INTRODUCTION

  This is an action-thriller story with lots of suspense to disclose the plot where a psychic scientist struggles to make a deadly virus to conquer the earth by bringing a monopoly in the medical sector and playing with the lives of people but the heroes of the story reaches to stop him from succeeding in his plan. The story focuses on investigating the virus case and catching the main culprit at last.

  Let’s see what they do and how they save the world.

  REVIEWS

  Aryaan Mahajan (9th Standard student): Story is good. 4 out of 5 Shashank Singh Gaur (9th Standard student): good. 3 out of 5

  Jhanvi Bajat (Preparing for civil services exam): Simple explanation.

  Ananya (7th Standard student): It’s very good. 4 out of 5

  Aaditya Nair (9th Standard student): 3 out of 5

  INDEX

  INTRODUCTION TO THE VIRUS

  John, a 32-year-old young scientist who works in a private pharmaceutical laboratory was going to a watch shop to pack a watch for his senior Dr Sam in his silver sedan. Radio was going on in which pleasant music was played of 90’s which was enjoyed by John. He was singing in chorus and was enjoying his evening drive. After packing the watch in blue wrapping, he quickly went to Sam’s friend’s house. There he picked up his friend James. James was a 35-year-old IPS officer of the city Richester spending his last days as chief of the town. He packed a black smartphone for Dr Sam. Dr Sam was a 41-year-old well-known scientist who organized a small party in his house on the occasion of his 15th marriage anniversary. James and Sam had good relations with each other from a long time ago as they lived in the same hostel room in their struggling days. When they reached Sam’s home, they saw everybody was enjoying the party and the house was beautifully decorated. Everywhere they hung lightning which decorated the whole house beautifully. Lights were specifically chosen golden and black which made a perfect theme for an anniversary party. This theme was also followed in balloons which were placed at the corners of the bungalow and ceiling. In the middle of the drawing room, a chandelier was hunged emitting golden rays laying across the room. John and James enjoyed the scenario and then went in to meet Sam.

  James: “Happy birthday buddy!” (Hugging Sam)

  John: “Happy birthday sir.”

  Sam: “Thank you, James and John.”

  James: “Here is your gift.”

  Sam: “Keep it there.”

  James: “OK.”

  James: “So, what are you making?”

  Sam: “Preparing some welcome drinks.”

  John: “Can I taste one sir?”

  Sam: “Yeah sure.

  James: “Well, let’s give it a try?”

  Sam: “Yaa sure, officer.

  James chuckles so as John)

  Sam gave a glass each to James and John. James and John took the glasses and tasted the welcome drinks.

  James: “Yum, it’s so delicious.”

  John: “I liked it too.”

  Sam: “I am glad that you liked it.”

  James: “Well, you were always a good chef.”

  Sam chuckles.

  John: “Really sir?”

  Sam: “Not really.”

  James: “Yes yes, back in our hostel days, whenever me or our friends used to get hungry late at night, we would sneak in the canteen and Sam used to make delicious recipes in a few minutes to eliminate our hunger.”

  Sam: “Ah, those were the days.”

  A moment of silence was held by the trio where James and Sam were recalling their best moments in the hostel by doing mischievous activities and time, they spent in singing songs in the chorus and also sneaking in the canteen at midnight. Suddenly John interrupts,

  John: “Well, you may enjoy the party, I will ask the waiter to serve these drinks to all.”

  Sam: (comes back in reality) “OK, James let’s go and meet other friends.”

  Then the waiter served drinks to everyone who came to the party of Sam. After half an hour, the cake arrives by Sam’s wife Kate who gets it from a delivery boy standing outside. The cake was white like snow and above it was written ‘Happy Marriage Anniversary’ in black. Then Sam and Kate together cut the cake along with clapping in chorus, Sam gave the first bite to his wife. Everybody clapped and she also gave the same bite to her husband. Then they went into the kitchen to take dishes to serve the cake but didn’t come back. He also left before the cake ceremony as his shift was over by that time. After 10 minutes everybody realized the absence of the couple. John and James went into the kitchen to see what they were doing. When they reached, they saw both of them were lying on the floor. John and James tried to wake up them but they didn’t. John checked the breathing and it was working. James went to fetch a glass of water but as he came back the couple already took their last breath. Everyone was shocked to hear this and couldn’t believe it. Then James called his police force to investigate an Ambulance for the victims. After 10 minutes the police came and started the investigation by asking questions to everyone. The ambulance came with them with the forensics.

  Police: “Did they eat anything before they died?”

  Mike:” Yes, they ate a piece of cake each.”

  Police: “Who brought the cake?”

  David: “Sam’s wife Kate.”

  Police: “I think there is something wrong with the cake, we need to take this to a laboratory.”

  Before the arrival of the police, John took a slice of that cake and stored it in a plastic vacuum transparent box with gloves which he found in Sam’s kitchen so that he do some investigation on it.

  Then the police went from there with the forensics having the samples of poisoned cake and ambulance who took the dead bodies and also slowly everybody went from there. Then James locked Sam’s house.

  In John’s car which was heading towards James's house, John revealed that he had taken a sample of the cake to do his research, this shocked James as this cake is poisonous and deadly which is harmful to John but John told him that he would take care and give the conclusion of his research by tomorrow to him. Then John dropped James where James said good luck to John for his research and they ended the conversation by saying good night.

  After this John went to his house. His house was like any other middle-size bungalow in a good locality. Firstly, John went inside his house and freshened himself by taking a hot bath, and then he went to his personal laboratory which was in good condition, located in the backyard of his house and had many test tubes, mice, and other things required in a laboratory. It was a small laboratory in which you could do several tasks but not major ones. There were many mice whom John had taken as pets for the tests. Some were black, white, and mixed. John gave a small piece of cake to one of the black rats and waited for the result. He kept waiting till midnight. After that, he slept on his table as he was already drowsy due to today’s tragic incident.

  In the morning, James woke up, took a bath, and saw his car which came from the repair today as it was broken and not functioning so he sent it to a repair and it came fully repaired. His car was a white SUV with a premium black interior that was awesome which looked like that his car came new from the company.

  James was quite happy after watching his repaired car and sat in with his hamburger. He took a bite, started the engine and went to his to John’s house for the results. The morning scenario of Richester was awesome, with lovely trees all around the city, tall buildings and some skyscrapers, and clean residential areas. As it was early morning, some traffic was faced by him at the crossroads. At that time, John woke up due to his regular alarm and checked the mouse. The mouse was lying in his cage and no sound could be heard from it. When he tried to go near suddenly, a blast happened which blew his half laboratory and caught fire in the backyard of his house. John fled outside from that medical box, lay on the ground fainted. A red rough cloth also laid on his face and a wooden plank fell on him covering the left side of the body. When James came to John’s house and rang the bell. No one opened, in an instant, James got a smell and he quickly identified that there was smoke nearby so he followed the smoke and went into the backyard of the house. where he was getting a smell of smoke, there he found John's broken lab. There he saw blue-colored smoke was coming out.

  James ran and saw John lying on the ground outside of the lab. The smoke was disgusting so he put his handkerchief on his nose and

  dragged John away from the laboratory area who was lying under the wooden plank. James checked his breathing and it was working but John was not in good condition, there were black patches due to fire on his face so he called the Ambulance. By that time, James searched for a fire extinguisher which he got at a distance, and fled away from it's place which was on the outside wall of the laboratory. James pulled it's lever and aimed the ongoing fire which was on the planks and some of it on grass, in 5 minutes, James was able to set off the fire. When the ambulance came, they took out the stretcher and put John on it. James also came with them in his car.

  Then they went to the city hospital for it and the treatment started. There James calls his police force and orders them to investigate John’s lab with the forensics. The police force reached there in 10 minutes and investigated. After an hour, the police force came to the city hospital.

  Police: “Sir, we went to John’s lab but we didn’t understand anything, forensics have taken some samples and told us to wait for the results.”

  James: “How was the area around there?”

  Police: “We saw a blueish substance which was coming from a cage of a mouse. I think that we have to ask Dr. John for it. He can tell what exactly happened there with him.”

  James: “Yaa, you are right. Let me ask the doctor about him.”

  After some time, the doctor came out of John’s room.

  James went to the doctor.

  Doctor: “He is alright. You can meet him.”

  James: (with a relief) “Thank you, doctor.”

  Then James with his police force went into John’s room.

  James: “Hey John!”

  John: “James, you are here. How?”

  James: “You fainted in your lab and I had come for the results but you were sleeping on the ground so that’s why I called an ambulance to wake you up.”

  John chuckles

  John: “Well, What about the lab?”

  Police: “It got completely destroyed.”

  James: “What’s about the result of tomorrow’s incident?”

  John: “The blueish substance is your result.”

  James: “What? I didn’t understand.”

  John: “If I can go to my lab, then I can explain something. Please ask the doctor about it.”

  A nurse hearing all this interrupts:

  Nurse: “You can go. The doctor has said to me that you can go.”

  James: “Oh! That’s good to hear. Joey get the car.”

  Joey: “OK sir.” (Saluting James)

  Then James took John out of the hospital, finished their paperwork with some payments also received some regular medicines and then they went to John’s lab in James. John got the advice to rest from the doctor on which he nodded but James knew that wasn't going to happen and gave a sarcastic smile to John. Finally, they got in the car

  John: “Oh, finally the car is back

  James: “Yup, well take this.” (He puts his hand in the drawer and gives chocolate to John.)

  John: “Thanks.”

  Then in half an hour, they reached their destination. John ran towards its lab and saw that the smoke had gone away. When he entered, he saw the blueish liquid so, he quickly checked it by mixing some other chemicals in it. James followed him with his other police officers

  John: (in shock) “James, this is a very rare virus which I gave to one of my mice by offering him a piece of that cake. There is no medicine/ vaccine for it till now and this newly formed virus is very dangerous as it is communicable for every organism present on earth.

  James: “Means due to the blast in your laboratory, this virus got spread in the whole city?”

  John: “I think so, but first we should head to the forensics who took the samples of that cake yesterday, they may have got something interesting to say."

  James: “So let’s go there.”

  James: (facing his police force)"Meanwhile you all head to the mayor's office, we have to aware the citizens of Richester about the virus so they take the necessary precautions. Prepare the mayor for a speech on this."

  Police force: (all together)"Roger that sir"(Saluting James)

  James saluted in return with full confidence

  Then James and John went to that laboratory. In the laboratory, they saw many scientists roaming here and there with their files, some were in their research, talking and others on the computer. The laboratory was painted completely white and was built in a large area with a professional team to work. There they asked about yesterday’s case to the receptionist. Firstly, James hesitated to speak because he was never good at talking especially with females due to his harsh words and rude behaviour so he asked John to speak but John was an introvert who also feared talking to girls, James forced him, but at last John pushed James forward to speak,

  Receptionist: “Good Morning sir, how can I help you?”

  James (nervously): “Good Morning, myself James Smith, this is my friend John Parker (John nods) and we came here for the investigation on yesterday’s night incident, the cake one.”

  Receptionist: “Oh okay, let me call my superior please.”

  James (with a bit of a smile): “Oh okay sure.”

  James (moving towards John): “That was breath taking.”

