CHAPTER 3

Harry opened his eyes, it was morning already, he could hear birds singing, people walking by and carpenters working outside.

His head was pounding as he got up from the bed, he looked up and saw the calendar and the date that was last marked he looked back at the bed and saw the recorder, taped on it were the words 'play me'.

So he picked up the recorder and pressed the play button. As the recorder played, he looked for the pills in the small cupboard standing by the bed. After taking the pills he sat up by the bed and listened to the rest of the recording and later went through the journal he pulled out his waist bag. After going through the pages he went to take his bath.

"Long bloody day ahead" he whispered as he got up from the bed.

Three hours later, Harry reached HQ, as he walked through the door he was greeted by some agents who stared at his choice of fashion. He wore a black T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans with opened toe shoes.

"Good afternoon, sir" an agent said.

"Afternoon? What's the time?" Harry asked.

"1:23pm" the agent replied.

"Where's the chairman's office?" Harry asked.

"Just down the hall" the agent replied.

Harry walked in and saw Joshua smoking

"You're late!" said Joshua as he saw Harry coming through the door.

"Took me a while to locate this place" Harry replied as he took a seat.

"Lucy told me you've figured out a conspiracy"

"Who's Lu..??.............nothing you haven't heard about, Joe" Harry replied.

"You mean the 5th resistance theory?" Joshua asked.

"What do you know about it?" Harry asked.

"I heard about the people of district 5 wiping out every personnel and executive in their district and now pushing into other districts...." Joshua said and started chuckling.

"...sounds like a load of barnacles if you asked me" Joshua concluded.

"When last did you hear from the agency in district 5" Harry asked.

"You of all people should know how district 5 behaves, those people are savages and behave the way they like..." Joshua said as he took another puff of the cigarette.

"....but since they still give their monthly quarter to the republic, we can't just presume the worst" he concluded.

"I see" Harry said with his attention looking out the window past Joshua.

"Please tell me you have other leads" Joshua said.

Harry kept staring through the window without saying a word, which made Joshua turn to see what was behind him.

"Harry?!" Joshua said.

"Its about to rain" Harry said.

"What?" Joshua asked.

"Its about to rain, outside" Harry replied.

Joshua turned back to look at the cloudy skies and said

"Yeah, it is" he turned back to realize Harry had gotten up and was heading towards the door.

"You're getting old, Joe. Nice seeing you again" Harry said as he walked past the door without turning back.

Joshua muttered something inaudible and took another puff of the cigarette.

"Good afternoon, Harry. You're late" said a female voice from behind Harry as he was leaving the building.

Harry turned back and said

"Yes, do I know you?"

Lucy laughed and said

"Was that a joke?"

Looking at Harry's face she realized he was not joking.

"Am Lucy.....Lucy Kayo?" she said staring at him like some mentally challenged individual.

He brought out the android phone and scrolled through something then looking back at Lucy who was still staring at him, he said

"Oh, you're my partner?"

Lucy didn't reply, she simply nodded.

"Well we have no time to waste, let's go" he said as he continued walking towards the exit

"Where are we going to?" She asked as they were a few buildings from HQ.

"Did you find anything from Mr. Ti?" He asked.

"No, he has no idea what happened" she said.

"Well, if that is true then he's about to be arrested for knowing nothing" he replied.

"What do you mean?"

"When I left the crime scene, I was able to interview a fellow trader who claimed that our friend came at a very odd hour that particular day" Harry said now increasing his walking pace.

"Odd how?" Lucy asked pacing up to keep up with him

"Mr. Ti is always the first in the market and suddenly on the day a body was discovered in his store, he happens to be the last? That's not a very believable coincidence"

"But the story of his whereabouts during that morning checked out" she said.

"You need to know that it's not always about the how but the why" Harry said.

"Why what?" Lucy asked.

"Why did he choose to come late?" Harry said as they now took a right turn off the road they were on and into an overcrowded street

"But I called him, later that day and he said he had to go confirm the shipment of some goods to district 2" Lucy said now panting, due to the running she had been doing to keep up with Harry. She had now taken off her coat leaving on a plain white long sleeve which sleeves she had now folded for easy ventilation.

"He has always sent his boys to do stuff like that. Boys, who by the way were fired two days before the murder" Harry replied as he kept speed walking.

They had now gone through the crowd waiting at the post office and were standing in front of a eatery at Box avenue.

It was more or less a shabby looking van with a few tables and chairs set in front of it all under a big polythene sheet supported by four wooden stands.

"Are you hungry?" Harry asked as he went under the shade and took an empty seat; the seats were organised with 3 chairs to a round table.

"Not really" Lucy replied as she took a seat.

"Good afternoon Ma and Sir....." said a pale looking teenager who had now approached them

"....what will you like to eat?"

"I'll have a plate of rice, add beans cakes and also fried plantain" Harry said.

"What about you, ma?" asked the teen after jotting down Harry's order on a paper in his hand.

"I'll just have what he's having"

"Ok" he said and walked back to the van.

