The Night of Iniquity

    A dark, starry night. Waiting by the telephone pole on the end of Broad Street was a medium sized man in his late twenties. His name was Jimmy Smith. He was wearing a trench coat and most of his face was covered by a detective’s hat. Jimmy looked down at his watch. It read 9:30. He was soon approached by a man who appeared to be in his late sixties. The older man stood next to him, “You have the package,?” asked Jimmy. The old man said, “Yea I do, what are you planning on doing with this”. “You know exactly what I’m doing with it,” stated Jimmy. “You have no idea what you are getting into,” said the old man. He handed y the package and disappeared into the night. Jimmy looked at the package in his hands. Inside it contained information that could turn the entire city of Chicago upside down. Only a few days earlier, Jimmy was living a life as a newly commissioned detective in the Chicago police department. He was working at his desk on a Monday morning when he was visited by James Crabtree, a friend of Jimmy’s father who also used to be in the police department. “Nice of you to stop by,” said Jimmy. James slammed the door, “we need to talk,”. “what is it,” said Jimmy. “I’m going to give you something and you can’t tell anyone,” said James. “What is it?,”. James pulled out a piece of paper with an address on it, “go to this address and wait, there will be a man arriving there with a list of names,”. “Who’s on the list?,” said Jimmy. “Names of every corrupt official in this city,”. “What are you talking about,” said Jimmy. “This goes all the way to the top Jim, corruption, bribery, racketeering.” “How did you get this?,”. “The less you know the better,” said James. “Why me?,”said Jimmy. “If you’re anything like your Father I know I can trust you,”. “Why can’t you do it yourself ?,” said Jimmy. James looked at him with a stern face and said, “because they’re following me.” Then James exited the door

    Jimmy looked at the paper and saw 4792 Broad St. 9:30. Broad St. was all the way over in the south side of Chicago. Notorious for its gang violence. Jimmy had many unanswered questions. Why was he been sent to the south side of the city? Who was he meeting? And who was following James Crabtree? Jimmy decided to throw away his intuition and go through with the meeting anyway. Jimmy a feeling that the meeting could be potentially dangerous, so that night he prepared himself for any possible scenario. He wore a trench coat and a detective’s hat to protect his identity. Inside the coat, he had small pistol and a pocket knife in case the situation got hairy. In addition that, Jimmy put on his running shoes just in case he would have to flee. After gathering his gear, Jimmy got in his car and proceeded to the rendezvous point. Once he got to Broad St., Jimmy parked his into a back alley. He walked to a telephone pole at the entrance of the street and waited.

    Jimmy opened the package he received from the old man. Within it were the names of high level city officials. Board members, judges, even the mayor of Chicago. But what shocked Jimmy the most was the names of fellow police members. Multiple officers listed and even the chief of police himself, Conrad Frinck. “fellow police members must of been on James’s case. That’s why he was being followed!,” Jimmy thought to himself. He had the names but Jimmy did not know what to do with them. Then his eyes carried to the bottom of the paper. It read “Dusable Harbor 10:00 4/11,”. “4/11, that’s today’s date,” said Jimmy. “It’s 9:37, I have twenty-three minutes to get there,”. Jimmy rushed to his car and drove off. “I’ll take the expressway, it will be quicker,” Jimmy thought to himself. He was moving at high speeds but was then stopped by a traffic jam. Jimmy quickly turned on his police siren and went on to the open space to the side of the traffic. Jimmy arrived at Dusable harbor at 9:55. He got out of his car and waited. Jimmy looked around and nobody was approaching him. He was starting to get frustrated. Jimmy looked at his watch and it read 9:58. He then noticed a man sitting on a bench a few hundred yards away. He also had a detective’s hat and was smoking a cigarette. Jimmy approached him and asked “You know James Crabtree,”. The man looked at him and said, “Sit down and act like you know me,”. Jimmy sat next to him. “Were you followed?,”. “I don’t think so,” said Jimmy. The man looked at Jimmy said, “you got the list?,”. “Yes,” said Jimmy. The man smoked a cigarette and said, “You need to go a parking structure on North Clark St,”. POP POP POP!!!!! Gun shots fired. The man screamed at Jimmy, “GET DOWN!,”. The took cover by a nearby wall. “You need to get out of here I’ll cover you,” said the man. Jimmy immediately sprinted away. He could hear the man returning gun fire to the attackers. Jimmy sprinted as fast as he could. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as bullets whizzed past him. He past the street corner and found cover behind a building. As he was catching his breath, he heard the voices of his pursuers, “I think he went this way,”. Jimmy began running again. He ran as far and hard as he could until he was sure he had lost his pursuers. Jimmy saw a nearby tunnel and stopped there to make sense of his situation. He was being followed and whoever it was must have wanted the list of names he had with him.

