Eye for an Eye: Conspiracy

 

The next day, I got a call from the precinct asking me to come over. When I went there, I was told of the situation. The captain said it could be one of my parents’ killers. I looked at the body and said that I was not sure. After going back home, I planned my next move. I kept in contact with the precinct to find out the progress of the case. I later went to Pete’s club called the ‘Thunderbird’ and flirted with him as well.

Same as Roy, he invited me to his room. When I pulled out my gun once we were in, he said, “Oh my god, you killed Roy, didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t. He killed himself to stop me from finding out who gave you the contract to kill my parents.”

I explained to him who I was; he was dumbfounded.

“I am sorry, kid, but whether I talk or not, it makes no difference,” he said and pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. I shot him that instant.

I tried to stop the bleeding long enough to find out the truth, but it was to no avail. He said, “Check your father’s cases,” as he breathed for the last time.

I thought killing my parents’ murderers was all I had to do to avenge their deaths, but I was wrong. There was a larger hand at work. My next priority was to find them. I was going through my father’s case files when I was interrupted by my partner, Gavin Reynolds.

“Hi, Nat, what’s up?”

“Oh, nothing, Gavin. Just going through some case files.”

“Aren’t those your father’s?”

“Yes, they are. Why, what’s it to you?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry into your personal affairs,” he said, turning to leave.

“I’m sorry. I’m just trying to figure out the reason behind my parents’ deaths,” I said, putting the files away.

“But Nat, weren’t the criminals responsible found murdered by their rivals?”

“I know, but I believe there’s more to this case than meets the eye,”

“What do you mean?”

“I believe there was a bigger hand at work. Call it a gut feeling.”

“I know your gut feelings have always been right in our cases, but isn’t this a bit of a stretch?”

“If it were your parents, wouldn’t you want to have closure?” I asked. He sighed and nodded.

Later that day, I was at my desk when the phone rang: it was Chief Gordon. He asked me to come to his office. As I entered, he asked me why I was poking around a solved case.

“I am not,” I said.

“So you’re not trying to open your parents’ case?”

“I am trying to get to the bottom of it.”

“Bottom of what? The case was solved.”

“Not to me, it wasn’t,” I said.

“What do you hope to find?”

“The motive, because it sure wasn’t a robbery.”

“If they came to steal, then how come they took nothing of value except my father’s computer? There was plenty of electronic equipment and jewellery in the house. Why didn’t they bother to take those?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that if you go on like this, you won’t be able to get on with your life.”

Before I could say anything, a call came in about a hold-up at a bank. As I got suited up for the task, I couldn’t help but wonder if Chief Gordon was involved in my parents’ murder. As we reached the bank premises, we heard gunshots. The hostage negotiator managed to find out that two people were injured, and that there was a pregnant woman and a little boy in the midst of it all. The assailants refused to release the hostages until they got a helicopter on the roof of the bank. Gavin and I, being snipers, positioned ourselves on the roof of the building across the street. We observed the inside of the bank and spotted three armed men and about 25 hostages. Among the hostages were three senior citizens, a pregnant woman, and a little boy who was around five.

Of the suspects, one was by the side of the door, while the other two stood near the hostages. We needed to separate the two near the hostages in order to take them down, so I called the captain and planned to distract them when a window of opportunity arose. We watched patiently as time passed until one of the two walked out the hall after saying something to the other two. I could lip-read, so I understood that he said he needed to use the restroom. I alerted the captain and he called the bank. One of the men went and answered the phone, giving us the perfect opportunity to take a clean shot.

I signalled Gavin to shoot the one on the phone while I took out the one at the door. We took the shots and dropped them both to the ground. Our silencers were on, so the third man was unaware of the situation until he walked back in. But it was too late: I shot him the second he walked in and he went down wailing. I informed the captain of the situation and followed to help the petrified hostages exit the building. The pregnant lady went into labour right after she got out.

Everyone congratulated us, including the Chief of Police. Gavin and I were put on two weeks’ mandatory leave because of the shooting and were ordered to see a therapist as well. There was no point in arguing, so we decided to put the time we got to good use: we resumed my case.