UNDERCOVER The Secret of Luck

by James Kipling

  “Are you John Russo?” The girl asked, as she stood next to his chair.

  “I am John.” said John, getting up and shaking her hand.

  “Hi John. I am Nancy Shaw. I am playing your character’s partner in the play. You are standing in for Ben, aren’t you?” she asked.

  “That is right, Nancy. Ben is down with the flu and I am forced to replace him.” said John, not even bothering to hide his disappointment with his job.

  “I take it that you are not too happy about this, John?” said Nancy, taking the seat next to him. John returned to his seat as well.

  “It’s that obvious, eh?” said John.

  “Well, the way you are talking and the way you are sitting gives away your entire mood about this. It is not that bad, you know.” said Nancy.

  “I don’t even know what this play is about. I don’t know you either. I don’t even go and watch plays, and it is just plain ridiculous that I am going to star in one.” said John.

  “I think you will do just fine, John. You look like the sort of guy who has a natural knack for this sort of thing.” said Nancy, going through the many pages of the script which was in her hand. She went through several pages, and finally pulled out three pages that were stapled together. She handed them over to him, and John took them.

  “This is the script. Fortunately for you, John, we are on stage for only three minutes, and we have a total of twenty lines between us. Eighteen of them are mine. Your character in the play is supposed to be angry about something. Just channel your anger toward the play, and you will do just fine.” said Nancy.

  John laughed upon hearing that. It was the first time he had laughed since coming for the rehearsal. Nancy laughed with him.

  “That sounds like a plan, Nancy. Of course, if you keep putting things in a better perspective like this, I may not have much anger left for this drama to bank on.” said John.

  John returned from his memories and was back in his office again. He looked at the time, and it was already four-thirty. He only had half an hour before he had to be at that plaza. John quickly freshened up, took the elevator to the basement, got into his car, and started driving to the plaza. John had no difficulty in making the thirty minute drive to the plaza. Having parked his car in the basement car park, John took the stairs to the lobby, and settled on one of the waiting chairs.

  John started staring at the huge wall clock occupying much of the space behind the reception desk. He thought that the clock was telling him that time waits for no one. As John was wondering about the workings of the clock and how it kept ticking every second, he was reminded of the human heart which too keeps ticking until the person leaves the earthly realms.

  John must have been lost in thought about that huge clock, when there was a tap on his shoulder. John looked up to see Nancy standing next to him. For a couple of seconds, John was slightly taken aback. The last time he saw Nancy was almost two years ago on the graduation day. Back then, she was a little on the heavier side, almost pudgy. She had short hair, and average taste in clothes.

  Now, she looked like a completely different person. Her hair was longer, and it was decorated like a fountain with water spewing out with no compliance to gravity. There was something about her eyes, perhaps she was wearing contacts. They were green in colour, making her look even better. She was wearing a business suit that looked less like office wear and more like what a model would wear in one of those sales ads. John could not help but notice that she had also lost some weight. All in all, she was looking fabulous.

  “John, are you okay?” asked Nancy.

  “Hey! Sorry, I was lost in thought for a few seconds. You look…ahem…different. I mean, you look seriously hot.” said John, like a guy who had no control over his thought process.

  “Thank you for being so honest, John.” said Nancy.

  “I was only stating the obvious, Nancy. How are you doing? I don’t have much of a plan for the evening. I know a few places in the city.” said John, standing up.

  “I am staying at the Morton Hotel for the night. We could have dinner there.” said Nancy.

  “That sounds nice. I have my car parked in the basement. We could take the stairs or elevator.” said John, walking with her toward the general direction of the plaza’s exit.

  “Let’s take the stairs. We have so much to catch up on.” said Nancy.

  The two friends reached the basement in a few minutes. It was already half past five, and Primer city’s traffic was just picking up. Morton Hotel was only a mile away from the Plaza, from which they had left a minute ago. For a city of its size, Primer had one of the best traffic management systems in the country. The drive, despite all the vehicles and so many people juggling the many lanes to reach home, was a comfortable one. Ten minutes later, John had parked his car, and they were both sitting in one of the restaurants on the third floor. John ordered dinner for both of them and the food arrived quickly. As they ate their way through the evening meal, they resumed their conversation.

  “John, I heard that you now work as a private detective. I knew you were pursuing a career in criminal investigation, but I did not think that you would become a private detective. I assumed you would work for one of those insurance fraud companies. The rest of your classmates are doing that, aren’t they?” she asked.

  “That is true. That is what most folks did who studied with me. I did not want any of that. I did not tell anybody that I wanted to be an actual private detective. I feared that some folks might find it laughable. There aren’t many private detectives around, but I wanted to be one. If you are feeling a little violated for me not sharing that with you, I owe you an apology.” said John.

  “You don’t owe me any apology, John. I understand. I may never have been your girlfriend back at the university, but I was your friend. I always thought highly of you. Speaking of girlfriends, how is Shannon?” asked Nancy.