  Then she calls her superior, Shirley Evans who took James and John to that specified team working on the cake samples. She looked like a manager with having healthy body figure who took them to the second floor where in a big hall they met the team head Chris Davidson, a brown beard man who didn’t look like a scientist;

  Chris: “Nice to meet you, sir, about the result it is complicated and difficult to conclude.”

  James: “Well, I don't know much about your scientific world but many lives are in danger so, it's not the time for excuses”

  Scientist: “Yes sir you are right but this is a new virus for us which is communicable and blue in colour and it is very dangerous as it can kill it’s target in 2 minutes also there is no medicine/vaccine available for it but don’t worry we got the substance and we will work on it with full force."

  John: “Thank you for the result. Is there any other information you got from it?”

  Chris: “No sir, we can only say that it is highly dangerous so we have to stay alert and move with caution.”

  James: “So let me just report it in the headquarters, and announce a curfew for the time being your team gets a vaccine for this.”

  John: “Yaa, that would be good.”

  James: “Thank you Chris for your time and research.”

  Chris: “You're welcome, sir.”

  As the duo was heading towards the exit of that room, an assistant of Shirley entered the room with some reports and gave them to her superior. Shirley checked it and ordered her assistant to call back James and John. They both were in the corridor moving towards the exit when the assistant called them back. They were first confused and eventually returned to that white research room where Shirley handed them the victim's post-mortem report done by their hospital. James took it and opened the file. The documents had photos of CT scans and many things were written. After some time, they got the section where the cause of death was written. John took the document from there and read it to understand the impact of the virus on the human body.

  It was described that 'the viral pathogenesis commences with the virus encountering hydrochloric acid within the gastric milieu, triggering a transformation into a gaseous form. This gaseous state facilitates the virion's traversal through the protective mucosal barriers, initiating its assault on the delicate mucus membranes. Gradually, the viral particles ascend, targeting the intricate neural networks within the brain parenchyma.

  Concomitantly, the gas by product obstructs the nasal passages, impeding the physiological exchange of gases and hindering the ciliary clearance mechanism. Moreover, this impediment poses a formidable challenge to the cardiovascular system, disrupting the rhythmic pumping action of the heart and compromising the optimal circulation of blood throughout the body'.

  John read it out loud so that James gets an idea but due to the heavy scientific terms present, James got the basics that the virus firstly becomes gaseous while reacting with hydrochloric acid present in our stomach and moving in damaging the mucus eventually rising upwards and attacking the brain cells. Furthermore, that gas blocks this nasal passage and raises difficulties in the pumping of blood done by the heart. After this John and James were shocked and knew that they had to act quickly or else this virus could cause to greatest massacre humanity has ever seen in history.

  John and James went for the outdoors of the laboratory, James called to his headquarters and told them to announce a temporary curfew. The headquarters agreed and began their preparations.

  James: “Well, I think you should go for your work until this virus gets a cure.”

  John: “No, better I come with you and we can get to the origin of this case.”

  James (stops): “Wait, you want to come with me, that’s illogical you’re a scientist and don’t know anything about how investigation is done, you will be of no help.”

  John: “I know that but I think that this is a man-made virus which was created in a laboratory and if this is true, we have to find him out which will save a lot of time also maybe you again get to face this virus and need my help so I have to be a part of this investigation.”

  James:(sighs) “OK, fine but don’t come in my way, my methods are harsh.”

  John: “I have no issues, now let’s go to the headquarters quickly.”

  THE FIRST SUSPECT: STEVEN

  As they moved out of the laboratory in thought of how they can find the criminal, just then John saw a white young man with brown hair colour in black casuals and above it wearing a hoodie, who was injecting something in a street dog. Looking closely, he identified that it was a blueish substance that was similar to that virus colour.

  John: [loudly to that man]” Hey stop!”

  Just then he ran after him. The man saw him and ran after injecting some drops of the virus in that dog and dropped his injection. James got frightened and ran after John. While running, he asked the reason for chasing after the man.

  John: “He was injecting that virus; I think so he is somehow related to this case.”

  James (In full enthusiasm): “Oh! Let’s chase him.

  The man was 20 meters ahead of John and James and was running from narrow street to street with full parkour-level skills like an expert. Sometimes, he dodges two-wheelers coming from the front, taking turns at full speed.

  He once climbed to the terrace of an old red apartment through fire exit stairs and there he decided to take a short rest but as James approached and came upon that terrace, the man had to run and took a long jump reaching to other apartment terrace which was 5-7 meters away. John was observing this from the ground and tried to remain close to that man. James came back on the ground from the stairs and took another way. After taking a short 2-minute rest, the man thought of escaping from that building. At first, he approached the door which was to enter or exit the terrace but as he touched the round steel door knob, he realised that those two men might approach him from there so then he searched for the fire exit stairs but they were not present in that apartment. The steel rods lying on the ground indicated that maybe they were yet to be constructed. Now the man was confused as he had a fear that maybe he would get arrested as helicopters could arrive at any time and he had no escape route that could free him. Suddenly, he realised his parkour skills and looked for balconies present in that building and thought of taking the risk. He jumped on the topmost balcony of that building and safely landed on the railings. Then he looked for another which was at a lower level, he found one but that was too far. The man didn't have any choice so he took a long jump aiming for that balcony and somehow grabbed the black steel railing. He somehow climbed it and was in that balcony area but before he could take a breath due to the opened transparent sliding, an old woman from her living room saw that man and screamed. This scream was so loud that John was able to hear it from the ground and he went towards it. In this scream, the man also got anxious and jumped to the railing of the side balcony and eventually landed on the balcony which was exactly below of that balcony. Somehow, he reached on the ground, took a moment of relief but as he looked above, he saw people on that old woman's balcony so he hid in a corner but just then he took a sight to the right where John was hiding at the other side of the apartment and as he took a peak look, the man saw it and ran for his life and eventually John again started chasing him. It was getting harder for the chasers to catch him.

  At last, when the man slowed down due to his improper heartbeat, James entered that street from behind and saw that man running moving away from him, he took out his gun and shot a bullet on his leg, and due to that, the man fell and John tackled him from behind who was running behind that man but at a slow pace. All were exhausted especially the culprit who was taking deep breaths but eventually, he realised that his game was over there. James called his police force and they took him in police custody.

  John: (breathing deeply) "Where were you?"

  James: (breathing deeply) "I call this street 'The best escape' so I knew, he would come here, Good job buddy."

  John: "You too sir."

  At the police station, they took him to the interrogation room. The room was white looking like a new P.O.P. was done recently and it was having 2 chairs opposite to each other and between them, there was a normal wooden table. There they sat him on a chair and two police officers took out the bullet from his leg, sprayed some painkillers, gave him a water bottle to drink and put a bandage on it.

  James: (heavily breathing) “Hey! Identify yourself. What you were doing there?”

  Man: “Please leave me. I don’t know anything.”

  James: “What is your name?”

  Men: “Steven”

  James: (in a furious way) “What were you injecting?”

  Steven: “I was contracted to do, I don't know what was that liquid.”

  John: “Oh…, so you are a contract killer.”

  Steven: “Yes, I work for people who give me good money for it, I’m known for my parkour skills for which I trained for 5 years.”

  A police officer standing beside James interrupted

  Officer: Yes sir, we were finding this lad for 2 years.

  James: “Oh, how much he is giving?”

  Steven: “5,000 dollars.”

  John: “Oh! Very big amount, so I have a question, when did you meet him for this deal?”

  Steven: “Today at 6:00 am, I got a call from an unknown number. When I rang it up, he said to me that he would give me 5 million if I worked for him.”

  James: “So, what you said to him?”

  Steven: “I said to him that I would do it, so then he told me that at 8:00 am a man will come and give you a parcel containing a first aid kit which consists of an injection and some tubes containing blue serum which I have to give to some street dogs. He also told me to stop my breathing for the time I poured the serum into the injection tube, at 9:00 pm, I went outside and injected 5 street dogs, But I don’t know anything about the injection.”

  James: “Oh, but why will he /she do this to the dogs?”

  John: “Because he wants to fake the virus origin and declare to the world that this virus spreads from dogs.”

  Joey (James’s assistant who was at the left side of the table putting his both palms on the table): “Oh, I see and then he will launch the vaccine which he made long ago along with the creation of this virus and will earn lots of profits or maybe enormous powers, Sounds like a good movie script.

  James: “Maybe or he has more in his mind.”

  James (Facing Steven): “OK, but did you see the man’s face who gave you the injection?”

  Steven: “No sir as he was in a clown’s mask.”

  John: “Ok, did you have the caller number?”

  Steven: “Yes sir.”

  James (giving him his phone which he took while Steven got arrested): “So call him and ask where is he but don’t say you are in the police station also keep your phone on speaker.”

  Steven: “OK sir.”

  Steven calls the man. The phone dials and dials but no one receives it.

  John: “Now, what shall we do now?”

  Joey: “Sir, let us trace the caller.”

  James: “OK, cops give this number to the cyber cell. They will find

  out the caller.”

  Police: “OK sir.

  Then the cops quickly took Steven’s phone and forwarded that number to cyber cell security. After some time, the cops return to the police station.

  Police: “Sir, it shows to the Cluster Mall.”

  John: “A mall, fine let’s go, this can be our golden chance.”

  Then John, and James with their two cops, Claire and Joey went to Cluster Mall. On the way, John gets a call from his boss. John picked up the call.

  John: “Hello sir, what happened?”

  Boss: “John, where are you? Not coming today. I got to know about your superior Dr. Sam's death which is very tragic and miserable but there is an urgency. There is a virus that came in this city that is affecting many people and they are dying because we don’t have medicine or vaccine for it. You quickly come to the office and we will find out the medicine for it. This is a good chance to save the lives of many people and also an opportunity to earn profits and goodwill for the company.

  John: “Sir, I can’t because I am finding the medicine for it, also the criminal of this virus. Please give me a week for it and I will give you the medicine/ vaccine.

  Sir: (confused) “Oh ok, if you’re working on it privately, maybe you wish to take a different approach but that’s good. As you get something useful, first give it a call to me. Best of luck.”

  John: “Thank you, sir, for granting me permission for one day leave.”

  Boss: "Good luck, kid."

  James (while driving his car): “Well, you were correct, there is someone behind this.”

  John chuckles after hearing this.

  THE SECOND SUSPECT: RICHARD

  They went to Cluster Mall where they found an electronic shop named 'Classic Electronics' under which it was written ‘OPEN 24/7 service available, where the tracing was found. Before they exited the car, all the people covered their faces with medical masks as the mayor already announced to take necessary precautions before continuing their regular work, especially carrying a mask on their faces. They went inside and called the shopkeeper Richard for a smooth investigation. The shop had 2-3 customers looking for new phones, covers, headsets etc. There were two assistants including the cashier who called Richard who was engaged in showing different phone covers to his customers.

  Richard (owner of the shop): “Good evening, sir, how can I help you?’’

  James: (showing him his police ID) “Actually, we are tracing a phone number and it located us in this shop, so we are here for that phone, It would be good if we get your coordination.”

  Richard: (smiling but in fear) “Yaa, sure sir, as you wish?”

  As he was speaking, Joey suspected him so he ordered Claire to be ready with her gun. Claire accepted and took her pistol out.

  John: “OK, let me give that number a call.”

