The next morning, Michael woke up late. Things were different when you had a job to do, leads to chase and clues to piece together, but now they had nothing. Michael had put a bullet in their only lead and the thief had managed to get away with the collection anyway. He was about to take a shower when his phone rang. The call was from Sam.
“What is it, Sam?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m just reaching,” lied Michael. “Why? What happened?”
“I got a name on the number from Calvin’s phone, and you’ll be interested to see who it is.”
These words were enough to give Michael what he had been lacking in the morning. A purpose. His energy returned and within forty-five minutes, he was entering the building with a cup of coffee in his hand.
As he stepped off the elevator on his floor and went towards the table, he saw that the others were already looking at Sam, who seemed to be explaining something.
Michael said, “Sorry I’m late, there was traffic.”
“Apologies later,” said Jefferson. “Sam has just found out something very interesting about the number.”
“As I was just explaining to the others, the number is not of a specific person, it is a centralized number for a call center.”
Michael was puzzled. “A centralized number for what?”
“That is where it gets interesting, it’s the number for a top of the line cruise service.”
“But why in the world would Calvin call the number for a cruise service?” asked Michael.
This time it was Brandon who spoke. “Well, your question’s not original, all of us are wondering the same thing.”
Olivia said, “I am still voting that he might be using it to get out of the country.”
Jefferson shook his head. “No, a cruise is not very fast nor is it very subtle. It is a pleasure trip, not an escape route.”
“Maybe that was what Calvin planned to do after he got his share,” suggested Sam.
“No, it was too early to start planning for something he would after getting his share and secondly, why are we guessing? Why don’t we just ask the company?” said Michael.
“I tried,” said Sam with an irritated expression on his face. “But they say that they have a strict privacy policy and they do not share the details of the conversation they had with a potential customer.”
“But this is regarding an investigation!”
“That is exactly what I told them, but even then, they say that it would take time to get the data.”
“In other words, they don’t want to give it to you,” said Olivia.
Jefferson said, “We need to get that data, I’ll send over an official order to their place asking for it.”
Michael nodded his head with satisfaction. Finally, they had something to work on again.
A Car workshop, NYC:
Oliver was standing outside the entrance of an old car workshop. The condition of the place was such that it appeared to be part of a haunted house rather than a place where cars were fixed. Oliver walked into the garage and saw two mechanics working on a car while another one, a supervisor, was leaning against the wall with his eyes trained on the screen of his phone.
Oliver walked up to the supervisor. “I would like to see the manager.”
The man looked at Oliver strangely and said, “What do you want from him?”
“The only thing which he sells, other than his services.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do,” said Oliver and handed the man a chit of paper.
The man looked at the chit of paper once and then said, “How many?”
“Just one.”
“Custom?”
“Standard.”
The man nodded and went to an inner room. Oliver remained standing and after a wait of just five minutes, the man came out and handed Oliver a black case. Then he said, “Come back for the vehicle after an hour.”
Oliver nodded and after checking the contents of the case to his satisfaction, he handed the man an envelope of cash before walking out of the garage. He had obtained what he needed, now was the time to do what he wanted.
(III)
Michael was feeling hopeful, and it was a wonderful feeling. The shipping company had finally sent them the details regarding the multiple calls Calvin had made and they appeared to be quite relevant. According to the records, the calls had been made under the name Rafool Edmunds and were regarding the various cruises that the company offered. He would call once a day and get the complete information for a cruise and then disconnect, only to call the next day to obtain information for some other. Now, the details for all the cruises he had asked for were laid right in front of the agents and their consultants, but no one could make any connection between them.
Sam picked up a sheet of paper and said, “This one is for the Caribbean, surely this has nothing to do with the robbery?”
“We never know,” said Brandon. “Judging by his performance so far, we cannot omit anything.”
Olivia nodded. “But as far as I can see, they could be thinking about boarding any one of them and we wouldn’t know which one.”
“Maybe, but what intrigues me is the fact that he managed to cover his tracks here as well, he never showed his own face, nor did he enquire about just one route. It’s like he is providing us with leads just to amuse himself,” said Michael.
Brandon yawned and said, “Well, I say we try to rattle our brains tomorrow.”
“He may be out of the country by then,” said Sam sharply.
“No, he’ll stay here,” said Olivia.
“And how do you know that?”
This time it was Michael who spoke, he said, “Because if he was asking about the cruises then it is obvious that he plans to leave via the sea route but none of the cruises he has asked for depart less than three days from today.”
“So that means he is in the States for at least three more days?” asked Sam.
“Precisely,” said Brandon while looking oddly at Michael.
Jefferson said, “It could be a diversion, to make us think that he isn’t leaving earlier.”
Brandon said, “Maybe, but in that case, we must also assume that he has already left.”
“Let’s be optimistic,” said Sam.
“I agree with the little one,” said Olivia.
As the couple got up to leave, Jefferson called them from behind. “I hope you remember what I tell you every day.”
“Yes, how can we forget? If we attempt to deviate, even slightly, from the route to temporary residence, you will be on our tail within minutes, and we would be in cuffs and in our respective cells within the hour without any hope of ever getting out,” said Olivia.
