Part - Time Killer

Nick Owen was a senior officer of the NYPD although he was only 26 years old. He was an cop who loved his work very much. But as the technology improved, criminals used many different ways to commit crimes and to solve one case is not as easy as before. Nick began to change his attitude about his job.
He was being assigned a case of the Mafia. The Mafia killed a lot of people each year. The police had been watching them for years but just could not find any evidence to convict them. He swore to himself that he would destroy or at least cut down the Mafia activities someday.
In fact, NYPD had sent an undercover into the Mafia. His name was Ivan and according to him, Mafia is a very huge and disorganised group but when trouble comes, they will do anything the leader ordered. There are also many secrets that are only known by trusted personal in the Mafia. Ivan was new and thus not been able to know about the secrets. But between Mafia and other Mafia, they hated each other and draw a borderline of each’s territory.
Nick was more and more troubled by the case as days passed. If the Mafia were not destroyed, more people would die. Since Ivan had said that the whole Mafia listens to the leader, if the leader is killed, the Mafia will be destroyed. And the hatred of each Mafia gave Nick an idea.

One day, Ivan was involved in a Mafia gunfight and was shot. The police arrived and sent him to the hospital immediately. But Ivan was shot near his backbone and was paralysed from chest down. He could not be the undercover anymore and they needed to find someone to replace him in the Mafia. Ivan was placed in a private care home after he was discharged from the hospital.
Nick’s best friend, Alex, decided to volunteer for the undercover job. He joined the Mafia as Ivan’s brother who wanted revenge for Ivan. This gave Alex reasons to visit Ivan in the private care home and pass any messages to him. To prevent the Mafia from suspecting anything, Ivan’s room was always guarded by cops as he was found from a Mafia gunfight. Nick was very worried about Alex’s safety and spent a lot of his time at the private care home to wait for Alex. Every time when Alex came to visit Ivan, Nick would asked about his safety but Alex would always joked, “If I came out alive as undercover, you must give me an Academy Awards for Best Actor.”
During one of the Mafia’s gunfight, Alex took a shot for the leader and was trusted by him ever since. The leader even treated Alex as his godson. Alex began to know more than before but some things were still kept secret to him.

Suddenly, a Mafia leader was killed by a mystery killer in the middle of the night. The follower of the Mafia leader said that the killer did not harm anyone except the leader. He had only injured those who tried to stop him. Nick was assigned to investigate this case. He found that the killer was an expert; he did not leave any trace behind. He decided to go to Alex for help and Alex told him that some other Mafia must hired the killer. It was common for one Mafia to destroy another Mafia gangs.

Three months later, another Mafia leader was killed. The reason of death was the same, a shot right through the heart. According to the description by the witnesses, it matched the killer who committed the murder three months ago. Nick was sure that the killer would strike again. He also knew that the killer was an expert and should be in the profession for quite a long time to be able to do such a clean job.
One day, Alex came to visit Ivan; he told him that his Mafia’s leader did the murder of the last Mafia leader. He had hired a killer from the net but no matter how they tried to trace his location, it was not found. Alex left Ivan the Internet address and left. When Nick came, Ivan told him the news. Nick did not seem to be affected by the news and Ivan thought that it was very odd. But later, Ivan felt that he might have thought too much to feel that Nick is behaving oddly.
When Nick went back to the office, he asked his men to check on the Internet address immediately. It was an auction website and it could only be entered by its members. They tried to register but failed as the members are invited by the designer of that website. They tried to trace the website but there was no information. Nick felt that the website looked suspicious and ordered his men to check on it 24 hours everyday.
After some research, they found that the website was only used in the bidding of one item, which was unknown to them, but the prices offered were extremely high. They knew that it must be a very valuable thing. A few weeks later, the item was sold and another unknown item was being on hold for bid. The prices were already very high when it first started and was getting higher and higher.
Two days later, another Mafia leader was killed; they classified the case under series killer. They thought that it was not a coincident that another Mafia leader was killed just after the item was sold on the net. Alex’s information also told them that this is the site where the killer got his pay and target.
A few days later, Alex went to see Ivan again. Nick was there Alex told him that his Mafia leader was unable to gain access to that website. He was cancelled off from the member list. He also knew that the killer deal every three months and that means he kill one Mafia leader every three month. Nick did not seem to be bothered by the information from Alex and asked about his safety and all. Ivan began to feel that there was something really wrong with Nick.
