XXII
1958 Words
“He was locked inside the interrogation room, was he not?”
“Yes, sir. That is right”, Alex answered his station commander meekly.
“And he was handcuffed, am I right?”
“Yes sir, as he was supposed to be.”
“Then how the f**k did he manage to escape from you?”, his commander bellowed in his face.
He could tell him that it all happened in a flash, how Miguel tricked him and grabbed his keys and firearm and ultimately how he was held hostage by his former partner. But Alex knew better than to talk. So he kept his silence and took all insults and curses thrown at him by his superior like a real man. He stood still in front of his commander, his eyes looking pass him as he kept on grilling him.
“You had him already. All you had to do was to kick the stool and let the noose tighten on his neck and everything would have been okay. This case would have been closed already and we all get our deserved good night sleep. But no, you wanted this to go further. You set Miguel Romero free for some unknown reason and by doing that, you humiliated the whole force of the Philippine National Police. Tell me, Gonzalo, how much did he offer you?”
Alex was stung by his words.
“With all due respect, Sir, the suspect did not offer any amount of money for his freedom. And I have not received any amount whatsoever from him.”
“Then what was it? Ah! Did he prey on your guilt? Did he talk about your friendship and used it against you, to convince you to set him free?”
“Sir, no Sir. He did not mention such things to me. And for the record, Sir, I did not set him f*****g free.”
“Then how the f**k did he get away from here?”
“It was all my fault, Sir. I underestimated his capabilities and let my guard down for a split second. He jumped at me immediately and grabbed my pistol. Then he forced me to walk him out of the station.”
“You personally walk him out of here?”
“He had a gun pointed at me. What am I supposed to do?”
“Your own f*****g gun, you i***t! You were supposed to do your job and that is to keep him behind those bars, not set him free. Now, I may have to put you there instead of him.”
“Sir, please. Give me another chance. I will get that rascal and I will drag his ass back here. I promise I can make this right again. Just give me another chance.”
“I don’t know, Alex. Manila Office is asking for some heads and I don’t have Miguel’s. All I have for now is your head. So what do we do with that head of yours? What do I do?”
“I’m begging you, Sir. I won’t fail you this time.”
The station commander dismissed him with a click of his tongue. Alex saluted before going out of his office. He was enraged by his superior’s words, but he was more worried about the Manila Office’s demand. His station commander was in great pressure to close the case immediately and clear the force’s credibility. He was, in turn, pressured by him to find Miguel and nail him for the murder as soon as possible. Alex promised Miguel would get more than the nailing he deserved.
He went to his own office afterwards. That office used to be too small for two people but now, it felt as if the room was missing something. He used to share that office with the cleverest partner he ever had in his career. But things went sideways for him and he never set foot in that same room ever again. Still, Alex did not touch a thing on his desk. It still had the same clutter as before and his little bonsai tree was still standing there, though it was starting to wither and lose its leaves. He looked longingly towards Miguel’s desk and asked himself what went wrong with his partner. He had a promising future but he chose to throw it away. Alex closed his eyes and yawned. Then he rested his feet on his own desk and looked blankly at the ceiling. It’s been three days already, and he has not gone home even once. Nelia called her numerous times, telling him the kids were already worried sick about him. Now he knew what he needed. He needed some rest and a decent meal along with a fresh change of clothes. He also needed a refreshing bath. In fact, he reckoned he badly needed one after smelling his own jacket. He could worry about Miguel later on.
Alex took his things and went outside of the building. He borrowed the keys to one of the older police mobile at the parking lot and drove home with it. Along the way, he tried to put himself in Miguel’s shoes. Where would I go? He knew Miguel didn’t have any parents left alive. Nadia, on the other hand, still had her mother but that was already covered by his men. Miguel wouldn’t spend a single night on his own home, he was not that stupid. So, where would I go? Alex had no clue. Then he tried to identify everyone he might ask for help. There was Nadia’s mother, but his men have already tapped her phone so that was scratched out. Nelia, of course, was one of the possibilities but he had told her already to distance herself from him because that may cause serious implications to this investigation. And then there was him. Although the chances were very remote, he might still try to ask for his help. But if he ever did that, he already knew what to do.
Without him knowing, he has reached his neighborhood already. But there was something unusual with what he was seeing from afar. Across his house was a black BMW parked casually, with its engine still on. All its windows were heavily tinted so he had no way of telling who the driver and the passengers were. He slowed down to a crawl and tried to think fast. The house across his was not yet bought so it’s impossible for them to be living across him. He requested no men to guard his home so they were not one of them. Another thing was the classy car. The department didn’t have any means to purchase such expensive resources for surveillance purposes. So that only meant the car and its passenger/s were complete strangers.
Alex turned his headlights off and parked as silently as he could behind it. Then he got out of the police car and approached the stranger’s car with great caution. His right finger was on the trigger and he knocked on the window with his left knuckle. The windows went down smoothly, unlike his that sounded like thunder every time he lowered them. There was only one passenger inside and he was calmly peering out to him.
“You must be Officer Alex Gonzalo.”
“And you must be lost”, Alex replied grumpily.
“My name is John Reaves. I’m from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
The Feds? Alex mind went racing. What do the Americans want from him?
“Can I see your I.D.?”
The man flipped his wallet and showed him his card. Alex hid his gun behind his back and asked the man what he wanted.
“We have a strange case on our hands right now and I think you and your friend, somehow, got something that doesn’t belong to you.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“I heard you and Officer Miguel Romero are buddies of some sort. I also heard that he, for some reason, was accused of killing his own wife. More importantly, I heard that Officer Romero received something from an unknown man from Egypt a few days ago. I just want to ask you a few questions about it.”
“I say you hear a lot of things. Why don’t you ask Officer Romero yourself?”
“I would love to, but I can’t find him. So I guess I might try my luck with you.”
“I guess you haven’t heard. But I’m looking for him too. He is a wanted man right now. So I guess you’re one of the search party now.”
The man gritted his teeth in disappointment.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why does Uncle Sam talk to some random police officer on the streets and not in the office? Is this an unofficial matter?”, Alex asked doubtingly.
“We want to keep this quiet if possible. That’s why I wanted to talk to you alone.”
“This ‘thing’, what exactly is it?”
“It was a national treasure stolen more than a week ago. The government of Egypt was blaming the U.S. for its disappearance. That’s why we wanted that thing back before this scandal explodes on our face.”
Alex straightened up.
“I’m sorry, buddy. But I could not help with your problem right now. I have my own too and I’m at the edge of losing my job and my pension as of now. Go find your ‘thing’ and I’ll go looking for my murderer.”
Alex started to go back to his car but the man went out of his and ran after him. He was quite a tall man and he was rather intimidated by his size.
“We are willing to help you generously, if you promise you can ‘lend’ him to us before you surrender him to your people.”
“Are you trying to bribe me, buddy?”
The man smiled.
“No. I’m trying to offer you something that is worth more than your expected pension. I heard that your pension system here sucks.”
“You sure hear a lot of things.”
“One of the perks of working in a nice bureau. Now that I think of it, we could use an asset here in your country. The pay is a lot more decent than what you have right now. The best thing is you don’t have to lose your current job while you do your new one with us. I could recommend you to my senior officer, if you only like it.”
Alex was tempted but he did not say a word.
“Here’s my calling card. You can let me know once you’ve decided. I’m looking forward to working with you someday.”
Alex took his card and hid it in his pocket.
“And don’t forget about your friend Romero. Him first, then the job.”
The federal man flashed his immaculate smile and started going back to his car. Alex just stood there and watched him go.
The man limp slightly as he walked.
- Writer
