“John, are you listening?” asked Diane. She must have been speaking while John was lost in his thoughts.
“I am sorry, Diane. I was lost in my own thoughts about the place we are going to right now.” said John, still not finding a suitable detour out of the discussion. Then, he remembered her remark about her losing her parents at a young age.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” said John.
“Sure, we still have some time before the boat reaches the island. Go on.” said Diane.
“Your parents. Do you miss them?” asked John, hopeful that this would take her mind off the botched up mission.
“Yeah, I do miss them, sometimes. Of course, I was too young when they died. I don’t really remember them that much to begin with.” said Diane.
John was feeling better about where the discussion had been diverted to. He decided to latch onto this topic till the boat reached the shore.
“I can imagine that. How old were you when this happened?” asked John.
“I was about eight years old. I was away at my aunt’s house when my aunt got a phone call. When they told me the bad news, I did not really know what it meant. I just assumed that they were gone on a long trip. That was the original story that my aunt told me. When I went to the funeral, I did not even know it was a funeral. It was few years later that my aunt told me that my parents were actually gone and were not coming back.” said Diane, looking away into the sea.
“I remember something like that happening to a friend of mine in school. I was studying in a boarding school at that time. He was inconsolable for almost a week. It was a terrible experience for him. Many of us were actually put on his suicide watch, because things got ugly.” said John.
“That is terrible. Is he okay? Did he actually try to do something to hurt himself?” asked Diane.
“He tried once or twice. We caught him just a few seconds away from slashing his wrists. I was the one who caught him. He told me not to tell anybody. I made a deal with him. I wouldn’t tell anybody about this, and in return, he wouldn’t attempt any more stupid things. After that, he stopped trying to hurt himself. He was never the same after the sudden death of his parents. It was like he was a different person. Every time I saw him, I was reminded about my own parents. It was crazy.” said John.
“There are benefits that come with not having parents, John. It is not all that bad, really.” said Diane, in a tone that was somewhere between serious and playful.
John thought that it was leaning more towards playful than anything else. John was happy that the discussion was now in full flow about something other than the job at hand. John knew that it was generally a good idea to get the mind off things when you are doing something hectic. It was one of the many things that John learned at the University and also while working on many cases over the past couple of years.
“What kind of benefits?” asked John, wondering about what was to come next.
“For one thing, there is only so much supervision that your aunt can do for you. You can play the ‘you are not my mom’ card all the time, stay up all night, go for car drives with strange guys, and party well into the morning. The world is literally your oyster, detective.” said Diane.
“That really does sound like fun. In many ways, I had a similar life in school and college. Of course, I never stayed with my parents. Dad was schooled in a boarding school and he made sure I got the same treatment. His theory was that living alone made him a better man. After all these years, I am forced to agree with him. Compared to many of my friends, I do feel like a better man. Still, I did tell a lot of lies. I guess you never had to do anything like that.” said John.
“I guess so. I did not have to lie that much. What did you lie about? I know boys are usually very good at lying. What kind of lies did you tell, detective?” asked Diane, sitting a little closer to him now.
“I told lies about not dating anybody, coming late from vacation, summer vacation travelling. The biggest lie had to be what I said about my graduation. When I went to the University, I fully intended to pursue a degree in criminal investigation. I told my parents that I was pursuing a degree in law. They thought I was going to, and always wanted me to, be a lawyer. Dad always wanted to become a lawyer, and he could not. So, he wanted me to become a lawyer.” said John.
“You were going to become a lawyer? Seriously?” responded Diane, laughing uncontrollably.
“I am serious, Diane. He wanted me to become a lawyer. I wanted to become a private detective. I did not tell anybody about my career aspirations. If I did, they would have laughed. I did not realize that at first. I found out about it the hard way.” said John.
“It is a ridiculous job, a private detective? They don’t exist anymore. I mean, you do exist, and you are currently working on a pretty big case. You are good, no doubt about that. Still, if someone were to tell me that they were pursuing a career in private detection, I would have surely responded with a laugh. I think you did the right thing, lying to your parents. They would have never believed you for one second.” said Diane.
“That was my thinking when I decided on my future. In the beginning, like in my freshman year, I thought lying to my parents was fun. It was thrilling. I was so occupied with becoming a private detective that I did not realize how painful it would be for them if they should ever find out the truth. It took me a while to realize that. In fact, it took me about a year to find that out.” said John.
“Obviously, your parents found out. When did they find out? After the first year, I suppose.” said Diane.
“They did not find out in the first year. I have to say, I must have been a pretty good liar. They did not find out till my graduation. I somehow convinced them not to come to my graduation party as well. Unfortunately for me, despite all the precautions I took, my lie was discovered by my parents. I was pretty disappointed with myself.” said John, looking at the darkening sky. At a distance, the island was getting closer.
“What happened?” asked Diane.
