Two days later at 11 in the morning, all the gang members stood inside Gilbert’s room. Linda had all her attention on his black laptop kept on the table because she knew that it had all the important information regarding his business and property. Linda had planned everything she would do as soon as the cops arrive. She had decided to get hold of this laptop and escape.

“We are soon going to change our business and I have decided that it will now be public,” Gilbert started to speak.

But Linda wasn’t concentrating on what he said, instead looked around for Justin, who was not present at the meeting. She knew that her entire day’s plan would be useless if Justin doesn’t show up at the meeting. However, she thought of using something else as an opportunity and get hold of the priceless laptop kept on the table.

Gilbert was done with his message and asked, “Does anyone have any questions?”

Some members raised their hands and did ask him a few questions. Linda, on the other hand, was only concerned to get the laptop and flee, since she knew that the cops would arrive there at any time now.

Linda received a text message on her cell phone and checked to see the sender. It was Jackson and she silently read his message, “I’ve informed the cops, they’re about to get there.”

Oh God! She said to herself. Where is Justin? He must get here or my plan will fail.

They all heard a knock on the room’s door. Linda instantly turned to see if it was Justin. Gilbert gestured one of his men to go and answer the door. One of the gang members walked towards the door and opened it without checking through the peep hole. The person standing outside kicked open the door as the doorknob slid. More than five men entered inside the room together and started firing with their guns. They were cops from NYPD. Everyone inside got alert and took out their guns. The cops shot two gang members, while more cops emerged through the door. Detective Kennedy was the last one to enter inside. He was also firing and held two hand guns. It was a huge cross fire so Linda took advantage of the situation and rushed towards the laptop. She almost picked it up but someone kept their hand over it and did not let her take it away. Linda looked up to see Justin trying to resist to her move. He shook his head and looked at her sternly. Linda left the laptop and ran towards a safer direction.

Gilbert ran away in a bid to cover his head and face, and made his way towards the secret elevator, in order to escape. The crossfire worsened and many criminals got injured. Detective Kennedy’s eyes were only looking for Justin and Gilbert. He wanted them alive and before entering inside he had instructed everyone to not shoot the two of them.

One of the police officers looked at the laptop on the desk and rushed towards it. He picked it up immediately but got shot from behind by Linda, as she stood close by. But another police officer standing behind Linda’s held his gun on her head and she dropped her weapon. The police officer didn’t harm her but picked up the laptop from the ground and helped the injured police officer.

Inside the elevator in the same building, Gilbert stood worried and upset. He felt as if his several years of struggle had gone to waste. Who is behind this? He wondered. I guess I’ll never find out. I don’t know what’s in my control anymore. All I need to do right now is run for my life.

The elevator’s door opened before they reached the ground floor. It was Justin standing outside and as soon as Gilbert saw him, he took a sigh of relief. Justin stepped inside the elevator and saw Gilbert completely panicked.

“I just don’t believe it. I just don’t get it. Who has done this to us?” Gilbert asked him in a worried tone. But Justin remained silent and didn’t respond.

“Justin, I got to tell you… after we escape, we must hire new men and find a new place,” Gilbert said to Justin.

The next thing Gilbert heard was a gunshot and felt a bullet entering inside his body. Justin had shot him straight on his chest.

“Why?” Gilbert asked in shock.

“Your partner John… was my father.”

Gilbert closed his eyes and recalled the moment he betrayed John.

“Now you understand,” Justin continued, “why I joined your gang.”

Gilbert took his last breath and finally closed his eyes. The lift opened and Justin made his way outside.

Meanwhile, Detective Kennedy stood inside the building and instructed his men using his walkie talkie, “Gilbert and Justin have escaped the building. I need you to follow them.”

“Copy that!” one of his men responded form the other side.

Linda hid inside the room.

Everything’s over, and it’s all because of me. Now I must save my own life at least. She said to herself.

She called Jackson on the phone and waited for him to answer the call. But it was Diane who answered the call.

“Yes?”

“Is it Diane?” Linda asked.

“Yes, Linda.”

“Alright here’s the deal, tell Jackson to call Justin and ask him to come over to your place.”

“We tried that but he’s not answering our calls.”

“Come on, please keep trying.”

“We’ll see,” Diane said and disconnected the call.

Linda was furious and wanted to harm the couple. But she was not sure whether Justin would visit them or not. She got fed up with how things turned out and decided to kill both, Jackson and Diane. She peeked outside the room and noticed that the sound of gun shots had stopped. All of the criminals inside were under arrest now.

I guess I was lucky today. She wondered.

Justin rushed towards a white Porsche outside the building. A member of his gang was already sitting inside. Justin tells him everything and asks him to leave the place quickly. The cops that stood at a distance saw Justin sitting inside the white vehicle and one of the cops shouted, “Follow him! Quickly!”

The cops sat inside their vehicles and followed the white Porche.

Meanwhile inside the building, Linda managed to find a way and escaped from the building. She rushed outside empty handed and on the way found a pistol on the ground. She picked it up and said, “I will kill Jackson and Diane, even if it’s the last thing I’ll do.”

This was her hasty and pointless decision but she had to do it because things didn’t work out her way.

The white Porsche rode too fast and the cops eventually lost its sight; as if it had disappeared. The car was parked inside a lane, as if to hide. Justin stepped outside the car and asked the other gang member to leave. The driver inside accelerated the vehicle and came back on the road. The car was then visible to the cops again and this time, they vigilantly followed the criminal. They thought it was Justin who was driving the car but they were wrong.

The police vehicles’ drivers were being given instructions.

“We have to catch him today, by all means. Do not let him get away!”

