Dial ‘H’ for Heist

  • 26 Dec - 01 Jan, 2021
  • Salaar Laghari
  • Fiction

Harold and Steve were standing face to face. Steve said to him,

“I’m really grateful to you. You have been so kind.”

“Not a problem.”

Steve walked towards the exit of the house, but before moving outside, he asked,

“When can we meet again?”

“Give me your number, I’ll call you.”

“How about you give me your number, and I can call you?”

“Sorry kid, I’m a wanted person. I can’t trust someone that easily. Maybe I can trust you, but people may track your calls, I can’t trust them.”

“Okay, but very honestly speaking, I don’t think anybody knows that I am with you here, right now.”

“It’s alright kid, I’m giving you my word, and I’ll call you someday soon. We will meet again. But I need one promise from you.”

“I promise you, whatever you’ll ask for I’m promising in advance.”

“Okay, then I want the promise that you will never again ask me about why I gave up my profession, as you did before.”

Steve got speechless as he couldn’t make this promise. Harold asked,

“Do you promise?”

“Okay…I promise,” Steve replied reluctantly.

“Great. We’ll meet again, soon.”

“Can you please give me a paper and a pen? So I can write my number.”

“Sure.”

Harold who fortunately had a small paper and pen on a rack nearby handed them over to him.

Next minute, the two shook hands. Steve thanked him again and then he left the house.

Harold who shut the door wondered in his thoughts,

I hope that I won’t regret this kindness of mine someday.

Steve who stepped outside in the darkness was more than just excited. He was unable to believe for a moment what had just happened.

He immediately rushed outside.

Several minutes later, while Steve was standing outside on the road, he sat on the footpath and said with his eyes blinking yet wide open,

I had been waiting for this day almost all my life. I never knew this day would be so pleasing and memorable.

He stood up and asked himself,

Will he ever call me again? I think he would. But this is not enough. There was something else that I wanted.

He was more than just excited, and could not make his decisions wisely. He then said realising he was demanding a little more than what he deserved,

I think instead of asking for more, I should thank God that he made it really easy for me. Harold could have been very angry, but God melted his heart. I should be thankful for this day.

He prepared to leave. He walked towards his bike thinking that he should not waste any more time and go straight to his home.

Meanwhile back inside Harold’s house, he unboxed the sweets box that Steve just brought for him and then said,

Seemed like a nice and decent boy. Immature though.

He picked up the box and placed it inside the refrigerator nearby. He then said in his thoughts,

I never knew I would be so admired, because in fact I am inhuman. I have no right to be labelled as a nice person.

He walked towards the mirror placed in his room and while looking at his’ reflection he thought,

You are ashamed of yourself. You are so guilty that you can’t even unmask yourself and look at your own face.

He slowly started weeping inside his heart. As he shut his eyes, he remembered some moments of his life.

In his flashback of a few seconds, he remembered screaming of some woman. Second thing he saw was falling down of an elevator. The last thing he saw was two kids of around five years of age, badly crying.

He then, opened his eyes and said holding his mask through both hands and said,

Oh, God! This hurts way too much. I have been beating myself about this since the past two years; and my pain is not

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

Next day, inside a big building, the mob of eight men was waiting for their leader. The room had glass walls and an amazing view of the city could be seen through.

Bruno Bullocks, a dark skinned, average heighted man came inside the room. He was wearing a grey suit and black shades as usual. Before sitting on the sofa, he took off his glasses and asked,

“Is everybody here?”

“Yes,” one of the members replied.

“I don’t think so; I think there is one less.”

“He’s here but he’s in the toilet.”

Bruno got a little annoyed and took out his hand gun. The team members got agitated. He however, then said,

“If you want this meeting to be painful, then let him stay there. But if you want to get done with this calmly then, do not delay it.”

One of the members stood up immediately and rushed to bring their missing member.

Bruno looked at him go and said to everyone,

“This meeting is very important for all of us. If we don’t understand the objective of today’s meeting then, there can be serious consequences.”

After a few seconds, he saw both the members coming, and so he began without wasting any time further,

“Alright, we are here for a very special purpose. And that purpose is none other than winning back our pride.”

The team members listened to him carefully and he continued,

“Our pride is in getting revenge from Harold. That fox ruined my reputation like never before. Five years back, we were a successful team. We had an entire industry associated to ourselves and now, we are nothing… This guy stole from me and exposed us in front of the world through the media.”

He was very angry and so he got silent for a moment, trying to calm himself down. He continued,

“We have two difficulties ahead of us now. We are hiding from media reporters, and secondly, there’s a huge amount that needs to be recovered. And if we are successful with our upcoming mission then, we can accomplish both of these things.”

Some of the team members nodded. Bruno stood up and started walking. He continued his speech,

“We need to understand that this job is not easy. There is a long journey ahead, but if we want our reputation restored, then we’ll have to do this.”

