UNDERCOVER The Secret of Luck

by James Kipling

  “Well Dad, there is no slipping anything past you. I am telling this to you, so you can tell Mom. Part of the reason why I am having so much trouble with almost everything these days is because of the way I have been hiding things from everybody. Especially from those who care for me. I know you can tell this to Mom in a way that I could never do. Please promise me that you would do this one favor for me, Dad.” said John.

  “I will do that son, don’t worry about it.” said the senior Russo.

  “Thanks, Dad. Do you like the watch, then?” asked John, changing the topic to something lighter and softer.

  “It’s great.” said the senior Russo, admiring the cherished gift from his only son.

  Chapter 7

  John’s phone rang just as he finished lunch with his Dad. It was Sheila. “Boss, just wanted to remind you that your taxi is waiting outside the Diner.” John said good-bye to his Dad and got into the taxi; the cab started off to meet the doctor.

  The taxi dropped him off at the doctor’s house with two minutes to spare for his 1 PM appointment. John had vivid thoughts of how he ran into this doctor from one of his earlier assignments. The doctor, Rick Falk, was, in fact, a retired military doctor. He left the service a long time ago, and despite John asking him several times, the doctor would not tell why he left the army. He did not have a regular practice of any kind, and took on private clients. One such client was John Russo.

  He thought back to the phone call. That phone call was pretty ironic, given that the doctor hardly charged any money from John Russo. Every time there was a medical emergency, the doctor would treat him, but never actually send a bill. Yet, John would ask Sheila to prepare an invoice and make the payment. Dr. Falk was one of those guys who had reached a point where they would do their job for the sake of it, and not for the money. John kept thinking about all of this as he knocked on the doctor’s door.

  A young woman with a nice smile answered the door and indicated to John to follow her. The house was a two floor setup, and she walked him to the stairs and asked him to go up. Of course, John did not need any of those instructions. He had been there plenty of times. He walked up the stairs and into a room where Dr. Falk had his office set up. He was reading a book as John entered.

  “John, good to see you again. I was surprised to receive your assistant’s email.” said Dr. Falk, getting up to shake hands with him.

  “That’s right, doctor. I am back, sort of. If you could check my fitness to return to work, I would be very grateful to you.” said John, taking the patient’s seat as the doctor took his chair on the other side of the table.

  “Yes, I figured that was what you would want. My lab is ready. Your workout clothes are in the changing room, and you can start when you are ready. My assistant, who opened the door, will be with you to help you.” said the doctor, firing up the monitoring systems. John realized that he had been out of action for a while now. He wanted to be sure that he was in good shape for the assignment, which could have some danger in store.

  He thanked the doctor and changed into workout clothes in the changing room. The lab was a full- fledged fitness center. The only difference was that each and every set of equipment was connected to a medically graded measurement system that would measure his vitals, like heartbeat, brain activity, breathing speed, and so on. The large monitor in the exercise room kept him on track with a check list of all the things he had to do. The good looking assistant, who would hardly say a word, would follow John around, helping him out with the various exercises he was doing. The whole process took about an hour. Once done, John took a hot shower, changed into his original clothes, and returned to the doctor’s office.

  It seemed like the doctor was ready with his report and started off as John took to the patient’s seat.

  “John, as always, you are in good shape. Your heart is beating just fine, your blood test came out as expected, no diseases or anything. Physically, you are as healthy as a twenty four year old man could ever be.” said the doctor.

  “Thanks, doctor. If you could email that report to my assistant, she will know what to do with it.” said John. As a private detective, John was governed by the local law enforcement office. In order to keep his license, he had to furnish his health details every once in a while.

  “I have already done that. There’s just one thing that worries me, John.” said the doctor, standing up and walking to the downstairs living room with John.

  “What is it, doctor?” asked John.

  “It seems that you are not sleeping well. I am not a psychologist, but I would say that you are having nightmares.” said the doctor, both of them now seated in the living room.

  “You are right in saying that, doctor. As it turns out, I am already seeing a shrink. The way I see it, most of my mind related problems have been taken care of. At least for now.” said John.

  “That is good to know, John.” said the doctor.

  “Thank you for everything, doctor.” said John, taking the card and getting up to leave. He shook hands one last time with the doctor. Taking that as a cue, his assistant came up to him. She led him to the door, and John was out of the doctor’s house and back on the streets. It was about 3 PM now, and his next appointment was at 4 PM with the information broker. As he stood there, just as Sheila had planned, the taxi was on the street corner, waiting for John to show up. John waved his hand and the taxi came to him. He got into the taxi and it sped off towards the home of the information broker.

