INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series) (12 page)

FIFTEEN

They were all back inside the car, Ryan quickly hit the gas and bought the car back to life as they left the street in a minute.

‘He mustn’t have gone too far, what you think?’ asked Kevin.

‘What should I think’ said Alicia ‘He would be out there somewhere.’

‘I hope so too’ replied Kevin. ‘That guy Ben was totally lying, you saw?’

‘Oh yes’ said Ryan keeping his eyes on the street ‘I knew he was lying form before, I was just trying to make him say the truth.’

‘The black dude was really helpful’ remarked Kevin ‘had he not said anything, we would be wonderin’ nowhere’

‘Don’t get your hopes too high Kevin, we are still wondering nowhere’ Alicia pointed out.

‘True’ he said.

‘And we also visited the shop at a wrong time, the atmosphere was hot among them and us’ said Ryan ‘You saw the way they were talking about us cops at the first’

‘Oh yeah, I think some cops must have busted them before, that’s why they were already heated up against us.’

‘Got to be so’ said Ryan ‘they had some problems with police.’

‘But why did Ben keep quiet?’ said Alicia ‘Look if it was about the cops, then the black guy also could have kept quiet but Ben deliberately kept denying our questions, but why?’

‘You don’t think they had something to do with murder right?’

‘Can’t say it for sure, maybe or may not be’

‘Okay guys’ Ryan called out ‘Where should we head at?’ Ryan pushed the accelerator down to speed up.

‘Just get over the Manhattan flyover and get us in the city. He would be there somewhere.’ Said Alicia ‘It’s lunch time so maybe he would finish his lunch there. There are a lot of restaurants available.’

They passed the flyover at the top speed and soon they found themselves in the city, there was also a cold breeze blowing, which was soothing.

They suddenly got stuck in the middle of a large traffic jam that ends at the end of Madison square.

Temperature was rising by very minute so it was hard to prevent sweating. The cool breeze had a healing effect but that could not cover up the heat. It was noontime and the sun was right at the top, beating down on the city.

‘Damn man’ said Ryan and punched the steering. ‘Look at the traffic; we will never get to the other side in this sea of cars’

Alicia took out her handkerchief and wiped her forehead. ‘Look for the sidewalks, he might be anywhere.’

‘That’s what I thought. But do you really think that we will find him in this vast city, just like this?’

‘I believe so.’ said Alicia. ‘And the main thing is that he doesn’t know that we are searching for him. So he will not be in a hurry to escape.’

‘That’s assuring’ said Ryan.

They remained stranded in the middle. Ryan killed the engine and sat like a statue waiting for the green signal and said ‘We should have taken a short cut’

‘Let’s see’

The only thing that was going in their favour was that they found a place at one side, so that the buildings covered the direct sunrays and they were in a shade ,while the other cars were getting burnt in the middle.

‘Come on, come on’ Ryan gripped the steering more tightly.

‘What’s wrong today’ Kevin poked his head out and looked across the other cars. ‘No way’ he said putting his head back inside ‘We’re in the middle of a sea of cars’

Some people now came out of their cars, talking among themselves while the others started shouting and yelling, losing their patience.

‘I think there’s been an accident somewhere at the front’ said Ryan. ‘Otherwise why would the traffic be like this? You don’t see this kind of things in streets of NY often’

‘I know’

‘I think we losing our time, our man is gonna get away’ said Alicia.

‘Wish my car was a transformer’ said Ryan.

‘Right. It could have done anything it wants .Overtaking buildings, destroying them, anything!’ Kevin always loved to talk about these sort things no matter what situation they were in.

‘Yeah, I will also watch the part 5’

‘Who says there will be a part 5. Part 4 was okay according to me. Still Mark Wahlberg was not so convincing’

‘I know. People watch these movies just to see the action and the special effects; you shouldn’t watch it for a good story’

‘Drop the topic, guys. I’m getting bored’ said Alicia. ‘Hey look’

Alicia looked somewhere at the sidewalk where at least 20 to 30 people were walking at that moment.

Ryan followed her gaze. ‘What? What are you looking at?’

‘Look at that man’  said Alicia and pointed at a man who was walking normally and from the back it seemed like he was wearing a hooded jacket .He also wore a cap just like in the picture. Everything suited him well.

‘Is that our man?’ asked Ryan to no one in particular.

‘Yes, got to be so’ said Kevin.

