The airport had a special arrivals and departures section for EOGC personnel. When the man alighted from his vehicle, he caught sight of another group of EOGC security vehicles that had already parked. They were guarding another car, an SUV with Cardinal Zhang's coat-of-arms on it. Its driver alighted and opened the back door. Out stepped the cardinal.
The man was somewhat taken aback. The cardinal was not wearing his robes as usual. Instead, he wore a plain white collared shirt tucked into his black trousers. The only indicator of his status was a small wooden cross worn with a simple brown string around his neck. The man knew why: the cardinal's left arm had been bandaged and he wore a sling around his neck to support it -a gunshot wound, the result of a cultist's attempt on his life during the stampede a few days ago.
A large group of cultists whose frauds had been exposed due to their own internal squabbling attempted to take control of Cagayan de Oro by seizing Great South Tower. The cardinal tried to stop the attempt by blocking the cultists' march to the building by interposing himself along with many priests and nuns of the archdiocese between the cultists and the highway to GST. He then tried to persuade the cultists to return to their place of abode, but they wouldn't listen. Instead, they turned on the cardinal as well as the priests and nuns.
While most of the cultists carried swords that they bought from martial arts supplies stores and thought a few rounds of Taijiquan made them ready for a brawl, some of them brought guns. Two priests were killed and many were injured. After this small victory, the cultists continued their blind rush toward GST, which was still several kilometers away. They thankfully didn't bring any prisoners with them so those who survived the clash managed to carry the injured to safety.
During the clash, one of the cultists armed with guns fired a shot at the cardinal, who succeeded in fending off several attackers with a six-foot section of water pipe from an adjacent construction site. It was not a surprise on the part of the priests that Cardinal Zhang could do this because they knew he was a wushu athlete in his younger days and continued to practice wushu up to the present.
The shooting was recorded by reporters and people with cellphones and the news sent shockwaves all throughout the city and the country. There was already another group of people assembled in front of GST; it consisted of EOGC employees who learned of the impending cultists' attack and gathered on the grounds of GST to defend one of the EOGC's most important centers of power. An entire battalion of security forces in riot gear was also at GST, ready to keep both groups apart.
But the shot changed the whole nature of the game. The cardinal was a popular figure, respected by the social elite and revered by the rest of the populace not just because of his position in the Church. When he was shot, his fall was captured on cameras and cellphones. A third crowd was now forming. It was an angry one bent on avenging the cardinal, who was instrumental in saving many people from poverty.
Upon hearing the news of the shooting, the crowd of EOGC employees became agitated and restless. It was then decided by the security forces that the cultists had to be taken out before the two angry crowds would join forces and deal with the cultists themselves. The man knew; he was, after all, an officer and he was there at GST when the orders to take the cultists out came from the top, from Eric Ong himself. Although the taipan was somewhat reluctant to allow it, his prodigal eldest son, back from a long hiatus, took it upon himself to take charge of the operation. MUSDO, Maximilian Ulrich S. D. Ong, had a score to settle with these cultists -and he didn't just lead. He took the field.
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