Dial ‘H’ for Heist

  • 23 Jan - 29 Jan, 2021
  • Salaar Laghari
  • Fiction

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.

Mr Greenwood stepped outside and he was none other than Lieutenant Bradshaw.

His wife Mrs Greenwood was shivering with fear.

“How did you find me?” Bradshaw asked pointing his gun towards her.

“I am your wife!” she exclaimed.

“Shut up!”

Bradshaw looked around making sure no one was watching them so he said,

“Alright, fine! Come with me.”

He walked towards the gate of his house and said,

“Come with me inside.”

He took out a key set from inside his pocket and said,

“We’ll talk for a while. But then you’ll have to leave this city.”

Five minutes later, the two of them were standing inside the dark house that was extremely dusty as if it hadn’t been cleansed for so many years.

“What do you want from me?” Bradshaw asked her.

“You have changed your identity. Nobody knows this except me.”

“Look, I am doing whatever I want to. If you need money for survival I’ll give you, but then you’ll have to leave forever.”

“Who am I for you?”

“Nothing.”

“Do you think I don’t know about your deeds? Do you think that I don’t know that you are the one because of whom my child died that night.”

“Shut up!”

“Under the elevator.”

“What?” Bradshaw asked angrily. “How do you know?”

“I know it. I know everything.”

“Don’t get me angry. My gun is loaded. I will literally shoot you.”

“Oh yes, of course. When you can kill our daughter that easily, why can’t you kill me. That’s obvious.”

“What do you know about that night?” he asked aiming the weapon towards her.

“I know that you were the one who disconnected the elevator’s wire and it was because of you that it fell over our daughter.”

“Alright, now listen to me. I did not know that back then. I did not know that you two were there. I was just trying to trap Harold.”

“You didn’t know? You sent me a text that evening. You knew we were there.”

Bradshaw was left speechless. His wife said,

“You killed our daughter on purpose, say it.”

“Alright, fine! I did it. But I had nothing against you two. My target was Harold. I wanted him.”

“Nobody knows where he is. And since that night, he has given up all his criminal activities.”

“That’s not my concern. I want him in front of me. I joined the police department with sole purpose of having him in my custody.”

“Why?”

“That is not your concern. Look if you know everything about me then you better keep your mouth shut.”

“The only thing that can shut my mouth is that bullet inside your gun.”

Bradshaw angrily reloaded his weapon and said,

“Maybe you want me to, isn’t that right?”

“You can kill me, but trust me my death will cause you nothing more than trouble.”

“Oh, really?”

“I have issued a restraining order against you.”

Bradshaw got really angry and shot the gun on air twice.

He said to her,

“You stay here forever.”

He turned and left the house leaving her inside.

He shut the gate of the bungalow and locked it tightly. He then sat inside his car to leave.

***********

One evening, Harold’s landline phone started ringing. Steve was at his house fortunately and he went to answer the call since Harold was not around. He answered the call,

“Hello?”

“Can I speak to Mr Harold?” some woman asked from the other line.

Oh, my God! Steve wondered in his thought regretfully. I shouldn’t have. Maybe I shouldn’t have answered this call.

Steve said anyway,

“Who is this?”

“Mrs Greenwood. Harold knows me.”

Steve remembered her name immediately.

“What is it that you want?” Steve asked thoughtlessly not knowing what to ask.

“I think I am about to die. I just want you to give this message to Harold that he is not responsible for my daughter’s death. My husband is responsible for that. He was the one who killed my daughter that night through the elevator. He wanted to plant this on Harold. Anyways, Harold has to be very careful now. That man is in the state’s police department, he is using the name Bradshaw. So, Harold should be vigilante and conscious now.”

“Oh, my God! Ma’am can you call in just two minutes? So, Harold can speak to you. Or can you just give us your address so Harold can come and talk to you in person?”

“I am suffocating here badly. I might die any moment, but I want you to tell this to the police that it was my husband Mr Greenwood, who locked me inside.”

“Where is this place? Where are you exactly?” Steve asked.

Steve heard the woman’s sound of coughing loudly.

“Hello? Are you there?”

The woman kept on coughing until the call got disconnected.

Steve was left more than just shocked now.

“Mr Harold!” Steve called out loudly.

Harold came from another room.

One minute later, when Steve had told him everything, Harold responded,

“Did she give any address?”

“I asked for it but she didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“She was in real pain and she could hardly talk. She was coughing badly.”

“Oh, dear God!” Harold said in distress.

“Look, what I know for sure is that we won’t be able to rescue her. What we can do is that we can report this to the police? They might have proper records; and they can reach there on time.”

“Look, I don’t think that’s a good idea. But clear one thing here. She said that I was not responsible for her daughter’s death?”

“Yeah.”

“It was her husband?”

“Yes, that is exactly what she said,” Steve replied spontaneously.

“Oh, God! I should have known.”

“Look, we have her number on the call log. You can call her if you want to.”

“Okay, dial her number. I’ll talk to her right now.”

Steve went back towards the phone and redialed the number after memorising it.

