Chapter 594: Chapter 594 The Long Game
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[Date: Fri 12/06/2020 | Time: 20:00 PM | Location: Muller Gymnasium – Hahnwald, Cologne]
(Ting, thud, thud, thud, ting swoosh, thud, thud, thud...)
The sky over North Rhine-Westphalia was shrouded in a light drizzle as the night had swallowed most of the day’s light. Most families under the new lockdown regulations had already eaten their dinner. They were now tucked comfortably in front of their TVs, awaiting the quarter past eight special showing of Asterix at the Olympic Games.
However, under the floodlights of the Muller High School football field, two figures can be seen. One held a yellow umbrella over her head, remaining relatively dry as she would occasionally toss a ball from the large basket next to her. The figure of Rakim could be seen setting up for free kicks from five different angles.
Around the edge of the box, walls made up of rows of five yellow human-shaped figures were strategically placed. Two at both edges of the box and one at the centre, followed by another at longer distances from the two edges, around 28 yards. He had got permission to use the field from the principal, only needing to record a video to encourage the students who were stuck at home.
He had gone beyond that after hearing the modest requirement of donating a hundred thousand euros to redevelop the school’s library and its wing. Another 50k went towards upgrading the school’s performance centre, which entailed the upgrade of gym equipment, cleaning of the swimming pool and other areas in need of care. With the school being a dual-academic and sports-based high school, the donations were well-received.
The principal even commented that the lockdown had the upside of allowing them to perform the maintenance sooner. The regulations eased for some industries under strict health protocols. The developments the school wanted to implement were made possible, albeit at a slower pace than usual.
None of that mattered to Rakim, though, as he had completed his obligations and had been making full use of the field. Every day after the team and his own daily training, he would come here to work on one thing: set pieces. The fact that he had failed to come through when it was crucial made him feel antsy, and he needed to work toward calming his mind.
He worked on not only free kicks but also pass placement, which involved marking small boxes around the pitch with cones and small gates where he placed yellowmen. He would dribble past a couple of obstacles on both flanks, making it a game-like situation before pinging the pass. Missing a gate was met with a punishment; if the ball rolled out of the 100-centimetre circle, a punishment followed; if his free kick hit the bar, a punishment would follow; if the ball went in, but not in the intended spot, a punishment would follow.
Repetitions had become the name of the game for him as he progressed from basic short passes to longer and trickier ones. His team had played against Saarbrücken on the 9th at the latter’s home stadium, winning crisply as they stamped their ticket to the DFB-Pokal final. Rakim hadn’t been included in the squad as the manager had decided to rotate the squad.
They would face Bayern again this time in the finals, who had slugged out a 2:1 victory against Frankfurt. Excited at the prospects of redeeming himself, he had put more emphasis on his training, adding a more refined nature to his playing style. He wanted his basics to be at a level that matched his creativity and his natural talent.
Thus, he started actively studying the likes of Ozil, Michael Carrick, and KDB. He studied their movement styles before and after receiving a ball, how they picked out passes, and the technique applied. He concluded that Ozil was the best player for his needs due to his dynamic capabilities.
However, he found things he could learn from all players, so he didn’t just focus on Ozil. "Ok, that’s enough, one last shot, and we’re leaving. I can’t believe you have your beautiful girlfriend freezing her tushy off when we could be cuddled up underneath a warm Duvet with a cup of tea." May, dressed in a stylish raincoat, complained as she blew onto her hand, trying to warm herself.
Rakim didn’t respond right away as he made his run-up, catching the stationary ball just right with the top of his boot. The ball catapulted off his boot from 30yards out, sending it looping over the wall in a rainbow arc that descended just past the six-yard box. It rebounded off the turf with a thud, flying forward into the empty net inches from the left post.
"Whoo, that’s 55. Can we leave now? The Duchess needs her tea." She exclaimed with a surprisingly chipper expression despite her complaints.
"Yeah, let’s go, and I told you you don’t have to come with me every day. I know you’re also busy with your finals." Rakim commented as he walked up to her, his 6’2 frame easily towering over her 5’10 stature. "Though I won’t act like I don’t appreciate your support, what would my cute, beautiful, and thoughtful girlfriend like as a reward?"
Wrapping his arms over her shoulder, he looked down into her deep emerald eyes, his warm breath visible, tickling her nose. May squinted up at him with mock shock, knowing that he rarely said no to one of her requests. Sometimes he even anticipates her wants and needs before she could voice them during her monthly cycle.
"A reward, huh? Hmm..." She lifted her eyebrow as her long eyelashes fluttered, thinking far too theatrically. "How about... You give me full control of the Netflix queue this weekend. No complaints. No vetoes. No ’but baby, I don’t feel like watching Bridgerton’."
Rakim groaned as he tried to gauge how serious she was about her request, but quickly realised that the platform was already dead. He would watch the shows he liked within two weeks, but the library kept getting robbed by other platforms. New seasons of good shows were getting shorter and took longer to produce, which only added to the annoyance.
"Fine, but I am not watching Bridgerton, I can sit through Girl’s Gilmor, River Virgin, and Once Upon a Time." He responded with a contemplative smile. "Reign will forever be the greatest period drama ever, despite the drop in quality and stupidity toward the end."
"Sure, sure, just hurry up and clean up so I can get out of this cold." She retorted with an eyeroll as she moved her hand to push him backwards. "Oh, and I bet I look much cuter in an Elizabethan dress than Adelaide," she shouted, but Rakim merely shook his head in a light chuckle as he moved to collect the balls around the goal.
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[Date: Fri 12/06/2020 | Time: 14:30 PM | Location: Rose Isle Fl]
[Elsewhere]
The golden afternoon light filtered through the vast windows of the Parker family’s estate, highlighting every corner of its opulence. A black marble chessboard sat untouched on the veranda table, where Victor Parker had been lounging just hours earlier, sipping imported espresso and leafing through investment reports that had become increasingly bleak.
Inside, the air conditioning hummed softly. Evelyn Parker stood in the foyer, speaking with her half-sister on speakerphone about how hard it was to prepare her son for the University of Texas at Austin under these COVID conditions. Reece was upstairs, gaming with his friends through the headset in what had quickly become routine for the boys following the orders to stay home.
Victor, now in his office, frowned as he gazed with his eyes glued to where more red flashed across his portfolio. He had long since resigned himself to the fact that his days were numbered when the WeWork deal fell through. He had been blinded by the company’s vision and inflated potential, failing to see its fatal flaw and holding on too long.
By the time he had decided to offload, it was already too late, and fate played a cruel joke on him with the pandemic. After those fateful two weeks holed up in his hotel room, thoughts of suicide had plagued him, but ironically, it was the disregard of his partner Enzo that gave him a mission. So he spent the past few weeks getting his affairs in order, making sure that should anything happen to him, his family would be taken care of by intercepting company funds meant to bribe certain people and laundering them to a place that is virtually untraceable for the American government.
Just as he turned off the monitor, placing his computer’s external hard drive into one of the many paper file boxes stacked in his office, a loud boom resounded in the villa. (Boom) "FBI, IRS, and SEC were executing an arrest and search warrant for Victor Parker."
Listening to the agents shout from downstairs, Victor calmly picked up the lit cigar from his ashtray and walked to the door. "I guess it’s time to play the long game."
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To Be Continued...