Dark man in the shadows

London….. Present Day

It was a rare sunny day. Sun had come out of the thick clouds surrounding the foggy sky of London. People were coming out of their houses either for a walk, jog and a stroll in the park.

The atmosphere in the park was really lively today. It was a great day for their community. After all, the soul of their community, Robbie was going to be promoted today to the chief inspector of London police. He was going to be the youngest chief inspector in police history.

Robbie was a sincere and hardworking police officer in the London Police Force. Recipient of multiple prestigious awards, he was well respected and well-known by the lovely people of London while equally feared by the criminal underworld. Robbie loved to live life on the edge and never looked back on a challenge.

In just a year, his many daring activities and good deeds had made him so famous that he became an object of admiration and jealousy for many. His constant battle with internal police corruption as well as with the growing underground cartels had made him the eye candy of the media and poster boy of the London Police. As a result, it was decided that he will be promoted to chief inspector, which attracted irk of many who had been troubled by this honest police thug. After all, not only it was unprecedented for a constable to be directly promoted to chief inspector but also his honesty was a hindrance to many money loving cops.

A huge ceremony was organized by London police for this special occasion. Media outlets were invited. This ceremony was an inconspicuous statement of a show by London police to the world that they stood with honest cops and are against corruption and crime.

The ceremony where Robbie was to receive his promotion to chief inspector was in full swing. It was suddenly besieged from nowhere by some masked armed thugs. The ceremony was supposed to be a no gun zone. As a result, no one had any gun and they all scattered to hide from the gunshots rampaging the venue. Surprisingly, not a single officer in charge of security was there to stop them. Even after 5 minutes of continuous firing, not a single officer resisted them. Before the eyes of everyone present there, Robbie was kidnapped and taken away.

After the gunshots were stopped and the shock was dissipated from the area, a huge uproar spread out. Media made this a huge issue, questioning the capability of London police and resulting in the police and judicial investigation of it. A unanimous tip lead the media and consequently the world to the fact that the Police officers were instructed not to interfere in the kidnapping and to allow the masked thugs to bring guns in there. An inquiry by the judicial commission was conducted on this and the report stated that they were bribed with a million pound of donation to the police welfare fund. The Entire World was shunned and then there were mass suspensions of police officers. It affected the public perception of the London police. An event which was supposed to generate a positive image of them had lead to widespread negativity and mass arrests of the policemen by the judiciary and national guards.

A mass national wide search started for Robbie's whereabouts. But even after an extensive search, Robbie was not found again and it was never clear as to who took him and what the objective behind such arduous kidnapping was. It looked as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth, making him a hot topic of discussion and a question on the law enforcement's capabilities.

2 years later...

While investigating a fire in East Yorkshire, the local police found Robbie in a mental asylum, babbling nonsense and eating dirt. When enquired, the doctors said that Robbie was thrown in front of their asylum by some masked people in an ambulance and they found 2 letters with him. One contained a login and password to an offshore bank account and there were instructions on it, instructing them to transfer the 3 million dollars in the account to their accounts for their personal use and to keep the guy hidden from the world and untreated. The other letter contained a link to a site encrypted by a password and addressed to Sam Koel, to be delivered if Robbie was ever found out by the authorities.

Sam Koel or Sammy as called by all, Robbie's best friend, came to the asylum immediately when he learned of his friend's current condition. He was able to confirm that it was a site developed by a mutual friend and was used by Robbie to contact his informants. Luckily he knew the password.

After entering it, they saw it was just a puzzle of triangles within triangles, which was really puzzling. Everyone looked at Sammy, hoping that he might know something but their inquisitive gazes met a confused look on Sammy's face. They all realized that even he didn't know about this and looked back at the screen. Sammy, on the other hand, relaxed the moment everyone turned their face away. He had recognized the meaning of the image but didn't reveal it to others. He feigned ignorance and excused himself. Nobody questioned him further as everyone in England knew that Sam Koel, the winner of the best businessman of the year, was a busy man. But he still came rushing the moment he heard of Robbie's location and condition. Everyone present there was impressed by the friendship of Robbie and Sammy and didn't stop Sammy from leaving. This case was not theirs to handle. This was a high profile case and will be handed over to the newly created Police control squad, reporting directly to the judiciary.

After coming out, he went to a nearby phone booth and rang a number. After the phone rang, he cut it after the 1st ring. After doing it for 2 more times, on his 4th attempt, he waited till the phone rang 3 times. Someone picked it up and asked, "Did they really find me? Can I come back now? Please help me."

Sammy started in a solemn voice, "Is this Quinlan?" The voice on the other end literally exclaimed with joy, "Sammy, it's me, Robbie. I am Quinlan now. Is this really happening?"

Sammy said with a very troubled voice, "Yes it is all real Robbie. They have found you. I don't know where you are but don't reveal yourself now. I really don't know anything about your so-called return. Let me look into this and call you back". Sammy then immediately disconnected the call. [Looks like I need to get to the bottom of this. Just what the hell Robbie got involved in this time], Sammy thought and sighed.