Harold who was thinking about the events of his past heard from Steve,

“The phone seems to be off.”

“What?” Harold asked turning around.

“Her cell phone is powered off. It seems like that.”

Harold walked towards the phone and said,

“Dial it again.”

Steve dialed the phone and handed it over to Harold. Harold heard that the phone was off.

After thinking for a while, Steve said,

“I guess you’re right. Now what should we do?”

“Should we call the police?”

“No. That can be really problematic for her.”

“How?”

“Since you told me that her husband has joined the police force. He might make it even worse for her.”

They both got silent as there was nothing to speak of further.

The door of the house knocked. They both looked at the door with astonishment.

“Who could it be?” Steve asked.

“Oh, darn!” Harold said. “We’re in trouble I’m sure.”

“Are we going to answer that?”

“No. I don’t know,” Harold got confused.

Steve walked towards the door slowly and said,

“Do you want me to answer that?”

“Wait, give me a moment.”

Harold immediately rushed to another room and returned after thirty seconds, and this time he was not wearing his face like mask.

“Wow,” Steve got impressed on this.

Steve saw that Harold was holding a large uncovered sword.

“Why are you so…?” Steve asked, “I mean there could be someone else. It might not be as bad as we are thinking.”

Harold then walked towards the door and said to him,

“Go and answer the door, I’ll be standing right next to you holding this weapon to lose our enemy’s…”

His words got interrupted by louder knocking on the door this time.

Steve rushed towards the door and said,

“I’m answering it now.”

As Steve opened the door, five of Bruno’s men were standing outside holding ropes and chains.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

“Get them both,” one of goons said to others.

The five of them broke inside the house and two of them grabbed Steve tightly from behind.

The other three hit Harold on his face with the metallic chain causing him to blackout.

The two of them were captured and tied in ropes.

***********

One Hour Later

Steve opened his eyes and found himself lying on the ground with his hands tied behind him. He looked on his right side and saw that Harold was sitting by the sofa on the ground with his hands and legs tied with chains.

Who are these people?

Steve wondered in his thoughts.

That moment Bruno showed up and he stood in front of Harold. He said,

“Do you have any idea about how long…how long I have waited for this moment?”

“I don’t know you,” Harold answered.

“But I know you. And this is what matters.”

“Look, I am willing to cooperate with you,” Harold pleaded, “but first I want you to release this kid. He is not with me and he has got nothing to do with us.”

“Oh…And perhaps you don’t know. If it weren’t for this kid, I would have never made it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just said it. If it weren’t for this kid, I would have never found out your secret hideout.”

Harold looked at Steve with suspicious eyes.

“Let me explain,” Bruno cleared. “I had no clue about your whereabouts. But this kid, he was spotted with you, quite several times. All I’m saying is that his cell phone number helped me track down your location.”

“Oh, no!” Steve uttered with utmost regret.

Harold looked at Steve a little sternly but then he looked back at Bruno and said,

“What do you want from me?”

Bruno gave a devilish laughter and then said,

“I’ve been waiting to hear this from you.”

“Alright! Quit wasting time now,” Harold said angrily. “Just tell me what is it that you want from me.”

“Okay…1993. Vault of Blazers. Does anything ring a bell?”

Harold tried to recall but he couldn’t, and so he said trying to cut the conversation short,

“Look, I don’t remember anything. But I’m assuming that I stole something from you and you want me to retrieve it for you.”

“You’re a genius. I must say.”

Bruno chuckled and then sat on a chair right in front of him. He then said getting serious,

“Okay, I’ll tell you know. The harm you caused me was more than just financial loss. I will not discuss the entire tragedy before you right now; right now I will just show you your target.”

One of Bruno’s team members brought a laptop before him. Bruno asked him to show the picture to Harold. As Harold looked at the image, Bruno said to him,

“This vault is at the Octavius Mall. Ever heard of that place?”

Harold nodded.

“This vault, it does not have money. It has my reputation. All I need from you is to go to this mall and bring me the entire vault.”

“What about the access and everything?”

“I’m giving you one week’s time. Arrange however you can. I will wait for seven days. After seven days, on the eighth day you and your team shall go and carry out the heist.”

“What if I refuse to do this?”

“Mrs Greenwood.”

Harold got attentive and worried as he heard this name from Bruno’s mouth.

“She is in my custody,” Bruno said showing his hand gun, “any wrong or unwanted step you take will cause her to lose her breath…forever.”

“Bruno, your fight is with me. Please keep women out

of this.”

“I don’t think so. I have a deal with Lieutenant Bradshaw, he has kept that lady under his custody. The moment you complete this job, I will hand you over to Bradshaw.”

“You two are affiliated?”

“Mr Bruno,” Steve finally broke his silence. “If you’re asking so much from Harold you should at least spare him alive.”

“Oh yes, for sure kid,” Bruno replied. “I’ll spare him alive before Bradshaw. He will do whatever he wants to do with you two. But I’m giving you two my word, once I’ll get the vault, one among you two will rest in peace forever.”

to be continued...

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