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Nobody Should See This

Nobody should see this, thought Harvey, hiding near the bins to write his letter. The repulsive stench round the place made him hold his breath and pray for dear life. The dark corner where he lay scruffily left him in one of the most uncomfortable positions. The sounds of bullets firing away, some of them in quick unison, left a very tension-filled atmosphere around. Half of him hoped he would make it to the Plaza Hotel. The other half, simply admitted defeat. But his job wasn’t the kind that would make him say, “I’ve given up.” Being an undercover police meant utmost dedication to his job and tedious work to get past all the troubles he would have to undergo. He had got very close to finding out what the Italian underworld was up to next. And of what he knew, it wasn’t a negligible thing. But as for now, he knew he might not live long, for the fear of being found. He had a piece of scrap paper which had started yellowing and was filled with greasy finger marks and stains of tea. The only pen he had was an expensive and royal looking one which was kept in impeccable condition. He pulled his legs towards his chest and shoved the bins out of his way to write his letter. The moon shone on him. He was a handsome man. With blond hair, deep blue eyes, high cheek bones, thin lips and a straight and sharp nose, his features were almost sculpted into him. His black coat now covered with dust and filth gave him a mystifying look. His black trousers, black shirt and black shoes were mucky and a strong odour of blood was given out. His face was streaked with mud but he seemed to take no notice of his unhygienic self. The place around him was dark and sordid. It camouflaged him well but he knew he couldn’t hide here for long. He had to do his duty of a cop, not hide like a coward. Moreover, this place could hide him for a lot of time, he would be found once there would be light here, probably by dawn. Deep in thought, he thought of all the things he last did that turned out to deliver the coup de grace to everything so far. He tried to think of where he had gone wrong. He had to write this letter and then he wondered what he should put in it, repeating to himself in his mind, nobody should see this. Taking a deep breath he wrote down his letter.

Dear Mr. Short,

I hate to break this to you but I’m afraid, I have to leave your service now. I have been found. My true identity has been revealed. I can no longer carry out your orders. However, I would like to inform you all the information I have gathered in the past few days at C0ck Showlter. As per your orders, I managed to get in with the gang, the one with which we have been working and have been closely following up. I successfully mingled with them and have acquired certain details. The Daddy Rosetta gang, the gang with which I have spent the last few days has told me a lot about their future plans. According to the head, Daddy Rosetta, the next plan will be executed at Omaha Carousel Circus, here, in Italy.

He took a break to check if he had got down all his facts right. The abysmal corner now had hardly any light on it and Harvey was finding it extremely hard to see what he was writing. A few more bullets fired at a distance. Occasionally, shrieks and shouts of “Get that man!” were heard. More bullets showered. From what it sounded like, the person who was shooting didn’t quite get his placement right. The smell round him had jus got stronger. A couple of rats scurried away into the bins. A cat came into the little corner and looked Harvey in the eye. Harvey pretended to be oblivious to the presence of the cat. He looked away and the cat turned its back on him and slinked away stealthily into the darkness, its green eyes shining at a distance, reflecting the sparse amount of light engulfing that space. Harvey looked up, took a deep breath and swallowed. He got down to writing his letter. According to the plan, Daddy Rosetta and his men are planning to use one of the best computer experts they can get, to hack into the system at Omaha Carousel Circus, the Friday after next week and pause all the rides there. While that is happening, his computer expert will then hack into the cash system. As you know, the Carousel Circus is one of the top hot spots for casinos, amusement rides and arcade games and they earn big money. Once they have got into the cash system, they will obtain all the cash, restore the rides to their usual schedule and carry on. It is a fool-proof plan for one reason, a few of them will be on the rides so that no one would suspect them. Their odds of being found out would have remained close to nil anyway as they are a gang which has only been heard of but never seen. I submitted my plan of action and this plan to Mr. Rossellini, who is currently heading our undercover police force here in Italy and that plan will hopefully be forwarded to you so that you two can speculate and execute my idea. All details of the robbery are mentioned in the report but I doubt if it will actually get through to you, especially if this gang spoils the post system. As for now, I’m not telling you much about how I have been found out. I am the undercover police and Daddy Rosetta’s gang is aware of it. They are looking out for me and I might be dead before dawn .If I make it, then I will come to the Plaza Hotel, and I will wait there and contact you for further instructions .Pardon me for the ill state of this letter as I don’t have much scrap paper to write to you on. You will know about the attack in my report and I hope you do everything to stop it.

Yours most sincerely, H. Martin

Harvey scanned the letter and folded into a small piece of paper. He was about to put it away into his coat when he unfolded it again to write a post script.

PS. Please inform my family that I will be dead and please prepare a will on my behalf for my family. Please do tell my wife that she need not fret, as I have died doing something noble. And tell my daughter that daddy might never be home again as he has gone to find Spiderman for her. She’ll get my drift. Thanks for your support so long, sir. It has been my pleasure rendering my services to you.

PPS. Nobody should see this

The moon was now clear out on his letter. He wrote down, ‘Confidential. Nobody should see this. Deliver urgently as ordered by issues of government.’ A tear drop fell on the folded letter. He quickly rubbed it away before it could smudge any of what he had written. He closed his eyes and leaned back. Memories of his wife, daughter, parents, friends and colleagues flooded his mind. He took out a little badge from his coat. It said, ‘My Dad, My Hero’. He kissed it and put it back in. He longed for the voice of his wife and his daughter. He longed for the feel of his daughter’s curly hair hitting his chin, the smell she carried around, so serene and babyish and the laughter of her happy self. Holding his emotions, but with a heavy heart, he got up to get out of his hiding into the clearing to face his oncoming danger. He took out a gun, metallic and black, reflecting every bit of royalty yet danger on it. He held it close to his chest and came out. Before he could do anything, a sniper shot him dead. Men came over, two dogs mauled his face, reckless words were being shouted, cheers, angst, rage and all sorts of emotions were flooding. The men tried to pull the fierce dogs ravaging his face, but they continued. It was all a blackout at that point. His face was bleeding, his wound was bleeding and the dogs continued mauling him. His face and body now looked ghastly. His handsome features were lost now. It was an atrocious sight, so atrocious, it would have made anyone think, ‘Nobody should see this’.