Cereal (eBook)

Chapter 2

It’s been a week since the team has been chasing every clue that they could find on the gangs behind the major drug deals taking place around the city. Harold had finally gotten some hints on cracking the case. If all the sleepless nights he’d had to endure for the past couple of days was going to pay off, now was the time. It was 3 in the morning, and Harold, Jonas, Mary, and fourteen other officers were staking out a spot close to the subway station where the drug dealers are supposedly going to be making a drug deal.

Each one of them was at an inconspicuous location from where they stayed out of sight of any civilian in the area. Soon enough, at precisely 3:15 a.m., two black cars pulled up into the venue, and six guys dressed in all-black clothes hopped out of the vehicles with one of them holding a black briefcase.

A few moments later, two other cars drove in to join them; these were all-white. Five men with matching white outfits came out from the white cars, and then, they approached the other party with their briefcases as it looked like the dealing was about to commence.

Harold waited patiently before giving the signal for the squad to bust in on them. Officers from all directions stormed in with their guns drawn, yelling, “Freeze!” They took the dealers by complete surprise and were already upon them before the druglords could pull out their weapons.

A few of the gang members took off running, which led to some officers having to chase them down. Harold spotted a figure speeding off down the alley around the corner from him. Without thinking twice, Harold went off after him. After chasing for a while, he finally caught up.

Harold tackled the assailant down from behind, and when he finally checked to see who it was, he realized it was a young black boy.

“Officer, please, I’m not one of them! I was just passing by when I heard the gunshots. I got scared, so I took off running. I’m not a criminal,” he pleaded with teary eyes.

“What is your name?” Harold asked.

“Jackson,” the boy said.

“What are you doing out at this time, Jackson?” Harold asked as his hand was slowly moving towards his handcuff.

“I had to go and get some painkillers for my sick mom. Please let me go,” the boy pleaded.

Harold took his time to examine the boy, who appeared to be the same age as Sarah. The boy was wearing an orange sweatshirt and gray pants that were clearly different from what the gang members had on. To be sure, Harold pats him down quickly and found some change and a bottle of painkiller. He wanted to ask the boy some more questions, but he could already hear the rapid footsteps of some of the officers approaching. Harold sighed as he placed the painkiller in the boy’s hand quickly and then sent him off.

“Go on, get out of here,” Harold told him.

“Thank you very much, sir,” the boy said before speeding off. He was soon out of sight.

Soon enough, Jonas arrived with two other officers, and they hurried over to Harold.

“Are you okay, man? Where’s that guy you were chasing?” Jonas asked.

“He got away,” Harold said.

“That’s a shame. But we’ve got every other gang member, and it’s only a matter of time we’ll get them all,” Jonas said.

“Certainly. Good job, everyone,” Harold commended as he patted Jonas on the shoulder and gave the other officers a salute.

***

Sergeant Davis Clinton was seated on the porch of his mansion. He had a glass of fruit juice in his hand as he leaned back on his chair while enjoying the beautiful view of the night sky.

Davis took a sip from his juice and then exhaled with a relaxed smile as he continued to stare at the stars. Davis was slowly drifting off to sleep when the sound of a sudden movement from the bedroom jolted him.

“Honey, is that you?” He called out as he looked towards the empty room behind him. “Hmm, must have been the wind,” He thought to himself as he settled down to return to his relaxed state, but just then, he heard the sudden movement once more, and this time the lights suddenly flickered off.

“That’s strange,” Sergeant Davis said to himself as he got up from his seat. While the moon’s ray still illuminated the porch, the bedroom was completely dark with the light off, and Davis had to rely on muscle memory to find the light switch, and then he turned the light back on.

Davis looked around to see what could have caused the lights to turn off, but the room was completely empty. He checked the switch carefully to make sure it wasn’t malfunctioning before finally walking back outside onto the porch to relax under the moonlight once more.

Not too long had he settled down when the lights suddenly flickered off yet again. The Sergeant was starting to panic now because he could now hear the sound of footsteps approaching him from the darkroom.

“Martha? Honey, is that you?” He asked as he stared intently into the darkness. He struggled to make out the figure of whoever it was, but the closer the footsteps got, the more helpless and paralyzed he felt.

He couldn’t find the strength to get off the chair, it got to a point where he could hardly open up his mouth to speak, and as his body began to give in to the weakness and nausea, the glass of juice slipped out of his hand and shattered on the tiled floor. That was when he realized that something wasn’t quite right with that drink he had.

He tried to scream out, but as he managed to open up his mouth, he failed to make out any sound and watched as the gloved hand slipped a coarse rope around his neck. The pressure just grew tighter, tighter, and tighter until there was no ounce of strength left in him, and his body finally gave in to the weakness.

***

The blaring sound coming from the alarm jolted Harold from his sleep and indicated that it was the breaking of a new dawn.

‘‘Babe, turn that thing off; it’s Saturday,” Alicia, lying beside him, mumbled groggily.

Harold switched off the alarm and then got out of bed because he still has to work while it might be a free day for her. He hurried into the shower for his morning bath, and a few minutes later, he walked out with a towel around his waist as he proceeded to get dressed for work.

Alicia woke up a few moments after he finished dressing, and she looked over at him with a smile. “Oh, honey, you’re already dressed,” she said, still half asleep.

“Yeah, the prosecution of the suspected drug dealers continues this morning,” Harold said as he looks himself over in the mirror.

“Well, I’m just glad that you’ve almost solved this case. You’ve been working hard on it all week and deserve some fucking credit,” Alicia said. “By the way, I left your cereal on the table last night. Can you help yourself?” She asked as she yawned from drowsiness.

“Yeah, sure,” Harold said as he gave her a soft kiss on the head before walking out of the room.

“Stay safe, honey,” Alicia said as he walked out.

Harold quickly fixed himself a bowl of Frosted Flakes as soon as he got to the dining table. Just as he started to eat, he heard hurried footsteps running down the stairs, and then Sarah walked into the room. She was wearing jogging clothes and trainers, and she had a headset hung around her neck.

“Morning, dad,” She greeted as she walked over to the sink to pour herself a glass of water.

“Since when did you start taking morning jogs?” Harold asked bemusedly.

“Since I made the football team,” Sarah said before downing the full glass of water in her hand.

“I must say it’s nice to see you passionate about something for a change,” Harold said with a smile.

“Thanks for the words of encouragement, dad,” Sarah said in a sarcastic manner, which made Harold smile even more extensive.

“That’s what I’m here for,” he said.

“See you later, dad,” Sarah said as she slipped her headset on and jogged out of the room and out to the street.

Harold quickly finished up his flakes and then grabbed his keys from the counter. He checked his watch as he got into the vehicle and was surprised that Jones hadn’t called him already given that he was running a bit late.

A couple of minutes later, Harold finally arrived at the station house and soon realized why Jonas hadn’t...