He stopped at the bus stop, moved a little further away from the bus stand and spread an umbrella. The umbrella was dark, and so is his suit. It was odd seeing him all dressed in the most expensive business suit with a shoe to match standing by the roadside. The leather briefcase must have cost a fortune. He was a businessman, obviously waiting for his chauffeur-driven car to come and pick him up. He had been standing at the same stop for some minutes now.
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Detective Thomas Shepley of the Fordop County Police ordered a cup of coffee and lowered his bulk on one of the few remaining chairs in the almost filled coffee shop. Meg gingerly balances the coffee on his table as she poured it almost to the point of overflowing. Meg was his former high-school sweetheart till life drove them in different directions.
"There you go Tom, your coffee as black as your soul," She chirped.
The detective laughed, Meg always had a powerful sense of humour.
He took a sip of his coffee and smacked his lips in appreciation. It was just the way he loved it; black with no sugar. He raised his eyes and noticed for the first time the man standing across the street with the umbrella. Even from a distance, he could appreciate the man's sense of dressing. He wondered how much the suit must have set him back.
The detective was distracted by a crackle of his radio announcing a possible domestic disturbance. It was that time of the year when people drank a little too much and got into more trouble than usual. Everyone knew the year's ending always brought out the worst in some people. Thankfully, this year's problems was off his shoulders as he was on leave starting that day. He smiled at the thought of how he was going to spend it all alone with the wife since the kids were off to their grandparents for the holidays.
He picked up the local paper and was greeted by the headline.
PAUL MERCHANT HOLDINGS GETS NEW BOSS
At last Merchant Holdings, the most prominent retailers of gold, diamonds and other precious stones and accessories with chains of retail outlets have named their new CEO, after a much legal battle with the outgoing CEO. Finally, the new CEO was Philip Foster. The outgoing CEO was Mr Beinstein Trope.
The detective flipped the page over to read other news; the jewellery power struggle does not make an engaging morning news.
He had been reading the papers for about twenty minutes when he looked up and noticed the Man with the Umbrella was still standing there. He was as stationary as a rock, just stood as if that is all he planned to do for the rest of his life. From a distance, one could not make out his face. He watched him for a moment and went back to his newspaper.
After about five minutes he instinctively looked up, and that was when it happened. The Man with the Umbrella appeared to receive a violent shove and at that moment the big glass window of the coffee shop shattered with glasses flying everywhere. It was not a shatterproof glass. It was like watching a movie in slow motion. It took the detective some seconds to understand what happened. A sniper just shot at the Man with the Umbrella and somehow either grazed or got him, and the bullet only shattered the coffee shop's window.
"Someone is firing bullets here. Everyone get on the floor now!" The detective screamed. There was a mad flurry of activities accompanied by glassware breaking as the early morning coffee lovers all scrambled to get on the floor. He instinctively braced himself for more flying glass, but then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. While crouching he called for backup, crawling on all fours, he approached the window and cautiously peeps out. He heard the sound of broken glass and withdrew his head quickly.
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But the broken glass was coming from somewhere outside, he peeped again and understood what was happening. Some sniper was shooting at the Man with the Umbrella who had taken cover underneath a parked car. Whosoever he was had only one thing in mind; to kill him. The bullets were hitting almost every part of the vehicle. But being underneath it presents a tough target to the sniper who was some distance away.
He watched the shooting from the coffee shop window and was undecided on what to do next. Trying to approach the man would be suicidal as it would leave him open and defenceless.
He radioed the units:
"There is a 245, assault with a deadly weapon, ongoing at the corner of 278 Street. Please all units be advised to approach with caution. The shooter has a high elevation advantage and shooter's position is unknown. The number of shooters is also not known. The only thing that I can visually confirm from my position in this coffee shop is that there is a sniper or snipers on a shooting spree somewhere out here."
"Copy that detective," came a reply. The voice of Fontana Dave was immediately recognisable. Shepley was happy the officer leading the cavalry team was the best.
