As I got really closer to the boundary of the house, I saw a magnifying glass with its glass shattered, hanging on the wall of the bungalow’s boundary wall.

Something rang a bell inside my mind.

Mr Kingston’s words came before me and I remembered something in an instant,

Whenever you find a broken magnifying glass in front of yourself, understand that you are about to get your answers…

Although, my mind wasn’t very clear about anything but words were still appearing before me and matters were making some sense to me.

A broken magnifying glass. It is a symbol, a key…

I walked closer towards the magnifying glass and almost touched it realising that its glass was completely shattered.

I’m saying that a broken magnifying glass would be a symbol of the fact that you carried out the job properly and now you are getting your identity…

Now, I moved back a bit and looked around hoping that I would see Mr Kingston somewhere. I was a bit terrified as well as I did not trust that man completely. He final words during our last conversation inside the car suddenly appeared in my mind,

And remember…The broken magnifying glass. The day you see some broken magnifying glass, it would mean that you are getting your answers because of doing the handed over task correctly…

Oh, my God! I said these words as usual. Mr Kingston is finally about to show up and he was waiting all along for me to show up at this blasted house. Is that right as to what I’m thinking?

I wasn’t sure if my analogies were correct but I was confident that Mr Kingston would keep his word. There might be tricks and games involved but I would get my answers.

I then all of a sudden heard some footsteps approaching towards me. I followed the direction from where they were coming but it wasn’t quite clear to me because of the fog all around.

As it got a little clearer, I assumed that Mr Kingston was approaching towards me, but I felt very astonished when I saw Luke making his way towards me.

“You?” I asked making sure that it was him only.

“Whom were you expecting?”

“How did you get here? Were you following me?”

“As a matter of fact, I was following you…”

That moment, I heard other footsteps from another corner and paid attention to who it was.

Two women were approaching towards me and they were none other than my so called friends from the university, the blonde one Ellison and the brunette Linda.

“What the hell?” I responded as I got really stunned.

“How are you Henry?” Ellison asked me.

“Is this some kind of joke? Are you guys about to pull a prank over me?”

“You will get your answers today Henry,” Luke said to me.

I understood something very horrifying in that moment and said it out loud in words, right in front of them,

“So, you three have been working for Kingston all along? Am I right? Yes, tell me if I’m wrong.”

“You are absolutely right,” Linda said to me.

“Bring him over here. Bring your boss right in front of me so that I can give him a piece of

my mind.”

That moment, a car came rushing and stopped by our side. From the passenger side seat, Mr Kingston opened the door and stepped outside. He walked towards us and stood between Luke and the girls.

“So, you all have been pulling wool over my eyes altogether?” I asked with sarcasm.

“Actually…” Mr Kingston replied, “We have been pulling it away from your eyes…”

I was getting seriously angry on these people so without any further delay of moving away from the subject, I asked them straight,

“However, you three are related to each other, I don’t care. Just tell me who I am and…”

“Your name…” Mr Kingston spoke handing over my identity card and other documents to me, “is Henry Eckhart.”

I took my card and other papers from him. Seeing what was written on them kind of shocked me and I asked myself,

I really am Henry Eckhart, and these people were not lying to me?

“I hope you are satisfied now,” Luke spoke.

“What was all this drama then?” I asked furiously.

“Excuse me?” the blonde uttered.

“You were the one who didn’t believe us,” Luke spoke further.

“Mr Kingston,” I said looking at Mr Kingston, “I don’t want to talk to these people but you have to explain this, why didn’t you clear this when you could

just have…”

“I think you know the answer

to this.”

“Planting a bomb? Just to use me for this crime, you made me believe firmly in their falsehood that actually wasn’t even there.”

“This was my entire plan.”

“These people: Luke, Ellison and Linda have been working for you since the beginning?”

“No. Luke, Ellison and Linda have not been working for me.”

“What do you mean?” I got really confused.

“Let’s just say that your suspicion about your identity was not completely wrong. Your suspicion was right. The only difference is that you were suspecting your own things, but in reality the identities of these three were replaced.”

I looked at the three of them and asked Mr Kingston,

“What do you mean? These three aren’t the ones who they are claiming to be?”

“Yes,” the brunette spoke.

Luke came one step forward and said,

“My name is Roald…”

“My name is Martha,” the blonde spoke.

“And my real name is Lisa,” the brunette lastly added.

“Oh, my God!” I held my head as I was more than just stunned.