Nick went home after he left the private care home. He switched on his computer and there was the FBI data bank with all the known Mafia leaders. He looked at each and every one of them and then went online to the website to see the price of the item now.
Soon, three months had gone after the last killing. The item was sold on the site and two days later, another Mafia leader was killed. Nick’s men arrived at the scene first and were questioning the witness. Nick arrived later and walked to one of his men who was questioning a witness.
“The killer came at about 12 midnight. He wore all black and his face was covered with a mask. We tried to stop him but could not. But I remember one of us shot his right hand, just like him.”
He said, pointing at Nick’s hand. Nick’s hand was covered with bandages and there’s some bloodstains on it. Nick’s men saw him and saluted. Nick returned the salute immediately.
“What happened to your hand, sir?”
“Don’t talk about it. I got bitten by my neighbour’s dog. So, how’s it going on?”
“It’s the same man and as you’ve heard, he’s injured.”
The next day, Nick went to visit Ivan. Alex was also there. They saw his hand and asked,
“What happened?”
“Got bitten by a dog. Nothing serious.”
“You see a doctor?”
"A private one. Remember the young boy call Raymond we caught years ago, now he had turned over a new leaf and became a doctor.”
“Why is there such a big patch of bloodstains? It looked serious to me.”
“Oh! I forgot to change the bandage. Don’t worry, it’s nothing.”
After Nick left, Ivan said,
“It doesn’t look like a dog bite to me.”
“I think so too.”
“Nick seems to be acting strangely nowadays.”
“Really?”
“He doesn’t seem to be bother when you gave him any information. Something must be wrong.”
“He had never lied to me before. As you said, something is wrong.”
“I should inform someone in the agency about it.”
“I hoped nothing bad had happened to him. You know, he's an orphan and we grew up and went through schools and even the police academy together. We were real good buddies.”
One day, they found that the website was down. They think that the killer was really injured and was not able to continue his killings for a period of time, so he closed the website. About a month later, the website returned to service and Nick’s bandages was taken off a few weeks later. All of them in the police force felt something strange about Nick. He had said it was a dog bite but if it really was a dog bite, it would have heal in about two to three weeks time but it took Nick about one and a half month to recover. They began to be suspicious about him.
One month later, a deal was made on the site. The next day, at exactly 12 midnight, a killer went to Alex’s Mafia. Alex went into a gunfight with him but the killer managed to kick his gun away. He used his own gun and knocked Alex down to the floor. The killer made his shot immediately at the running Mafia leader. His shot was so actuate that the Mafia leader fell to the ground immediately and was dead.
As the killer was leaving, Alex grabbed his legs, tripped him down to the floor. But the killer got up very quickly; Alex had no choice but to shoot at the killer. The killer fell to the ground immediately, groaning on the floor. Sirens could be heard outside as the FBI arrived. Alex picked himself up from the floor, still a bit dizzy from the knock on the head. He walked to the killer and took off his mask.
Alex was so shocked that he could not move or keep his eyes off the killer’s face. He was Nick. The one and only Nick Owen, FBI senior officer, well respected by a lot of agents. And now, he was lying down there on the floor, injured, too weak to speak. Alex shouted,
“Call for an ambulance! Quick!”
He laid Nick’s head on his legs and whispered,
“Hold on, the ambulance is coming. Hold on, Nick. Why did you do it? Why is it you?
Why did you do such a stupid thing? …”

Nick waked up and found that he was in a hospital with his left hand handcuffed to the side of the bed. Alex came to him and asked,
“You’ve wake up. How do you feel?”
“Weak.”
He looked opposite him and realised that he was in the special ward where injured criminals stay and guards around.
“This injury can’t kill me, Alex. How’s your head?”
“It’s fine. You didn’t hit me hard enough to cause anything serious.”
“How did you all know? If the force is expecting a murder, I’ll be told. Why didn’t I know anything?”
“They were suspicious of you ever since your injury. They left you out on this plan. They used the account of a dead Mafia leader to enter the website and hired you to kill my Mafia leader. I’m sorry that I shot you; I didn’t know that it was you, if not I wouldn’t have fired. I should’ve known that it was you, you did not shot me although I have been firing at you.”
