by Sweth Water
“There are men at the window. Stay low.” Gin muttered.
Gin had her arm against Rose’s chest, not want her to do something until told to. For a couple of seconds they stayed low. Rose could see only the floor, nothing else. Her breath was heavy because of this sudden action of Gin’s. Threat it was, staying there. Gin said they weren’t cops. So that meant they were here because of them. To kill them.
Gin glimpsed over the wall.
“Go.” Gin murmured.
They took the stairs to the street and walked behind the motel till the parking lot. Everything was serene as if nobody was awake. No car or bike was on the road. The lights at the front of the motel showed them a man standing. He didn’t seem to carry any weapon. But those who she saw from the window had the weapons, and he was sure as hell with them. The danger was not over yet.
Slowly, they moved to their car. Gin closed the door without any noise. The man went inside the motel. Nobody else was there to kill them. With her bare foot, Rose pressed the gas after starting the car.
As soon as she rotated the steering wheel to the right, they heard the firing. Side mirror broke but she didn’t stop. She shifted the gear quickly. This garbage was nothing compared to the car that she used to have. She shrugged the thought.
In the rear-view mirror she looked.
It was Holl.
“Take your cars, fools!” Holl shouted.
Two cars he brought with him. They had intercepted the call from the motel, saying of Gin to be there. She was gone with the help of his dead sister. She was alive. He cursed the driver who took the money from him and didn’t do his job correctly.
They had their cars behind them. She was driving the car. He saw two women before firing. And both should be dead before the dawn.
“To the right.” Gin shouted.
Rose rotated the steering wheel. Her foot was moving from gas to break after few seconds. The street was not full of cars, but from the crossroads trucks were showing up and she was pressing the brake abruptly. Rose didn’t remember if she learned to do this or it was a hidden talent. It was keeping them safe. That’s it.
Holl stopped firing as soon as they were away from the parking lot. They were still behind them. But no bullet was fired towards their direction. People were on the roads, eating the roadside food. It was common in this city as many students were there and some lovers too.
Rose turned the car so many times; wherever the road was, she turned the car there. She couldn’t see Holl’s car behind. Maybe they stopped pursuing them. She sighed.
“What to do now?” Rose asked. “You want to call Taking?”
“No. They knew even when we didn’t call Taking. Maybe someone else did. They were intercepting the calls. Some bloody people in the government must have given them an easy way to kill us both. You have the access to that satellite?”
“No, I can try to have it. It will take time.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know. I never tried that. If we do that, there may be a mass panic in the country. The communication services will be disrupted.”
“Even when you do it deliberately?”
She shook her head. “Base could help in that. I am not very good at doing it deliberately. When I hacked the satellite to find you, the risk was there to have the same disastrous event.” She turned her head to Gin. “Or we can directly go to Taking’s place and tell him everything.”
Gin said nothing for few moments. “I can save you if Taking comes to us, not otherwise. And the security around the house will create a problem for us.”
“Base then?”
“Yes. Where he lives?”
“Near my house.”
“How many people?” Taking asked Fanter.
“I don’t know. I was in my room. And the man behind the desk is dead.”
Taking gave a last look to the body. Blood was still on the ground. He had called the forensic team to take whatever they could. Nothing was touched after the incident; he could have said that with confidence. One shot in the head. It was from very near, he was certain.
“Any cameras here?”
“No. This is a small motel. I don’t have the money to have them here.”
Taking took out the picture once again. He had shown him two times, once more. “This one, right?”
“Yes, Taking. This is the woman who walked inside the motel.”
“Why didn’t you call me the moment you found out?”
“I did. You didn’t show up.”
“What?”
“Yes.”
“How many times you called me?”
“Twice.”
Taking grimaced.
“You said you would be here soon; you didn’t show up, so I called you again.”
“Damn it. Any suspicion you have?”
“No. I don’t have any enemies.”
Two agents showed up from the stairs. He had told them to check the room where Gin stayed according to Fanter. He agreed with Fanter that Gin was here earlier. Two times he had called. Only once he got it. Someone else took the call. From his family? Or a technological leak?
“The window is open, sir.” the agent said.
“Anything left behind?”
“Only sandals, sir. The room is clean.”
“On whose name Gin registered the room? She won’t be using her name if she was on a mission.” Taking asked Fanter.
“Let me check.” Fanter said.
“It was not Gin?”
“There was another woman with her.”
“What?”
Fanter took the register and flipped through the pages and told him. “It was Tulip.”
“Tulip?” Was she really kidnapped or working on some assignment?
“Anything you can tell about this woman? Height, colour or clothes.”
“She was a brunette. More than five-eight. She might be pregnant too.”
“She came here first time?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am. She was a pretty woman, and I don’t forget pretty women.”
