A Magnifying Glass
- 28 Sep - 04 Oct, 2024
Justin was riding his bike. Someone in white Ferrari was following him. He was unaware of it but anyways he kept on riding till he reached an underground parking lot. His mysterious follower in Ferrari also reached the same location. As Justin parked his bike and got off from it, he ducked down as if dodging something. It was a knife thrown towards him from behind but his reflexes were so quick that he immediately sensed it and saved himself.
Linda stepped out of her Ferrari as she saw the moment. She was amazed on Justin’s fastness but at the same time she was curious on who it might have been. She turned to see, there were three thugs who were approaching towards him. They had multiple tattoos on their arms and had chains around their necks and forearms. Justin was however calm and he had recognized those thugs as his old rivals.
“Hey!” he chuckled waving his hand in order to provoke them.
The leader of the thugs got enraged and threw another knife from his pocket towards him.
But Justin’s calculation power of speed was so accurate that he instantly took out his pistol and shot at the spot where the knife was about to be. And his bullet accurately hit the knife creating a little flame.
Linda got so impressed that her eyes were left wide open.
“Try harder next time!” Justin commented purposely intending to provoke them.
The other two thugs took out their knives and threw them hardly towards him.
Their leader exclaimed regarding their weapons:
“No, don’t!”
However it was too late and the knives had already been thrown. Justin accurately caught one of the knives and dodged the other one. Justin stood straight and threw aside the knife he was holding. He now knew that cheap goons like these had wasted all their weapons and had nothing left due to their lack of smartness. So he aimed his pistol towards them and spoke:
“Just get out of here if you want to walk out alive from here.”
Two of the thugs turned around and ran away. Their leader however was still standing and demanded:
“You owe me money. Keep the weapon aside and show me your own power.”
Justin smiled and threw away his pistol quite afar. The thug came rushing towards him intending to hit him with a clenched fist. Justin however, smartly sat down and moved slightly ahead keeping his leg straight. As the two hit each other, it resulted in severe fracture of thug’s knee bone. The thug yelled out loud and fell on the ground. Justin stood up and threw spit over him.
Witnessing the entire scene of few minutes, Linda got amazed by Justin’s skills and guts. However, some security guards invaded inside as they had heard the sounds of the gunshot. Getting alert, Linda escaped.
Linda was inside the lift. The lift opened to a luxurious room that was just indescribable. She stepped outside and kept on walking until she saw Mr Gilbert Brown having a deal with two men. She heard their conversation, one of the men who was holding the brief case spoke:
“This is our boss,’ final installment.”
“Okay keep it on the table,” Mr Gilbert replied.
They were talking until Mr Gilbert saw Linda and stopped. He waved to those men through his fingers to leave. Linda came ahead while the two men were leaving.
“So what is it that you want to tell me?” Mr Gilbert asked her. “And what was about it that you wouldn’t tell me on phone.”
“Mr. Gilbert you know about our gang and its members. They are not smart enough. Not capable enough.”
Disliking yet agreeing with her words, Mr Gilbert spoke:
“So where are you going with here?”
“There’s this guy. He’s a gangster. A criminal like us. Not at all afraid to kill people. His name is Justin McElroy. I think he is perfect for our gang. We really need a sharp shooter like him.”
“Sharp shooter?” Mr. Gilbert gained interest.
“I’ve been following him for days. I got to tell you this that I haven’t seen any sharp and accurate shooter like him. He is so smart and capable that he never misses his shot.”
Mr Gilbert was impressed.
“And other than his shooting capability I admire his guts,” she continued. “He is very courageous. He doesn’t care who his opponent is or how many opponents he has, he just focuses on winning.”
“No kidding, really?”
“And besides this he is very clever if you ask me. He knows how to play mind games. I’ve seen him provoking his enemies and using their angers against them.”
“So you know where he lives?”
“Yes, I do… Should I go and get him?”
“Well, I do want to meet him. When was the last time you saw him.”
“The last time I saw him, he was almost surrounded by some security guards. Since he had a fight with some local thugs in the parking basement.”
“So, what if he’s under arrest?” Mr Gilbert asked.
“No that can’t be true. As much as I know him, he’s a one man army. He definitely would have made his way out. I have faith in him.”
“…Well, in that case,” Mr Gilbert suggested, “bring him here. I want to test him. I want to see if he’s really what you’re saying.”
“Okay, but how are you going to test him.”
“Linda you know you are my most trusted member of the gang. You are the only one with whom I share the most secret information. But even for a guy like this, I want to see with my own eyes.”
“See what? Whether he’s sharp enough?”
“No, whether he fears death or not.”
Next morning, outside some apartments building, four gang members stepped out from their car as they had just parked outside. They walked inside towards the building’s specific apartment.
Minutes later, they all were standing outside some apartment. One of them rang the bell gently. A minute later as Justin answered the door, one of the gang members held his collar and pulled him outside. Justin did his best to resist but the other one from behind hit Justin’s head with a metallic rod, but not so hard. Justin fainted away feeling the agony. The gang members tied his hands and legs with chains.
“Let’s take him,” one of them suggested.