“Don’t blame yourself, it’s not your fault. I got what I sow. I never regretted doing it. Do me a favour, would you?”
“Sure, anything that I could do.”
“Change my medical report card. I know they’ll come after me and they’ll come after you too. Change it or I’ll be dead.”
Just then, Nick went back into sleep due to the effect of the medicine the doctor gave him.
The next day, Alex came to visit Nick and found that the patient opposite Nick was dead.
“Thank you for helping me, Alex. I know you do it.”
Just then, the guard outside came in and told Alex that a senior agent was looking for him. Alex went with the guard immediately.
The senior officer saw Alex and asked,
“Why is it that the medical report card on his bed belong to Nick Owen?”
“You know why as well as I do. If I didn’t do it, the one lying down there in the mortuary would be Nick. Anyway, that man deserved to die. If this cause a lot of trouble, I’ll take all the blame.”
Alex went to visit Ivan after leaving the hospital.
“How’s he?”
“Fine. The doctor said the bullets did not hurt any important organ.”
“I can’t imagine that he is the killer.”
“Me too. I’ve known him for a long time. He loved his job, I can’t imagine him doing what he know was definitely wrong.”
“He did such a silly thing.”
“Yeah. I really can’t accept the fact that he is the killer. Both of us were proud to be an agent but he destroyed his future.”
They talked for a while longer and then Alex left to accompany Nick in the hospital.
When he entered the ward, Nick was sounding asleep. Suddenly, Nick woke up and shouted,
“They’ve got Ivan.”
“Who?”
“The Mafia.”
“Don’t worry, it’s just a dream. I just came from the private care home, Ivan is fine.”
“I think you should sent someone to check it out. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Okay, I’ll do it.”
After a while, Alex returned anxiously,
“Ivan was missing.”
“We’ve to calm down and think of something.”
“Let the agency take care of it. It’ll be better with more men helping to find him.”
“No. Since they’re after me. I’ve to go save him.”
“No way, I’m letting you go. You’re injured.”
“If you treat me as your best friend, get the handcuff off me.”
“Alright, I can let you go but only if you take me with you to save Ivan.”
“I don’t want you to go, it’s too dangerous.”
“I insist, if not we’ll just let the force solve the case.”
“Alright. You win.”

Nick’s emergency bell rang and a doctor went to check on him immediately. Nick was having difficulty breathing. The doctor went to him immediately, just then, Alex knocked the doctor unconscious from the back. Alex took off the handcuff on Nick’s hand and Nick changed into the doctor’s clothes. They left the ward together without suspicion by the guards.
Nick left the hospital wearing the doctor’s clothes and Alex brought him to a house.
“This house belongs to my cousin. He went overseas for business one year ago and won’t be back till next year; you can stay here for the time being. I’ll contact my informer to check on Ivan’s position. You just stay here and rest, no one will know you’re here. The doctor won’t wake up till tomorrow, so I’ll go home and pack now and join you tomorrow.”
“Can you help me find someone?”
“Who?”
“Raymond. I need him to help me, so I can recover faster.”
“He had been helping you all along, hadn’t he?”
“Yeah, he knew I was the killer.”
“Okay, I’ll try my best. Where can I find him?”
“He lives on the third street to the right of the NYPD building. There’s a shop called Celone. You go in, tell the owner you want to go up stairs. He’ll ask you for a code. You said I came for the rays and he’ll bring you to the back of the shop where there is a stairs for you to climb up if Raymond is there. If not, he'll tell you how to contact him. When you've found him, just explain why you were there and he’ll follow you here.”
“Okay, I’ll ask my informer to get to him as soon as possible.”
A few days later, there was a knock on the door. Alex went to answer it; it was his informer along with Raymond. Alex let them in immediately,
“No one following?”
“Definitely no.”
“Good.”
“Raymond, remember me?”
“You’re that cop along with Nick.”
“Yeah, you got a good memory. My name is Alex; Nick needs your help. He is upstairs, the second room to the left.”
“Thanks.”
Raymond went up the stairs and left Alex and his informer in the living room.
“Brian, how’s it going on?”
“No news about a guy named Ivan but I’m coming close.”
“Do my another favour.”
“What is it?”
“Help me get food and other household supplies.”
“No problem.”
“And I need weapons.”
“What kind?”
“Machine guns, shot guns, grenades, ammunitions and all.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks.”