  John takes his phone out and gives the anonymous number a call. The phone rings and rings After some time, the shopkeeper gets a vibration from his left pocket which got ringed up. It was a red cell phone. As he took his phone out. Suddenly, Claire and Joey took their guns out pointing towards the shopkeeper which made him freak out. He didn’t know what was happening and asked

  Shopkeeper: (raising his hands above) “What is happening sir, what did I do wrong?”

  Customers of that shop present there also saw that action and moved their steps back, assistants were also confused and joined the customers

  James saw the expressions on Richard's face and told Joey and Claire to put their gun down. Richard took a moment of relief putting his hands down.

  James: “Did anybody other than you use this phone earlier today to make a call?”

  Richard thinks for a while and realizes a thing and tells the cops that a man came today asked his phone to call at 5:00 am and gave him back at 5:10 am. For proof, he shows the CCTV footage to the cops. In the CCTV, the person who asked for the phone was black in wearing and looked shy also wore a black mask to cover his face which looked like a teenage trend so the shopkeeper didn’t feel suspicious. Joey examined the phone and found that two numbers were dialled between 5:00 to 5:10 am. One number was of Steven and the other was unknown

  John: “Now we need to catch the unknown, our third suspect.”

  James: “What a game he is playing! Leaving no clues.” (James chuckles)

  Finally, James thanked Richard for his support and apologised for the previous act.

  Richard: "Ah, it's ok" (smiling)

  Then they exited the shop and went to their respective cop cars. By the time they were going to their car, James got a message from his police station that "Steven had got a message on his phone in which it was written that for his work, he would get 10,000$. I think that this is our best opportunity to capture the main culprit." After hearing this news, James faces John.

  James: “John, we got an opportunity to capture the main culprit

  easily without going to our next suspect.”

  John: “What!?”

  James: “Read this message. “

  John: (Reading the message.) “Wow! This is our golden opportunity. We should not miss it. Let’s go and catch him.”

  James: “Yes, let’s go, Joey, get in your car, I won't leave this opportunity now.”

  From there they went to the police station in their cars.

  ARRIVAL TO SINCHESTER

  When they reached, they went to the police station where all were standing with sad faces on their faces.

  James: “What happened? Why are you so sad? We are having a golden chance to catch the criminal. Let’s go we don't have time to make faces.”

  Ron, another police officer: (Giving Steven’s phone to James.) “Read this message.”

  The message was that the 10,000$ was sent directly to

  Steven’s account.

  James: “Ah, never expected.”

  Joey: “Maybe we can track the account and search for the culprit.”

  James: “Yeah, get the help of cyber security and check the account details.”

  Just then suddenly a message came to Steven’s phone from the criminal that, he wanted to meet him at 7:00 pm today near Wonder Park. he further wrote that this meeting could get him more money to earn. After hearing this Steven broadened his eyes but he knew that the police would catch him. After hearing this message, all passed smiles to each other but in cunning faces,

  John: “Mouse is falling into our trap with the least food.”

  Joey: "But we have to stay alert, maybe he or she has some bigger plan."

  James: "Don't worry, as this is the last case of my police career, I won't hesitate to take any risk. Officers get ready because this will be our last operation for this case"

  All police officers present there: (Saluting James) "Yes, sir."

  Steven was taken to Wonder Park along with the police force. When they reached, the time was 6:50.

  James: “Okay, there are 10 minutes to hide before he comes so let’s hide behind the bushes of this park.”

  Joey: “Roger that sir. Cops can hide behind the bushes. John, you come with us. I got the responsibility of protecting you for this mission.”

  John: “OK Joey.”

  Then after ten minutes, all the cops were hidden. Five cops were in the first car and five cops were in the second car. These cars were on the main road. Seven cops were hidden behind the bushes and James, John, and Joey were also hidden behind bushes that were near to their car.

  Common people were told to stay away from the area. Steven was said to be sitting on the bench which was there outside the garden area on the right side of the footpath of the park. The Park was quite beautiful due to its greenery which was hidden in the dark. Steven was told not to tell those police were hidden there but James wasn't sure if he would obey the orders or not so they placed a small recorder to record the conversation and a camera to identify the culprit's face.

  Cyber security was also actively monitoring every road of Richester so that if any anomaly was observed or a chase got started, they could guide the cops for it. After fifteen minutes, one car came in front of

  Steven. The driver called him and asked, "So, how was your today’s task?"

  Steven: “Good, easy I was waiting for the money to get received, thank you for it I thought you would betray me.”

  Driver chuckles

  The cops were watching the car but they could not able to see the driver and Steven’s actions, as the sedan had black mirrors blocking the whole conversation between Steven and the driver. The driver was hiding his face by placing his car in the dark where there were no lights, due to this Steven wasn't able to see his face nor was James who was observing the recording of that camera through his pad. The camera was attached to Steven's second button of his T-shirt but then also, the driver was in complete shadow. Then suddenly, the driver asked Steven to sit in his car.

  Steven got frightened but tried not to look here and there and sat in the car. James heard this and also saw the door opening. Eventually, he put his hand on his car's door knob and also signalled Joey for the move. As Steven sat in the car, the car got reversed from where it entered the park and exited from there in reverse motion. James quickly started the engine and they went to chase the driver. John and Joey came in James’s car. Other cops in two pairs went in other police local cars and chased the driver who was driving at 80km/h speed. Steven got frightened. The remaining police force was told to inform the headquarters about the situation and make necessary arrangements like traffic breaks, especially on the highway.

  Steven: “Who are you?

  Driver: “I will tell you later, first we have to escape from them.

  Steven: “You knew about them?”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Driver: “From the start.” (laughs)

  Then Steve looked at the back and saw four local police cars and one SUV were chasing them. Steve thought that he would be free from the driver who kidnapped him, but it was wrong because the driver then took left and right turns and was driving in a zig-zag motion on a busy road from which the chasing got slow. The driver’s car was red and had some shades of blue which looked like he was a professional driver having a racing car. When the Driver was driving in a zig-zag motion, Steven got hurt from the car’s door.

  Steven: “Ouch!”

  Kidnapper: “Sorry.”

  Due to heavy traffic, police were facing difficulties in night driving also the motion of the red car was not predictable as he was moving like a pro on a busy road overtaking other drivers, he was also taking unpredictable turns to divide the police force. Once he took a left and saw that two police cars were very close to his car. James thought that maybe he was leading towards the highway so he told both side cars to follow him as the driver took the left turn. The lane on which the kidnapper went was wide but dark so the police officers weren’t able to see clearly. The cyber cell was helping them through the cameras placed all around the city and giving the information to the cops of that driver's every single moment that was getting captured in the cameras.

  On that lane, there started a bridge which was in the construction stage, both cop cars were glad as they thought that the kidnapper ignored the road sign but this was actually in his plan as in the middle of the bridge, the metal plates were not put and the driver was knowing this fact so as he was approaching there, he gave full race to his car, jumped his car and went across the bridge whereas one police car which was slow but in good speed as they assumed that now there is no chance of escaping of that criminal weren’t able to complete the jump and their car crash on the bridge’s pillar in full force. The other car saw it immediately and took a right turn to slow the speed. The driver was able to escape from there and led to the highway.

  Then after some time, they reached the highway and there also the police were chasing them.

  James: “Cops, I think that we have to fast our cars.

  Cop: “Is it running at 5 sir?”

  Then they tried to fasten their speed on the highway. The driver saw it and was frightened. He quickly thought of an escape plan. A police car was approaching him very fast and the driver had to get rid of him, the police car ordered him to stop but the driver was stubborn, the cop car tried to move faster and came to the right-hand side of the hunted car, the driver saw the opportunity and smashed his car with the cop’s car and moved them out of the way. The cop wasn’t able to hold his car steady which led his car into the woods eventually, getting hit by a tall tree and blasted. Everybody was shocked and

  James was furious. He changed his gear to the lowest and approached the driver. As he was approaching driver saw a bridge which could be his escape route as forward there was a traffic break. They were ready with their guns to shoot at the car and bring him down so he quickly went left, on the narrow raw bridge and got an idea. Cops appointed for the traffic break saw this twist and started shooting at the car but none of the bullets touched the car. The two sides of the bridge were fast-flowing water so the kidnapper took his car in the water. James was shocked that the driver had taken a major step as he took Steven and his car underwater. James stopped so as the other cars and thought they had died as it was the wrong and harsh way to escape from the police. But while the driver and Steven were on the bridge.

  Driver: “Steven, we are going underwater, so when I say go, you have to just open your door (unlock the door lock) and swim underwater, so no one can see you.”

  Steven thought for a while.

  Steven: “Ok.” (As he had no other choice)

  They went underwater and Steve did as the driver said. When they went out of the water they were at the other side.

  Driver: “Good, let’s go to the safe zone.” Steven: (panting) “Ok.”

  Now after some time, James called some divers and a crane to

  take out the car from the water. When they carried the car out of the water, cops started to investigate the car.

  Cops: “No sir, there is not any such useful evidence also no dead

  Body found underwater.”

  Joey: “Okay, divers when you were in the water, did you see

  anybody lying or sinking in the water.”

  Divers: “No sir.”

  James: “Joey, I think that the bodies have floated from that area.”

  Joey: “I don’t think so sir, because they did this intentionally which states that they had a plan and that was to swim and go to the other side.”

  John: “But, it is also possible that they took much time to move out of the car and they died when they began to swim and float.”

  James: “I think so that we should check on the other side and see whether they have died or still living.”

  Joey: “Yes sir.”

  Then they went to the other side of the river from their vehicles. Other police officers were ordered to investigate in other areas whereas James and his team went to the other side where they saw the footprints of two people on the wet soil.

  Joey: “I already stated, they crossed the river.”

  James: “Ok, now let’s follow these footprints and maybe we

  reach our criminal.”

  They follow the footprints. After some time, they found themselves on another highway of Richester.

  John: “Now, we are stuck in the middle of a highway."

  James: “Joey, please check that any town or village is there nearby.

  They have surely gone there only to hide and rest for some time.

  John: “Yes, they have got tired of swimming in the river, so they

  have gone to a nearby area.

  Joey: “Ok chief, I am checking for it on maps.

  After some time,

  Joey: “Yes, there is a small town Sinchester nearby. Let’s go there and find them there.”

  James: “OK, let’s go.”

  Cops brought their vehicles which they left on the side of the river started the engines of their cars, crossed the narrow bridge and went towards Sinchester. Joey brought James' car in which the trio settled and headed towards the new town.

  When they reached, they saw that all the lights were off of the houses and no one was there on the streets. When they went inside the town, there were more houses but the lights were off. Then they suddenly saw a light at a distance. They followed it and saw that it was a hotel/motel. Its name was LX HOTEL. They went inside and saw there was a receptionist. The hotel wasn't luxurious and looked like an ordinary 3-star hotel with white walls, some paintings, wooden stairs and a garden outside beside the parking area.

  James: “Hi, (Displaying his ID) We want some information. We ask for your help, can you?”

  Receptionist: “Yaa, sure.”

  John: (Showing the photo of Steve.) “Did you see this man this night here?”

  Receptionist: “No sir.”

  James: “Ok, so you had seen any two boys running from here sometime before?”

  Receptionist: “No sir.”