  Forty-five minutes later, John was at the entrance of a stand-alone house on the outskirts of the city. The owner of the house, Gerald Drake, was the information broker that John wanted to meet. John had been there a couple of times. Drake liked to be left alone, one of the reasons for him to live in a neighborhood that put more emphasis on the privacy of the residents. As John got out of the taxi, the camera on the gate moved slightly to focus on him. It scanned him, and opened the door on its own. John walked across the thinly populated pathway and reached the door of the house. The door sensed his presence and opened again. John walked past a dark living room, which contained the most elaborate entertainment equipment he had ever seen in a home, and then past a rarely used kitchen, and finally, into the computer center where Drake worked.

  Loud music filled the hall, but mellowed down the moment John walked in. There was no sign of Drake, and then he heard something. Up at the ceiling, Drake was hanging down by a rope. He seemed to be fixing something. He was wearing soldering glasses and he had a soldering gun in his hand.

  “I will be down in a minute, John!” he shouted. He continued to solder something, bright sparks emanating from it. A minute later, he was done. He pressed a button on his belt, and the rope let him down. He landed with a soft thud on the carpeted floor.

  “John, my best private detective in the world. How are you?” asked Drake, extending his dirty hand. He must have been doing some work over the day. John was not surprised by any of this. He was surprised two years ago, but now, he was used to the way Drake worked.

  “I am good, Drake.” said John, shaking hands and then letting it go.

  “Look man. I am a little busy right now, but I believe you want me to look up something. If you can make it quick, I would appreciate it.” said Drake, walking away from John and onto his work station which had over a dozen screens, all of them running a variety of applications.

  John was accustomed to Drake’s working style. John was also aware of the fact that Drake was not much of a talker. John sat down on the chair at the workstation and shared with Drake all the information he had been given by his client. Drake uploaded all those files onto his own computer, and then worked quietly for over ten minutes. While he waited, John headed to the kitchen, made himself a cup of coffee and returned. He sat there, sipping his mug of coffee, waiting for Drake to finish what he was doing. Five more minutes, and Drake turned away from the screen and faced John
.

  “This guy is missing. Okay. His information seems to be, well, not okay. Perhaps a few hours of work should tell me what you want to know. I will give you a call tomorrow morning. From what I have learned so far, something is fishy about this guy.” said Drake.

  “Okay. I thought so too. I will wait for your call tomorrow morning. See you.” said John. Drake simply smiled and returned to his soldering gun and started wearing that harness. He pressed a button on his belt and the rope, once again, lifted him up. John gave one last look at the soldering man at the ceiling, walked back the way he came, and was back on the streets. The taxi was still standing by. He got in the taxi, and it took off in the direction of John’s office. The cab reached the office after a two hour drive, the rush hour traffic kept John on the edge. He liked the city, but the traffic was always its sore point. By the time he reached his office building, it was almost empty. Most other businesses had shut shop, and the lobby was now manned by the night shift operator. John stopped by the lobby juice outlet, bought a can of orange juice, and took the elevator to his office. Once in his office, he phoned the local restaurant and ordered the menu as mentioned in the weapon guy’s email. Once he was done with that, he enjoyed his juice in his quiet office.

  A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and the weapons guy was standing there. The weapons guy had a name, and that was John Trek. Trek was the one who insisted that he would be referred to as ‘weapons guy’. Of all three support systems that helped John with his detective work, he was the one who was almost like a friend to him. The moment the door opened, he dropped his suitcase and gave John a tight hug.

  “Man, you are back in business!” said Trek, with obvious happiness and joy.

  “Thanks, Trek. I missed you too.” said John, overwhelmed by the hug. The two friends walked together to the office where the food delivery had just arrived. John laid out the table, and they had dinner, talking about everything from John’s nightmares to the new job, Trek’s work, and everything else. Once the dinner was done with, they got down to business. Trek opened his suitcase and showed the hand gun that he had brought for John. He told him about its features, reloading improvements, and gave him extra bullets. During those times, Drake would almost become like a salesman, which was kind of waste of energy because John had already agreed to pay for the weapons. With the weapons delivered, Drake wished him good luck, said goodbye, and left.

  John decided against going to his apartment. He locked down the office. All he had to do now was wait for the information broker to find out more about the missing guy, use that information, and find the missing brother of his client. John was pleased with the day’s work. For the first time in six months, he was happy with what he was doing. He fell asleep quickly on his sofa, his mind hoping that he would not have any more nightmares.

  The next day he woke up and hurried to get ready. He had a nightmare-free night and was ready for action. Before he knew it, Sheila was in the office. “What has happened so far, Boss?” asked Sheila, coming from the office kitchen with two mugs of coffee..

  “Everything went as planned. You did the scheduling well. I really liked that cabby who drove me all day. Thanks for that.” said John, reclining on his usual couch.

  “No problem. What did the information broker say?” she asked.

  “He said that something is fishy about that missing guy. He said that he would have to work a few more hours on that. I should have received his phone call by now.” said John Russo.

  No sooner did John say that, his phone started ringing. It was Drake, the computer guy. Sheila took that as a clue to leave the room and did so. John answered the phone.

