Cloaked Intentions

Chapter 5

Roy was an old man now. 

Retired from police service years ago. His sources of income had exhausted with no new source likely. 

That is until now.

He looked out of his window to see the young man walk away. 

He came back to his room and made a call. 

"Hello! It is me." He paused to hear the response. 

"I guess you still remember my voice after all these years then," he said with a laugh. 

"Someone came to meet me today. Had a lot of questions. I thought you might be interested in knowing." He paused again for the other person to respond. 

"You know how it works, that is if you want to know more," he said before putting his phone down.

***

Laksh was walking through the market lost in his own thoughts. 

The meeting didn't go as well as he expected. The old inspector had claimed that it had been too long ago to remember any details. 

But he had seen through the ruse. 

He had offered the man a handsome reward should he remember anything and then left him to it. He knew very well it wouldn't do him any good to sound eager to a man like Roy.

An old lady dropped her wallet as she was paying one of the vegetable vendors, Laksh saw it and picked it up for her. 

Behind him a watermelon bust open making a small noise. Without meaning to, his eyes went to it. 

There was something odd about it just bursting on its own. 

The fruit vendor seemed confused as well. 

Then a strange thought stuck Laksh and he quickly changed his position.

A second later, a pumpkin burst behind him. 

Sensing the direction of the source of this, he quick glanced up. 

There was a dark shadow atop a distance building.

Shooter?!

He knew he didn't have much time. He could definitely not stay in one place knowing what was going on here. 

He looked around quickly, exploring his options. 

He saw a market building. It was a bit away and getting to it would take some effort. He would be in open for most part of that journey, becoming easy target for the person to shoot at and eliminate. But equally he knew that once he was in, there would be enough exits for him to get out safely, for now. He could ponder over what this meant later. 

He quickly worked out his route to the market building.

Taking the cover of a passing van, he rushed to hide behind a paan vendor. 

He wasn't safe there and it would be easily for the person on top of the building to spot him the moment he stood up. 

He crouched as low as he could. 

His heart was beating fast and his palms starting to sweat. 

He knew what he was doing could be risky, but he had never in a million years, realized it could get so bad so quickly. 

He took a couple of quick calming breaths. It wouldn't do to get worked up right now. It would make himself a bigger target if he did. 

He needed all his wit about him.