Double Identity

Chapter 5 : Two Days Later

Life had taken a U-turn now.

Every time Alfred looked at me, he asked me why I was so lost. I had to make different excuses every time and it seemed I had run out of them now. On top of that Jake was keeping an eye on me all day long. I was relatively free earlier, but now I didn't even have the freedom to go to a bar, thanks to the 'deal' I had made with John. That was not even a deal actually, he had forced me to do it with an imaginary gun held into my mouth.

"You'll be tracked wherever you go. Your cellphone is fitted with GPS program that locates you for us." John had said. "And don't try to be smart. You lose the cellphone - you lose this assignment - and you go back to jail"

***

"Stop it. Will you?" Alfred finally said that evening. He said it so loudly that he started to cough.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"Come on Samuel. Tell me what's happened to you? You seem so lost from the last couple of days."

"Actually I have a headache." I tried to make another stupid excuse.

"From the last two days? Then why don't you go see a doctor?"

"I was just..."

"Oh come on! Speak up. Enough of those lame excuses."

I waited for a moment.

"It's getting dark. Go to sleep Alfred." I then said "And keep the door open" I whispered.

Enough was enough. I had made a big mistake by being with the police. All they knew was how to exploit anyone they catch. They were taking undue advantage of the circumstances, and I had completely lost my patience. On top of that every time I saw Jake, and his ego, my blood boiled. I had overheard Jake speaking with someone, probably John, on the phone the other day, and had figured out that the ambush was planned for tomorrow night. I had to get out of this situation, and that too quickly.

***

"Come in" came a voice from the inside even before I could knock the door. I was a good idea, I thought, to meet Alfred secretly at night as Jake would be asleep. I had tiptoed to Alfred's room in our gang's hideout, making sure no one was following me.

"Tell me what's troubling you Sam. Tell me." Alfred said.

Looking at the way he spoke to me, with so much feeling, I regretted evening thinking of betraying him. And he didn't call me Samuel. Sam sounded much better.

I had decided to tell him everything already, so I went straight into the crux of the matter.

"I was arrested two days back. Jake is an undercover cop and he revealed my identity to the police. And now I am forced to work for the police and be a part of an ambush planned tomorrow"

I spoke it too fast, I thought. It would have been very difficult to digest so much shock for a seventy year old gangster.

Silence.

Deafening silence.

He didn't speak anything. Looking at him it seemed that he was trying to be calm from the outside and controlling his anger. I had expected a similar reaction, but never expected what he told me after that.

"It's okay." He finally said, calmly. "I would have done the same if I were you"

"Sigh! Did he really say that?" I thought.

"Don't worry I will get you out of the mess." He continued

As soon as he said that Alfred started coughing. He took out his handkerchief to put it on his mouth. As he dragged the handkerchief down his face after his coughing finally stopped, I saw his white beard turn red.

"Are you all right, Alfred?"

"Yeah, I am good. Good night"

"Good night"

Something was wrong - very wrong. Looking Alfred in such a bad health worried me. And the fact that he was not speaking to me about his health openly worried me even more. Also his behavior had changed enormously. He didn't look like a gangster anymore. He had lost all his energy, and become more like an old grandfather. Something was terribly wrong. I seemed that I had lost the old Alfred.

That night, I just couldn't sleep.