Enigma

This is a fictional story, which revolves around a scenario, where a police officer, James Parker is out on a secret mission to find out a treacherous and menacing drug-seller gang. But, due to some unfortunate reasons and disturbances, he was unable to find or locate the gang. 

IN THE NIGHT, AT AROUND 9 PM: 

IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: 

IT'S THE YEAR 2001: 

James Parker receives a phone call from the Police Commissioner, Mr Steve Smith. "Hello? Parker, have you caught the gang already?" 

"Sorry, sir. I was unable to do so. That gang is very precocious!" James answered. "What?! This is not acceptable!" Shouted the Commissioner angrily. 

James and his whole team were set out for 3 days to find the gang. The gang was the hottest gossip in the whole city and also on news channels. 

"Contact the Xpert detective agency for help," Steve suggested. "They're great mystery solvers..." 

James hung up and called the agency. 

A woman answered, "Yes. How may we help you?" 

"This is officer James Parker. We need help with the drug-seller gang case." Came the reply. "Oh, sure.....may I know your current location? And, by the way, I am Jessica." Came the reply. "Jessica, I'm in the centre park town square."

James informed. Jessica informed me she would be right there in some time. 

James waited for the detective to come. Soon, she reached. She wore a black shirt and pants, with high-heel boots. Even if it was nighttime, she managed to come quickly. 

"Hi, James." Jessica greeted. "Yes. You know why you're here, right?" James asked. "Yes, I do. For the time being, we'll stay at a hotel, for safety purposes. It will be a pleasure working with you. I've booked two rooms at Sweet Living hotel. That one is a very safe hotel." Jessica explained everything.

James smiled with satisfaction. They reached the hotel, and went into their respective rooms, freshened up and then they met again in Jessica's room.  

Jessica spread out a map of the whole of New York City. Small crosses were marked at different locations. "These are the locations where the gang would stay turn by turn. Perhaps, they've already gone to some of the locations." Jessica explained. 

"Hmm...my team was on a duty to figure out the next location..." James informed. 

"So, have they figured out the location?" Jessica asked. 

"Probably," James replied, uncertain. He looked at the clock, and it was almost midnight! "I guess we should sleep now. We'll be able to crack this case sooner if we get a good night's sleep." James said. 

So, it was the end of all conversations for that day. 

IN THE MORNING: 

8:30 AM:

Jessica was greeted by the officer the next morning. "I have good news. My team had called me a few minutes ago, and they informed me that the gang would hit next at the central station of New York, Tisters Street." James told. 

"Great. After breakfast, we'll leave as soon as possible. There's no time to lose!" Jessica smiled, satisfactorily. 

James had already had breakfast, so Jessica had hers. 

9 AM: 

DEPARTURE:

They took a taxi, and then sped off along the roads. "According to my team, the gang was supposed to leave the place at 9 am, too. So, we must hurry. Their time of departure is the same as ours. Better to reach first...." James reviewed. 

But then, disaster struck, and soon, their driver announced that one of the tyres had been punctured. "How much time will it take?" Jessica asked, with a worried expression. "30 minutes more, ma'am," replied the driver. 

30 MINUTES LATER:

The type was finally repaired. Instead of being filled with content, the two people were perturbed. This was because they were already late because of the type of puncture. "I don't think we'll reach in time, or before the gang," Jessica observed. 

"If we hurry, we can still make it in time." James hoped. 

SOMETIME LATER: 

After two hours, finally, they had reached their destination. 

"But, wait," Jessica said, realising something. "We know that they're going to come here. But, there are a lot of places around this bridge. And, I'm sure that they won't just meet here, in public." 

"Oh yes, I mean, they'll probably go into some cafe or restaurant to sign off the deal," Parker realised.  

"Yes," Jessica nodded. "Can you contact your team? I'll telephone my team till then. I hope someone has information."  

James Parker called his team, but the latter just replied, "Sorry, sir. Our system has crashed. We've already called the technical support. One of the people has just arrived. He said it's going to take a lot of time to repair this machine. After all, we bought the best computer from their store. Actually, its parts are a bit complicated. All the best for your mission, sir." 

Meanwhile, Jessica's team looked into the matter and tried to figure out the location. "Ma'am! We've figured it out! They're going to strike off the deal at Magical Moments Cafe.....it's just four blocks away." 

"Great work. Keep in touch. Also, call me if you get any further details." Jessica said. 

