Steve called out loudly,

“Mr Harold?Where are you?”

He looked around and he couldn’t find his friend anywhere. In that instant moment, the criminal who worked for Bruno came out, stood by him and asked,

“Where is he?”

“Excuse me?” Steve asked him feeling weird.

“Where is Harold? He was with you right now.”

“And who are you?”

That criminal grabbed Steve’s collar and said,

“Don’t play games with me kid; I am in no mood today. I am here to hunt this guy Harold.”

Steve held his hand tightly and removed it from his collar saying,

“For your information, that guy Harold is not with me.”

“What are you talking about? I saw you two chatting right now.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Saying this Steve pushed this guy through both hands on his chest. That criminal fell backwards badly as there was chair behind him. Steve opportunistically ran away as fast as he could. Steve escaped the place and ran towards the subway.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Steve reached outside Harold’s residence. He ran towards the underground basement hoping that Harold was okay.

Steve ran as fast as he could even though there was darkness inside. He however stopped outside Harold’s house and said after knocking

the door,

“Mr Harold! Are you in there?”

As there was no response, he knocked again.

“Mr Harold!” he called out loudly.

He kept on knocking until the door finally opened and Harold came outside with his mask on.

“Oh, thank God. Where have you been?”

“I came back,” Harold answered. “I’m sorry, I had to escape.”

“You really scared me

back there.”

“Again, I’m sorry. Thank you for coming. You can come in, but I want to be alone for the moment, so we won’t talk.”

Steve felt a bit offended but he entered inside as Harold made way for him to get inside.

Steve walked inside the house and said to himself,

Alright, I can stay here as long as he allows me to. But I really want him to move on with his life and that’s what he needs to do.

Steve asked him,

“Can I watch one of your heists on this TV?”

“You can.”

Meanwhile at Bruno’s office, he slapped his criminal who was at the restaurant earlier and said,

“You lost him? How could you?”

Bruno then pushed him angrily and asked,

“Didn’t I tell you to keep your eyes on him?”

One of Bruno’s team

members said,

“It’s not a big deal sir, we have his address. We can find him there somewhere, he just can’t go away.”

“No,” Bruno said turning back and looking at him, “I was very close. We were very close, and this idiot lost him.”

“There was this young adult with him,” the criminal said.

“What?”

“I saw him with this boy. He was around twenty five or something. The issue is that the kid seemed tough, he pushed me really hard and I fell backwards.”

“Look, I don’t care,” Bruno said getting irritated. “I want all of you to go now and spread across their colony.”

The team members started walking towards the exit of the room and Bruno gave his final instructions,

“No one should have any weapon. I want you all to bring him alive to me. If I find him dead, all of you shall die.”

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

Next afternoon, Mr Kingsley came to Steve’s room and as he opened the door, he saw that Steve was sleeping in his room. Mr Kingsley worriedly said,

I wonder where he goes

every day.

He shut the door and walked towards another direction thinking whether he should ask him or not.

After a while, Steve woke and sat up on his bed.

A minute later, as he came outside his room to drink some water, his father called him from some distance,

“Stevenson.”

Steve looked at his father and uttered,

“Yeah?”

His father came walking towards him and asked,

“I was just curious as to where you go these days. You spend most of your time outside your house. Where exactly do you go?”

“I have friends,” he lied. “I have different friends and I pay them visits.”

“Oh, I see. But you should spend time with your parents as well.”

“Sure. Sure, I will.”

Later that day, while Steve was in his room, he kept his cell phone on charging. As he turned and walked towards the other direction, he heard his phone ringing. He answered the call,

“Hello?”

The call got disconnected.

“Hello?” he said again.

He then checked the caller’s ID and saw that it was some unknown number, he dialed the same number and as his call was answered, he said raising his voice,

“Hello?”

Since there was no response, he said it even louder,

“Hello? Who is it?”

The call got disconnected again.

Meanwhile at some other corner of the city, Bruno and his computer expert were on the other line. The computer expert said,

“We have tracked down that kid who was with Harold the other day. Now, if we can keep an eye on where he goes, we can track Harold’s house the next time he pays him a visit.”

“Perfect, that’s just perfect. Now we need to keep our men on different spots of that street.”

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

Three Days Later

Bradshaw was at his office and he was looking at Harold’s printed photograph on his table. He was quite furious and he was wondering in his thoughts,

“I want this man by all means. My success is tied with his arrest. I want him, dead or alive doesn’t matter. But if I don’t catch him, my purpose of joining this department would go wasted.”

Bradshaw’s door began to knock. He shouted angrily,

“Who is it?”

His close assistant opened the door and asked for permission to enter inside,

“Can I come inside?”

“What do you want?”

His assistant realised that he was more upset that usual, so he said,

“It’s okay, I’ll come afterwards.”

Bradshaw didn’t respond and said in his thoughts,

“Stupid workers of mine, they don’t understand why I am looking forward to get my hands on Harold. But I can also not let them.”

He looked at Harold’s picture and crumpled it holding the face side.

