The informant's flee

"Here you are." Fifty two, Facade Estate, " the jolly driver announced while turning his neck halfway to the back. Storm, clad in pure white singlet and a baggie trouser, alighted from the passenger seat with his gangmates. Him included, the numbered six. Six will be enough, Storm reasoned.

He walked over to the driver's window, about to strike a deal with the driver. "Old man, we got no cash, see?" But guess what else we got?"

The sagging cheeks of the old man raised in a beaming smile. He understood.

"Dreamland ticket?" "Bring it on boy!"

Storm beckoned on one of his guys and signaled him to pay the driver. The approaching gangling dipped his hand into his big trouser pocket and emerged with a sealed transparent package. Inside it was dried and crumpled leaves. The old driver collected it eagerly and zoomed off, the rickety sound of his vehicle following his departure.

These days, the Backfencers are the rich ones. One elder pays with cash or pay with the ticket. Storm's thoughts, this driver does not seem like a Dreamlander, but he could go home and sell the stuff to one of his desperate addict friends and get as much cash as he would for a whole day's job. Storm waved his idle thoughts aside and faced the building where the driver dropped them. It was painted yellow. The number fifty-two was written boldly on the top of the building. He trailed his eyes down the street and saw that the whole length of the street contains the same type of buildings. Neatly shaped, three stories high, painted yellow, brown roofs, and the only thing that differentiate one building from the other was the number marked at the top of each houses. This is Facade Street. Storm wondered why it is called that.

"Let's go," Storm ordered his boys. At once, they sprang into action, pushing open the unlocked gate and turning left to climb the stairs to the third floor.

"Third floor, 3D. That is room. No fuck ups." He raised a warning hand before leading them on through the second floor.

They were going for Laughing Jack, the underworld informant.

Laughing Jack was born a city boy, raised by well-to-do parents, and he lacked nothing throughout his childhood. He graduated well from the academy, and with the help of his outstanding intelligence, he started working as an engineer for the government, at the Towering Tower. Though, he has a flaw. If one could call it a flaw.

And the flaw is his overt curiosity. Yes, that was it. Even as a child, he wasn't always satisfied when his parents talked behind him. He always wanted to know what others around him thought, hence, he never missed the latest gist. During his academic days, his mates always gathered around him to listen to what happened in the streets a day before, and he was always quick to tell them. His informations were first-hand, aand legit at that.

His first year as an engineer for the government, his job only entails checking for faults in the machine and servicing those that have been affected with minor issues throughout the main centers of the city, that is the Towering Tower and the police station in particular, then banks, companies, marts, rich houses, and so on.

During this time, he had studied the receiver, that is, a device used for receiving calls in the city, and after he has studied it for a while, he built his own micro receiver, a little one that can be taped, so that he can get various news from different places where he taped them. It is a bug which he planted everywhere he worked.

These very small devices have their own little microphones which transmit sound to the system with which it was connected back in his home. So anytime Jack felt like it, he just opens his receiver system and listens to whatever discussion he wanted from across the city. He knew exactly what amount will be deposited in a bank daily, what plans Grantomer Foeblaster was coming up with, what operations the policemen were about, even what the rich men of the city had for breakfast, he hears it all, but never divulges.

These informations appear too dangerous to be told, even in privacy. Until one day, he arrived home from work and as soon as he opened his receiver system, a voice sounded from one of the bugs at the rich men's house, threatening to kill him unless he comes over at once. His secret was out, and there was little he could do, so he went over to the high-born man who himself works for a secret person, another high-born possibly. And since then, he gives this secret man informations from around the city. This secret person turns out to be the underworld lord, and the high-born who discovered Jack's bug was just a messenger to him. So Laughing Jack became the underworld informant to save his skin and earn more cash.

Storm didn't have to dig much before he found Jack's whereabouts. The high-born messenger for the underworld lord had spilled all he knew under the influence. The rich man was known as Flamby Lickspittle, and he was a Dreamlander, a chronic addict, An incurable one. He was one of the few high-borns who enjoys themselves with the dried leaves. He drove down to one of the ticket joints one morning to get his usual dose of the ticket. Storm was present at the joint that morning and had watched the chubby man sniff the leaves eagerly through his nostrils. He then rolled the rest and lit it up before he started saying his rubbish. 

Out of all the nonsense he spewed, Storm caught a word that got him interested in the man. "This piece of red shit holds more secret than Laughing Jack... you green block of wood found in the attic of many fountains..." His words were all jumbled and made no sense, as befitting a man who doesn't know how to hold his puffs.

He staggered to the waiting vehicle and slumped on the seat as soon as he got in. Storm looked around the joint full of backfencers and saw that there was no gang member present, then he was relieved. Any gangling who heard that rubbish would sure make sense out of it and try to get the man to tell him something about Laughing Jack, who knew everything about everything.

Later the next morning, it was reported that Flamby Lickspittle had drowned in his own bathtub after he got high on the Dreamland ticket and fell weakly and face-first inside the bathtub. Storm laughed to himself when he heard the news. Nobody will know he was the culprit, not even Laughing Jack, because the man confessed that he destroyed the bug he found in his apartment, the one which Jack planted. He got the information he needed and killed the man, all in stealth. The latest assassin in town.

Storm was confident that he was now getting the involvement he needed to play this dangerous game, and all he yearned was to make certain that nobody gets to the boy, Jimmy Freckleton before him.

"I'm now a significant character in the game," Storm thought to himself.

He climbed the last step with his five men, and they stood facing the door of the room that was described by Flamby... Room 3D.

Gently, Storm knocked twice on the door. He waited five seconds after there was no response, and knocked again. This time, he heard the sound of a chair scraping the floor.

"He's coming," Storm told his guys. "Prepare."

But another ten seconds passed without the door opening. Storm moved closer to the door and strained his ears, trying to hear any sound. Then he heard it. The sound of objects falling into a bag, a few shuffling steps, and the sound of another door opening. Laughing Jack must have seen them. After all, he's a tech master, a spy, one of the smartest guys in the city. He must have seen them, and then he's getting away. Storm stepped back at the realization and ordered his men, "Break the door."

Suddenly, shrieks and kicks filled the air. Storm stepped behind them and watched the men sending vicious kicks at the door to bring it down. Storm heard the door of another apartment opening. He jerked his head to his right instantly, but it was only a curious neighbour, a woman. He maintained a hard face and signaled for the woman to go back in. Understanding that these are not City people, she stepped back in quietly and closed her door.

As soon as the woman went in, Storm saw a black figure downstairs running out of the compound and locking the gate from outside. Then, he knew that Jack's apartment has a back door that led somewhere, which of course led outside. That was definitely Laughing Jack.

He's getting away. They have to stop him...