Brunette. Pregnant. Five-eight. Taking sighed.
It was early morning. The sunrise was a few minutes away. In the beginning of the day he got another mystery. But he was happy that Gin was safe. Where had she been for days? And firing inside the motel? It was disturbing. People were behind Gin and the other woman.
Just to have a random guess, he pulled another picture from his pocket.
“Is this the woman you saw with Gin?”
Fanter took the picture and looked at it for a moment. “Yes.”
“Rose!” He shook his head. “Thank you.”
He moved out of the motel.
“They were working together. I knew it. Even Summer said it so normally that I didn’t doubt her. A fucking imposter. Why, Gin?” Taking muttered.
“What, sir?” the agent asked him.
“Nothing. We are looking for two suspects. Send the pictures to the other agents on this case.” He handed the pictures to the agent.
“This is Agent Gin, sir.”
“Any problem in shooting her?” He eyed him.
“No, sir.”
“Good.” He checked his gun and loaded the magazine again. “They will not go far from this place.”
“Directions, sir?”
“Headquarters first. And then Coal’s house.”
Chapter
33
Morning.
Coal sat in his bedroom, laptop in front of him; he got the laptop from the Headquarters when they didn’t find anything, and asked Baldwin to give him the encrypted data that they had on the hard disk. Encrypted files were not making any sense. He found nothing that would stop the encryption. He had asked Baldwin and Jo about it; they were still struggling with it, and Baldwin said it was impossible to stop the encryption. Even when they opened that in some kind of editor, it showed the gibberish writing. They had tried to find the decryption key too. Noth
ing had worked.
He was not very good in computers. The things that were told to him he learned very fast, but this whole computer-thing was only for nerds. Like his wife.
Holl was gone when he returned home yesterday. He’d called him twice. In the evening he’d got a call from Holl, and he’d told him everything that he found about Rose. He was happy. But in Coal’s eyes tears were there. He didn’t know it was of betrayal or happiness.
He had read every document and blog that he came across on the Internet. Some illegal software he downloaded and tried to do some magic with them. Same shit. He gave up.
Not Fin, then who?
All the officers at the Headquarters were working to find Rose. She was still accountable for the crimes she committed against the country. Coal had forgotten to consider that. Many people were looking for her, and the assailant was roaming free. He was sure he would be attacked soon, and if not him then Rose would be dead.
He had taken Rose’s cell number from Chase, which she was carrying in her office. It was ringing and nobody picked up. Baldwin had informed him that they raided Rose’s apartment in Venhoa and found nothing that could help them to know where she was gone – three police officers did that under army’s nose without letting them know about it, and the apartment that they raided might not be her house; she could have used any address. It was still a covert operation. Army and Madam President weren’t told about it. Taking had ordered it and Fog wouldn’t be able to do anything.
No phone.
No whereabouts.
Where was Rose?
He bathed, clad, tied the shoelaces, and went out.
He took the bus to the police station where the man was kept who tried to kill Rose. He was still undergoing a trial and in two days the sentence would be announced. Some of the people were demanding death penalty. So many human rights activists had marched in the last three years to abolish capital punishment. Doesn’t matter how heinous the crime is, it doesn’t make sense to punish a culprit for few seconds and then let him die. No. Severe punishments were needed. And that included life behind the bars until the last breath. If capital punishment was there to put fear in people’s minds to stop them doing crimes, then it didn’t work out.
In this case, it was very unlikely. It wouldn’t lead to capital punishment for sure. Especially after when Rose was alive. But whose body he buried that day?
The bus stopped and he entered the police station.
It was one of the oldest police stations in Earling, built before the independence. There were exactly seven cells in the building. It was not like the Denlar State Prison where murderers, rapists and drug dealers were kept. During the trial days, the prisoner would be shifted to a police station with maximum security. The local police station was chosen near the court. There was not even one case when a prisoner escaped from the local police station during a trial.
He didn’t have any badge on him. To the left side, he saw the officers talking with each other. He sighed and told them about the prisoner.
“You relative?” a female officer asked. She was younger than most of the officers he met in his life. Her dress was clean and had a grim face. Her badge was saying Harlin Watson.
“No.”
“Then?”
Coal didn’t say anything.
“I know this man.” an officer sitting at the corner said. “I have seen him on TV. The guy behind the bars murdered his wife. They were saying she had a link to the robbery that happened in the Department.”
“What?” Harlin said.
“This is what I heard.” He made a peculiar face.
“I am sorry, man. You are not allowed to go there. I have to ask you to leave. We have been given orders to keep the prisoner away from anything that seems a threat.”
“I am a threat!?”
“He killed your wife. You may want to avenge her. Don’t you?”
“I don’t because she is still alive.” Coal blurted out.