  Joey: “OK, (looking towards his team who were outside standing tiredly) is there any room available in this hotel and also dinner for everybody?”

  Joey (confused by James question): "What?"

  Receptionist: “Yes, there are 4 rooms available also, dinner is there.”

  John: “Yes, I think that we should stay here because, in this dark town, it will be difficult and harmful for us to find those bastards.”

  Joey: "I would like to contradict this; we have a lot of pressure and at this time you want to rest?"

  James: “OK, provide us the dinner in our rooms.”

  Receptionist: “Yes sir, there are your keys.”

  Joey: "Sir?"

  James: "Joey I know how much enthusiasm you have right now but just look at our team, they are all tired especially me and John so rest is required however, I already ordered our other cop friends to do a thorough investigation for the suspects so no need to worry right now."

  Then the team went to their rooms. In 1 room, there were 5

  members. In room 2 there were another 4. In room 3, there were another 5 and in room 4, there were our heroes: John, James, and Joey. Claire wasn't staying with them as she got a call from her family that his dad passed away due to the outspread of this virus, she took a leave from there and went back to Richester to her family, but she told James that she would come back tomorrow for this case. All rooms were beautifully decorated and had 2 beds, 1 bathroom, and a T.V. Pictures were hung which were of mountain view but no one got interested in that as they all have one target which was that criminal. After some time, the dinner came in room 4. They ate their hot dinner on a dining table with a window view.

  James: “So now what should we do?”

  Joey: “I think that we should ask about Steve in the whole

  town. Someone may know him.”

  John: “But they can go from here by that time.”

  James: “Yes, John is right. They can leave this town whenever they want. Also, in this town, no one knows Steve if he didn’t come here before and we don't have the facial identity of the kidnapper.”

  Joey: “So now what should we do?”

  John: “Idea, we have to go to Richester tomorrow to ask that unknown caller which we got from Richard about this case.

  Also, we can trace the criminal if we have Steve’s phone

  number as he got kidnapped by him only.”

  James (smiling towards John): “Good brain doctor.”

  James: “OK, means we have to do two works tomorrow. First,

  ask that unknown caller about this case, and second trace Steve’s phone. Also, I had a call with the other teams who are on this case and told them to get the account details from where the amount was received by Steven. So, we will make two teams that are Joey and the 5 cops. They will go to that unknown caller and I with 10 cops will trace the phone.”

  John: “Wait, what will I do?”

  James: “You will be sent back to Richester.”

  John: “But why, I can help you in this.”

  James: “I know but I don’t want to put your life at risk also scientists started working on it so maybe we will get the vaccine in a few days. You can help them there.”

  John: “James, it’s not as easy as you think because we only knew about the virus and its properties and now, they will start researching it which will take time but the scientists made this dangerous virus surely made the vaccine or having that knowledge and I will not go until I get something to research on. I know that my life is at high risk but I think this is the best way to solve this problem.”

  James: OK, I think your also point is valid and you can be with us but I will give you tight security as much as I can and you will be not allowed to roam here and there without my permission, is that clear?”

  John (saluting): Roger that.”

  James: “So, everybody have a good sleep because tomorrow we have many things to do, Good night.”

  Joey: “Good night.”

  Then they went to sleep.

  At night around 2 a.m., John noticed that Joey wasn't in the room. He went outside and saw him standing in the corridor viewing the dark scenery present outside of the window. He went to him

  John (calmly): "Is this your time to wake up?"

  Joey: "No, I was just planning for today's operation."

  John: "You always seemed enthusiastic, any reason behind it?"

  Joey: "Why do you wish to know?"

  John: "Well, for the character development."

  Joey (chuckles): "Ah, when I was twelve, my house got robbed. They stole many things especially didn't forget my mother's jewellery which was precious to my mother. When we returned home and got the news, my mother was in tears as she kept it very safe but failed to protect it. We filed a report but no progress was seen in the case. My father used to visit the police station every day but the police didn't have any clue, about the suspects or any type of progress. After, six months my father's dairy business was shut down due to a lack of money and heavy competition. We could have stopped this if we had the finance. My father got into a big debt trap as he wasn't able to repay his trade creditors. One day when I stepped out of my school bus and headed towards my house, I saw several S.U.V cars in front of my house gate. I ran towards my house gate which was already opened. I rushed inside and saw people with sticks and baseball bats circled a person on my lawn who was none other than my father. My mother was beside her in a saree crying and begging not to hit his husband. My father was badly injured and wasn't able to put his head up. As I saw this, tears started coming out of my eyes and hugged my mother. Suddenly, my mother realised something and she got up, ran inside the house, went upstairs towards her room and opened her cupboard where clothes were kept. She put her hand inside but didn't get the thing she needed and then she realised that her jewels were stolen long ago. She came back downstairs and begged all the men to give them some more time to repay the loan. The people firstly resisted but then gave us a week. Finally, they moved from there and my mother took my father inside the house, sprinkled some water and gave him some to drink. She ordered me to change my clothes and go upstairs until she ordered me to come downstairs. I changed my clothes and sat on the stairs to listen to the conversation between my parents. As my father came back into consciousness, he started thinking, about what should be his next step. After 5 minutes of intense thinking sitting beside my mother, he stood up and told my mother that he was moving out for some work. My mother resisted this action but eventually, my father left the house, took his old bike and went somewhere. I was listening to all of this and didn't know where my father could go in this type of situation. Gradually, the sunset to the west but there was no sign of my father's arrival. My mother tried to call her but my father never responded. We didn't eat anything for the whole day. At night, my mother got a call from my father's phone, she quickly responded thinking that it was from her husband but she was wrong. I was sitting beside her not knowing anything about what was going on. After ten seconds, tears rolled from my mother's eyes and I was shocked. She cried out loud and I wasn't knowing what to do as I saw the first time my mother crying like this. She then ordered me to call a where from outside which I ordered from the app. The taxi arrived in five minutes and he headed towards a distant location where I hadn't been once. In thirty minutes, we reached there and saw people crowded in front of a long building. My mother gave taxi's rent and rushed into the crowd. Police were also present there recording the incident. My mother finally reached in the middle of the crowd and saw her husband lying on the floor with blood shredded on his face. She saw this and fell on his knees and cried out loud. The police came to light and said that he attempted suicide. My mother wasn't able to accept this and tried to wake the dead body. As she was roaming his head over her husband's body, she got a white paper situated in his shirt's left pocket. She took it and read it. In that paper, the actual cause of death was written which were the creditors and the unbearable tension over my father's head in serving our family a happy life, also my father advised me and my mother to leave the city as now the creditors will hunt for them. My mother took this advice seriously and on the other day, we left that city and came to Richester, we bought our home with our savings and broken FDs. My mother started a job in hotel management for which she had a nominal degree. I got admitted to a new school. After a sometime, everything went normal but still, I haven't forgotten that day when I was behind my mother looking at her tears and didn't know what and how to help my beloved mother. On that day, I decided to join the Police force so that I could take my revenge on every criminal who uses illegitimate means to get rich."

  John: "What an inspiring story, you should write a movie script on that."

  Joey chuckles

  John: "Well, how is your mother now?"

  Joey" "Good but I don't think so she will be able to forget that day."

  John (sighs): "Well, I think now you should come out of this zone and get ready for today's operation. You still have your revenge remaining."

  Joey: "Yaa, you may sleep, I think I need some more time."

  John: "OK, bye."

  Joey: "Bye"

  As John moves back in the room, Joey stares at the 2:30 a.m., darkness and can hear the cries of her mother from that day.

  THE THIRD SUSPECT: JUSTIN

  The next morning, they checked out of the hotel. Claire was outside on the lawn standing beside her cop car, she came there after attending her dad's funeral at a church where the body was buried in wet eyes. Claire also went emotional but needed to handle herself and her mother. After that, she left from there and headed back to Sinchester. Claire's mother tried to stop her as she couldn't another person but Claire needed to go as it was her duty and an opportunity to take revenge on the criminal who ruined her family's life.

  James (walks to Claire alone): "I know it's hard to accept that now someone won't be there with whom you were so close, I also lost my friend in this case. He was very close to my heart and I still miss his cheerful presence. Well, I won't force you to stay here, If you don't feel comfortable, stay with your family and support them. I am not a selfish person."

  Claire: "No sir, I want to get this case solved as this is now personal."

  James: "That would be helpful."

  James (facing his whole team): "OK boys, time to get on work, I already discussed the whole operation, Claire is with me."

  Claire (saluting James): "Yes sir"

  Then Joey with his 5-cops team in two cars went to Richester by car and John, and James with their cops went to the nearby cyber cell. When Joey went to Richester, he saw that all the people were leaving the city having masks on their faces and proper precautions were taken. This felt sad to Joey also the news that he was watching on his mobile concluded that this virus is spread by dogs, especially in Richester, the concentration of this virus is very high which caused citizens to leave the city for a while. Scientists started researching dogs also blueish smoke was roaming in the atmosphere which affected people who had high blood pressure, diabetes, heart or lung patient and so on. Joey then thought about his family and called his wife.

  Wife: “Hello Joey.”

  Joey: (Tears came from eyes) “Hi, how are you?

  Wife: “We are safe and leaving the city. Where are you?”

  Joey: “I am investing the case of this deadly virus and for that, I am in Richester but I will meet you soon after finishing this case.”

  Wife: “What!? You are there only. Please come soon. We are waiting for you.”

  Joey: “I will come as soon as possible.”

  Wife: “I will pray for it. Oh Yaa, Tell James that we have taken his mother along with us.”

  Joey: “OK, I will tell James. Goodbye.”

  Wife: “Goodbye Joey.”

  Then Joey put his phone in his pocket. After some time, they reached to cyber cell but it was close. Joey was shocked.

  Joey: “Oh no, what shall we do now?”

  Cops: “I think that we should call James sir because he has also gone to one of the cyber cells.”

  Joey: “Yes, let me call James.”

  Then he called James.

  James: “Hello Joey.”

  Joey: “James, there is a short problem here.”

  James: “What happened?”

  Joey: “The Cyber cell is closed so; can you trace the number and give it to me by that cyber cell.”

  James: “Of course.”

  Joey: “OK, so I have sent you the number.”

  James: “OK, I will give you the location.”

  Then Joey cut it and put it in his pocket. After some time, James gave the location to Joey and they went to that unknown caller. After some time, they were at his/ her house. It was an old house: full of dust and in a very bad locality which tells us that the unknown caller was poor and he/she had no choice.

  There they saw that a person was leaving the house with luggage and walking towards his car. As the person saw the police in front of his house, he quickly ran towards his car which was on the right side of the house, in front of his garage, sat on the driver's seat, put his luggage in the back and reversed his old dusty car, Joey was watching all of his act and ordered the other car to block his way from the back. The other did as per the order but the suspect took a left turn and rode his car on his small lawn intending to escape from that place. As Joey noticed this move, his driver took Joey's car forward, took a slight right and blocked the suspect's car from the front, Joey took his gun out and pointed at the suspect which eventually resulted in taking his hands off his hands from the steering. A he did this, Joey moved out of his car having a mask on his face, also went to him and opened Justin’s driver's seat door.

  Joey: “Come out, we want to ask about a case.”

  Justin: “Which case sir? I didn’t do any crime here.”