One of the team members raised his hand. Bruno stopped speaking and gave a gesture of asking him to speak up. That member asked,

“Do you think that we’ll ever be able to find him?”

“Coming to the point, that was exactly what I was assigning you guys to do today. I want you all to spread across the city and find him at any cost.”

“It’s not that easy sir. Since two years there’s been no sign of him. Even the cops are looking out for him and they have no clue about him.”

“So, what are you implying?”

“I’m just wondering, what if he’s not alive anymore?”

“Look if he’s not alive anymore, then it’s our luck. But if he is, I do not want to find myself regretful in the future. Look, if you’re suggesting that he’s not alive then, I have no problem as long as you can prove it. Just prove it to me that he’s dead, give me every detail about it, and then I’ll be fine with it.”

“Okay.”

“But if he is alive, then I want him. Because you know who we were before he entered our lives.”

“We were successful industrialists and had our own chemical power plants.”

“Exactly…And what are we now?” Bruno demanded an answer.

“Look, whatever we are…”

“No! Answer me, where are we today?”

“Listen please; you have to understand that there was a traitor in our gang who sold us away.”

“He did and we figured him out.”

Since their argument was increasing, another one of the members stood up and said,

“Look you guys, please. We have to sort this out like adults.”

Bruno stood up angrily and said,

“I’m leaving now, and you all are assigned to find Harold. He stole our machinery first, and then our reputation. Now, I am going to steal his’ future. You all have to find him immediately.”

Bruno turned around and left the room.

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

Few Days Later

While Steve was sleeping on his bed, he heard his cell phone ringing. As he woke up, he answered the call without even reading the number,

“Hello?”

“Hey kid, it’s me Harold.”

Steve’s eyes opened out wide and he sat up straight. He said,

“Mr Harold, hi, how are you? I can’t believe you called.”

“Yeah, so anyways, if you are available today, you can come over.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I’ll show you some of my greatest heists in a video.”

“Oh, that would be great!” Steve said very getting excited.

“Yeah, come before evening.”

“Sure, I will sir. Thank you, thank you very much sir.”

The call disconnected.

Four hours later, Steve knocked Harold’s house door. Harold with his face like mask came and answered the door. He saw that Steve was holding a box of sweets, and so he said,

“Oh dear! You shouldn’t have.”

Steve handed it over to him and Harold said,

“Thank you.”

As Steve was walking inside, Harold said to him,

“Okay, you can go and sit in the living room. Turn on the television, I’ll join you.”

“Sure, thank you.”

Steve was very happy that Harold was being so polite and was listening to everything so politely.

Steve sat on the sofa but did not touch the TV’s remote.

Harold came after a while holding a glass of soft drink. Steve borrowed it from him and thanked him. Harold sat on the sofa and said,

“So, what’s up? How’s life?”

“Everything’s good, as long as I am with you.”

Harold chuckled and asked,

“So, what is it that you like about heists and bank jobs? I mean I had been thinking about how a guy of your age can feel motivated about this stuff.”

“Sir, I have followed you for quite a long time now. The way you plan the entire crime and then how you and your team members escape. It is just marvelous.”

“So, you want to be a con artist?”

“If that’s what you call it sir,” Steve replied.

Harold chuckled and said,

“Look, I’m sorry things won’t happen that way. If we would have met a long time ago,

I would have definitely made you a part of my team. But now it is all over.”

“But why? Okay, forget it. I’m just suggesting that can’t you give it all another try? You know, lets change it a bit; we’ll be escape artists we’ll rescue people. Damsels in distress, you know?”

“I know what you mean kid, but the thing is that I am…I am…”

Seeing that he couldn’t speak further, Steve asked him,

“What is it? You seem so uneasy.”

“It’s just that I am deeply broken hearted. I have a dark past. There are things about me that no one really knows.”

Seeing that Harold was getting uncomfortable, Steve changed the mode of conversation,

“Alright, show me some of your greatest works.”

“Sure,” Harold said picking up the remote and switching on the television.

After some clicks, the video played where Harold was seated in some computer room and had headphones on. In the video, he was listening to his men who were out there for a robbery.

Harold said to Steve,

“I never did my job with the help of my body, my mind did. I always instructed my men about what they need to do, what needs to be carried out further and how they must manage their escape afterwards.”

“Wow, that’s impressive!”

That moment, he heard his landline phone ringing. He was shaken for a second but then he supposed that it could be one of his men.

Harold stood up and walked towards the phone. He turned on the loudspeaker. The voice from the other line said,

“Harold, it’s me Jake, you have to get out of your house right now.”

“What?” Harold said recognising his friend’s voice.

“Trust me, the cops have found your location. They are headed towards your house.”

“What? Who told them? How did this happen?” Harold asked getting panicked.

“This is no time for question answers; they will be there at your location, any moment.”

to be continued...

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