“You don’t need to thank me, I owned you. You saved my ass a lot of time and helped me cleared my dirty records.”
“That is because you helped us criminal along with hard evidence, remember? Come, I’ll introduce you to my friend, Nick.”
Alex brought him up the stairs and then to the second room on the left. He knocked on the door and went in,
“How’s he?” Alex asked Raymond.
“Not very good, you should have come to me earlier.”
“He was in the hospital then.”
“The doctor ain’t better than me.”
“So how?”
“I can make him recover in three to six weeks time, depending on how much rest he got.”
“He’ll resting in this room the whole day.”
“Then, I’m sure he’ll recover in less than a months’ time.”
“Good. Nick, I want you to meet someone who will be helping us.”
“Who is he?”
“His name is Brian. A person who is loyal to me and is willing to help me as much as I had helped him before.”
“Nice to meet you, Brian.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
“He’ll help us find the location of Ivan.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me, I own it to Alex.”
A few weeks later, Brian came back to Alex with news of Ivan. He had found him locked up in a deserted building at the border of Texas and New Mexico.
“They’ve been looking for the two of you as much as you’ve been looking for them, so I advice you not to do anything stupid especailly when the FBI and your own PD is looking very closely for the two of you and the Mafia people.”
“We’ve to save Ivan. He was being locked up because of us, there’s nothing to do with him.”
“I know you’ll say this. The weapons you want will be here tomorrow. I’ll send them down here. When do you want to go there?”
“Nick had almost fully recovered, I think a few days time will do.”
“Okay, I’ll get a van and drive the two of you there.”
“Thanks.”
“How many times must I tell you not to thank me?”
“Okay, but I really appreciated your help.”
“Sure you do, see you tomorrow.”
The next day, Brian drove a van carrying weapons to Alex’s cousin’s house. He unloaded all the weapons inside the house and asked Alex to inspect them. There were eight grenades, three sub-machine guns, two rifles and five pistols plus plenty of ammunition for all the weapons. Alex thanked him again.
The night three days later, Brian arrived at the house with the same van. He went into the house and saw Nick and Alex wide awake and packing themselves with weapons. They gave Brian two grenades, a pistol and a gun in case of emergency. Brian handed them a map he had managed to get on the structure of the building where Ivan is locked up. Alex and Nick study the map while Brian drove them to the building.
Brian parked about three miles away from the building, behind a patch of bushes and out of sight. Alex and Nick jumped out of the car and said,
“Wait for us here. There’s a binocular behind, look out for us. If you did not see us coming out in an hour’s time after we go in, called the cops. If you dare, take the weapons we gave you and went in to help us.”
“You got it.”
Alex and Nick went running to the building immediately, taking cover for one another. They ran to the bushes in front of the building. Nick used the binocular he had brought with him to look at the surroundings.
“The building was surrounded by men with guns or rifles. We’ll have to trick them to the other side to get into the building.”
“Okay, I’m with you.”
Alex climbed to the other side of the bushes and placed a bomb there. He climbed back and waited for the bomb to explode. After the explosion, all the men went to bushes immediately. Nick and Alex ran into the building, as they were not looking.
Once in the building, they took cover for each other and killed a few men, alarming the others. All the men were called into the building and Ivan was brought out of where he was locked to the rooftop. Edward, the Mafia leader’s son who was now controlling the Mafia and kidnapped Ivan was on the rooftop waiting. Nick and Alex got up the stairs and climbed all the way to the fourth floor where Ivan is locked up but found that Ivan was not there.
Just then, Edward’s voice filled the whole building.
“I know the two of you’ve come. If you want to save Ivan, come to the rooftop. I’m waiting for you there.”
Nick began to run up the stairs with Alex following behind.
“Nick, wait a minute. It could be a trap.”
“I don’t care whether it’s a trap or not. I’ve to save Ivan no matter how. He had nothing to with this. It was all my fault.”
“Hey, wait for me.”
They came to the rooftop and faced a serious gunfight with Edward’s men. They hid at the stairs shooting at all the men on the rooftop; there were at least thirty of them. Some men were also coming up the stairs. Alex shot all of them. Just then, their rifle went out of ammunition. Nick took cover for Alex with his pistol while Alex assembled the gun that they dissembled so that it’ll be easier to carry. Alex assembled the two guns they had brought with lightning speed. They shot everyone insight and after a long gunfight, everyone was dead except for Edward who was pointing a gun at Ivan’s head.