  Joey: “That we will decide, first tell your name?”

  Justin: “Justin.”

  Joey: “Oh, so you got any injection yesterday or an unknown call from someone?”

  Justin thinks for a while.

  Justin: “Yes, I have delivered one place.

  Joey: “Why?

  Justin: “Actually, yesterday I got a box outside my house with a letter. In that letter, it was written that I had to deliver to a place in the Richester and wearing a clown’s mask given in the box, so I wore the mask and delivered it to that man he wanted also.

  Joey: “OK, that means you don’t know who has given you that box.”

  Justin: “No sir.”

  Joey: “Well what was the reward for this work?”

  Justin: “He called me and said that he would give me 10,000 $ which I didn’t get till now, after work, he also told me that he would pay online but since then I have not got any money.”

  Joey: "I don't think you were that innocent, as you did this without having proper verification of that person who is supplying you these tubes."

  Justin: "Ah, actually before this delivery, I got another delivery in the evening, where I was clearly specified my task of injecting that blueish liquid in one's cake which I will get from a bakery as my delivery task and in between the delivery, I have to inject it and deliver it to the respected address. For this task, I was paid in advance as the amount of $5000 was there with that delivery in a white slip. "

  A cop who was a step behind Joey: "Seems similar case that was with Steven."

  Joey (sighs): “Okay, cops arrest him and let's put him behind bars. Call the other team who were on duty last night and give his custody to them. Thank you for cooperating Justin.”

  Justin: "No no, sir please, I beg you."

  Joey: "No need, I will you take in my custody"

  Joey takes his handcuffs out and arrests Justin. Then they went to their police station where the night team was investigating and gave them Justin.

  Joey: "As updates?"

  Their head inspector: "No sir, we were all night busy in rescuing citizens of Richester and moving them out of the city but also at the backhand, we tried to find out the account details from where the money got transferred but there is no progress."

  Joey: "What, where is your technical team?"

  Head inspector: "They are working on it but it's hard as the account is linked to the dark web."

  Joey (sighs): "OK, but don't stop the process going on."

  Head inspector: "OK sir."

  Then Joey exited the police station and went to Sinchester back by his car leaving the abandoned city which was once always crowded with people. Joey felt very bad as he saw white blankets on dead bodies which were outside the hospitals on the stretchers. He was moving in that emotional state but suddenly came back in the car mentally

  Joey: (In the car) “The criminal also tricked Justin same as Steven.”

  The driver: "But Steven received his reward."

  Joey: "Maybe, he is special for that bastard."

  CRIMINAL IN CUFFS

  By this time when Joey went to Richester and John and James went to trace the number by the cyber cell of Sinchester. Steven was sleeping at that time in a basement laboratory. When suddenly the water splashed on him by someone. He woke up and saw his surroundings. The basement seemed more like a laboratory which was quite untidy except for the place where chemicals, test tubes, etc were placed

  Man: “Wake up Steve, we have to go to market and then we will travel far from here as fast as we can.”

  Steven: “Who are you, you don't seem like that driver?”

  Man: “Because I am not that driver who kidnapped you but I am

  the one who paid him and made this deadly virus."

  Steven: "What’s your name?”

  Man: Dr David, the one who will soon conquer this world.”

  Steven (chuckles): “But why are you doing this?”

  Smith: “Because I was underrated, you think I enjoy living in this basement, giving my five years to this monster (pointing towards a test tube containing the blueish virus labelled Smithrin). I didn't want this, I aimed to have a successful life in the pharma industry."

  Steven: "So how come, you ended up here?"

  David (looking towards him): "I had a terrible past. I was an orphan since the day I was born, due to my introverted character, other children used to bully me and tease me for my big rounded spectacles. There was a small library for children in that orphanage. I used to spend most of my time there. Science always attracted me. As I grew older, chemistry became my main interest in the science field. Once when I was reading about organic chemistry from a book in the open garden sitting on a bench, a person came to me and sat beside me. He asked what makes me feel while reading this type of book. I didn't have a definite answer so I replied by expressing the curiosity I have for this subject, The drastic and indefinite answer of every experiment of this subject makes me wonder if there is a pattern behind this which makes me more eager to dive deep in this subject. The old person listened calmly and expressed a smile on his face. Later that day, he adopted me and told me that he was a chemistry teacher at a university. He promised me that he would help me go deep into this subject. I was excited and followed his lead. His wife used to treat me well and soon I joined the university where my tutor used to teach. It wasn't easy to make friends as I remained silent in the whole class but that never became a problem. I assumed that now it was time to live a normal life with my foster parents but before I could have a little fun in my late teens, my foster parents climbed the stairs to heaven due to their old age. I had nobody on whom I could put my shoulder but somehow, I managed myself and applied for various job interviews. Eventually, a company hired me due to my education from a top university in that city and I started my career as a biochemist. I worked hard for two years.

  Steven: "Two years?"

  David: "Yes, in those two years I faced my worst nightmare. I was not recognised as a scientist firstly; nobody took me seriously due to not good-looking facials. Girls used to ignore me and I had my lunch alone. In meetings, my opinions were ignored like I didn't exist there. Frustrated me, I didn't know what to do. Sometimes credit for my work was given to someone else due to the trend of lookism. Colleagues used to play politics with me by distancing from me as I was far smarter than them not only them, but also my senior Dr. Smith who was jealous, I didn't get many opportunities to speak and finally after two years of great torture, I decided to resign as I wasn't valued of that level, that I use to get. After that, I thought of taking revenge, not only on that company but all the people who hurt me in that orphanage, university, surroundings and anywhere where I felt uncomfortable. For that aim, I sold my foster parent's house and came here to this small town, Sinchester, where I bought this basement, and made a small but quite enough laboratory for my project. I started working as a chemist and opened a shop nearby to meet my daily expenses but most of my time, I gave to this laboratory where for five years, I struggled to create Smithrin, the ultimate weapon for my uprising. I gave the first dose to Dr. Smith on Sunday."

  Steven: "Dr. Smith, oh I heard on news about him."

  David: "Yeah, I killed him as he was the one who didn't me to succeed."

  Steven: "Hmm, so who are you gonna do all this?”

  David: “Creating the desire for the vaccine (shows a tube filled

  with red liquid).”

  Steven: “Oh, well how you got me?”

  David: “By the underground which consists of thieves, mafias, etc. They told me about you that you are a contract killer and did many crimes in Sinchester and also you are not the only one in this but many were tackled, I always went to electronic shops and asked for a call. The time was also quite early when many people were sleeping or were at their houses. There I made 2 calls from the phone and made them greedy like you for money. One call will be to a delivery boy and another call to people like you. Interesting strategy right and they are also not knowing what they are doing and what can be the effects.”

  Steve: “Oh, genius well but let me remind you that you transferred my money online so details are there with the police?”

  David: "Do not worry about that, I hired a man for that, he will make that account confidential and connected to the dark web and you know that finding something on the dark web is more difficult than finding a utopian society."

  Steven: "Clever, but why do you target me for your project?"

  David: “Because your childhood was worse than mine, you were born on the streets and at the age of five you lost your father in a car accident, your mother wasn't able to realise this truth and went ill. You took her to a hospital where they started her treatment but before that asked for charging fees, you didn't know any work as for the years you lived, you did was begging and that's the only thing you knew. You did that all day, skipped meals and somehow got 1000 dollars at the end of the day. As you collected them, you headed towards the hospital and deposited them so that they could start the treatment. You knew that the bills would rise as long as your mother would be treated so you took the other path of making money. At midnight, you headed towards the mafia roads where you asked for money in return for your service, firstly they laughed and told you to leave but as soon as you killed a person standing beside you on the right, the gang leaders were impressed and hired you as a pickpocket. You used to steal pockets every day and collected 10,000 dollars daily from which you got 2000 dollars which you deposited in your mother's treatment, due to all these thefts, you learned good parkour skills which helped you later escape from the police. In your teens, you were called 'The Silent Wolf' who would steal, kill or do whatever you said in return for money but by that time your mother wasn't able to survive even after getting medication for ten years. In that anger, you massacred your gang and killed the leader who hired you as he was calling you continuously while you were at your mother's funeral. From there, you were always on the wanted list but never able to get caught. I was impressed by this story and decided that I would help you but as soon as you got caught yesterday, I decided to take you in my custody. I want to help you and give you a good life son. (moving his hands forward) Let's go

  Steve: OK as you say.”

  David: So first we will go to the market and spread this then we will vanish.”

  Steve: “Ok let’s go.”

  Then they carried those boxes containing Smithrin. put them into the car and went to the market. While they were going, James and John were tracing that phone number. After some time, they got to the location which signalled from a big market that was most crowded at that time. They quickly went there but it took 30 minutes to reach, due to the crowd on the streets. The market was overcrowded, so they walked into where the tracing was telling with their masks on their face as gradually the virus was mixing in Sinchester's air. By that time, David and Steven were already in their work. They reached at David's chemist shop where they were pouring Smithrin in injections. Then Steven used to go to different vegetable sellers in that market and grabbed their attention by asking them the prices of different fruits and vegetables. From his right hand, he used to cover his left hand having that injection and slowly poured the virus into the fruits and vegetables presented there. The shopkeeper used to ignore him believing that he was checking the quality of vegetables and attended to his other customers. On the other hand, David who was in his small white medical store poured the virus into small bottles and gave it free to his customers who came for other medicines assuring them that this blueish substance would help them to boost their immunity against the virus which is coming from Richester. The customers believed him as David had strong goodwill in that area. At that time, cops were searching for Steven, looking here and there and finding the path to walk. Sometimes John accidently touches or pushes some people and replies to them with sorry in an instant. After some time, John saw Steven for an instant as he was moving on, he didn't recognise him at first but soon he saw his movements, he became suspicious about that person and told James that he may have found Steven. James quickly went there and saw two people in a chemist's shop doing something fishy, he thought that the other person could be the criminal as he recognised Steven at first glance. He quietly went there from the side of the shop, putting his head down and as he reached the counter

  David: "Yes sir, how can I help you?"

  James pointed his gun at him, As Steven realised, he kicked James' hand and deflected the gunpoint which also injured James' wrist. As David realised the whole matter

  Steven (shouted): "Run !!"

  David escaped from his shop through the back door. David then gave punched James in his face with full force which resulted fall of James on the ground. Then Steven also ran from there. All the cops started chasing him. John and Claire went to James and helped him to stand on his legs.

  All 10 were chasing Steven and David. Steven was close to them so he used his parkour skills and went through the shops, hurting and pushing the crowd, jumping on a car so that he could get a lead. David was also finding his way between the crowd and picked tomatoes on his way and threw on cops for distraction but once he fell, got up and moved forward After some time, David saw his car, got in it and moved towards Steven's way. Steven saw his escape and sat inside the car. The car was white and old but good for escaping from them. James saw that from a distance and got into his car having John in the driving seat and Claire behind and again the chasing began.

  5 cops also sit in the next car and start chasing him. Others went in the 3rd car. While chasing him, James got an idea and called Joey. Joey was coming to Sinchester back from Richester, suddenly Joey saw John was calling.

  Joey: “Hello, what happened?”

  James: “I have a plan, where are you?”

  Joey: “I am on the highway of Richester but which plan what plan?”

