immediately the chat group begins to become alive as he posts the picture.
Some begin to message Isaac privately, however, Isaac insists that this collection will be sold in the auction as the owner requested.
He tells everyone to message him privately for those who want to view it to authentic it. He will arrange the location and time for everyone to come together.
The threat
A few days after the collection pass to Isaac, Alyssa thinking today is going to be another normal day. As she begins to prepare to close the shop at 4 pm to leave. Suddenly 2 men dress in jeans & shirt while one of with a coat comes in with 2 briefcases. They immediately ask her where is Isaac while opening the two briefcases showing it fill with money. Shaken by the sudden situation, Alyssa reply she does not know where is he.
The men with the coat pull out a handgun hidden beneath his coat and slammed it in front of her on the table “Call him and tell him my boss insists he accept our offer or you will be dead. If the police come, you die too. He Has 2 hours to come here with the collection he knows what we talking about.”
Alyssa quickly calls Isaac and repeat what the men say, she cries out of fear as she finished saying. Isaac calms her down and asks her to pass the phone to the men in charge. The men with the coat take the phone and Isaac ask “who's there and who is your boss?”. The men with coat reply “none of your concern, I have 2 briefcases each fill with RM100 banknote worth 1 million ringgit each. My boss says it is more than what could earn from selling that thing.”
Isaac replies” OK, I will come. Just don’t hurt her. I will come at 6 pm as you requested.”
After Isaac hangs up the call, he calls a number “ Hey Elias, I need your help.”
The rescue
Back at the shop, Alyssa and the two men wait for Isaac to come with the collection. As time gets closer to 6 pm, Alyssa starts to feel more nervous.
Suddenly the door opens and 2 things are seen throw into the shop. It was a flashbang and a smoke grenade. It exploded and blinding everyone in the shop.
All Alyssa can sense can is someone walking into the shop and 2 shot is fired. Follow by the men screaming in pain.
Then she senses someone pulls her out of the shop and pushes her into a vehicle.
As she recovers her eyesight, Alyssa immediately panics as she found herself in a car full of men each wearing a black ski mask. The guy seating at the co-driver seat turn around and try to calm her down.
Elias: "Relax Alyssa, I am Elias. You are safe. Isaac will join us after we reach a safe place.”
Meanwhile, at the shop, the two men were not dead because Isaac uses riot shogun loaded with rubber bullets to disarm them. He takes the phone of the two guys and leaves the shop fearing there might be more of them nearby. He immediately goes to the police station to make a report. After Isaac leaves the shop, the two men in pain run away.
Elias the mob boss
After they reached a dark alley, everyone immediately switches to another car and set the old vehicle on fire as they leave it behind.
Soon everyone reached a house in a housing area, Elias turns around and says “ Alyssa welcome to my home, you are safe here. I always wanted to visit the shop since this is his first shop. Such a shame to see it attacked before I had a chance to visit it. I always thought he is joking about his job s dangerous as mine. My wife will look into your needs.
As Alyssa step out of the car, a middle-aged woman came out to greet her and bring her in. After Alyssa take a bath in their guess room and change to a new cloth prepared by Elias wife.
She goes to the living room and saw Elias sitting at the table in the dining room. He invited her to come to join them for dinner as his wife put the food on the table. As she sat down with them, she can see a few guys arm with weapon at the living room watching over the gate.
As she sat down with them and had their dinner, they begin to talk. Alyssa asks “ What happen just now? Did you all really just kill those men? What is going on here? “
Elias reply “Calm down, those two are alive. I only came to pick you up and keep you safe. If it is my way, I would have killed them all.”
Alyssa “Are you some sort of mob boss? How do you and Isaac know each other?”
Elias: “sort of. I know him a few years back when I wanted to buy a gold coin for my personal collection.” he paused for a while and then continue. “ I remember the first time we meet like it was yesterday. Most people who meet up with me would show some fear, but he is different. The gold coin he brings to me wasn’t the one I want but he happened to know who had it. I try to bribe him and even threaten him yet he never flinched once. You know what he says?”