Alex and Nick moved onto the rooftop and Nick said,
“Let him go, if you want me, you come and kill me. There is nothing to do with Ivan.”
“He cheated us. He was also an undercover.”
“But he got paralysed because of helping the Mafia to fight the gunfight, Edward.” Alex said, knowing the guy was Edward.
Back in the van, Brian saw that an hour had passed and grabbed the weapons. He ran with the weapons to the building while calling the police with his cell phone. After informing the police, he threw the cell phone away and ran even faster to the building.
On the rooftop, Nick and Alex were still trying to talk to Edward.
“Surrender, Edward. Let Ivan go.”
“No way I’m going to do that. Put down all your guns or I’m going to shoot him.”
“You shoot him, we shoot you.”
“Then come on and shoot me now. I’m not afraid of dying. Put down your guns.”
Nick and Alex put down their guns and pistols.
“Kick them to me.”
They kicked their weapons to Edward immediately.
“Who do you think I shall kill first? The killer or the traitor? Let’s see, I’ll kill the killer first.”
Edward shot Nick in the stomach immediately.
“Nick!” Alex and Ivan shouted.
“And now, it’s the traitor.”
Edward opened fire at Alex immediately. Just then, Nick used all his strength and threw himself over Alex. Nick caught all the bullets, which are meant for Alex and fell to the ground immediately with blood oozing out of him from everywhere.
“Nick!”
Alex hugged Nick who is now full of blood.
“Why did you shield me from the bullets.”
“Wow! What an emotional scene. I’m crying.”
Edward aimed the gun at Alex again.
Just as Edward was about to shoot, Brian arrived and shot Edward. Edward fell to the ground immediately. Brian kept the gun pointing at Edward and walked towards Ivan.
Sirens began to roar the whole deserted area. Alex made Nick lie on his lap and said,
“Why did you do it, Nick?”
“Alex, I’m cold. I can’t hold on any longer.”
“No way, you’re going to make it.” Tears started to roll down Alex’s cheek.
“Don’t be sad. I’m proud of what I’ve done. Promise me something.”
“I’ll promise you anything.”
“Live. Be a good man and don’t be like me. I’m different, I feel like it’s my duty to do it and to end up like this is what I’ve expected.”
“Say no more, Nick. Hold on. You can’t die, you still own me my academy award.”
Nick did not say anything. He smiled at Alex and then closed his eyes.
“Wake up, wake up!”
Nick’s lips moved and Alex moved himself closer to his mouth.
“Help me donate the money in my bank account to charity. You can find the account number in my diary which is kept in a small compartment on the underside of my bed.” Nick said very softly.
Nick lay down there and did not move anymore. Alex shook him but he still lay motionless. Alex hugged his head and cry as police arrived at the rooftop.

Alex was standing in the middle of a cemetery. A tombstone stood in front of him with the name Nicholas James Owen on it. Ivan wheeled his wheelchair next to Alex and said,
“I bet he ask you not to follow his footsteps and live a good life.”
Alex did not reply and kept staring at the tombstone.
“You know why he did it? Why did he shield you from the bullets?”
Alex turned to face Ivan and shake his head,
“No, I don’t.”
“I can tell you why. Because he knew that he could never turn back and climb out of the sea after he had jumped into it. You understand what I mean?”
“Not really, Ivan.”
“He had no future after what he had done. For him, he had done what he wanted to do and there were no regrets for him. Since he was caught, there’s no point for him to live on. He knew what he would face for killing and to him he would rather spend his life saving you. You’re different from him; you’re still a good cop, a good citizen. You still have your future but not him. So, he used his life which doesn’t have a future to save yours which still have a bright future.”
“But I’d rather go with him.”
“That’s what you think because you’re his brother. Put yourself in his situation, of course he wants the best for you. You’ll do the same if you were him, won’t you?”
Alex nodded his head.
“You’ll have to treasure your life. Nick sacrificed his to save yours, you must not let him down.”
“I won’t. You want me to send you back to the private care home?”
“No. You spend your time here with Nick individually, some agents will be here to pick me up.”
Ivan rolled himself away slowly, leaving Alex standing alone in front of Nick’s grave. Tears started to roll down Alex’s cheek as Ivan left him alone.