"Have you been here before?" Harry asked after a while of silence.

"No, why are we here?" She asked.

"To eat, the body needs its nutrients and also..." he stop as he noticed the boy coming back with two plates of food.

".....alright, now that smells good" he said with a smile on his face. Lucy looked at him, as his smile broadened; he never smiled before, why was eating suddenly a thing of joy to him, she wondered.

She watched him eat for a while and was being entertained by his weird behaviors when she noticed someone walking into the shade, she took one look at him and recognized the trader that they were talking about a few minutes ago.

"Are you planning to eat that or you just like wasting good food?" Harry said, drawing back her attention.

She made a pointing gesture with her head and said

"That's...."

"I know, what do you think we're here for?" Harry cut in, his mood had suddenly returned back to its gloomy self.

Harry went back to his meal while Lucy kept watching Austin as he took his seat and ordered his meal, as soon as Harry was done eating he pulled out from his pocket 5 bronze coins and dropped it on the rubber table.

"Enjoying your meal?" Harry said as he got to where Austin was eating.

"Who the hell are you?" Austin asked.

"Maybe my partner seating over at the other table will refresh your memory" Harry said as he took a seat.

Austin looked over Harry's shoulder and saw Lucy who was still seating at her table.

"Yeah, so what do you want? I already told your buddy all I know" Austin said sharply, wearing a scorn on his face.

"Say that is true, I don't think your friends would approve" Harry said now leaning on the table and drawing closer.

"What friends?"

"The ones trying to kill you" Harry replied, using eye gestures he pointed out a guy who had walked in, a few minutes after Austin.

"You know him?" Harry asked.

"Of course not" Austin replied.

"But he seems to know you,.....think back 2 hours ago as you were two blocks from your house, you dropped something and when you stopped to pick it up that man almost ran into you, right? My guess is, he's waiting for you to be alone before making the kill." Harry said.

Austin face seemed to freeze for just a second

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Because I was following you and so was he. But my reasons for following you are obvious, so what are he's?" Harry asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about, now if you excuse me I must be on my way" Austin said as he got up to leave.

"No problem" Harry replied as he brought out a jotter from his waist bag and wrote something.

As Austin left Lucy moved over to Harry

"So what happened?" she asked.

"He's going to lead us to the Lion's den" Harry said as he stood up.

"Shall we?" he asked.

"Shouldn't we call for back up?" she asked.

"I already took care of that.....hopefully" Harry said and they started leaving the eatery.

Austin was a fast walker but Harry had sharp eyes, so they didn't have to keep close to him as he hurried through the streets of Bam Jam, he soon entered an abandon street known as Rabbit's hole.

"He's gone into the hole" Lucy said.

"The what?" Harry asked.

"Its a street full of criminals and thieves" she replied.

"And you just leave them hanging about because?" he asked.

"You can't really arrest anyone without evidence" she answered.

Harry made to move in

"Wait, you can't go in there, they'll kill you" she said.

"Well, good thing I have you" Harry said and walked into the street but Lucy didn't follow realizing she was dressed in agent outfit and would be easily recognized.

Harry trailed Austin till he got into an abandon building at the end of the street. As Austin went into the building Harry sorted out an alternative route.

As Austin got inside he was welcomed by a dagger placed on his throat

"What are you doing here" said the holder of the dagger who hid under the cover of the dark room.

"Where's that bastard?" Austin asked.

"What bastard might that be?" asked another voice at the right hand corner of the room.

"You son of bitch, how dare you try to kill me, after all I have done for you!" Austin angrily yelled, no longer minding the dagger on his throat.

"What on earth are you talking about?" asked the second voice in the room.

"Don't play dumb with me, I saw the assassin you sent to kill me. Since you want me dead why don't you do it yourself?" Austin said.

"It seems you must have taken an overdose of some weird pill" said the one with the dagger.

"Laura, let him be.." said the second.

"....what exactly brought you here?" he asked.

"Why don't you tell me to my face why you want me dead" Austin said taking a few steps forward as he was now freed by the dagger holder.

"I didn't....." the second voice paused, at first it was covered by the rain that had just started when Austin walked in but now it rose above the droplets beating the roofs and soil.

It was people shouting at something, some where running, they could now hear clearly the hard shutting of doors and windows getting more and more closer. That's when something possessed the second man and he suddenly went for the back door, as he pushed it open and light filled the room, Austin suddenly realized they were 2 other men quietly standing in the room and he got a good look at the girl holding the dagger behind him.

"Let's go" said the second man who was now in the rain making a run for it.

The two men followed and so did the girl, Austin saw she had a bow on one hand but no arrows. As she came out the back door someone jumped down on her, Austin took one quick look and realized it was Harry, he turned to run out the way he came but the door came crashing down as agents began rushing into the room. Austin went on his knees with hands raised above his head and he was handcuffed quickly by an agent and was immediately dragged up, he looked back to see Harry also handcuffing the girl.

"Come on, move it" said one of the agents as he pushed Austin to keep walking.