‘Let’s get him’ said Alicia as all three of them jumped down from the car and started trudging through the footpath overtaking other people.

‘Hey!’ Ryan called out .The place was too noisy and crowded; it was tough for anybody to hear anything. Lots of shops and expensive shopping malls in one side and the other side contained a sea of cars itching to move. So you could not blame the man for not hearing anything.

‘Hey you’ Ryan overtook another man but was being bumped with others, as the sidewalk was too crowded.

They would have lost him in the middle but this time the man must have heard Ryan call him. That was why he stooped. And because he stopped it was easy for them to cover up a few yards and reach him.

The man turned back to face him and Ryan and others, as they understood that they found the right man. This was the man who left his fingerprints in Jade Carter’s car.

‘Yes?’ the man said with a blank surprised face.

‘Henry Roberts?’

‘Yes, that’s me....’

Alicia showed him the badge and said ‘NYPD, we need to talk’

The man didn’t say anything he just took one look at the badge made a face full of terror and to their surprise started running down the side walk pushing the other people out of his way.

‘NYPD, stop!’ Alicia yelled again but it was no use. They soon took their gun out and started running behind him. They didn’t have any other option. And they could not afford to lose a vital suspect at this moment.

They ran behind him holding their breath and galloped through the sidewalk where it was even tough to walk , they had to run .They felt more hot as they ran, Ryan wore a Navy blue blazer and Kevin wore a jacket, so did Alicia, which was trapping more heat and making them feel warmer.

Their target had no intention to stop and give him away; he continued running and ran hard. He might be a little short in height but he had good solid legs, which carried him swiftly, even Usain Blot or Yohan Blake would not be able to run in this position.

The crowd and the cars were bored, but soon they all came alive .Now more or less everyone was standing outside their cars and was watching them chase their target.

A suspect or fugitive running away and some agents or detectives persuading him, you don’t see this kind of thing often.

But they were not paying attention to the people who were stupidly looking at them without trying to help them stop their suspect, they ran behind Roberts holding their breath and pushing people away by any means possible.

The man now took the main road, maybe he was also feeling tired running in the sidewalk that’s why he decided to run through the main road where at least a 100 cars were stranded at present. But it seemed like he was used to this kind of running, he was not having much problem dozing the cars, sometimes jumping over them and overcoming the incoming obstructions, .But it was more difficult for the detectives to do so .They were often getting hit, sometimes they were tripping and falling down, but they chased him anyway.

Kevin was the fastest in their group so he took the lead and ran behind him without fumbling much. Ryan and Alicia were clearly having a hard time and they could feel their legs giving away, and they were feeling so hot now that they would gladly welcome a sunstroke rather than running one more mile.

But their opponent was still fit and was still ahead of them, there was not a sign of panting for breath or something like that.

Alicia only once stood and aimed her gun at Roberts’s leg and took a shot .But the bullet missed the target and bounced of hitting the roof of a car. The owner came out and yelled at her. From then on Alicia never stopped to take a shot, as she knew it would not be helpful.

Alicia and Ryan felt more irritated because if all those people had contributed in stopping their suspect rather than watching them, as if a movie shooting was going on, then it would have been much more easier.

Henry Roberts knew that these cops couldn’t outrun him .But he just could not continue like this. He needed to lose them and stop this thing. He looked around thinking about where could he go next, and nearly fell being hit on the head by the rear of a car, but he managed to stand up and continue running anyway.

He looked back once and saw that he was still some metres ahead .He increased his speed further more with sweat dropping from his forehead. He turned to the left side. He took the footpath beside him again .He started pushing the people away again.

‘Hey stop’ Kevin yelled this time as he was the nearest to the man and one time he nearly caught the hood of the man.

No way, Henry thought .He could not give himself away after fighting for so long .He suddenly saw a bend in the footpath. He came at the front and saw an alleyway that was deserted .He felt well. He could take this alleyway and run freely without any problem .It was also dark when compared to the main road which was burning hot, but it was more cooler as the buildings on the both sides were acting like a shade.

Henry looked back at the cops for one last time before taking the alleyway. This was his chance, he couldn’t miss it out.

Alicia yelled to Ryan. ‘Which way did he go?’

‘There, there’ Kevin was shouting from the front. ‘The alleyway .He went in there’

Kevin and others quickly entered the alleyway and chased him again.