He waited. His eyes never leaving the bus now riddled with bullet where the man was hiding. The man was not moving. Could he be dead? Is the sniper gone or waiting for the kill? Everyone in the shop was still on the floor. The atmosphere in the room was one of tranquil; you could have heard a pin drop.
Moments later there were the familiar sounds of several sirens. It was like music to Shepley's ear. The cavalry has arrived. He breathed, he never knew he had been somehow holding his breath for the past three minutes which seemed like an eternity.
The SWAT team parked some distance away and started approaching the scene with caution. They were in full combat mode. All kitted with bulletproof vest and shields.
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They spread out in V-formation and slowly approached the car. Shepley watched half expecting a bullet to hit whizz past him. There was none. Finally, they reached the car. Four of them using shields formed a protective wall from the car. But it was all for nothing as the mysterious sniper/snipers appeared to have long gone. When the man was finally pulled out from under the car, they realised he was unconscious. He has lost a lot of blood and was in bad shape.
The ambulance was quick to ferry him to the hospital. The detectives started scanning the area for the sniper(s). There was a high rise building construction site just 200m from the incident. It looked like the perfect spot for the sniper. They approached with caution thinking that the sniper or snipers may still be there.
The search of the building turned up nothing. Just as the SWAT team was exiting the building, they saw a boy of about five years old playing with an object. The object was a phone which he said he picked off the bushes. Dave told the boy he would love to see the phone and gingerly picked it with his gloved hands. But if there were prints on it, the little boy's prints would even make it harder to lift now.
Four hours later the team had to leave the area as their searches turned up nothing. It was as if the shoots were from a ghost. Dave's only hope of ever solving this case lay unconscious. Each passing hour reduces the chances that he would ever get out of it.
The only print lifted off the burner phone was that of the little boy. Dave was not surprised. The guy or guys are professionals. But like all professionals, they are bound to make a slip. The content of the phone had only one dialled number which was traced to a public telephone at about 6km away.
The Umbrella Man's identity was at last known. His name was Gary Cameron. He was the new security analyst to Paul Merchant Holdings, the billionaire empire. He was just three days on the job. What was he doing in that part of the town? Dave wondered. He immediately put a call to his residence, and no one answered. He sent a team of policemen to Mr Cameron's home.
They found the house empty; as if they were on holidays. The security informed them that the boss was on a business trip and that the madam left with some friends. Further inquiry revealed that Gary and wife went out 9 hours ago.
Gary regained consciousness, and the first thing he said is, "I hope my wife is alive."
The detective waiting outside the door quickly put a call to Dave to come and interview Gary that he was awake.
After one hour with Gary, Dave could finally make sense of a lot of things. Gary was approached by men who he thought were businessmen. It turned out they are robbers. The kidnapped the wife and two kids and told him to await further instruction. He was directed to stand in that part of town and never move. They took his vault access card and left the headquarters of Paul Merchant Holdings.
After standing for close to four hours, he decided to make a move. That was when he noticed they had a sniper on him. The police dispatched some team to the headquarters. Gary showed to have clocked out about an hour ago. He was unconscious and being watched by police in the hospital. It only means the robbers used his card. The $100 million worth of precious stone was gone too.
The kidnapped wife and kid were set free by the robbers 100km out of town.
The police had the robbery to investigate. All the cameras were working, and the faces of the four robbers visible. They ran their image on their database of criminals and came up with nothing. It was as if the guys just committed their first crime.
Their faces now plastered across the news; made it a matter of time before informers would reveal their location. After hundreds of phone calls from the public, the clues lead to nowhere. It was then that Dave knew something was wrong. That was a carefully executed robbery. Why did the robbers not conceal their face? They knew the inner working of the vault, they should know about the cameras too. Unless of course the faces seen were not their face!
Mr Beinstein Trope, the former CEO, when contacted grudgingly revealed secret tracking devices he embedded in the jewellery for activation in the event of theft.
That ended the search as quickly as it started. The thieves knew where to look because they were led by one former employee who was sacked for questionable dealings. The detective hunch about the faces turns out to be true. The robbers wore a clever mask and the faces seen are not their real face. Had it been there was no tracking device hidden amongst the jewellery, the robbers would never have been caught.
The End
