Prologue - The Master

5th August 2002
London, United Kingdom

A man dressed in brown Armani suit traced his fingers on the wine rack before selecting a bottle and used a corkscrew on it before pouring its contents into a crystal wineglass. He placed the bottle beside a photo of a family; a little boy sitting on his shoulder and a woman embracing his arm, all of them smiling happily. Upon a closer look on the bottle, one could observe a line; 'Romanée-Conti' written prominently on the label of the bottle. The man then sauntered to the glass windows.

He threw his gaze onto the busy streets of London below him. Everyone was scurrying to their workplace, trying not to be late. It was the same thing occurring everyday. How boring. The said man averted his gaze to the clouds above. It was dark and gloomy; almost like the nature itself was grieving. Finally, he shifted his attention to the article in his hand. He looked upon the dark liquid and saw a reflection of himself, smiling. No. Not this day. Today, I shall be the winner.

The wineglass was raised, as if as a toast to someone who was only in his imagination. The scent of the red French Burgundy lingered around him. He could detect the smells of berries, spices and leather. The aroma was rich and penetrating without being too profound. Slowly, he took a sip from the wineglass. As soon as the dark liquid touched his sensitive tongue, the man savoured the flavours of soy sauce, flowers and liquorice left behind. The Dom. Romanée Conti is indeed a very rare wine that has carved a niche for itself along the years, thought the man to himself.

His pleasure however, quickly ended with a knock on the door. With a sigh, the man placed the article on the table and turned slowly to face the door. "Enter."

A lady smartly dressed and wore nigh invisible make-up entered the scene. Her speech was formal, with a hint of respect in it. "Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, but there is someone who wishes to speak with you. He said that it is very important." She handed the phone to the man and bowed down before excusing herself.

Before the man could even ask for the caller to introduce himself, he was surprised that he was being addressed by his real name.

"Chairman Ayasaki, rescind your operation and call your agents off."

The man called Ayasaki was stunned for a moment. How did they…no. There's no way that anyone would find out about it. Absolutely none. This might be a prank call from someone or just another reporter trying to dig into some juicy story for their tabloid. He smiled. The chairman decided to play along and see where this conversation leads to.

"And what if I refuse?"

"Then we will be coming for you."

"I'd like to see you get past all my men," answered Ayasaki to the caller with a chuckle. However, what came next was totally unexpected.

"Oh, but we already have."

In that instant, he looked at the caller ID display on the phone. It reads 'Conference Room 13'. The man tapped a device in front of him and calls for the lady from before. "Where's Conference Room 13?" The young lady was puzzled by the question but she answered soon afterwards.

"That room is right above yours, sir."

At that moment, his face turns deathly white and he felt that his strength was leaving him. He pressed another button and hollered to the device. "Get me the hell out of here!"

Half a dozen heavily armed men suddenly burst from the door. One of them headed to the bookshelves and pulled a book out. It triggered a series of mechanisms and caused the wall on their right-hand side to be lifted, revealing a hidden escalator door. The man places his palm on the sensor at the door of the escalator which opened as soon as the light turned green. The party entered the elevator while the chairman pulled out a chromed gun from a crevice inside the elevator before tucking it into his coat.

Twenty seconds later, the elevator door opens again and the chairman, bounded by his bodyguards trotted into the limousine parked not far from their exit. They were flanked by at least ten more men at their sides. As soon as the man entered the vehicle and its door was closed, they scrambled to the other three hummers.

The four vehicles paraded out from the basement of the building, with the leading vehicle distanced a bit further to clear the path for the rest of the convoy. Any vehicle that was in their way was rammed to the side of the road.

Chairman Ayasaki was seated comfortably at the backseat of his limousine. He was holding his phone when he realised that something was out of place. They were not following the planned route of escape. A thought suddenly struck him. Before he could even tell the driver to turn around, they found that a lorry was obstructing their way. Almost in the same moment, a two-tonne garbage truck collided into the hummer right behind him and crushed the vehicle onto a building beside them, killing the passengers inside.

The guards abandoned their vehicle to fend off their opponent in order to buy their principal enough time to escape the scene. Before they could even get a firm footing on the ground, a group of masked men exited the garbage truck in perfect coordination with another group coming from the lorry and began massacring the guards.

The chairman instinctively ducked as several bullets hit the window beside him but luckily, it was bullet-proof. The driver took advantage of the commotion and skilfully turned the vehicle around before speeding off to the highway.

Cold sweat began dripping from his temples. Chairman Ayasaki was breathing heavily and his heart raced wildly. An assassination attempt had just been made on him and for once in such a long period of time, he was horrified. He leaned on his seat and brushed his long hair behind him before falling into deep thought.

His life had been a very satisfying one. He had a loving wife and a cute child. And his career? He was the chairman of one of the largest multi-national corporations that ever existed and his wealth could rival the richest man in the world. He had everything he had desired in his life, except for one small thing. Peace of mind. True, he now knew that to gain something, one must be prepared to lose something else in return. He was all too greedy before and didn't realize that single fact until it was too late. Now, he only wished that everyone would leave him and his family alone.

Chairman Ayasaki let out a deep breath and looked up into the rear mirror. His driver was looking at him with a concerned expression. The latter then smiled reassuringly to the troubled man. "Don't worry Mr. Chairman. You're safe now."

He could not help himself but to smile in return. "Thank you very much Kujo- watch out!"

There was a screech and a loud shattering noise before everything went silent.

His head felt as if it was breaking, and breathing came hard into his aching ribcage and every inch of his body felt like it was being slammed against a brick wall. He shook his head. What had just happened? One moment he was smiling to his driver and in another moment, everything suddenly went black. He lifted his head and found his driver, with his forehead perforated with a long metal pole. Right in front of them was the back of a pickup truck. Apparently they had a crash.

Chairman Ayasaki turned to himself. His coat was splattered with blood and several bits of white matter. Brain tissue from what it seemed. He wanted to get up and run, but remembered his motto for times of danger: slow is smooth, smooth is fast. The man took several breaths, counted his hands and feet, stretched his fingers and toes and determined that no serious damage had been done. The air felt so thick for him that breathing made him cough and jabbed sharp pains through his sides where a rib may have been cracked. When he raised his hand to his scalp, there was a patch of wet blood, but no gaping wound. His legs worked. He could move.

Using the front seat as a prop, he opened the door and supported himself to stand up. Everything suddenly came back to his mind and he knew he must run as hard and fast as he could, faster even. It was only a few steps from the crash before the man heard a click behind him. He knew at that moment that it was too late for him to do anything.

"Checkmate."

Taking something from a person was all he did; and now, everything is going to be taken away from him.