New York. Late afternoon. The sirens of the police vehicles were being heard on some road. The road was clear from traffic. Two police vehicles were driving as fast as if they were chasing. They were running at speed higher than 200 km/h. It seemed as if it was quite necessary to get hold of what they were after.

A white Porsche` was running ahead. The driver inside seemed quite an expert. He was managing the turns on the road very effectively leaving the cops farther behind.

The drivers in police vehicles heard instructions on speakers:

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

The cars of police increased by two. Now there were four police vehicles chasing one criminal in Porsche`. There were hardly any chances for the criminal to escape.

There was a truck on the road that was carrying loads of fuel. The criminal in the Porsche` tried to get ahead of the truck in order to avoid danger. The truck however, was on the middle of the road and it was about to turn left. As the road seemed clearer on the left side, the criminal made his way on the left not knowing that the truck was also about to move at the same direction. The truck blew its horns and so did the Porsche` but unfortunately a minor accident took place. The Porsche` got hit by the truck and then by the footpath on the left.

The driver inside the Porsche` got panicked and he accelerated the vehicle. His car was ahead of the truck now. The criminal was in a state of confusion now. He wanted to slow down his car’s speed and he unintentionally applied complete brakes, not knowing what he was doing. His car stopped and slowly got crushed by the truck behind. The truck crushed the car from behind and almost flipped vertically ahead over the car. But it fell back to its original position. While the truck was in air for few seconds, the oil inside leaked over the car.

The Porsche` was covered with oil. The truck itself was also covered with oil. The cops who were coming behind, one of them fired his pistol. He was intending to shoot at Porsche’s tire but he missed the shot and his bullet hit the vehicle’s trunk creating a little flame. That little flame was enough to create fire. Within two or three seconds, the explosion took place causing the Porsche` and the truck to explode completely with fire. The cops stopped as they saw fire.

Several hours later during the evening, Detective Kennedy Wilson was standing closer to the place where the accident took place. He seemed upset about the incident as if he lost something really important. He was looking at the fire brigade trucks that just extinguished the fire.

“This was not supposed to happen!” he yelled out.

The other cops got a bit shaken on his loud voice.

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

Detective Kennedy took the cell phone and held it next to his ear,

“Hello!” he said.

He heard the other person for a whole while and then asked with delight:

“Really?”

He listened to the caller again for a while.

“Alright, thank you for informing.”

He disconnected the call and handed it over to his assistant. He smiled while he said:

“Congratulations! Our mission is successful.”

Saying this he left the spot and walked towards his car.

One Year Ago

At police headquarters, a meeting was held. Detective Kennedy was the head of the department and was conducting this meeting. Several police officers of lower ranks were seated on their chairs. Detective Kennedy began:

“I am newly assigned to this case. I’m sure you all know about Gilbert Brown, the king of New York’s crime world.”

He waved someone to switch off the lights and turn on the projector. The detective was standing next to his laptop through which he could change the slides and images. He began speaking:

“Let me start with who is Gilbert Brown. Just a couple of years ago, he was an ordinary criminal. He gambled in casinos day and night. And made a lot of money. Today, he is the master of New York’s crime world. And his mafia is spreading in other states of the country as well.”

He clicked on his laptop and Gilbert’s image appeared on projector’s screen. He was a sixty year old man with brown hair and fair complexion. In the image he had worn a black hat.

“Now about his mafia…” Detective Kennedy began explaining, “his gang specialises in field of supplying arms and guns illegally. We have no clue about who supplies guns to him but he supplies guns to people without licenses in surprisingly cheap prices. Now what kind of guns? The answer is all kinds of. From hand guns and revolvers to all machine guns and AK 47s.”

The officers in the meeting were quite amazed.

“And this is the reason why rate of attempted murders has increased drastically in the past few years.”

He clicked again and switched to another picture of Gilbert Brown. In the next picture, he had worn a grey suit and his hair was white. He seemed older.

“This is the latest picture of this crime lord,” the detective narrated. “In my opinion, he is above sixty. Anyways, besides arms supplying his gang is involved in serial killings. They have assassinated some politicians as well. Bank heists are also conducted by their gangs.”

As he switched to the next image, there were cropped images of three men, together.

“These ordinary civilians,” he continued, “they sure look like normal citizens but are actually a part of Gilbert’s gang. Want to know how the police department found that out? It’s because these men are involved in money extortion. A lot of people have witnessed them.”

He turned the slides back to Gilbert Brown’s photo and claimed:

“The police department knows about his possible whereabouts, but the only reason he’s still not under arrest is because we have no warrant. We have no witnesses or evidences of any kind. See that’s the real issue, how we can convict him?”

He waved one of the officers to turn on the lights again. As the lights were on, he began:

“Gentlemen, our task is to have him arrested. But before that we need to arrest his gang members and interrogate them. So at least we can have their testimony against their mob boss.”

He switched off his laptop and said:

“This meeting ends here…But we have another meeting this same week on the same mission.”

 At some distance in the city, there was a local and cheap casino with very less security. Linda Roger, a thirty year old blonde was roaming around looking for someone. She made a phone call through her cell phone and as it was answered, she spoke:

“He’s not here…The guy who just stole from us entered this casino but is not here.”