Jefferson did not give them a second look and then began reading through the papers in front of him. Brandon and Olivia had soon exited the building and were waiting to catch a cab. It was a miracle that Jefferson trusted the duo enough to at least let them communicate via a cab. They did not have to wait long as very soon, a cab halted in front of them, and they got in. The other problem with the living arrangement they currently had was that they could not ask the cab driver to take them to their exact location. They always had to get off two blocks away from where they actually stayed and then walk to their apartment.
Olivia got into the cab and gave the driver their destination. As the driver started the car, Brandon and Olivia were thinking hard. Thinking about what would happen next. About what they would do next.
(IV)
Jefferson was sitting alone in his office. He was trying to figure out which one of the cruises would Oliver board, but so far, he had absolutely no clue. The more he tried to concentrate, the more he got the feeling that there was something unusual going on, that this wasn’t just an ordinary robbery, there was more to it than met the eye.
Jefferson got up from his chair and went to pour himself a cup of coffee, but even while he was pouring the black liquid into a cup, he was going over the series of events that had taken place so far. Try as he might, he could find no clue to shed light on the true nature of the matter. His mind was occupied with such thoughts when his phone rang. The call was from one of the guards of the FBI safehouse where Brandon and Olivia were currently living. Lines of worry immediately creased Jefferson’s forehead.
“What is it?” asked Jefferson.
“Sir, are they with you?”
“No, haven’t they reached yet?”
“No sir, I thought that they were working late.”
Jefferson disconnected the call immediately. He knew that something was wrong. He pulled up the live time location from the tracking anklet of Brandon and Olivia. It showed that they were in an old house some distance away. Jefferson was about to leave when an alarm reached his ears, the device had been tampered with. He whirled around towards the monitor to realize that the two trackers had been taken off. Jefferson stood where he was, knowing that by the time he would reach the location, Brandon and Olivia would be long gone.
(V)
Michael was talking with Evelyn. They had exchanged their numbers the last time they had met and tonight, Evelyn had given him a call. It was only after talking for a good half an hour, that they had disconnected the call. At this point in his life, Michael was in dire need of a friend, and he had found that friend in Evelyn. After taking a shower, Michael lay down, but after ten minutes he got up with a groan. He could not sleep, so, he decided to read a book. He had just read a page when his phone rang. Puzzled and not very pleased, Michael received the call and realized that it was Jefferson.
“Hey Jefferson, what’s up? Did you get anything?”
“Michael, you need to come back, now. And call up Sam too.”
“What’s the matter?”
“We have a situation.”
“What situation? You think the thief would try to escape today?”
“No, but Brandon and Olivia did.”
“Did what?”
“They escaped.”
“What?” exclaimed Michael in disbelief, but Jefferson had already terminated the call.
Michael hurriedly got dressed and called up Sam.
“Sam, we’ve got a situation.”
“What happened, Jefferson figured out a connection?”
“No, Olivia and Brandon escaped!”
“Oh man! I knew something like this would happen, when?”
“Just some time ago apparently, Jefferson didn’t give me the details.”
“Now we need to catch two sets of thieves, Brilliant!”
After the call was terminated, Michael exited his apartment and took a cab. He reached the building and Sam caught up with him just as he was stepping into the elevator.
“I can’t even imagine how angry Jefferson would be,” said Sam
“He is not the only one,” replied Michael. “They would have spent all their lives in prison if Jefferson hadn’t offered them the deal and this is how they repay him?”
Sam and Michael reached their floor and went straight to Jefferson’s office. Jefferson was talking on the phone with someone and motioned the two agents to remain quiet. After a while, he terminated the call and looked at Michael and Sam.
“That was the marshals,” he informed them, “They’ve started looking for those two.”
“Where do you think they would go?” asked Sam.
“I don’t know, the most obvious answer would be to try and leave the country.”
“So that is something that they would not try to do,” replied Michael. “They know that they can stay ahead only as long as they don’t make obvious moves.”
Jefferson nodded and said, “I’ve called to get the footage from the building exit. I think we’ll be able to get something then.”
Sam and Michael both took their leave from Jefferson’s office and went to their respective desks. While Sam tried to expedite the matter of obtaining the footage, Michael got a list of the places the couple had been to since they had got out of the prison, to see if they could have arranged for a place to hide. It was a long shot, but it was a fact that every human could make mistakes.
After checking the data from the tracking anklet for a while, Michael felt sure that it contained no clue to the whereabouts of the couple. He then decided to check how Sam was doing. In contrast to Michael, Sam had succeeded in his task. He had successfully obtained the required CCTV footage from the cameras located at the exit of the federal building and soon, the three agents were scrutinizing this very footage on the monitor in Jefferson’s office.
In the footage, Brandon and Olivia could be clearly seen talking and waiting for a cab. Then a cab stopped for them, they got in and went off. The cab looked like an ordinary NYC cab and Sam immediately noted the number.
“I’ll put out an alert for the cab,” said Sam and went out in a hurry.
Michael turned to Jefferson and said, “It doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t?”
“Why would they run away? Now that they were helping the FBI, they had a chance of getting their sentence reduced and that way they would have at least been able to live in peace.”
“No Michael, it makes perfect sense. I had told them that their sentence would get reduced and not entirely waived off. Secondly, the deal was that if they helped catch the thieves, only then their sentence would have been reduced, and from what has occurred so far, anyone would have thought that it was a lost cause.”
“So, you think that if we failed to catch the thieves then they would have worked for nothing?” “But they were wrong, we are going to catch the thieves, the imitator and the original ones as well.”
Aurum Regium 