  “My girlfriend at the university? I don’t know. We broke up a few months after graduation.” replied John.

  “What happened? Was it you or her?” asked Nancy.

  “It was both of us. We had been together for such a long time; things had simply run its course. We still exchange an occasional email and send New Year’s gifts. Last I heard, she was working in the city of Mentis.” replied John.

  “That is a far place. I always thought that you two would go on to get married, perhaps have a couple of kids. You always gave off a vibe of the type of guy who would like it nothing better than to settle down in life. At least, that is the impression you gave when in college.” said Nancy.

  “I have a confession to make about that, Nancy. That was all just a ruse of mine to hide my real intentions of being a private detective. In hindsight, I always wanted to break up with her. I just wished to avoid unwanted attention toward myself. When folks realize that I am some boring guy, they just leave me alone.” said John, raising his eyebrows and bobbing his head like he won an award.

  Nancy laughed loudly.

  “That was pretty smart. You definitely had me fooled, and almost everybody at the University. Kudos for that, John.” said Nancy, tapping him softly on the shoulder. John smiled in return and laughed with her.

  “Come on John, what are you holding back?” asked Nancy, placing her hand on his hand.

  “What do you mean?” John asked, he did not pull his hand as it remained connected with hers.

  “There is something different about you, John. You are not that same guy I remember from college. Come on, John. What is going on?” asked Nancy.

  “Nothing is going on Nancy. I am doing just fine. Everything is just as it should be” said John.

  “John. I know you. You could even say that I am one of the few friends you had in college. I know something is bothering you. Is everything okay with your Dad? I remember when you told me about that loud discussion you had with your father regardi
ng your secretly pursuing a degree in criminal investigation. You told me about that. Is that all settled now?” asked Nancy, her voice telling more than the words.

  “That was a long time ago. My parents made peace with that a long time ago. That has never bothered me. It did not bother me back then, and it hasn’t bothered me since then either. Rod took care of it for me. Do you remember Rod?” asked John, trying to change the subject.

  “That guy who wanted to be a lawyer? How is he?” asked Nancy.

  “He is a successful lawyer, and he works in this city.” stated John, becoming happy that he had managed to change the conversation.

  “That is good to know, John. I see what you did there. Trying to change the topic. Stop doing that, and just tell me, what is going on with you? If it is not your parents, what else is it? Did you have a break up with a new girl you may have met in this city?” she asked.

  “It is not girl trouble, Nancy. Stop with all these thousand questions.” replied John. By now, Nancy had pushed her chair a little closer to John. John was aware of this, but he decided to do nothing about it.

  “It’s not your parents, and definitely not your friends. It’s not girl trouble, and that leaves only one thing, something is wrong with your job. Looks like I should have been a detective. How about that?” asked Nancy. She was sitting right next to him now. John gave a huge sigh.

  “What do you want me to say, Nancy? There are some problems with work, but it’s complicated. I don’t want to bore you with, well, boring details about my job.” said John.

  “That’s what you think of me. I am not even your friend now, is that it? Is that what this is all about? I mean nothing to you. In fact, I think I may have made a mistake of trying to catch up with you. There was this guy at the conference who was totally coming on to me. I gave up on that to catch up with you. This is what I get in return. Thanks a lot, John!” There was anger in her eyes as she pushed her chair away from him. She stood up, nearly knocking over her water glass.

  “Nancy, wait. Sit back down, please.” said John, admitting defeat. Nancy did not sit back down, but she did stop walking away. She was looking at him, waiting, waiting to see what he might say next.

  “Okay, I am having work trouble. If you are sure you won’t get bored, I don’t mind telling you. Perhaps, I could give you the condensed version of the whole story. Please, sit down.”

  Nancy stood there for a few seconds. She pushed the chair back to where it was before, next to his chair. She took her seat and waited for him to start. John began talking about how his business began almost two years ago. He told her about the kind of jobs he took, and the excellent amount of money he made. He told her about his realization that his skills were being underutilized and he thought that he wasn’t doing what he wanted to do. He told her about his decision to give up on his past work and focus on what he wanted. He also explained how he had to let go of his assistant.

  As John told his story, Nancy listened intently to everything he said. Every now and then, she would stop him and ask him a few questions. John would then elaborate upon the points that bothered her. As the story progressed, John felt good about himself. He may not admit to her or anybody else, he was secretly hoping that, if he had a chance to go back in time, he would have been better off if Nancy was his girlfriend instead of Shannon.

  “That is some turn of events, John. You really don’t want to go back to doing your old Job then? What if an actual detective job never came?” asked Nancy, when he had finished updating her on the events that had transpired up to that day.

  “I am not sure. I don’t know.” said John.

  “I believe that everything happens for a reason, John. I know you. You are the kind of guy who does not give up so easily. You are smart and resourceful. You will figure something out. This dinner was excellent, by the way. Thank you for that.” said Nancy.

  “You are welcome. Thank you for listening to me.” said John.