  James: “You will get to know everything but first come to the highway of Sinchester from yesterday's bridge. We are chasing the criminal that way. Come here.”

  Joey: “OK, I am coming.”

  Then Joey's driver speeds up his car. After some minutes, he saw that same bridge connecting both highways. That bridge from where Steven, a kidnapper with his car jumped into the river and escaped. From there they went towards Sinchester. When he thought of turning from the bridge, he thought of first slowing down the car but before he could do that, he saw a car coming and it crashed into Joey’s car and that car flipped after hitting Joey’s car. Joey stopped his car and saw that the car was upside down with broken mirrors of the front side doors and the front mirror. He went there hoping that the man was alive. As he saw inside the car through the upside window, he saw that both men had fainted. Joey wasn't hurt even though the car directly crashed on his door side as his car was The Defender with plated armour on it. Suddenly James, John, Claire with their whole team were coming. Joey was standing there.

  James (panting): “I hope you didn't kill him?”

  Joey (panting): “No, he has fainted but who is he? I am guilty or not?”

  James: “No, he is our criminal. Let’s go to a safe area where nobody can see us.”

  Joey (smiling): “OK let’s go.”

  Then they pulled David out of the car and put him in one of the police cars. Then they investigated David's car and found a box full of tubes containing that deadly virus with another red liquid. John took the box and put it in James' car at the back. From there James decided on a safe place to interrogate those two fainted duo. Joey took them in his car and they all went ahead on the highway where they found an abandoned garage distant from the town so that if David escaped, then also he wouldn't be able to run away farther or get dissolved in the town's crowd.

  While going inside James calls his fellow friend who was the inspector appointed for Sinchester and asks him for a favour of taking Steven in his custody, The inspector agrees and orders his 3 men to go there. As James hunged up his phone, Joey asked James that

  Joey: “So this was your plan?”

  James: “No, I was thinking of blocking him from both ways.”

  Joey (smiling): “Oh!”

  Then they reached inside the garage. It was small, and dusty and had posters of wheels, racers also consisted of all the garage tools and spares which were old, dusty and covered with rust. There were also two car lifts which weren't working. Joey got his hand on some repair tools like hammers, chisels and piers which were rusty but enough to torture someone. The garage was full of darkness which got some light as they opened the shutter, electricity wasn't there so they had to work in the light coming from outside. John found an old chair on which David got seated having handcuffs over his hand. While this was happening, the cops came whom James ordered and took custody who was still unconscious.

  James (in a serious manner): "Take good care of this lad."

  John (coming from behind James): "Sir, I think that this old man will take time to get his consciousness back, by that time, let's investigate the box which we found."

  James: "OK, let's go"

  Claire (coming towards them and interrupts): "Sir, we found his identity, His name is David Henderson, a chemist."

  James (Seeing the driving license card of David): "Hmm, report this to headquarters and get more information."

  James (Eye contact with John): "Let's go, finally something you will get to do in your field."

  John(smiling): "Yaa."

  Then they headed towards James' car which was on the left of the garage, James opened the door and John placed the box in front of his eyes. He silently opened it and saw ten tubes containing seven tubes with blueish substance and three with reddish substance. On one of the blue test tubes, it was mentioned of the word 'Smithrin'.

  John: "So this virus got a name also."

  James: "What is with the red one?"

  John: "Maybe, this can be the vaccine for this virus as there are only three which David made for himself."

  James: "Also for Steven and maybe many more like this whom he wants to save."

  John: "But there is no guarantee that it's the vaccine and David won't open his mouth if we ask him."

  James: "Because his plan is already executed."

  John: "OK, we have the only option which is to try directly on humans."

  James: "What, are u mad?"

  John: "We don't have any option, let's move towards that market, I had seen Steven injecting Smithrin in eatables. Maybe we won't be able to save all lives but so might get vaccinated."

  James: "True, Let's go."

  James then orders five more cops to join and they all head towards the market. In the car, John takes one blue test tube and puts it aside in the setback pocket of the car.

  CURING SINCHESTER

  As they reached Sinchester in their two cars, one driven by James and the other by Claire. They observed the mass of dead bodies lying on the ground and people crying over them, beating their chests and trying to wake them up. The ambulance was also present but wasn't able to save everyone. John was horrified by this terrible situation and took the injections which were in David's box, and filled them with reddish substance.

  John: "Time to test."

  He then exits James' car and goes to a patient who is suffering from the Smithrin virus two nurses were checking his vitals and trying to motivate him, As John arrives there, he sits on the floor with the support of his knee

  John: "Nurses, I am a scientist, maybe I can be a real help if you allow me."

  Both nurses were confused and suspected John as he arrived out of nowhere

  John: "I am with the police; you can trust me."

  One nurse: "OK, but what are you gonna do?"

  John: "I don't know."

  Then he injects 1/4th potion of that injection in that person's right arm and pulls it out.

  One nurse: "What in the world is that?"

  Another nurse: "A vaccine?"

  John: "Maybe."

  First nurse: "Maybe, you are playing with someone's life, who will take responsibility if something happens?"

  As she was asking questions to John in a furious way, suddenly the patient got normalized and was able to take regular breathing.

  Another nurse (putting his right hand on the first nurse's left shoulder): "Look, he is getting normal."

  John: "We didn't have time for testing in a lab so I did here."

  First nurse: "And it is successful."

  John chuckles and gives a thumbs up at the back side where James is sitting and gets a moment of relief.

  First nurse: "OK, hand this to me and let's save more patients."

  John (handing her the injection): "Yeah."

  At the same time, James orders the cops sitting at the back to inject the reddish liquid in an injection which was there in David's box and help the innocents. Cops did as they were ordered. The second nurse told the whole story to her superior who ran to John and thanked him while taking his hand and putting it between his both hands. It was a moment of joy, pleasure and happiness. James thanked god for this good twist in his last case. Soon, five to seven people were treated but others got brutally killed. James gave a speech to all their family members where he gave his condolences and promised that he wouldn't let more people die from this virus. By that John, took that hidden tube back and put it in his pocket and secretly gave it to the hospital people

  John (handing him the tube): "Make more replicas of this and spread it in the air so that, the virus gets destroyed from the air. Also, give one to Richester's Ofsivia pharmaceutical company by my name to Dr. Hayes."

  Doctor: "Yes sir."

  He then drives back to his hospital where in a big laboratory, he hands that tube to the superior of that lab and orders to make replicas to spread it in the air also, John wishes to send it to Richester in his company so the doctor takes half of that substance and gets deliver there with a message from John:

  Sir, I got the vaccine for this trending virus, please make replicas of it and save innocent lives not sell it for profit. Thank you.

  This message was given by John himself which the doctor passed on to that company. At last, James and his team left the area and went back to the garage as interrogation was remaining of David. They all got fresh up and had enthusiasm as this case was about to get over. James and Clair started their engines and moved back to the garage.

  AN UNEXPECTED TURN

  As they left for the market, Joey and his team were guarding David and waiting for him to wake. After five minutes in complete silence, David slowly tried to open his eyes but he knew that he was tied up and surrounded by police officers, so he didn't give any sign of waking up and slowly moved his hands towards his right pocket where he put a small sharp knife while he entered the car on his escape from the market. The knife was small and escaped the security check easily as it was specially made to not get caught in that process. He was struggling hard as a policeman was at his left, sitting on a stool, half asleep. Joey was outside the garage, watching the view of the countryside. Other police officers were finding the identity of David, one was on a call and the other three were checking the guns. Somehow David managed to take out the knife and put it in the palms of his right hand. Then he took a blurred vision by opening half of his eyes to check where was Steven but he wasn't there which upset David.

  David (to the policeman): "Hey, could you give me some water to drink?"

  Policeman (realising David got awake): "You finally got awake."

  David: "Yeah, but before you inform your team, please lend me some water or else I might die because of dehydration, also won't be able to talk."

  Policeman: "OK."

  Then he takes a plastic glass and water bottle filled with semi-chilled water, pours it into the glass until it reaches half and then stands up, takes two steps, gets in front of David and tells him to open his mouth

  David (laughs): "Seriously, you think I can escape from here, look at yourself, your team, I got no chance of escaping, maybe you won't hesitate to shoot if I make a move."

  The policeman realises the circumstances removes the handcuffs tied to David and gives him the glass of water, David takes it from the left hand and drinks the water. The policeman was on his guard but as soon as David finished the water, the policeman looked back to call others and at that moment, David took his right out from behind and stabbed the knife at the policeman's back neck resulting in sprinkles of blood on his David's face and steady flow of blood like a water pipe got leaked. As this happens, the policeman makes a sound and all gets alerted. Joey and others take their gun out while David takes that policeman's body as a shield.

  Joey: "David, whatever you are going to do, forget about it and leave our man, you won't be able to escape."

  As Joey says this, David thinks of a plan and takes the handcuff keys from that policeman's pocket which was enough sharp to get stabbed in one shot. He then aims at a policeman coming from the right who is very close and strikes the key at him resulting in the key getting half inside that person's neck who eventually falls and gets instant death.

  As Joey saw this, he was in fear

  Joey: "David, there are many around, you won't be able to escape."

  David (furiously): "You talk a lot."

  As these words came out of his mouth, David stood up and threw the knife at Joey who was exactly in front of him but Joey dodged and got the knife killing the policeman behind him by getting inside his neck. As this happens, four policemen start firing from their pistol but Joey sits and makes cover of the policeman whom he grabbed from the start. Joey was horrified by this act and ordered to stop the gunfire. As it stops, David moves his chair while sitting on him and also the dead policeman's body for the cover and intends to get his gun which was placed on the table. Joey gets his intentions and shoots that gun, but David reaches it as the gun gets dropped by the bullet fired by Joey and David grabs it.

  One policeman on the left of Joey: "Sir, he got the gun."

  Joey(listens): "OK David, we are putting our weapons down, we will not hurt you, do you understand."

  David wasn't interested in that and aimed at the officers at his right and shot two headshots.

  Joey: "Hey, we can negotiate."

  David: "I am not in that mood."

  Then he shoots at his left and makes another policeman reach to god. As he does this, Joey aims at the hand from which he was holding the gun and shoots there resulting in blood coming out from David's left hand and the gun falls off his hand, making its way under a table. David gets badly hurt but then he throws his cover on the two policemen on his left. He then takes the chair on which was sitting and throws it on Joey. Joey tries to dodge it but it results in his gun falling from his hand. David then takes hold of the officer on his right, trying to snatch his gun as he takes that officer's right arm up to the roof which results in one gunshot above. David then kicks his opponent's stomach with the knee and takes hold of the gun which results in taking that man hostage. The two police officers finally get rid of the dead body that was pushed on them and Joey stands up watching his man taken hostage. Joey takes his hands a little up to show the sign of surrender and so as the other two. David then orders them to get on their knees which was applied by the officers. Slowly and steadily with the gun pointed at the hostage officer, he walks towards the exit of the garage, intentionally hitting the oil cans so that they fall on the ground and spread all over. Joey and others were watching it but weren't able to do something. Finally, David reaches the exit and looks back at the officers, he then shoots the two officers who were on the right with his gun and finally asks Joey to turn around. As he turns around and sees David with that officer taken hostage, David pushes the hostage onto Joey and shoots him in the back resulting instant death of that officer. Joey grabs the officer and tries to push it away on his right, by that time, David has taken back his knife from which he killed an officer earlier and challenges Joey to a duel. Joey tries to find a weapon but he gets none also David shoots the ground whenever he tries to reach a nearby gun which was there on Joey's left. Joey then finally realises that he has to fight with his fists. Joey finally stood up and David threw the gun which was with him, out of the garage. Joey takes his position with his fists. David had taken his knife and took a position like a ninja having kunei.