Alyssa shakes her head as she continues to eat.
Elias says “ He says his reputation is more important than his life as many have trusted in him, he says he could have sold me out knowing who I am. The reputation that build on trust is something I value the most, it is hard to find one like him.”
Alyssa: “I can’t imagine myself saying the same thing if I am in the same situation. Can I call my parent?”
Elias: “ It would be best you don’t as we still don’t know who are they, After dinner, you may overnight at our guest room. Once Isaac arrives here, I will inform you. Rest well, I am sure tomorrow you going to have a long day ahead of you.
The Police
The next day early morning at the police Headquarter, Inspector Aziz, a special police unit personnel were summoned by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Hamid to his office.
As Inspector Aziz closed the office door and turn around and salute him, they then begin to converse.
IGP Hamid: “I received an unusual request from different departments like border custom, foreign relationship, the central bank, and even the military intelligence to follow this guy in the file.” He then takes the file on his desk and passes it to Inspector Aziz to read.
Inspector Aziz: “That is a lot of department attention. Do I go and arrest him? It does not make sense to call me for that.”
As Inspector Aziz takes the file from IGP Hamid.
IGP Hamid: “I been told to assign you to “watch” over him to prevent International Incident.”
Inspector Aziz: “International Incident? What causes all this?”
IGP Hamid: “His shop has been attacked yesterday by an unknown party. The other departments updated me that some oversea businessmen, and a British General which was identified by our custom department just check-in at our airport custom counter last 24 hours. he declares to have an appointment with Isaac but he is not on official duty. Our STAFOC department reported that Isaac has come in contact with Elias, one of the mob bosses. There was news about local powerful business people came in contact with him as well.”
He then passes to Inspector Aziz another file containing the custom record showing the British General name on it. And then continue “You can understand how serious the situation if any of them especially the General get attacked. You are to monitor and act as you see fit.”
Inspector Aziz: “yes, sir.”, then salute him and leave the office.
After Inspector Aziz leaves the IGP Hamid office, he begins reading the report as he prepares to immediately interview Isaac as he is still in the building waiting for him.
Once the interview is done, Inspector Aziz gives Isaac his contact number to call him if he needs any assistance. He attempted to ask Isaac Lim to let him know what cause the incident. The Only thing Isaac told him is a collection he can’t reveal at the moment.
After Isaac leaves, Inspector Aziz begins to investigate the case with the handphone Isaac manages to take from the attacker.
Old friend
After getting enough rest, Alyssa finally wakes up and goes to the dining room. Elias and his wife were in the middle of preparing breakfast and ask her to come to join them. While they are in the middle of eating, suddenly one of the armed men came in and informs them about Isaac's arrival.
As Isaac walk in with a backpack, Elias stands up and greeted him. Elias's wife told Alysa it is rare to see her husband do this considering who he is. Elias offers to help him to settle things for him his way but Isaac repeatedly turns it down and insist to solve it his own way. Using Elias method will forever cost his reputation as a neutral party as people will think he belong to Elias, he will be forced to explain to the authority if thing get messy.
Then they sat down at the table dining room to have their breakfast. As they were finishing their breakfast, Alyssa asks if she can go home. However, Isaac told her to stay with him as the situation had turned dangerous, it will be safer for her to stick with him until it is all over.
Then Elias jokingly says “seem like she will forever be in danger, I guess she might as well be your life partner. I guess fate had its own way for you after been doing this field alone for a long time.”
Isaac reply “Quit joking around, Once I find out who the idiot attacks me and get him arrested, Alyssa will be safe to go.”
Elias: “How you will go from here on?”
Isaac reply “I still need to pass on the location and time to some client who will all gather at the British Ambassador building today for a ball dance.”