On a table for two in the same casino, two men were seated who had just played poker with cards. Justin McElroy was the one who had won the game. He had slightly long hair and strong build. He was a good looking guy with age around thirty. His opponent spoke:

“One more game and then you can have all the money.”

“That’s what you said last time.”

“My word is final this time! One last bet and you can get the hell out.”

Justin was quite annoyed with his words.

Linda who was still looking for some thief stopped by their table and watched their game.

Justin kept his hand gun on the table and spoke to his opponent:

“But this time besides money, I want some additional compliment.”

“Say what?”

“…Let me put it this way,” Justin explained after a pause. “What’s your favourite drink here?”

“At this time, I would prefer coffee.”

“Great…So the deal is, if you win I will stand up and buy you coffee and bring it here for you. And if you win, you’ll have to buy me.”

Seeing the change in Justin’s words and tune of voice, Linda felt that he was a bit afraid of his opponent. Linda then noticed the two goons standing behind Justin’s opponent, which meant that he was with protocol of security. And Justin was not.

Anyways, the opponent liked Justin’s offer and said:

“Done, that way I’d enjoy even more in defeating you.”

His security goons laughed after him.

Justin shuffled the cards and distributed them with normal procedure. Linda quietly went behind Justin and watched his cards as he picked them up. Linda who knew the rules of the game understood that he had perfect cards and victory was his’. But what she saw next was incomprehensible. Justin had hidden some other cards on his lap that were obviously not visible to his opponent. He selected some of those and added those in his game’s card and removed his game’s perfect cards. In short, he made his perfectly winning game into a losing one.

Linda was confused on why he did that. She stayed there for a while waiting to know why Justin did that.

As it was time to show, Justin put his cards on the table and so did his opponent. His opponent gave out a teasing laughter and exclaimed:

“I knew I’d defeat you.”

Justin smiled with a smirk.

“Now go get me my coffee,” his opponent demanded.

Justin stood up and left leaving behind his pistol. One of the goons picked up the gun and checked its magazine. There were six bullets. He threw the magazine away secretly. Now it was not loaded with bullets. Linda was watching all this.

As Justin returned he handed over the coffee cup to his opponent. His opponent kind of snatched it showing some disrespect. He took a large sip and dropped the cup immediately after having that sip. He coughed with pain and also screamed out. Linda was quite surprised and confused.

“See that’s my victory!” Justin declared with confidence. “Putting a permanent stop to a poisonous tongue.”

Realising that Justin had actually brought acid in the coffee, she got impressed by him.

The two goons behind aimed their guns at Justin.

“Hey, guys!” Justin responded to them. “You guys are free now. Your boss will never be able to speak now. You should thank me.”

Justin’s opponent was helpless and could hardly speak. He was in agony. He was however waving his goons to shoot Justin. The goons loaded their guns and were about to shoot him. Justin picked up his pistol. One of the goons who was trying to be smart challenged him:

“Yeah, why don’t you fire at us first?”

Justin chuckled showing devilishness and answered:

“Do you think I’m that stupid? Do you guys think that I wouldn’t know what happened behind my back?”

While talking, Justin took out his other gun from under his shirt and within a flash shot the two goons dead. Linda was seriously impressed by his guts. Now Justin aimed his gun at his opponent whose mouth was burning.

In the meantime, the security alarm of the casino rang because of the gunshots shot by Justin. Justin jumped over the table and in an instance picked up the chair he was holding. Five security guards came from different places and stood right in front of him. Justin threw the chair over them and then one by one shot all the bulbs and lights in the casino. After several shots, it was completely dark.

Linda saw that he escaped from the casino in that darkness. She was very much amazed to see a sharp shooter like him.

There was quite a noise and chaos in the casino. Some waiter came by and asked Linda:

“Excuse me ma’am, you need my help?”

“…I don’t need anyone’s help,” she said honestly yet arrogantly. “People ask for help from me. Because I work for Gilbert Brown.”

The waiter got a bit terrified and he left silently.

 At city’s insurance company, Jackson McElroy worked as a senior officer. He was Justin McElroy’s identical twin brother. He was very much similar to his brother except that he had smaller hair than Justin’s. Jackson’s office time was over and was now preparing to leave.

Several minutes later, he was driving his car towards his home. He was obeying traffic signal laws and other laws of the road like a very disciplined citizen.

An hour later, he was at his home with his wife Diane. They were seated at the dining table having their lunch.

“So did you go to work today?” Jackson asked her.

“Yes, but I won’t go tomorrow.”

“Because of the pain in your ankle? Or because of that annoying head of depart?”

“No, it’s not the head of department that bothers me. My ankle pain hardly lets me walk.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll get better.”

“…Oh! I almost forgot,” she remembered something that she had to tell him, “Justin called here.”

“When?”

“Three maybe four days back, I’m sorry I just forgot.”

“It’s okay, we’ve talked yesterday.”

“What was he saying?”

“He wanted us to meet.”

“You know Justin,” she said, “I haven’t met your brother. We’ve just talked on phone calls but I have never seen him in person.”

“But you’ve seen him in pictures, haven’t you?”

“Doesn’t count. Anyways, what is he doing these days?”

“I don’t know. He’s jobless. But he has a house of his own. Our father left one for each of us. About his living, I don’t have a clue about how he’s managing everything.”

They discussed about Justin as a poor guy with no living. However, they had no clue about how much money he made through gambling and how sharp he was as a criminal.