  The battle finally begins as David runs towards Joey with his knife intending to stab him in the face but Joey dodges it twice from both sides and grabs David's right hand which contains the knife, attacks his elbow joint from his left hand. This results in the knife coming into his right hand of Joey which then tries to attack David's face, David stops it with his left hand but he knows that he won't be able to hold it for too long so he kicks Joey's stomach with his knees and due to the hand grabbed of David by Joey, he also falls on Joey's body and throws the knife away. David then punches hard on Joey's faces but as Joey is getting his third punch, he grabs David's right fist and blocks it. Then David joints his both fists and tries to hit Joey on his head but Joey grabs it and pushes David away to his right. He then grabs the knife thrown to his left and tries to kill David aiming for his neck but David holds Joey both hands and pushes him away. David got no chance to win so he decided to run away. At last, he stands up and kicks Joey running towards the exit. Joey tries to throw a knife on David's left leg but misses it. At last, as David leaves, he takes a nail from the shelf present there and strikes a current on the ground resulting in a fire in the garage due to the spread of oil which got spread to all ends of the garage.

  Joey(shouts): "Nooo!"

  David smiles and leaves the area. Joey somehow manages to stand up but with the increase of fire in a sudden and unbreathable smoke coming out, it was getting difficult for him to move out. Somehow, by covering his mouth and nose with his mask, he manages to escape from the wildfire, takes out his shirt on which oil was there and throws it into the flames. At last, due to the tiredness and smoke, he fell on the ground naked from his upper body.

  Soon a car passed from there and called the fire brigade, police and an ambulance for the victim who was unconscious and lying on the ground.

  The police, fire brigade and the ambulance came quickly and started their work. Firemen jumped from their two trucks and started to throw water on that building. Paramedics rescued Joey and treated him in their ambulance. Police asked the couple who called for emergency various questions about the incident. As the inspector was asking, his junior interrupted and told him that this was the place from where Officer James called to take custody of Steven. The inspector realises and orders the fire brigade team to speed up their hands. He hoped that James wasn't in that fire.

  By that time, James and his team came back to their garage and saw their base was burning like hell. James went to his inspector friend.

  Inspector: "Thank god, you weren't present here."

  James (looking at the garage): "How?"

  Inspector: "We got a call, so we rushed here."

  James: "Any casualties?"

  Inspector: "Many, maybe your whole team is present here, we have called more ambulances so that casualties can be identified."

  James (putting his fingers on his nose): "Oh my god."

  Inspector: "Well, one survived but he is unconscious."

  James: "Who?"

  Inspector (pointing towards the ambulance): "He is there."

  James runs towards the ambulance and checks for the survivor who was none other than Joey. James sighs and asks the paramedics about his condition. The paramedics tell him to wait for some time. John and Claire get to James and ask the whole story. James tells them and as he is telling, he sees numerous bodies coming out of flames and getting placed in the ambulances. James felt very disheartened and sat in the corner alone.

  After some time, a paramedic comes to James and tells him that the patient got his consciousness back. As these words hit James' ears, he runs towards the ambulance where John is already present.

  James (panting): "Joey."

  Joey (lying on the stretcher with having oxygen mask on his face): "Hey sir, sorry I wasn't able to save our comrades."

  James (tears in his eyes): "It's ok, I am happy that you escaped."

  Joey: "No sir, maybe I would have saved them if I shot a bullet on that David without any hesitation."

  James: "No, it's my fault, I ordered you not to hurt as we needed for interrogation."

  Joey: "I remembered that which pulled me from pulling the trigger."

  John: "So this means David escaped?"

  Joey: "Yeah, he played smart but I don't think he would have travelled far."

  James: "OK, let me arrange for traffic breaks."

  Then James goes to his friend's inspector and orders him to do a thorough search in the town. Then he calls the police force of Richester to allocate traffic breaks on the highway, railways and airports.

  All police officers got the order and worked on it. They closed the roads with their barriers and checked people's cars thoroughly. Airports have strict checking. Wanted posters were made of David which were presented publicly. People of Sinchester recognised him but didn't know that his actual name was David as they all got different names like Chris, Karl, Will, Jonathan

  By that time Claire gets the data related to David which she tells to James. A piece of complete information from where and when he was born in Richester to his arrival in Sinchester but after that, the data was missing. Reviews his colleagues also there who considered him psycho as he would go to any level for his experiments which eventually resulted in his firing from his company. Some people called him a coward and an introvert among the masses. No relationship status was to be found there.

  James (reading the data from Claire's tab): "Then how did he get so tactful that he killed nine policemen brutally and brutally injured Joey."

  Claire: "Maybe there is someone else with David."

  On the other hand, police were finding David all over the area in Richester, Sinchester and between them.

  One team of military officers was sent to the forest which was there beside the highway. The forest consisted of wild and endangered animals and the government didn't permit anyone to go. The team with full armour and high-tech arms went inside stealthily so that animals wouldn't get harmed especially David wouldn't notice if he was there. Some officers were covered with green grass colour suits so that David wouldn't be able to see them from afar. The mayor was controlling the whole operation where he was watching the movements of his officers from the small camera presented on their heads. The forest was wide open at the start having animals like dogs, and hyenas roaming around. The forest was quite green receiving great sunlight at the start but as they went deep inside trying to move stealthily. The forest got quiet, and dark and had tall trees blocking the sunlight. Officers were on their guard as animals could attack them to make them their dinner. Soon they reached a lake where on the opposite side, they spotted some animals roaming, deer drinking water and some broken bones of zebras. Suddenly, they observed a crocodile heading towards a deer who came to drink water and grabbed its head with its sharp mouth teeth and ate it completely inside the water leaving blood to float above the water's surface. This was also observed by the mayor who ordered the military officers to retrieve from that area as there was no way, a person would come here for his escape and survive for this long in this wild forest also the survival of endangered species was necessary as then it would become a national issue if officers went deep and hurt the wildlife. The officers get the statement and step back from going more into the forest.

  At night when James and his team came back to Richester, they got all the news of the operation but the expected result was missing which was the location of Dr. Henderson. As James was reading the report made till now, John went outside and saw helicopters flying in Richester's air where they had a tube filled with the vaccine of Smithrin. An officer took it in his hand and pushed a button on it which converted that serum into gaseous form which sprinkled in the air. This process was done several times by the two helicopters present in that area. Finally, John took his mask off and breathed the air which was now free from the Smithrin virus. Joey also joined him, took his mask off and took a deep breath of Richester's air which became again like the old one. James on the other hand saw the post-mortem reports of his death officers who were killed in that garage. Also, an estimated value of 60,000 came from people who got infected by this virus and weren't able to survive in Richester City. They were mostly old people and young kids who didn't have enough immunity to fight the virus. Sinchester also got their report where a thousand people died, this consisted of the people who were present in that market where David started the spread of Smithrin. After all this, James got a headache so he went outside and saw John and Joey watching the sky.

  On the other hand, the Inspector of Sinchester was beating Steven and was asking about David's location. Steven frequently says that he doesn't know anything as his arrest wasn't in the plan. The inspector is not satisfied with his answer but at last, he has to give up as Steven's mouth is spilling blood. He then reports to the headquarters of Richester that there is no information with Steven about David's sudden escape.

  James (going towards them): "What happened, is there any shooting star coming up or a planet to be seen after millions of years?"

  John (observing the night sky): "Take off your mask and breathe the result of our two-day hustle. "

  James (takes his mask off): "As you say, doctor."

  James takes a breath and realises

  James: "Oh, when did this occur."

  John: "I hid a tube and gave it to the doctor who was present in the market, told him to make replicas and sent some here."

  John (picks a tube from the ground which the officers threw from the air once they were finished, John sees his company name): "Finally, they did something for social welfare and not for money."

  James: "Ah, every cloud has a silver lining. In the end, we weren't completely failed in our operation."

  Joey(smiles): "Yeah."

  Soon, on the other day news was announced of the vaccine and people returned to their city. The government announces compulsory vaccination for every citizen. James gets an award from the government and so as John for the discovery of the vaccine. At night, the mayor organizes a party at a banquet where the whole team, John and some other friends with their families are present in formals. News reporters were also there interviewing the officers, and their families about their operation James was busy talking to his superiors and the mayor of the city from where he took an excuse and sat on a chair alone remembering his dead team who sacrificed their lives in this mission. For a moment, he takes out a photo of Smith which was in his gallery and sees it.

  James (having little tears in his eyes): "I hope wherever you are, you are happy, safe and enjoying your afterlife."

  Joey: "Hey sir, come up here, everybody is ready for your speech."

  James (removing his tears from his coat): "Yeah."

  James then heads towards the stage situated in the middle of that luxurious banquet.

  James (takes the mic): "A warm welcome to all present here. The past two days of my life were the best as well as the worst. The worst as we all know due to this deadly virus but the best because I strongly got connected to my team and made a new friend Dr. Parker. He is young but worthy and his stubbornness of not leaving our team made this operation successful. I would like to thank my whole team, especially my assistant Joey Berry who led the team in my absence also our special officer Claire Reyes who was with us despite her father's death which was the day before yesterday. I would also like to thank my comrades who sacrificed their lives during this whether in a road chase or in deadly fire. I would thank the mayor of the city who took strict and quick regulations and tried his best to save most of the lives. At last, I would like to apologise to all the people who lost their loved ones in this deadly massacre. I know it's hard to forget the misery, cries and depression we all felt but we have to look forward and continue our lives without them. Thank you everybody."

  All people had tears in their eyes and clapped for James for his awesome speech. James gets a patting from the mayor and then continues the speech over the mic on the stage.

  On the other hand, we see David injured in a bunker where he came to meet his old partner, Arthur who had a good body physique with a brown beard all over the bottom face. The bunker was quite underground having all the survival items needed in bulk and many machine parts, spare and military tools spreaded all over. David was resting on a bed that was highly damaged and old where Arthur gave him a glass of water and treated his injuries. David got rescued by him on the previous night where he was badly injured by the wild forest but still had a hope of living.

  Arthur: "You would have called me."

  David: "Didn't have the phone."

  Arthur (sighs): "I hope nobody saw you coming here."

  David: "I bet. What about the machine on which you spend so much time, money and energy?"

  Arthur: "It is ready."

  David: "Where is it?"

  Arthur: "On your right."

  As David turns his face to the right, he observes a big monster-like structure hidden behind the leaves which was partially covering it. Identifying that object at first glance was not easy.

  David: "Will it work?"

  Arthur: "I bet."

  David laughs. After some time, Arthur finishes the covering up of wounds on David's arms and legs and tells him to take a rest but David stands up and moves towards that big object. Arthur tries to stop him but David ignores his calls.

  David: "You got a name for him?"

  Arthur: "Yeah, The Uprising."