  “John, you have to come to my office right away. Bye!” said Drake, in a serious tone. John Russo grabbed his coat, wallet, and the two guns given by the weapons guy the night before and rushed out of the office. He took the elevator, travelled all the way to the basement, and got into his car. A few minutes later, he was driving through the not so busy streets of the city. Once he reached Drake’s house, the door scanned him and let him in. Drake was waiting for him.

  “Did you find anything?” said John, entering his workshop cum computer center.

  “You bet I did. You won’t believe what I found out!” said Drake. As he said so, he asked John to join him at his workstation which had about a dozen screens of varying sizes. A few of the screens were displaying all sorts of information about the missing guy that John was trying to find. There was too much information for John to grasp the key points right away. Drake figured as much, and started a running commentary even as his hands kept interacting with the screens showing relevant pictures, records and data.

  “Remember that I told you that something was fishy about your missing guy?” asked Drake.

  “I remember you mentioning it. That was before you jumped back onto your ceiling and left me to leave the house on my own, of course.” said John.

  “I linked up a variety of information sources, maintained by multiple databases, like the government, employers, police stations, and other services he might have used in his life. He had an oddly ordinary life.” said Drake.

  “Explain this oddly ordinary life, please.” said John.

  “Here we go. This guy had a normal childhood, but was outstandingly brilliant at school. He finished school, then enrolled at a University. Top of the line grades again, with decent sports participation. You would think such a guy would go onto having a fantastic career with a high paying job. Then, something happens in the final year of his college education. The day after he receives his degree, he goes missing for two years. I thought that was weird, until I found out that he was a member of a mountain climbing club. I was able to obtain information about his activities from the club. You with me so far?”

  “Yes, go on.” confirmed John.

  “The club had a lot of photos and documentation of him taking off on so many expeditions. I even grabbed some photos and so on. Then, he stopped mountaineering and returned to this city. Once he returned, he took up desk jobs at a variety of organizations. It is not every day that adrenaline junkies decide to give everything up and take up mundane jobs. Your guy did that exact thing. Why do you think he would do that?” asked Drake.

  “A climbing related injury, perhaps.” replied John.

  “No such thing. He was in good shape. His employment records confirmed that. He got stuck in a mundane desk job. He got paid handsomely for such a simple job. He had worked in four different companies over the last six years, and in each case he was in an ordinary desk job. Jobs that did no justice to his educational qualifications or his sports background. That is how much I know about him at present.” concluded Drake, closing all the windows that were displaying all relevant information about the missing man.

  “Why would a guy so smart and so brilliant give up everything and work in such mundane jobs? Why would he get paid so well for doing routine desk jobs?” John asked, but he was really just thinking aloud.

  “That’s what bugged me, too. Even stranger is the fact that all this information was carefully hidden. It’s like someone went to a lot of trouble to hide this guy’s past. What do we do next?” asked Drake.

  “I have a thought. Here, this is all the information about my client. Run a background check on her. Confirm to me if she is indeed this guy’s sister. I am heading over to her hotel room now. How long would your background verification of her take?” asked John.

  “Ten. May be fifteen minutes at most. Unless, she also has a fishy history like this, in which case it may take longer.” said Drake.

  “Another thing, Drake. I need you to find out more about all of his employers, including the current one.” said John.

  “I will do so, John. Anything else?” asked Drake, itching to return to more work.

  “That is all for now, Drake. Call me once you have more information.” said John, heading to the
exit. John reached his car, and turned it toward the hotel where his client was staying. He called her up to inform her that he was on his way and that he had some questions for her. She agreed to meet with him. John had some serious questions in his mind. This information provided by Drake had changed things drastically. He loaded both his guns with bullets, hid them on his legs, and got out of his car. Ms. Luck’s room was on the tenth floor. He would reach there quickly by elevator.

  Once inside an elevator, John turned around to press the button for the 10th floor. Just as the door was about to close, he noticed something about one of the people who was sitting in the grand hotel lobby. John extended his hand out quickly to stop the elevator doors from closing. Responding to the presence of his outstretched hand, the door detectors stopped closing and started opening up again. John stepped out of the elevator and casually pulled out his phone. He pretended to be on a phone call and walked along the floor until he reached one of the lobby chairs. John then pretended to be disappointed that his phone call was not answered and collapsed onto the leather sofa. The seat he had chosen faced the elevator and gave him a slight view of everybody else who was sitting in the hotel lobby. John’s attention was on the woman who was sitting about ten feet from him.

  John had a distinct feeling that he had seen her somewhere. He just could not figure out where. He did not want her to know that he was watching her. He looked around the hotel lobby to check the position of cameras. He found one that was pointed right at him. He also found two more cameras that were on either side, hidden inside a cleverly designed art monument. John had an idea. He got up, and walked up to the reception desk which was manned by two folks. One of them was already speaking to an elderly lady who would probably take a while. John decided to talk to the second fellow, who was speaking on the phone. Seeing John approach his table, he returned the phone to the receiver.