That evening, Steve knocked Harold’s door. Harold came and answered the door. The first thing Steve said was,

“I’m so glad that you called me.”

“Yeah, I was alone. I enjoy your company. Come inside please.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Steve happily walked inside.

A minute later, while the two of them were seated on the opposite sofas, Steve asked Him,

“So how do you feel about your past now?”

“I don’t know, it still haunts me but I am better though.”

“Okay.”

“I used to think; maybe I wasn’t responsible for what happened. All I needed was a second opinion.”

“Yes, so you know now that it wasn’t purely your mistake, the woman was at fault too.”

“I guess so.”

There was silence for a few seconds until Harold said,

“So what are we doing now? Are we watching a movie of mine?”

“Yes, of course,” Steve replied. “And after that we will decide on how we can continue this profession.”

“I don’t know,” Harold answered picking up the TV’s remote.

Harold turned on the television.

While Harold was switching to the video clips, Steve said,

“I like that you have utilised the latest technology in every aspect.”

Harold responded,

“I know, I was quite wealthy you know.”

“Tell me something though, how exactly do you earn?”

“I work as a freelancer.”

“Freelancer?” Steve asked.

“Yup.”

“No, but I’m just wondering that how come you earn so much through freelancing.”

“I don’t make much.”

“No, I mean about the time when you were rich. Two years back, how did you generate income that covered such huge expenses? You told me that you never made any income through what you steal.”

“Yes, not even a single penny.”

“Then how come?”

“How come what?”

“How did you earn back then?”

“Oh, well, I was an IT engineer.”

“I see.”

“I had access to multiple software and applications.”

“Do you still have those accesses?”

“I suppose. Why?”

“I’m just saying that we could start of all this again. I don’t see why you can’t move on. You can and you can then continue your previous…”

Steve stopped speaking as he couldn’t use words further.

Harold said anyway,

“Look, you’re right. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t, but I can’t take that risk again.”

“No, it was a onetime thing. Accidents like these do not happen every day.”

The house’ door started knocking.

“Oh, my God!” Steve said. “Who could it be?”

“Don’t worry, it is my stunt double. I called him.”

Harold stood up and before leaving he said,

“Stay here, I’ll just talk to him for a while and then he’ll leave.”

“Okay.”

Harold walked towards the door in a slow speed.

Meanwhile, Steve talked to himself:

I have to convince him. He needs to understand that he can continue his job, even if he wants to do it without me.

After several minutes, Steve turned and saw the stunt man standing. Steve turned ahead again and said,

His stunt double does not resemble by face but he does resemble with height and width.

After a while, Steve heard Harold coming back and asked,

“All good?”

“Yeah, he came. He just needed some money.”

“I see,” Steve responded looking ahead.

“So, where were we?”

“I don’t know, anyways we were watching that video clip

I suppose.”

“Yes.”

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

Next morning, Bruno was sleeping on his office’ couch when one of his men came and said,

“Sir, please wake up. We have good news for you.”

Bruno opened his eyes.

“You have to see this.”

Bruno sat up and after stretching himself a little he asked,

“What is it?”

“Harold’s house, we have found it.”

“What? You have found his house?”

“Yes, the location is clear

before us.”

“Really?”

Bruno stood up and asked,

“Alright, how do you know it is his house?”

“First of all, you do remember that we had tracked that kid’s phone?”

“Yes, Steve’s.”

“So yesterday, this kid went to that location we were sure about. And then he spent around two hours at Harold’s house.”

“But how do you know it was Harold’s house?” Bruno cross questioned.

“Who else’ house it be? We saw Harold spending time with that kid, remember?”

“Has anyone among our team members actually approached his house to make sure they are headed the

right way?”

“No, we are waiting for your signal.”

“Alright fine, do one thing okay. Set two of our men somewhere closer to that house. Harold would sooner or later go out for grocery shopping or something. The moment they see him, they’ll just have to send me one text. I won’t delay any further; we all will capture him real soon.”

“Alright, done.”

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

Next evening, Mrs Greenwood was walking in the streets looking for some address. She was actually looking for her husband who had dumped her for quite a long time.

While she was walking by the bungalows, she saw one of the security guards coming towards her asking,

“May I help you ma’am?”

“I am looking for Mr Greenwood. I’ve been told he lives around here somewhere.”

“Oh…Well, I can show you his house, but I got to tell you that he doesn’t live here. He comes and pays a visit once a month.”

“Do you have his number? Can you call him please?”

“I don’t have his number but I can ask someone to. Are you related to him?”

“Yes, he is my husband,” Mrs Greenwood replied.

“Okay, I’ll take you to his bungalow. Follow me.”

The security guard walked ahead and Mrs Greenwood followed him.

After a few minutes, while Mrs Greenwood was standing alone by the bungalow, the same security guard came to her and said,

“I have talked to your husband. He is coming over to meet you here.”

“Thank you.”

Half an hour later, Mr Greenwood came in a black Mercedes. As he opened the door, he pointed his hand gun towards Mrs Greenwood without even showing his face.

“Oh, my God!” Mrs Greenwood uttered with fear.

to be continued...