  David: "Fascinating. Well, thanks for your backup support in transferring money to Steven and allocating Smith's cake delivery job to Justin. You are a genius hacker. Also, your teachings on fighting tactics saved my life yesterday."

  Arthur: "That's my job, I did it for my people who are against the government."

  David (takes up a pistol which was on a desk nearby): "Yeah, I knew that."

  Arthur (sees it): "Well, you're injured so better rest as it's not a good time to start the revolt against the state."

  David: "I know, well I don't know if you have noticed but my right hand isn't that much injured, you know why?"

  Arthur: "Why so?"

  David (turns around): "Because it's good at taking shots."

  As he said this, he raised his right hand and aimed for Arthur who was sitting on a chair, and shot three bullets in his chest. smoke comes out from the pistol and David pants for a while.

  David (watching The Uprising): "Now, I own you."

  THE LAST WAR

  After ten days of relief in which all gets back to their work, John started his job under a new head. Joey was with his family spending time in cinemas, malls and amusement parks. Claire regularly went to her father's grave and lay down flowers. James was busy with multiple works and appointing a workforce on small crimes occurring in the city. Steven was declared lifetime imprisoned in the court for his previous illegal acts. Everybody moved forward and was getting regular to their old lifestyle.

  On the eleventh day, James gets a call from Sinchester

  James: “Hey, what's going on buddy?”

  Inspector: (Firing sound) “One robot destroying Sinchester. Please help us.”

  James: (Shocked) What?”

  Inspector: "I don't have time to explain, please we need backup, send your workforce here immediately."

  James: "OK."

  Then James turns on the news and sees the heavy destruction of Sinchester. He identifies a robot in the middle of the city firing on all and destroying buildings and towers. James got his eyes open and immediately called his team and ordered them to move towards Sinchester. The team consisted of some new joiners, Joey and James as it was not a small incident happening. They all reached there in half an hour. When they reached there, they saw a big robot destroying Sinchester. The robot was green and white and also had 1 minigun on its shoulders. The robot was big enough to destroy big buildings. All were running and were getting out of the city. They all were shocked but as they reached their, they took their positions and started firing on the robot. After some time, John was seen there who came to Sinchester for his lab research. James took him to a safe zone. Joey was scouting from afar and tried to know, how was that robot operating. He went up to the terrace of a building where he assembled the parts of a sniper which he bought there in a box. As he assembled it, he took the help of it's scope and tried to look at the mirror on the front of the robot which was on the chest. Joey was shocked as he zoomed further and noticed David inside, controlling the whole robot. The robot looked like a gorilla who looked very aggressive at that moment, it had bulletproof armour that resisted all the tiny bullets coming to it's body. As he was stepping forward by it's footsteps, it crushed many cars coming in it's way, bursting them and injuring the people nearby. He pulled a construction crane from the ground and smashed the buildings like a baseball bat hitting a ball. Then it punched a building on his right with full force with its hard metal fist. As Joey got the main culprit, he got connected to James through the radio and told him about David. James was at that time, taking John away from the destruction so John also got to hear their conversation. A military team was called to that town were had armour and high-tech guns but weren't so useful in attacking that robot. Some launched RPG but Daivd's robot dodged it and it hit buildings at it's back. It was getting hard for everyone to stop that big creature. Joey tried to shoot a bullet from his sniper of David's head but the mirror was also bulletproof As David saw the broken glass of his robot, he started to look for the shooter and saw Joey with a sniper on a building. He took his robot that way at full speed, running. Joey saw this and searched for an escape as he didn't have time to move downstairs. As he was moving his eyes here and there, he saw another building of almost the same height and thought of jumping. He didn't know if he would survive as it was a risky jump as the building was quite far away but as he stepped on the terrace border and saw David approaching him furiously, he knew that he did not have any other choice left. It was a do-or-die situation and as expected Joey jumped at the end moment when the robot hit the building with it's fist coming from below in an upward direction. James was watching the view from far away and so was John but they weren't able to know what exactly happened as the robot was blocking the view. There was complete silence and no sound of bullets firing. As David did this destructive act, he thought that he finally won the duel but as the cement and sand particles that got spread in the air due to it's act came to rest, he saw Joey hanging on the next building. Somehow Joey tried to stay hung there and was struggling to climb up. Finally, he climbed up and looked back at David. David went furious and aimed to destroy that building but as he stepped forward,

  An RPG came destroying the left arm of The Uprising from which he destroyed the earlier building. The RPG was launched by a military officer who was on a helicopter. As Joey noticed this, he looked back in the front and saw helicopters approaching Sinchester. He was happy and waved his hand for the rescue. The pilot noted that and drove his helicopter to Joey. David was furious with this act and screamed loudly in his control room. At that same time, bullets again started to fire from his back by the local police and military. David thought of clearing the ground area first but he knew that would give advantage to the people hanging in the air so he ignored them and approached the military helicopters first. He ran towards them which resulted in the moving back of helicopters but he was able to catch two helicopters from their back and smashed them into each other. Joey watched it while hanging on the rope and started to move first to get in the helicopter.

  On the other hand, James climbed a tall building situated on the right side of the robot. He ordered Joey to tell the military of that helicopter to shoot at the mirror from where David was visible. Joey commanded the officers of that helicopter and they opened there both mini guns situated at the sides and opened fire at the robot. David knew that it wasn't good but the helicopter was too far away to approach. Eventually, the glass was at it's breaking point and at that time the firing stopped. David was hiding behind the chair on which he was sitting earlier and controlling that monster. Suddenly, he hears James' voice shouting at him. He stood up from the ground and faced his robot James who was present on the top of a tall building. As he turned the robot's face towards James, James took a long jump stretching his legs, aiming his kick on the glass and broke it. He came inside and was facing David.

  James: "Yeah, we meet again. Mr Deadly scientist."

  David was in fear as James started approaching him and threw the chair towards him but James dodged it and that chair broke the glass and fell on the ground. David got more tense and now he got ready to fight. James at first dodged his both punches and gave a straight punch with his right hand on David's face injuring his nose. David stepped back due to force but then came in full force on James and tried to choke his neck. James fell down and so David on him. James needed to break free from there so he smashed his head into David's head from which David got a bad pain on his forehead and fell beside James. As James got a chance, he stood up and pointed his gun at David.

  James: "No moves."

  As David heard this, he kicked James' right leg which made him fall to his knees. David got a chance to tackle and he went behind James and tried to choke his neck with his right shoulder covering his whole neck taking him backwards and attaching himself to a wall for back support. James tried to break free but this time David got his shoulders tight. Joey saw this from the helicopter and ordered to launch another RPG on the robot's left shoulder. The officer did as he was asked and launched an RPG on the robot's left shoulder joint which detached the robot from his left shoulder. This created a disturbance inside the control room and helped James to get free from David's trap. He then swiftly turned back and gave continuous five punches straight on David's face resulting in blood flowing from his nose and mouth but then David smashed his head with James' head and ran to the right side. James got knocked back with his left hand on his forehead, he was watching the movements of David who picked up his gun which got dropped by James when he was kicked earlier. This gave an advantage to David in that duel as now he had a weapon from which he aimed at James with his both hands. All officers in the air saw this twist

  One officer (to Joey): "Sir, should I take my sniper out?"

  Joey: "No need. Sir will be able to manage."

  David (to James): "You know what power in their in my hands."

  James (frightened): "David, it's of no use. Your machine gave up already and so you should, even though you kill me, you won't be able to escape from the military, will you?"

  David: "Not the first time, Inspector."

  Then David pulls the trigger, Joey was regretting on his decision of not allowing a military officer to fire but as David shrinks his right-hand middle finger from which was on the trigger, the gun makes a sound concluding that there is no ammo in that pistol. David was shocked and tried two, or three times but the result was the same.

  David (to the pistol in a serious manner): "Are you kidding!"

  As James hears this, he runs towards David and pushes him to the ground by grabbing his waist, attacking his right hand where the pistol was present which resulted in the dropping of the pistol from David's hand. Then James punches hard on David's face. As he was punching, he saw David laughing cunningly and pointed his index finger to the corner left of the control room. As James turns left, he sees empty boxes. He was confused by that, and at that time, David took a chance and hit James on his head from the grip area. James gets hit badly and rolls to the left side of David. David stood up and took his favourite knife out from his hidden at the back of the broken sole and jumped on James. James rolls to escape and stands up. Now he knew that maybe this could be his last breath as David had a small weapon in his weapon. He moves backwards to the broken glass area. David also approaches slowly and cunningly towards him. As James was at the end where the control panel was placed, he knew he had nowhere to escape if he jumped from The Uprising, he would surely die. As David realises that now the game is in his hands, he runs towards James to attack with his knife held in his right hand aiming at his chest.

  Suddenly, an RPG gets launched by a military officer instructed by Joey as he knew that James is really in need, on The Uprising's left leg resulting in the fall of that robot. A great disturbance was experienced by James and David. The whole robot falls off and gets in crumbles of metal. The whole ground team comes there including John. No one was expecting them to be alive. Helicopters all get land and Joey runs to that crowded area. There he sees John and goes to him.

  John: "I hope they didn't get buried alive."

  Joey: "Maybe, it was a bad decision."

  John is shocked by this and looks at Joey.

  The military moves towards the fallen machine to check for any survivors. As they approach, some metals make sounds like someone is moving them aside. Military gets in their position. All were curious and were staring there. Suddenly a big piece of metal gets up in the air and falls aside. From that hole, James walks up with David whom he was dragging by grabbing his collars. He then walks to his team and slides The Deadly Scientist who did all that brutal destruction of Sinchester. John walks up to him and so as Joey and Claire. This time James loads his pistol with the magazine given by Joey. John also borrows a gun from an officer on his way. The officer at first resists but as he sees James' sign of letting John take it, he allows John to take that pistol.

  All four were there surrounding David. Joey remembers the garage incident where all his comrades got killed and he wasn't able to do anything. Claire gets a glance at her father's funeral. John remembers his lab incident where he may get himself killed and also the dead bodies, he saw in the market of Sinchester. At last, James remembers his old hostel friend Sam who was poisoned at the start.

  James: "You killed our family, friends, and comrades and made an atmosphere of fear and terror, you won't die easily. All three, load your gun and have all the bullets in this psycho criminal body."

  All four act the same at the count of three, David closes his eyes and feels the pain of breaking of his bones, and chest, and blood loss. Claire starts crying while she shoots at him. As the magazine gets over, all stops and gets relief from this case. At last, James walks to his friend Inspector and tells him not to disclose John's act of firing bullets. The Inspector agrees and so as James leaves that area. Soon, everybody leaves there and the military and the Sinchester police investigate the area. John drops the gun and follows James. James standing with the support of his car's bonnet gets a call from the mayor

  James: "Yes sir."

  Mayor: "Well done James, I hope now you will accept your retirement without any stress."

  James: "Yeah, it was a long journey from a tragic incident to the destruction of a town."

  Mayor: "I understand, well time for some vacation, Inspector."

  James smiles and hangs up. By that time, John comes there and takes the support of the bonnet, having arms folded, unlike James who had it in his pockets.

  John: "Well you should first put some bandages over your face."

  James: "No need."

  John: "Is it because you can't talk to women."

  James laughs at the case file finally gets closed.

  -Rishi Gandhi

  (2017)