Henry understood that the cops were still following him, so he took another alleyway to his right and ran as fast as he could. He knew he might even reach the Grand Central Terminal through these alleyways. From where he would take any train and escape.

The alleyway was empty and dark unless you look up at the sky, which was blazing blue and would make your eyes watery if you look at it for a long time. But he didn’t look up, he just followed the straight path and ran. He was not sure now if the cops were still behind him or not. But he was not going to take any chances against the police.

Ryan also entered the street soon followed by Kevin and Alicia and fired a shot. He knew he had to injure him by any means, as there was no other way to stop him. But unfortunately for Ryan, he missed, and the bullets got shattered in the wall and fell on the street. He took two more shots, but still got the same results. He started running again finding no alternative.

Henry Roberts smiled to himself as the bullets missed him and looked straight ahead. The whole path was empty and dark except for one man who was walking, gently keeping his face on the street and keeping his hands inside the pullover jacket pockets that he was wearing, though it was too damn hot.

Henry Roberts thought that this time also this man will just look at him with a surprised face and let him pass, but to his misery, it didn’t happen the way he wanted.

The man quickly came in the middle and blocked his way, so Henry Roberts was bound to slow up a little. Then when they came near each other Henry tried pushing him away, but the man who was slim and tall and gave him a solid punch with his bony wrist, as Henry fell flat on the ground.

But he could not just lie like this, so he stood up again pushing the other man and tried returning the punch he got, but the man dodged the shot too easily, got hold of his hand twisting it painfully and also gave a hard kick with the edge of his boot on his knee that made him cry out and fall down again becoming physically immobile.

The man, as his work was complete, just stood up normally and removed the dust from his pullover like nothing happened.

‘Who the fuck are you man?’ Henry Roberts held his leg tight as the kick was harder than the twisting of the hand. The man just stood back and watched him.

‘Someone you’ll regret meeting in your life’ came the instant reply from the tall white man.

But they didn’t get any more time to talk. Ryan, Kevin and Alicia all three of them came and joined them .They just had to jog to do so this time.

‘What happened to him?’ said Alicia who stopped and caught her breath for a few seconds before saying this.

‘Seems like he’s hurt’ said Ryan and stooped to see what happened to him.

Kevin had no tenderness in him .He held Henry Roberts collar tightly and said ‘Get up you moron’

But the man was too heavy, and he didn’t want to move his leg .So Kevin left him and stood up.

‘Something happened to his leg, I think’ said Ryan ‘Maybe he fell down and got himself hurt’

‘No that’s not what happened’ Henry Roberts yelled out ‘This asshole stopped me and beat me up’

They soon came to realize that there was also someone else present in the street. Alicia looked up and saw a man standing a few yards away and watching them carefully. He was tall, much taller than all of them, was extremely slim and had a bushy hair with a tinge of brick colour in it. He wore a black pullover jacket, which just hung in his body. Another black dusty shirt could be seen within with a pair of trousers of the same colour. His hands, the wrist part, the only part that was visible were pale and white with blue veins and bones covering the upper region. He had a white clean-shaven face with blue eyes.

And the most weirdest thing was that he had not even sweated a bit, even when he was wearing black clothes.

Ryan was the first to say ‘Hey, thanks for stopping him’

Ryan looked like the shorter version of that man. And another difference was that he was perspiring.

Ryan held out his hand for a handshake, and the other man shook his hand  and smiled, didn’t say anything.

Alicia now came forward and said ‘Actually he was our suspect, we need him for some questioning’

‘He was running away’ said the man, not a hard but a cold voice. ‘Why?’

‘We don’t know that’ said Alicia giving another glance at Henry Roberts who had a frown in his face. ‘Thanks anyway’

The man started to turn back and walk away but Ryan caught him again as he said ‘Yes?.’

‘But I would like to know that why did you stop him?’ said Ryan ‘I mean how did you know that he’s our suspect’

‘Who says I knew he was your suspect?’ the man continued ‘I was walking by the street when I saw him running away from something and my instinct told me that there was a problem. If he’s running away from something then he needs to be stopped. And I also heard you all chasing him .So I figured he might be some sort of fugitive .And I stopped him like that’

‘Who says I’m a fugitive?’ Yelled out Henry.

‘So that’s why I stopped him’ the tall man said ignoring Henry Roberts ‘And when he tried to push me and escape, I made sure he can’t do that’