Elias: “I am impressed you are to gain entry to such an event. I guess It is going to be a date now since you have a plus one now. If you need anything, let my men know. I will be off to settle something”
After they finished their food, Isaac told Alyssa they going to go out to buy her a dress for the ball dance.
The shopping
As they enter the Mall near Elias house, Isaac apologizes to Alyssa a few times for the danger she is now in. In Alyssa's heart, she found herself seem to be having a butterfly feeling due to him saving her.
As she was thinking about it, she found herself in a high-end dress shop. Isaac turns around and asks her to choose a dress, payment will be on him. When she looks through the dresses, she was uneasy about the price as most are more than RM500 per dress. Alyssa begins to notice many people around the store staring at them. Shen than remember Isaac is wearing the usual cloth she often sees him, a short and a shirt. It must have seemed unusual for someone who dresses simply in a high-end store.
She takes a few dresses into the changing room to try it out and decided to choose the black dress. After Isaac pay the bill, they decided to have lunch at a restaurant.
For Alyssa, going out with a guy for shopping and eating out together is hard to not feel like they are on a date. As they walk around the Mall and eating their lunch, Isaac is seemed to always watch over his shoulder for danger.
During lunch, Alyssa asks Isaac why he often dresses so simple.
Isaac says it is a way to avoid getting notice or followed by dressing like what most people wear. He says “ To be a numismatic dealer is not easy and sometimes can be dangerous. I just did not expect an attack would come so soon after I open my first shop.”
Alyssa then ask “What is this collection that resulted in people coming after you and me?”
Isaac reply “I will let You know when the time is right.”
After finishing their lunch, they leave the Mall and head back to Elias house.
The preparation
After they back at Elias's house, they both rest until it is time to prepare for the ball dance. Isaac wears an evening suit he borrows from Elias for the event.
While waiting for Alyssa to prepare at the living room with Elias, Elias asks Isaac, “You sure you don’t want me to help you settle whoever coming after you?”
Isaac reply “You have done enough. As much as I want but I can’t side anyone. I am just a dealer.”
Isaac then takes out a small black box from his pocket and passes it to Elias.
As Elias open the box, “This is a Malaysia 1971 Tunku Abdul Rahman RM100 gold coin. I hope you like it since you love to collect gold coins. A gift for the trouble.”
Elias reply “Thank you for the gold coins, while it may not cover the extraction operation cost but for you, I will gladly accept this as payment.”
Then they hear the guest room door open and Isaac found himself dumbfounded by Alyssa's beauty as she comes out wearing the new dress. As Alyssa walkout, she notices Isaac and greeted him. Isaac immediately regains his senses and greeted her back. Soon the ride they wait arrived, they both get into the car and head for the event.
Ball party
As they arrive at the British Ambassador building, Isaac tells Alyssa he manages to convince the host to let a few of the client to attend the event. While it will be safe inside the building, she must not let her guard down. The reason the host agree because it will allow the British side to discuss a possible trade deal with some of his clients who are rich and powerful people in Malaysia.
As the car passed the security checkpoint and stop in front of the entrance, they emerge from the car. They were greeted by the Ambassador.
Ambassador: “Welcome Isaac, How are you? General Sir William currently unavailable to meet you due to some personal matter he needs to attend to. Please enjoy yourself at the ball party while waiting.”
Alyssa feels she is in a fairy tale story attending such an event as she came from a normal family. she only read about it in newspaper writing about rich and powerful people gather and party.
While she is in awe, Isaac approach some of the guests who are his clients to pass them the envelop contain place and time for selected few to examine the collection. As he finished passing it all, They sit at the table assign to them and have a 3-course meal. The ambassador address the guest and thanking everyone for attending tonight event.
As everyone finishes their meal, space is created in the middle of the hall for the dance.
The dance
As the song begin to play and guest begin to dance with their partner. Alyssa and Isaac at the side of the hall looking at the dance. Suddenly Isaac extends his hand toward Alyssa “ Alyssa would you dance with me?” As Alyssa accept his invitation by holding his hand and head to the dance floor, as she holds Isaac hand, she can feel his handshake due to nervousness.
