MOST WANTED IN NEW YORK

  • 05 May - 11 May, 2018
  • Salaar Laghari
  • Fiction

Put your hands up!” Detective Kennedy exclaimed.

Justin got alert as he saw him.

The Hungarian criminals began to fire and the cops fired back. Everyone inside the mall started shooting with their guns and only Justin laid down trying to save himself from getting shot.

A serious crossfire had started between the cops and criminals, many of whom kept getting shot in the process. Detective Kennedy also fired hidden behind the wall. Justin looked towards the exit of the mall and found it locked, which made it seem really difficult to escape through it, while two police officers also stood there.

Justin’s gang members were quite sharp and each one of them was shooting with two guns each. Justin somehow made his way towards the exit, while the two police officers stood there and aimed their pistols at him. As he sped his way out, they started firing. Dodging the bullets by jumping here and there, Justin made his way past them but stopped because the exit door was locked and the glass was not easily breakable. The cops turned around and aimed their guns at him again. This time, Justin was under a trap.

“Hands up!” one of the cops exclaimed.

Justin pretended to be frightened and raised his hands up but then immediately took out his pistol, aiming it at his own forehead.

This was when one of the cops yelled, “No!”

“I would prefer killing myself, rather than getting myself killed by cops like you,” Justin said.

“No, don’t you dare!”

Justin closed his eyes pretending to shoot himself. But surprisingly within three seconds, he changed his gun’s aiming position and shot at a cop’s leg, then in the blink of an eye shot another cop’s leg too. These were his tricky yet lucky shots, as they left both the cops injured.

Now Justin secured his position and shot three bullets on the locked exit door. Despite having dropped their weapons, the injured cops tried to stop him. Justin kick opened the lock and rushed outside in a flash. He had safely escaped but the crossfire between the cops and criminals was still ongoing.

********

Later that night at Jackson’s home, Diane was watching news and he stood near the TV but wasn’t watching it at all. Images of the crossfire between the cops and criminals inside the mall were all over the news.

Newscasters on different news channels read out the breaking news:

“A violent gang war took place earlier today”

“Heavy firing between criminals and police”

“Who were these criminals?”

“How many criminals got shot? And how many got arrested?”

Diane was kind of shocked to see this and told Jackson, “Honey, do you know about this war between the criminals and police?”

“Really?” Jackson enquired, looking interested in the news. “Will you please increase the volume?”

Diane did so, while Jackson came closer, as if trying to pay attention to this breaking news.

*********

Several hours later inside Gilbert’s room, Linda and Justin had just arrived. Gilbert was very angry and questioned the two in a loud voice, “How did this happen and how did the police know about this deal?”

“We have no idea about that,” Linda said in a concerned tone. “I just picked Justin in my car and we escaped the site.”

“What about the others?”

“The others either died or got arrested,” Justin answered.

“Arrested?” Gilbert got enraged. “How on earth did you let that happen?”

“Don’t raise your voice on me!” Justin raised his hand and confronted Gilbert for his behaviour. “If you want me to leave, I’ll leave this gang for good.”

“Don’t talk back to me!” Gilbert exclaimed, as he aimed his pistol at Justin’s forehead. “My gang members don’t leave my gang; they only leave this world,” he threatened Justin.

“So go ahead!” Justin spoke bravely, “kill me!”

Justin knew Gilbert would never shoot his best member. Gilbert’s eyes were filled with rage but he eventually put his gun down.

“Gilbert, I think it was an entrapment. The cops must have planned the entire deal in order get our men and those American gangsters arrested,” Linda spoke.

Justin moved aside and sat on the sofa.

“Look guys, I don’t know who was behind this,” Gilbert said and added, “But this gang war between the police and our men is a big loss. Our men who are under arrest might reveal our secrets. The NYPD can extract all the information with thorough interrogation.”

“What information?” Justin yelled out. “What information are you so worried about? Those members knew nothing. They have nothing to reveal.”

“But they all knew about this location of ours. What if they reveal this?”

“You’re right,” Linda commented. “We must do something. I mean we should leave this building or something.”

Gilbert looked at Justin waiting for his suggestion but Justin remained silent. There was complete silence for a moment. Then Justin stood up to leave and said, “The traitor is in our gang. It’s someone amongst us.”

********

Next morning inside the police station, Detective Kennedy punched a criminal right on his face.

“Who is your boss? Who do you work for?” the angry detective asked.

The terrified criminal replied, “Gilbert Brown.”

“I knew it. Now tell me, why did he send you there? What were you assigned to do?” he asked him again.

“We had to attack the Hungarians.” This time the criminal lied.

“And who is this guy?” Detective Kennedy showed him a photograph.

The photograph was possibly taken through a CCTV camera inside the mall.

The criminal looked at the photograph and recognised the face in it. It was Justin.

“Who is he?” the detective asked again.

“His name is Justin McElroy,” the criminal answered. “He was the one who lead us here and is the closest to Gilbert. In fact, he is his right hand.”

Detective Kennedy was amazed. He looked at the photograph and said, “Is that so?”

He immediately got an idea and decided to do something.

*******

The same evening while Jackson and Diane watched TV, Jackson received a phone call.

“Hello?” he answered.