“What?”
“I need to meet the guy, Officer. In no law book I found that I am not allowed to meet him. He would be behind the bars, and I am not carrying any weapon. I can have you check me. If you don’t let me meet him, I am just one moment away dialling the number at the Headquarters.”
“Headquarters.” Harlin laughed. “Why would they listen to you?”
“Because I work there. Open the gate. Now.”
“He is right,” the officer said, “they said that in the news.”
It was a tense moment. Harlin and other officers were not smiling anymore. His eyes were moving with Harlin until she opened the gate and led him to the prison cell. It was in the last row and only this cell had a prisoner. He turned his head and found two cameras. There was no chance that it would record audio.
“That will be all, Officer. Now if you excuse me.”
She left him there.
The man in the cell had shackles around his ankles and wrists. He was not more than forty and his hair was not turned white yet. His eyes were swollen and hands were shaking. He didn’t look like a murderer to Coal. It was more of a setup or money blinded the man.
The man inside the cell looked at him.
“Remember me?”
He didn’t say anything but blinked his eyes.
“You killed my wife.”
He neared Coal and stood at arm’s distance from the bars. “I don’t know you.”
“I believe that it was not an accident. I mean you did it on purpose.”
“What proof you have? And if you have it, why didn’t you show it in the court?”
“Actually I don’t. I am just guessing.”
“Keep guessing then.” He turned his back and was going to sit on the bench before Coal spoke up.
“Rose is alive.”
He stopped and turned his head to him.
“You knew it, I guess.”
His shackles were screeching on the ground when he walked towards him. This time he didn’t stop until his face was near Coal’s. His eyes showed the firmness of the words that Coal used.
“Then I am a free man.”
“I buried someone. Who was that?”
“How would I know?” He walked few steps back and looked at the ground.
Coal nodded. “So you knew about it?”
He said nothing.
“I don’t see any reasons for you to spend your life in prison if you didn’t commit a crime. You have a family.” The man breathed heavily. “Yes, I read your file. You are not a murderer or a thief. I was very interested in having you executed on the electric chair or a noose around your neck, but then I quit. I had no interest in you anymore. And now when I know Rose is still alive, you shouldn’t think of spending your time away from your family. Daughters you have.
“Let me help you. I can make sure you would not be charged with a murder. You just have to talk with me. I will have the best lawyer for you. You just need to speak.”
He swallowed. “What you want to know?”
“Rose. You knew she was alive?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She paid me to tell her when I was going to kill her.”
“What do you mean?”
“Someone wanted her dead. She found out and paid me the money to call her when I was going to do that. She had a plan.”
“So you were paid twice?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Forty thousand dollars.”
“Cash?”
“Yes.”
“Who paid you first?”
“A man I never met. I got a call from him, and he told he had enough money to give to my family if I kill someone. He said it would look like an accident and nobody would ever know.” He wiped the tears. “It was a mistake.”
“Rose found out and she gave money to you?”
“Yes.”
“Anything that you remember about him? You never met him, so I am not talking about the mien.”
“You mean a way of speaking?”
“Yes.”
“He ... he stammered while talking. Not always but maybe when in trouble.”
“His voice was thick?”
“No. He was more like a sissy.”
Coal smiled. “How many times he called you?”
“Three times.”
“And he always stammered?”
“While talking with me, yes. After every two or three words, he stopped and repeated the words again.”
“What did you do after the accident?”
“I went back to my home with the truck. Of course, it was recorded and they found me.”
“You didn’t call the man who paid you?”
“No. He somehow knew about it. Maybe he was in the city that day. Just guessing.”
“What about Rose? She met you after the accident?”
“Yes, she came to my house and thanked me.” He raised his head and looked at him. “She is a kind woman, sir. She might have her own reasons to fake her death. I am a poor person, so don’t know much about rich people like you all. But I am pretty sure it was hard for her to do that.”
“Thank you. I will do everything in my power to have you acquitted. Thank you once again.”
He walked out and stopped at the bus stop and waited for the bus.
His car was out of gas and he didn’t have the time to refill the tank again. Public transport helped in these situations. In five minutes the bus came and he sat at the middle row. Two more people were sitting in front of him, looking at him. Showing the disgust that they had for him. He didn’t care and looked outside.
Rose paid him the money to fake her own death. The man had said that he was given the money by two different people. And the first giver stammered a lot. It was not understandable for him. The money which was paid to the goons to attack him ... he believed it was the work of the same man who paid the prisoner to kill Rose.
Now it started linking.
Baldwin said people were behind him because they believed Rose gave him some information related to the military and he was hiding it. First Rose was attacked for stealing the information from the Department. And after that, he was next. There was only one person behind these two attacks. The person who stammered.