As they dance, they converse.
Alyssa: “Is this your first time?”
Isaac: “yes, you too?”
Alyssa: “me too, you are such an interesting man.”
Isaac: “After all this is over, would you consider continue working with me?”
Before Alyssa can reply, suddenly men approach them.” General Sir William is waiting for you in the reading room.” They both stop and follow him to the reading room.
The General
As they enter the room, an age 50+ English men in casual cloth were seen at the office table reading some document while smoking a tobacco pipe.
He then stands up and greet Isaac, “ Welcome Isaac, who is this fine lady? You finally decided to settle down?”
Isaac: “In your dream , she was forced to follow me until the current deal is over after she was taken hostage at my shop.”
General Sir William: “ I hear about the attack. It got my interest in the collection, I guess it will be worth trying to buy it if there are people willing to get it so much trouble for it.“
Isaac passed to him the envelope and General Sir William open it and look at the detail.
General Sir William: “So it is tomorrow night at the hotel meeting room. Thank you. Now that our business is concluded, let me show you the recent straits settlement banknote I recently manage to acquire from an Auction.”
He proudly takes out a display case from a drawer. It contains a straits settlement 1000 dollars banknote. They were both so into the talk about the banknote that they totally forgot Alyssa is still with them.
A British man came in who identify himself as the General personal Butler came in with a tray with some English tea and cookie. After putting it on the table and seeing Alyssa staring at them.
He says to Alyssa in a low voice, “Pardon them, these are how they are when it came to talking about the collection. The general himself loves to collect straits settlement and straits Malaya banknote due to his grandfather station in Malaya in the past. He often engages Isaac service for advice.”
After chatting and having some tea and cookie, General Sir William decided to call it a day as it is nearly midnight.
Suddenly a man came in and whisper to the General and pass him a tablet.
General Sir William: “ It seems like we already have an unwanted guest waiting for you. I think it will be better for you to overnight at our place. They have been at the same spot for 2 hours plus. My security detail has been monitoring for unusual activity after your arrival.”
He then passes to Isaac the tablet showing a camera fee, Isaac immediately recognizes one of them is the attacker who attacks his shop.
Reluctantly, they accept the General offer and 2 guest rooms were prepared for their stay.
The investigation
Inspector Aziz has been busy investigating Isaac case. Based on the phone Isaac manage to grab and pass to them as evidence, it seems to link to a Chinese mob group call White tiger.
According to the STAFOC, the white tiger gang is in the middle of a turf war with another mob group whose leader is known as Elias. The STAFOC intelligence unit told him there are the possible connection between Mr. Wong, a son of a powerful banker owner and the white tiger gang. Due to weak evidence, the police had not had the chance to prosecute him.
He also found out Isaac is commonly known as “The neutral”, “The broker” and “the dealer” for been a mediator between 2 side of the deal when both parties don’t trust each other. Isaac have deal with many people from different background. However, his financial record is clean due to him declaring all his income even with those involve people with a criminal background.
The thing that puzzle Inspector Aziz is the motive of attack behind it and all could only link to the work Isaac does.
Plus, it seems too coincidence to happen when so many high-profile people meeting with Isaac. Inspector Aziz wonder what is this collection that moves so many people?
The withdrawal
The next day, when Isaac and Alyssa wake up and find General Sir William is out to handle some personal things and had instructed his butler to assist them.
Isaac informs the butler they are going to the bank where he keeps the collection to withdraw it.
They have their breakfast while waiting for the butler to get a car assign for them to take them to the bank.
As they arrive at the bank, Isaac goes into the bank alone while Alyssa waits in the car with the butler and their security detail. Then Isaac emerges with the briefcase and gets into the car.
While on the way back, Isaac says to Alyssa “I believe it is time to tell you what it is that almost cost you your life.
Isaac open the briefcase and it reveals 10 coins she had never see before but clearly looks like Malaysia coin.