After walking to the cafe, they quickly hurried inside. But, with total safety, they disguised themselves as a normal couple. 

Jessica and the police officer sat at a table. "Let's wait for some time," Jessica suggested. A minute later, James said he needed to freshen up a bit, so he hurried to the washroom. While returning, a waiter bumped into the officer. His mobile phone fell down, and it seemed as if he had been in a conversation with someone, whose name had been saved as 'BOSS', as shown on the display. 

It was an unpleasant meeting. The waiter grumbled and frowned at James, and the police officer could just make out the words from the conversation: "Yes boss. They were just here. I paid them three lakhs." 

James met Jessica and told her everything. 

Time flew by, and in the meantime, three hours had passed by. Still, the gang had not shown up. Just at the moment, Parker's mobile phone rang. 

Parker's team announced that the system was finally repaired, and the gang's next destination was a park named, 'Fun and Living Park'. They seemed really confident.  

James and Jessica were confused. "Huh? How's it even possible? My team said something different!" Jessica said. 

Immediately, Jessica called her team. "Hello? The destination was wrong! Officer Parker's team told that the gang is headed towards a park!" Jessica scolded them. "The bandits haven't been here for a few hours!" 

The team apologized deeply, and also said, "Maam. We're sorry. Actually, our system was actually set to an option called 'Destinations visited already'. And, we just called you blindly, instead of just changing the option to 'Going to visit'. Sorry again. We didn't realise. Yes. But, according to the officer's team, the information is correct. Right now, the gang has stopped. I don't know why. But you both should reach the park as soon as possible." 

Jessica frowned. But, she still thanked the team. Everyone can make mistakes. 

FUN AND LIVING PARK:

Soon, the two people immediately left for the park. "This is a very difficult task," James said, shaking his head. "After all, we've had so many difficulties!" 

"Remember the waiter you bumped into in the cafe? By hearing his conversation, I bet he's with the drug-seller gang!" Jessica told. 

Luckily, the park wasn't too far away. So, in an hour, they reached. "This time, no mistakes! Only perfection." Jessica shouted with a fiery blaze in her eyes. 

"Let's try our best!" James Parker shouted, agreeing with Jessica. 

They were just going towards the park, when a man wearing brown boots, a brown shirt and brown pants stood in front of them. "Officer Parker. Remember me already?" He asked. Jessica tried to take a glance towards the man. Then she looked back at the officer. The officer stood still, and then, he ran towards him. 

"Uh-oh. Is it an enemy?" Jessica thought. But, he hugged the man! 

"Bradley! My long, lost friend! Oh, come, come!" Parker said. "Yes! I received your call and I came here to help you. Let's go!" Bradley told, hugging Parker back. 

Actually, a day before, Parker had telephoned his friend, Bradley Johnson for help. He worked at the New York Police department. 

The trio ran quickly. After so many failures, they didn't want to make one more! Looks like luck was with them, and they found the gang chattering and blabbering with a client in one corner of the park. Then, Bradley told, "I did a ton of research work. Then, finally, I would like to show you photographs of the members of the gang." 

He showed them seven pictures, which depicted each of the members of the drug-dealing gang. One of them had a huge scar on his cheek and forehead. While the other one had bandages on his forehead. What a terrifying criminal group! Those were actually black and white photos. "Since how many years have they been doing all this job, sir?" Jessica asked. "Oh, since a really long time! In all these years, the police were unable to catch them!" Bradley replied, looking at the sky. James Parker felt a bit embarrassed. 

They took a look at the gang, and it seemed as if their client had already made the payment. 

"Okay, so I have a plan. We'll go near the gang, and we'll act like we're stealing the money. When they run towards us, we will quickly take the rope and tie them up with it. And, meanwhile, Officer Parker, you can track down the others." Jessica proposed. "Good. But we must be careful...." Parker told.  

They set the plan into action. Jessica went near the group, and, as soon as she got the chance, she stole the money. Three of the gang members ran after her. Jessica threw the same money towards Bradley, who caught it. She quickly untied the rope. Then, she tied it around the three members. The rest of the four were tracked down by Bradley and Parker. They tied them up, too. 

In the nick of time, a police jeep reached the park. Bradley had called them. Soon, the criminals were put behind the bars. The client with whom the gang was about to strike off the deal was also put in jail because he had also done a crime by purchasing drugs! 

The case was solved. 

Jessica, James and Bradley congratulated each other. They took away all the drugs for inspection.