“I had changed every contact address to a fake address that I had in the same city I was studying. There was a documented mistake in the University register. They mailed out the certificate to the second address. That address happened to be my parents. The letter went to them, and my four year lie died in a matter of seconds. Do you know the weird part?” asked John.
“What is the weird part?” asked Diane.
“I had fully made up my mind to tell them that night. It was crazy. I was already on my way to see them and come clean. Guess life had other plans for me. My parents were devastated. If my Mom wasn’t there that night, things could have gotten really ugly.” said John.
“Life can be cruel sometimes, John. That is just how it is.” said Diane.
John did not say anything, but was lost in his thoughts. His mind was travelling back to that night when he had that loud discussion with his Father. He remembered how his Mother came to his rescue and made everything alright. He was still thinking about it, when he felt something on his lips. Diane was sitting right in front of him, and she was kissing him. John came back to his senses and was just about to respond, when he noticed that the island was within a stone’s throw away. Diane stopped kissing him right away, and John backed off as well.
“Okay, detective, we are here.” she said, getting up and turning off the engine and switching off all the lights. The boat was steady, and it was easy for them to anchor it a safe distant from shore. They had deliberately chosen that part of the island which was most isolated and furthest from the dock. John and Diane had a closer look at the parts of the island that they could see in the dark using their night vision accessories and equipment. They already knew that this was a small island with a hill in the middle. On top of the hill was a bungalow. The lights in the bungalow were switched on. The rest of the island was covered in trees, and there were occasional dots that represented night l
ights along streets and footpaths.
John could see a vague outline of a dock that was big enough to handle medium size boats. He could not see anybody either walking around on the island or in the dock area. It was like somebody left the island in a hurry and forgot to switch off the lights. As John continued to observe the island, Diane was busy with her bags. She pulled out two backpacks and started filling each of them with contents. First, she pushed two guns and four boxes of ammo into each bag. That was followed by a bottle of water. Finally, night vision enabled binoculars.
She handed one bag to John and pulled the other one onto her own back. Then, she dug into her coat pocket and pulled out 2 pairs of swimming goggles out of them. She provided one pair to John, and proceeded to wear the other. John did the same. She then walked over to the edge of the boat and jumped into the water. John followed her and jumped into the water too. The water was still and the waves were moving toward the island. John and Diane comfortably reached the side of the island that was furthest from the dock and any street lights.
Once on shore, they removed their goggles and snuck inside the forest. It seemed to John that Diane had planned this mission well before landing on the island. She quickly walked up to a tree and started climbing up. John followed suit, and a few minutes later, they were perched on top of a tree. They both secured their seats on one of the branches and grabbed the binoculars from the bag. Then, they observed the area around them, and the bungalow that was about half a mile from them.
“I see nothing. It’s like the whole island is deserted.” said John, not finding anything through his binoculars.
“Of course you won’t see anything. Its night, and these guys are smart. They anticipate people snooping up on them. Did you enable the night vision mode on the binoculars?” asked Diane.
“How could I forget that! Let me turn it on.” said John, doing so.
The moment he enable the night vision mode on the binoculars, the vision in front of him became clear. He could see some movement at a distance. As he panned the entire forest in front of them, he noticed that there were regular movements across the forest. All in all, John could count at least six individuals who were moving around. Despite the night vision mode that was engaged, he could not make out clear outlines. That would have been better, because that would help them chalk out a more effective game plan.
“I can see some folks, but I wish I could see a little more clearly, Diane. The night vision is helpful, but not exactly useful.” said John.
“John, do you see the third button at the bottom. Yeah, that one, yes. Press that button and that should enable heat signature features. That should help you get more out of the vision.” said Diane.
Now, John was able to see much more clearly. In total, there were four signatures that were registered in the binoculars. They were spread out at a distance of about hundred meters from each other. John could not see the weapons they were holding. Yet, based on the way they were holding their weapons, John figured that they were holding rifles. That did not sound good, he thought to himself.
“Looks like they are packing some serious hardware. Just four people guarding an entire island? Is that not nuts?” asked John.
“Not many people come to this place since it is private property. Jory Hunger is smart. From what I have heard about him, he has been doing this for a long time. He is pretty good, too. We should never underestimate the people who work for him. Here, take these. They are not guns, John. They are loaded with tranquilizer darts, six of them. You take out two of the guards, and I will take out the other two. The important thing to remember is that we need to get them quick, within a time-frame of a minute. Any delay will result in them alerting others, and we will probably get caught. We might escape, but that would be a huge setback.” said Diane, handing over one dart gun to John.
“How long will they be out for?” asked John, checking the gun in his hand.