After a few minutes, a truck appeared in front of the car and an accident took place. The truck’s oil leaked all over the car. A gunshot fired by the police caused an explosion on the spot and the vehicle was blown away in the blast.

***********

Several hours later during the evening, Detective Kennedy stood near the accident’s spot and looked upset. He saw the fire extinguishing trucks trying to douse the fire.

“This was not supposed to happen!” he yelled, leaving the cops frightened by his anger.

“Sir, we have good news,” his assistant said and handed over his cell phone to him.

Detective Kennedy answered the call.

“Hello!” he said.

“Sir, Gilbert Brown is dead.” A police officer spoke on the other line.

“But we have acquired his laptop that contains details regarding his business clients, suppliers and other people.”

“Really?” the detective asked with delight.

“Other than this, most of his men are under arrest and the rest are shot dead.”

“Alright, thank you for informing.”

He disconnected the call and handed it over to his assistant. He smiled and said, “Congratulations! Our mission is successful,” he said and immediately left the spot.

************

That evening, Linda was headed towards Jackson’s home in a taxi. Her mind constantly wandered about pointless decision to kill Jackson and Diane, for it would only create more trouble for her. Her phone started ringing and it was Jackson who was calling her.

“Yes?” she answered the call.

“Justin’s here, at our house,” Jackson told Linda.

“Really?” she got delighted.

“Yes, but I can’t keep him here for a longer time. You must get here quick.”

“Alright, I’m on my way,” Linda said disconnecting the call. All she had on her mind now was to kill Justin in his brother’s house, as he was the core reason behind everything.

Thirty minutes later, Linda was at a coffee shop near Jackson’s house. Her gun was in a handbag that she had just stolen from somebody. Within few minutes, she paid her bill and prepared to leave. But before that she heard a breaking news on the TV.

“The Infamous Criminals Gilbert Brown and Justin MacElroy both Died in an Encounter Today”

She stopped and went back inside. Then walked closer towards the TV and heard the newscaster saying:

“Gilbert was found murdered by one of his own men today. His hideout was exposed and his entire team of criminals is under police custody. Justin, on the other hand, escaped but died in a car explosion according to police reports.”

“Oh my God!” she uttered. “Gilbert’s dead?!”

She then walked towards the exit but suddenly stopped and recalled the newscaster reading out the news of Justin’s death.

“Justin died according to police reports, which means Jackson and Diane are lying to me.”

She got extremely furious and took out her gun from the handbag and held it in front of everyone at the coffee shop.

**************

Back at Jackson’s home, Diane was waiting for Linda to show up. Their doorbell rang and she went to answer the door. As expected, it was Linda. She had kept one hand behind, as if trying to hide something.

“Come on in,” Diane invited Linda inside their house.

Linda gently made her way inside and looked back at Diane. Suddenly, someone snatched her weapon and held her hand tightly. She immediately turned and shouted, “Justin!”

He dropped the magazine of the gun and kicked it so hard that it landed at a distance. The gun was still in his hand, but he threw it as well towards another direction. Linda was in shock.

“So you tricked the cops again?” she asked him, looking straight into his eyes.

He smiled.

“Where’s Jackson?” Linda asked looking around.

“Standing right in front of you,” Diane answered her question.

“Oh please!” Linda replied looking back at her. “Do you think I’m stupid? I can recognise the two of them easily. I know he’s Jackson.”

Justin took off the wig he wore and showed his shorter hair. Now he looked like Jackson.

“How about now?” he asked Linda mockingly.

Linda was surprised and confused. She began to understand but couldn’t put it in words.

This was when Jackson spoke. “Yes, there were no twin brothers. Justin and I were always the same person. Justin never really existed. It was me Jackson. I had been playing his part all this time.”

“Oh God!” Linda spoke in utter shock.

“The purpose of this game was to create a criminal personality who would die in front of the cops and remove his label of being the most wanted criminal forever.”

“Oh my God!” Linda gaped “But wait… why did you do this? What was your motive?”

“Jackson,” Diane interrupted. “Tell her everything from the beginning.”

“Sure,” Jackson began, “First of all, I wanted to impress you. The thief who had stolen from your gang the other day was my man. He brought you to the local casino because I wanted to impress you. Trying to impress you was important because you were my key to Gilbert’s gang. I had to join him by all means.”

“For what? Money?” Linda asked curiously.

“No, not money. Revenge. I wanted to take revenge. A long time ago my father used to work for criminals and Gilbert was his partner. He backstabbed my dad and killed him. Then he earned enough money to gamble. Gradually, he became a crime lord and then the king of New York’s criminal mafia.”

There was silence for a moment.

“My purpose was always to avenge my father’s death. I kept it a secret from everyone; even my wife.”

“Yes,” Diane added. “He didn’t even tell me. He made me believe that he had a twin brother and he told me this truth the day his face was exposed on TV. That night he told me his plan of revenge and also that his brother never existed.”

Linda closed her eyes feeling defeated.

“And that video clip the was shown to you on purpose. I wanted to find out who was traitor in our gang. So I deliberately left my cell phone the other day. Because I knew the traitor would check it and then try to find Justin’s twin brother. That was the only way to find out who the traitor was,” Jackson told her.

“My husband is victorious today,” Diane said.

Jackson smiled back at her and spoke, “No, we are victorious.”

It was a moment of pride for them.

Depressed and agitated, Linda left.

Jackson chuckled while he spoke to his wife, “She doesn’t know about the surprise that we have planned for her outside.”

Linda held her head tightly and rushed outside towards the road until she saw two cops aiming their guns at her, while shouting, “You are under arrest!”