  “Well, that was a nice evening. God, we have been talking for more than three hours now. Time sure went by fast. I am heading to my room, John. If you are free, you can join me for a late night movie. Would you like to?” Nancy asked the question as she got up from her chair.

  John thought about it for a few seconds. He decided to go with it.

  “I would like that. Let’s go.”

  One Month Later

  John was in his office. The television was still on, just like it was yesterday and the day before that. It had been almost three months since Sheila left the office. The office looked gloomier without her tapping away on her tablet and her smile. John aimlessly flicked through the channels of the television. His landline was on the hook. As far as John was concerned, the phone might as well have been disconnected. It had been almost five months since he told everybody that he was out of his previous line of work.

  His phone had not rung in almost three months now. It was as if there was literally no work for a private detective. Not unless he was ready to catch a middle aged man swinging it with his co-worker in some low rent hotel. The thought itself disgusted John. There were a couple of times in the last three months when he almost called up Rod and told him that he wanted to get back to his old job, if only to get out of the boredom that he was going through. He decided against it.

  The phone rang. John let it ring a few times, but it kept ringing, so John answered it.

  “John, are you at the office?” said a woman’s voice on the other end.

  “Mom, I wasn’t really expecting your phone call.” said John, putting on a fake cheerful voice.

  “I was a bit worried about you, son. You haven’t called in three days. You also did not show up for dinner last Sunday. Is everything alright?” said Mrs. Russo over the phone.

  “I am fine, Mom. I am perfectly alright.” said John. He instantly regretted those words the moment they came out of his mouth.

  “Ah John! What are you hiding? You never say ‘perfectly alright’ unless something was bothering you. You can talk to me son.” said his Mom.

  “Mom, there is this case I was working on and it is taking a little longer than I expected. That was all. I was out of town last Sunday, travelling in relation to that case.” said John. Like every son, he hated lying to his own parents. At this point, he had no choice. He could not tell his mother and father that he had not received any crime-related cases in almost five months.

  “Okay, son. When you wrap up this work, come over for dinner, okay? I will make your favorite dish.” said his Mom before hanging up.

  John put the receiver back on the hook. Things were slowly falling apart, and now he was even lying to his own parents. He did not know what else he could expect from his life in the near future. Something told him that it would only get worse before it got any better. John got back to his sofa and resumed watching his television.

  Three Weeks Later

  John opened his eyes to find that he was in some kind of a cellar. There was darkness everywhere. He could not see much beyond a few meters. He searched for his gun on his waist, the holster was empty. Someone had taken his gun away. He looked for the second gun on the other side of his waist. That was gone too! John felt helpless without his guns. That did not make him scared, though. He searched for his pockets and they were empty as well, except for the box of matches.

  John opened the match box, making as little noise as he possibly could. He did not know where he was and it made good sense to remain as calm and quiet as possible. The match was struck and in that pitch darkness, it seemed to glow like a fire lantern. There were still eight more sticks in the match box and he made a mental note of that. The struck match continued to glow. John could see the cellar more clearly now. It looked like an old dungeon. He spent a little more time walking along the walls.

  Oddly enough, the dungeon seemed very familiar to him. It reminded him of a movie he watched when he was youn
ger. It was a scary movie about a young girl who was sacrificed to a demon. Later, that young girl would come back to haunt her own parents. The parents decided to run for it and found themselves in a dark dungeon. A lengthy cat and mouse game ensued, and the parents somehow managed to survive. John watched that movie when he was still a young boy. Somehow, the movie seemed to scare the hell out of him.

  John did not know how he ended up in this dungeon. He continued to walk along the hall. Then he saw a small opening that was blocked by a huge rock. John looked around and found a lamp that was half full with fuel. He lit it using the match, which was somehow still burning, after what seemed like ten minutes since it was struck. John thought that was odd, but he had bigger things to worry about. The lamp was lit, and it was placed on a small platform. John used all his strength and the rock seemed to budge a little. He put his back into it, and it seemed to give away a little more. He pushed it a little harder, and the entrance opened up.

  Beyond the door, it looked like a long tunnel. The tunnel, just like this dungeon, was completely dark. The only light was shed from the lantern. John picked up the lantern and entered the tunnel. The tunnel had smooth walls and it was just big enough for one man to walk. It was almost as if it was built for John to walk through. It had the exact height and width. John continued to walk through the tunnel and he began to see a little light at the end of that tunnel. He began to walk faster and faster, hoping to reach the end a little quicker. He must have reached half the length of the tunnel when he heard something from behind. John looked back and what he saw scared him out of his pants.

  At the far end of the tunnel, behind his back, he could see dozens of crawlers. He remembered seeing them in that ghost movie, and was shocked and surprised to see them here. John gripped on the lantern and started running towards the light. As he ran, he could hear the crawlers running towards him, perhaps faster than he was. Even as he ran, he could not help but think about how he ended up where he was. Why was he in this dungeon? What was this tunnel all about? That light in front of him, is it any good, and where does it lead to? What are the crawlies, and what do they want?