He heard something from the other line for several seconds and his eyes were wide open. He got tensed and anxious after what he had just heard and immediately asked Diane to switch to a news channel. A stunned Diane immediately did as she was told.

They both saw Justin’s face plastered all over the screen and the breaking news read:

“The Right Hand of Mob Boss Gilbert Brown is NYPD’s New Suspect”

The news flashed on every other channel and Justin’s face absolutely clear in the photograph. Jackson and Diane were shocked at what they had just seen.

“This can’t be true!” Diane said while looking at her husband. “I mean can your brother be involved in such criminal activities?”

Jackson switched off the television and didn’t answer Diane; but she asked him again, “They are saying that your brother works for Gilbert Brown. Is he capable of such activities?”

“Unfortunately, he is,” he replied walking away slowly, “We both are.”

“What do you mean by that?” she said in a surprised tone.

“It’s in our blood.”

“Blood?” she got confused.

“My father John McElroy was a small-time thief. He had another crime partner and they both made their living by serving criminals. They were servants to different crime lords.”

“And your mother?”

“She knew about his work and never stopped him from doing so.”

“Why?”

“Because we were very poor. We needed money.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me about this?”

“I was afraid,” he said looking at his wife. “I thought, I might lose you.”

“No, I would have never left you because of this.”

“The story’s not over yet. One day, my father and his partner stole a gun from the criminals they worked for. My father’s partner held the gun while they were running away from that place. Unexpectedly, a cop caught them. They were frightened, in fact, they panicked. So my father’s partner shot him.”

“Oh God!”

“And it was that day after which my father turned into a dangerous criminal. He and his partner were not just thieves, they became serial killers too.”

“What happened then?”

“One day, my father’s partner...” Jackson spoke in a tender voice, “he betrayed dad. Just for the sake of money... he killed our dad.”

“Oh no! Really?”

Jackson closed his eyes and tears fell down his eyes.

“I’m really sorry to hear this. Honey, let’s forget all this and…”

“There’s something else you need to know. And before I tell you that, you must know that it will leave you completely shocked.”

“What is it?” Diane asked Jackson.

********

Linda was in the same building where Gilbert’s room was located but she was in a different room. Another female member of their gang was in the same room. Linda looked outside the window and said, “The cops are looking everywhere for Justin. They now want him more than Gilbert.”

“Why?”

“Because they have a warrant for his arrest along with proof that he is a criminal. They actually don’t have any proof to convict Gilbert as the criminal.”

“Oh!”

“These cops should have killed Justin that day, because that’s what I wanted.”

“What?” the other female member was left surprised after hearing what Linda said.

“Yes, it was me,” Linda answered with an evil tone. “I called the cops with an anonymous number and told them that Gilbert Brown’s men were about to get there. My sole purpose was to have Justin arrested or dead. But unfortunately, he was too smart and cunning for them.”

“Wait... if you wanted to have him killed then why did you... weren’t you the one who brought him in our gang?”

“Yes, that’s true. But I didn’t realise that he’ll get so close to Gilbert in such a short time. I could not accept that. If that mission would have been successful, Justin would have received a higher position in the gang and I had to stop that from happening, so I backstabbed them.”

“But Linda, didn’t you realise that this could have gotten Gilbert in trouble. Some of our men who are in the police custody might just reveal everything about us after interrogation.”

“I don’t care. In fact, that’s what I want. I just want to acquire the entire business and run away. If Gilbert gets arrested or killed in the process, I won’t grieve about it.”

“So you’re planning to dump us all?”

“Don’t worry Gia, you’re my friend. I won’t betray you. You and I will walk out together. The only thing we need is Gilbert’s laptop.”

“Why do we need that?”

“That black laptop has all the information I need. Everything about where he has hidden all the wealth and important documents.”

“But I thought he had already shared that with you.”

“He hasn’t. He lies to you all that he has shared it with me. But the truth is that the entire information is only in his laptop. What’s surprising is that he hasn’t set any password for that laptop. He just always keeps it closer to himself and obviously we all are too afraid to even glance at something that’s kept too close to him.”

“Like Justin,” she spoke with sarcasm.

“Oh Justin, don’t worry about him. I’ll kill him with my own hands. Trust me, I’m not afraid to kill him or Gilbert. It’s just a matter of time. Someone has to die.”

*******

The following day inside Gilbert’s room, Justin, Linda and a few other important gang members were standing. For a whole ten minutes, Gilbert remained silent in an attempt to frighten everyone. Then he picked up a glass and threw it to the ground, leaving the members terrified.

“It’s someone among you,” he shouted pointing his finger towards all of them. “I know it. There’s someone who is working as a police informer here. And I’m going to find out who that person is.”

Everyone stood silent. Justin showed no sign of fear and despite being the culprit, Linda remained calm.

“The moment I find out who’s ratting us out, I won’t spare him or anyone who’s supporting him,” he yelled.

Justin kept his cell phone on the table and left the room in an attempt to disrespect Gilbert. On the other hand, Gilbert got angry seeing him leave but he didn’t stop him because he knew that his answers would only insult him in front of his own gang.

Linda looked at Justin’s cell phone and walked towards it to pick it up. She turned around to see whether Justin was coming back or not and she went through the gallery, she found an interesting video clip that left her surprised.

to be continued...

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