“Eight to ten hours minimum. I fully expect Jory Hunger to be in that building. Todd Luck will probably be a high priority hostage, and Jory Hunger would not want to take any chances. The plan is simple John. Once you have taken down the two thugs and I have taken down mine, we make our way to the building. You should meet me at the back entrance of the bungalow. If you reach there first, wait for me to arrive. If I reach first, I will wait for you. Questions?” said Diane, pushing the dart gun into the holster and packing her backpack.
“No questions.” said John, following her and taking care of the dart gun and his own backpack.
“Okay, John. This is where we split up. See you in a few minutes.” said Diane, jumping off the branch into the branch of the next tree.
John watched her hop from one branch to another, without making any noise whatsoever. A few seconds later, she was gone. John climbed down the tree swiftly, trying to make as little noise as possible. John was on the ground soon enough, and then he started running toward his two targets. His first target was about two hundred meters from where he was. The second target was a little ahead of the first target at another two hundred meters. John was glad that Diane had the forethought of making him wear tennis shoes before they left to go there.
He snuck up as close as fifty meters to the person. John waited until his target’s face was away from him. The moment that happened, he pulled out the dart gun. John noticed that it was fixed with a built in laser sight. It was very convenient, and another point that made Diane such an amazing person to work with. John continued to be impressed with the agent with whom he had been working with. John aimed for his back, right shoulder. He flicked the trigger and there was a swish noise. The guy, a little away from him, gave a small scream of pain and dropped on the ground.
John noticed that the other guy had not noticed that his friend had gone down. John ran in that direction, quietly. He ran until he was fifty meters from the second target. He waited for him to turn away, and then did the same thing he did with the first guy. He dropped down with a soft thud. Normally, John would have dragged the unconscious body to the side and throw their weapons away. Diane had said that they would be out for eight hours at least. There was no point in doing that. With his part of the job done, John turned toward the back door of the bungalow. He was there in two minutes. Unsurprisingly, Diane was already there.
“Why am I not surprised that you reached here before me, Diane?” asked John, stopping to catch his breath.
“You are slow, detective.” said Diane, smiling.
“Thanks. That really makes me happy.” said John.
“Don’t worry about it, detective. If you had been trained like me, I am pretty sure you would have been faster than me. I have got the door open and I have already scanned the place with the heat vision. There is just one person on the top floor room. That must be Jory Hunger.” said Diane.
“Just one heat signature? Does that mean Todd is not here?” asked John, a little disappointed.
“I am sure that he is somewhere here. The hostage would probably be in some kind of an underground bunker, shielding off the body heat. Don’t lose faith yet, John. I have a gut feeling that we are almost at the end of this long, harrowing journey.” said Diane, almost sounding like a person who was much older that she looked.
“I hope you are right, Diane. I consider myself a very patient person, but I really want to get to the end of this. I am this close to closing this case, but each time I get close, something else happens. I really want to bring a big smile on Ms. Luck’s face.” said John.
“It will be fine, detective. You have been at this for three to four days? I have been at this for weeks. The delay is killing me from within, too. We are on the same boat here. Let’s keep moving.” said Diane.
Diane unlocked the door, and they were inside the bungalow. The place was almost dark, and most of the lights were turned off. John noticed that the whole bungalow was filled with all sorts of expensive items. The furniture i
n the room alone must have cost a fortune. The walls had paintings that looked extremely expensive. If John was a thief, he would walk out a very rich person tonight. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t a thief. Neither was Diane, and she hardly stopped to look at any of the stuff. She went straight up the stairs with John running right behind. They were both wearing tennis shoes, and neither made any noise.
They ran till they were at a huge door, and there was light coming from beyond it. Diane stopped to hear what was going on inside. John could hear nothing. Diane continued to keep her eyes on the door. John did not know what she was doing, but he did not wish to interrupt her. He waited for her to finish whatever it was that she was doing. While he was waiting, John could not help but turn around and admire the living room. He thought that this Jory Hunger guy must make a lot of money doing whatever he does. He must have been appreciating it for a few minutes, when Diane tugged at him.
John turned back and she was pulling out her real gun, not the dart gun. John followed her lead and pulled out his own gun, unlocking the safety lock. Diane raised her gun above her shoulder, put her hand on the door lock and stood to the right of the door. John stood to the left of the door. He waited for her signal. Diane waited for a few seconds, and then, she quickly unlocked the door and stepped in. John followed her quickly. The moment they stepped inside, John saw a man in a white robe, staring at them in shock.
He was dressed in a bathrobe and had a glass of wine in his hand. The moment he saw them, he stopped talking to someone. John looked at the direction his head was tilted before he stopped talking. A door that led to the bathroom was half open. A second later, they heard a female voice from within. A woman walked out not wearing anything except a towel on her head. Without wasting a second, Diane pulled out the dart gun with her free hand and shot her in her thigh. The naked woman dropped to the ground.
“Who the hell are you people?” shouted the guy in the bathrobe.
UNDERCOVER The Secret of Luck Page 27