One hour later, Mr Gilbert, Linda and the important gang members were all waiting inside Mr Gilbert’s large luxurious room. As they heard the lift’s sound of opening, they all turned to see. The gang members assigned to bring Justin to Mr Gilbert finally came dragging his body. His eyes were blindfolded with a handkerchief. All the members inside now paid attention to the strong looking guy that was being brought towards them. Mr Gilbert just gave one sign of maintaining silence to everyone through his finger. He then called one special member Verbal Boone through the same finger and handed over an I-pad. Verbal now had to talk to Justin reading the questions in the device, as instructed by Mr Gilbert.
“So Mr Justin!” Verbal began. “Do you have any idea about where you are at the moment?”
“I don’t know the exact location,” Justin replied smartly, “but I do know that whatever you’re asking and whatever you’ll be asking are not your own questions. These questions are assigned by your boss.”
Everyone inside including Mr Gilbert got surprised hearing his statement.
“What do you know about my boss?”
“I don’t know his name, but he sure seems coward to me.”
One of the gang members who were holding Justin hit him hard getting furious on his words.
“What do you mean coward?” Verbal asked getting angry.
“My hands are tied with steel. My legs are also tied. And you guys didn’t even spare my eyes. And yet your boss is afraid to talk to me using his own voice. How else would you define coward?”
Almost everyone was enraged and agitated except for Mr Gilbert and Linda. Mr Gilbert waved his men to let go off him.
“Alright fine,” Mr Gilbert spoke, “talk to me. I’m the boss… My name is…”
“…Gilbert Brown,” Justin interrupted recognizing the voice, “I’m not surprised, that’s strange.”
Verbal walked towards Justin and untied the blindfold on his eyes.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Justin commented, “I would have believed the voice.”
“Would you join our gang?” Linda asked.
“I know if I would say no then I won’t walk out of this place alive. But if I say yes, I would be a slave of some underworld mafia’s rules. So my answer is definitely no.”
Everyone was speechless on his words. However, after a moment Mr Gilbert spoke:
“How about you join our gang with no rules to follow?”
Everyone waited for his answer. Justin looked around and smiled before answering:
“Okay that’s better, your gang but my rules.”
Linda was relieved now as Justin had finally joined their gang now.
“Now before you go,” Mr Gilbert spoke, “I’m going to take your test. I need to see how sharp you are with your weapons.”
Next afternoon, Jackson was in his office. His colleague was in the same room. Jackson’s cell phone that was being charged began to ring. His colleague who was standing closer to the phone looked at the ID. She looked at Jackson and told him:
“It’s your Brother Justin’s call.”
Jackson left everything and stood up from his desk. He went towards the switch board to answer the call.
“Hello, Jusin!” he answered the call with desperation.
The colleague watched Jackson talking to his brother with so concern.
“Really?” Jackson got delighted as he heard a good news from his brother. “You got a job? Finally!”
Jackson was just told a lie but he was happy that his brother finally got the job.
“My brother,” Jackson continued, “I congratulate you with the depth of my heart.”
He kept on talking to his brother and his colleague left the room.
Days passed and Justin had become one of the finest gang members. He had impressed Mr Gilbert in so many ways that he wanted to give Justin a higher rank than Linda. Mr Gilbert had not shared any secret information with Justin because he still wasn’t too trust worthy for him. But Mr Gilbert believed that one day Justin would grant them all huge success.
Days later, there was a meeting inside Mr Gilbert’s room. Justin and Linda were the only ones who were seated on the sofa. Almost all the members were attending this meeting, and they all were standing. Mr Gilbert began:
“Tomorrow morning there will be a deal between two gangs. One of them is a gang of American criminals and the other ones are Hungarians. Very unreliable people. Can’t say when they can attack the opposite party?”
“So, what’s our part in this?” Linda asked.
“Good question. Now let me explain what this deal is about. This deal is of billion dollars. I don’t know what the Hungarians are bringing but I do know that the American criminals shall be carrying cash of billion dollars.”
“How do you know that?” Justin asked. “Do you have your agents among those American gangsters?”
“Only one, but yes I have. I’ve been informed about this deal yesterday. So anyways, your job is to attack all those criminals in the deal. And bring in the money as well as what those Hungarian criminals are offering.”
“How many members would there be?” Justin asked.
“I think ten on each side. But you have to be loaded with weapons. Take bombs, explosives whatever but I want both. The money and what Hungarians are offering.”
“Is there a possibility that we might not survive?” Linda asked.
“There is…” Mr Gilbert answered and then looked at Justin, “which is why I’m sending my best man… Justin McElroy. I’m confident that as long as he stays there to fight, our gang would return successful.”
“What about me?” Linda asked. “Do I have to go?”
“Not there,” Mr Gilbert replied. “Your job is different in this deal.”
Some other questions were answered and a brief plan was designed by Mr Gilbert for men.
After an hour while all the criminals were leaving, Mr Gilbert, Linda and Justin were standing together.
Mr Gilbert looked at Justin and spoke touching his shoulder:
“You are the most capable of all my men. If you carry out tomorrow’s mission successfully, I will give you a fifty percent share.”
“That’s very generous,”
Justin commented.
“And besides this I will give you the highest position in this gang. Only I will be senior to you,
but all others would be working under you.”
“Thank you!” Justin responded with modesty.
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