Isaac: “What you see here is one of the only three-set of Malaysia's first pattern coin. One is with the central bank of Malaysia, one is within the Maybank vault and one is here with us. The owner of this set does not want to endanger himself during the process that he requested me to handle the sale. “
As Alyssa looks at the coins in disbelief, Isaac makes a call to Inspector Aziz to inform him about the meeting location.
Soon they were back at the ambassador building to prepare for the meeting.
The mastermind
A van park near a hotel where the meeting will take place. Inside are 6 men each carrying a bag containing their mask and their weapon of choices like pistol, revolver, and parang weapon. The one that dresses in a business suit who is the leader of the group call Mr.Wong. He originally wanted to convince Isaac to name a price but fail. So he decided to use threat by getting the white tiger gang he often uses for his shady business to force him to agree to 2 million ringgit by using his sale assistant as a hostage.
The plan, however, went wrong as he did not expect Isaac to retaliate and escape. The trail went cold until he was able to know where the meeting will take place thank one of the participants had unknowingly revealed it to him.
Mr.Wong know if this coin goes into the auction, he had very little chance to win it. So he decided to stage an armed robbery to get the coins and add them to his private collection.
As the time for the meeting near, everyone suddenly become awake because they saw Isaac came out of a car and head into the hotel.
The attack
Mr.Wong and his gang immediately get out of the Van and cleverly avoid the camera as they follow Isaac into the Hotel. As Isaac went into the meeting room, they go into another empty meeting room locate beside where the examination of the coin is going on.
They wear their mask and take out their weapon to prepare to storm the room. Once they are ready, they storm the meeting room.
What Mr.Wong fail to anticipate is most of the guest bring their own security detail. Mr.Wong thought nobody would take it so seriously since this is just to examine the coin plus this is supposed to be a private event so he is not expecting many to appear.
As Mr. Wong men crush in, all the guest security detail around 20 people and the few Hotel staff who are undercover police assign by Inspector Aziz pull out their weapon.
The sign of seeing so many weapons pointing at them is enough to let Mr. Wong men know the operation is botched. They immediately surrender and put their hand up. Mr. Wong run out of the meeting room and a shot was fired injuring Mr. Wong leg. It was General Sir William who fired the shot who happen to come in with Alyssa a bit later after Mr.Wong.
He then put back the smoking handgun and pull Mr.Wong back into the meeting room.
General Sir William: “ Hi, everyone, sorry about it...natural instinct. I thought he is trying to attack me. I hope that count as self-defense.”
As he pulls off Mr.Wong mask, one of the guests stands forward in shock.
It was Mr.Azman who is a bank manager for one of the banks under Mr Wong father control.
Mr.Azman: “ Mr Wong, What the hell are you doing here? Do you know who this guy you are attacking? Your father is going to be very angry knowing what you just do.”
Isaac steps forward and squats down.
Isaac: “Nice to finally meet you Mr.Wong and goodbye. I will make sure you go to jail for a long time for taking my sales assistant as a hostage. If after this you attempt to do this same shit to me again, All this gentleman here will make sure to shut down your family business.”
As Isaac finished speaking, Inspector Aziz and a few police officers arrive and take Mr. Wong and his men into their custody. As the police escorting them out, Mr. Azman is seem scolding Mr. Wong as they walk out.
The examination
After the incident, the examination of the coins continues until everyone satisfy that it is authentic. Alyssa watches over the coin with everyone taking a turn to examine the coins on the table. During this time, Inspector Aziz stays behind to continue to watch over the event to ensure everything goes smoothly.
As the examination period come to a close, A few heavily armed men and the representative from the auction house that will host the sale of these coins arrived and secured the coins from them.
It is only when the coins left them, that Alyssa and Isaac begin to feel a bit relieved. As Isaac and Alyssa sent everyone off, they decided to overnight at the hotel since it is already very late.