“The people who died in the explosion” Mr Kingston spoke, “they were actually Luke, Ellison and Linda.”

“What?”

“Yes, they were my actual victims.”

“Wait,” I said trying to untie the knots in my mind, “if they were Luke, Ellison and Linda, and these three are Martha, Lisa and Roald, does this mean that the story I learnt through that magazine interview was a fake one.”

I looked at Luke hoping he would answer me.

“Everything was true in that story,” Mr Kingston replied. “Except that the names were replaced. And the person who gave that interview was not actually their relative but was someone from my team.”

“Oh, God! You people are sick.”

“Are we?” Lisa asked. “Or are you Mr terrorist?”

I looked at her angrily but then said looking at Mr Kingston,

“I am not going to let you win. Mark my words, if I am going to hell, you people are coming with me as well.”

Mr Kingston laughed sarcastically and asked,

“Do you think you can out win a person who has way smarter brain than you can ever have?”

“I don’t know about these three, these are just your assets, but you, you are going to rot in the prison cell with me. that’s for sure.”

“We’ll see,” Mr Kingston said taking out a hand gun from inside his pocket.

I was all silent and I had nowhere to run or escape.

“Shall we explain it from the beginning?” Roald asked Mr Kingston.

“Sure, why not?” Mr Kingston answered.

“What happened was that…”

“…Wait” Mr Kingston interrupted him, “I will narrate this to him.”

Mr Kingston who was walking around where he was standing began,

“Initially, I secretly acquired your documents, your original documents and after meeting four of you I then gave you a task of crime. This is about the time, when you were fine and had no memory loss. You people were bound to oblige me because I had already discovered a crime you guys did of fixing the arcade games during the tournament few months back. I was blackmailing you guys keeping your original documents with myself.”

I tried to recall that time but I couldn’t remember anything.

“The task failed,” he continued, “It failed and ended up in an accident and you lost your memory.”

“What was this task? Planting the bomb?”

“Yes, then I asked these remaining three to bring you back to your normal state of mind and continue the task. It was quite difficult and unrealistic.”

The glimpses of the time when I was in the hospital with these three appeared before my eyes.

“Then…” Mr Kingston continued, “These three considered and preferred hiding their identities from you, because in case police would catch you all, they might be able to escape if only you would have been caught.”

Another scene appeared before my eyes where I could hear Roald’s words,

“Your name is Henry Eckhart…”

“She is Ellison Butler…”

“She is Linda Wilson, and I am Luke. Luke Hammer…”

Now Roald continued the narration,

“The three of us did our best to make you comfortable, but we failed when documents issue was raised, we had to remain silent as we couldn’t reveal about Mr Kingston.”

I then remembered every moment when I asked for my identity card and documents,

“I cannot find my identity card. I want to see my identity in a written form.”

“Can you two please tell me where I can confirm my identity here?”

“Do you know who I am? Can you please mention my name?”

I came back to the present state of my mind and asked them straightforwardly,

“What was the objective behind this stuff? Why were you three not telling me that we were under Kingston’s blackmail?”

“Because, initially the four of us were equally meant to plant the bomb. Now, we were hoping that we could place the entire responsibility over you.”

I waited for him to speak further. He said,

“And it did happen quite successfully. I told Mr Kingston that Henry was not willing to trust us. After this, Mr Kingston thought of a way to earn your trust. And hence, he then entered inside the game and earned your trust completely.”

Everything was clear now but I was very furious on these people and wanted to burn them with fire. Unfortunately, I was very helpless as usual.

“Poor Henry,” Lisa teased me, “you were looking out for your identity which you already had. And that desperation ended you up here.”

“You guys were normal civilians,” I responded, “why were you enjoying this? This man is a leader of some terrorist group. His actions are understandable, but you three…”

“We did not kill anyone,” Roald responded, “neither did we cooperate in this. You did this on your own. Why we’re happy right now is not because we enjoyed a criminal activity, it’s because we will be free forever right now. After we are done with you, Mr Kingston has given us his word that he will release us along with our documents.”

I looked at Mr Kingston, he was nodding after them.

“I simply cannot let this happen,” I said getting annoyed and provoked on Mr Kingston, “I just cannot let him win. I will be arrested, I will be hanged to death, I really have no problem with that. But him fleeing alive like an innocent person, I will stop that from happening, however, I can. I’ll go to the police station and will tell them each and everything.”

Mr Kingston after hearing this laughed maniacally at me and then pointed his gun suddenly straight towards my face.

to be continued...