They try to ask for a room with 2 king-size bed but the hotel only left room with Queen size bed. They decided to just take it. After the check-in, they both take turn to bath and order some food for supper.
The Supper
For Isaac, the last few days' incidents has taken a toll on his minds and emotion. As they were eating their food, he suddenly broke down and cry in front of Alyssa.
Alyssa: “What happen?”
She was puzzled by Isaac's action because Isaac had always seen very calm and confident.
Isaac: “today when the attack happens, I was actually scared. I was not really sure how they will react.”
he pauses for a while and continues crying.
Isaac: “there is always a possibility of thing going wrong, these are the first-time thing happen outside my prediction.”
It was at this moment, Alyssa realizes Isaac who always smiles in the face of danger was just like her, the only difference is he always hides it from everyone. Perhaps out of feeling in debt to Isaac for rescuing her, she wanted to comfort him. She then moves her chair closer to Isaac and embraces him as he continues to cry until no more strength to continue.
As he was done crying, they both head to the bed and sleep. As Isaac about to fall asleep suddenly he can feel Alyssa moving close to him and hug him from behind.
Alyssa: “Thank you for saving me that day.”
While Isaac tries to stay awake.
Isaac: “During the ball dance, you remember the question I ask?”
Alyssa: “Yes, I remember I been thinking about it. I am thinking of continuing to work with you to explore your numismatic world. Besides, I believe I am now forever stuck with you after seeing so many dangerous people.”
Isaac: “Are you sure about it? There is no turning back once you go down this path.”
Alyssa: “yes, now please rest. I am sure you been having sleepless nights while handling this deal.”
Isaac then falls asleep peacefully.
For now, Alyssa not really sure did she say yes because of her own feeling or the experience they have together, but somewhere deep within her, she decided to stay with him.
The auction
A month later, Isaac and Alyssa are attending the auction where the 10 pieces of Malaysia 1st Pattern coin were sold at RM4,000,000.
As they were mingling with everyone as the auction finished. a guy approaches them and speaks to them.
Unknown men: “Elias ask me to pass you a message, he says thank you for taking out the white tiger gang for him. He hopes to see you visit him again when possible.”
After finished speaking, he left them.
Isaac then saw General Sir William came out of the auction hall with his butler and overheard their conversation.
General Sir William: “That was a good fight, I can’t seem to outbid whoever that is bidding it”.
Butler: “The lady would be very unhappy if she knows you just now try to bid 3 million ringgit. I don’t wish to stand between you and her.”
Then General Sir William saw Isaac and Alyssa.
General Sir William: “Isaac, how are you doing? I came out fail to get it but seem like you got yourself a catch. After all, it is now your responsibility as a gentleman to take care of her as she had a near-death incident due to you.”
Alyssa feeling a bit shy as she grabs hold of Isaac's hand. Then General Sir William bites on his tobacco pipe.
General Sir William: “Goodbye Isaac, I will on my way back to the United Kingdom. Hope to see you another time. Alyssa, this gentleman is a rare bread. Don’t let him go.”
General Sir William and his butler head out and into their car and leaves.
As Isaac and Alyssa were leaving, they saw Inspector Aziz arrive.
Isaac: “ Anything?”
Inspector Aziz: “I came to make sure you are alright before I close your case. I take it that everything is over?”
Isaac: “yes, it is over. I will be Ok from here on"
Inspector Aziz: “Goodbye, it is was nice knowing you. Also, The STAFOC department asks me to thank you for helping them solve the white tiger gang case. “
Inspector Aziz then takes his leave.
Isaac: “Alyssa, you sure about want to continue to work with me? Your life will always be in danger if you stick with me”.
Alyssa: “Isaac, you have saved my life. My life is forever yours. Besides if I don’t, you will forever alone in this. Let’s go back, we have a new client coming later who asks you to help him evaluate his collection.”
They then exit the building.
FIN
Wow!!! I'm really enjoyed to read your article. How much time you have taken dear?, That's totally marvelous and lit story.. Keep sharing like this