    Jimmy knew he was being chased and he had no idea where to go. Then he remembered, the man at the bench told him to got to the parking structure at North Park St. Though, Jimmy didn’t have a car because he left at the harbor where he was attacked. So, he began moving on foot. He constantly watched over his shoulder in fear of his pursuers. When he came to a street crossing, he stopped, looked around, and then sprinted across the road. Finally, after over a half an hour of this, Jimmy reached the parking structure. He walked into the building with his hand on his holster. “There’s nobody here,” Jimmy thought to himself. Then, a voice behind him said, “Put your weapon on the ground and turn around, slowly,”. Jimmy dropped his gun, turned around, and saw a bearded man with a pistol pointed at him. “who are you?,” said the bearded man. “I’m Jimmy, I was sent here to deliver a package,”. “You’re one of the dirty cops and I Know it,” said the bearded man. “I’m not a dirty cop, I was sent here by a man who I met at Dusable Harbor,”. “I DON’T BELIEVE YOU,” yelled the bearded man. “IF YOU WEREN’T A DIRTY COP, THEN JACKSON WOULD BE HERE WITH YOU!!!,”. “He couldn’t,” said Jimmy. “We were ambushed by someone and this Jackson must of been the guy you covered me while I ran here,”. The angry face on the man lessened a little. “Alright, I believe you. But if you even try to turn on me I’ll put a bullet in your skull,” said the bearded man. Jimmy slowly put his hand in his coat pocket and pulled out the list of names. “Hand it over,” said the bearded man. “Hold on, I’m not giving you anything until I get some answers,” said Jimmy. The bearded pointed his gun at Jimmy and said “You’ve got no leverage here,”. “I don’t care. You can pull this paper from my cold dead fingers but I’m not giving to you until you tell me what’s going on,”. “The less you know the better,”. Then suddenly the distant voice of a man was heard yelling, “This is their rendezvous point, the package has got to be in there,”. Jimmy looked at the man and said, “You better tell me now or else were both done for,”. “Fine, I tell what’s happening but you have to come with me NOW!,” said the bearded man. Jimmy followed him to his vehicle and the man said, “get in and stay low,”. Jimmy got in the passenger seat and ducked his head. Meanwhile, the bearded man revved his engine and drove at high speed out of the parking garage. As they exited the building, the car was barraged by bullets. The bearded man kept driving and they were finally out of sight of the gunmen. “WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT’S GOING ON!!,” yelled Jimmy. The bearded man took a deep breath and said, “My name is Walter Jones, I work for the FBI,”. “Ok, why do you want this package,” said Jimmy. “That package you have has the names of every corrupt official in the city of Chicago,”. “I know that, but how could this be true, I know these names, they’re good people,” said Jimmy. “They’re not good people, the man and women on that list have been stealing money from taxpayers and have been trying to silence anyone who opposes them,” said Walter, “What are you planning on doing with the list?,”. Walter paused for a moment and said, “We're going to show it to the public and bring the criminals to justice,”. Walter then pulled off of the road and into an unmarked garage. “Time to get out,” said walter. The pair exited the car. Jimmy looked around cautiously and asked, “What are we doing here?,”. “I think I should be asking the same question,” said an unknown voice. And out of the dark corner appeared a tall woman with gray hair and piercing, dark eyes. “Who is this Walter?,” asked the woman. “My name is Jimmy Smith and who the hell are you,”. “My name is Karen Walsh and I suggest you watch your language,”. “Listen this is not the time for arguments. This man has the list and he refused to give it to me unless I took him with me,” said Walter. “Well then hand over the list,” said Karen. “Why should I give this to you?,” asked Jimmy. “I’m a reporter for the Chicago Tribune,”. “How can I believe you,”. “You don’t have much of a choice. You can either give us the package or we’ll take it from you,”. POP POP POP!!!. Gunshots fired into the garage. Walter and Jimmy pulled out their weapons and returned fire. Walter looked over to Jimmy and yelled, “TAKE KAREN AND THE PACKAGE AND GET OUT OF HERE,”. “What about you asked you?,” asked Jimmy. “Don’t worry about me what’s important is that the world knows about what’s happening here NOW GO!,”. Jimmy and Karen Jumped into the car and straight past their attackers. He pulled onto the road and sped as fast as he could away. As he was driving along the coast Karen said, “pull over, we’ll leave the car here,”. “It doesn’t matter, they’ll still find us,” said Jimmy. “No, they can only track the vehicle were in. If we leave by foot they’ll never find us,”. Jimmy pulled over and parked the car and they both exited the vehicle. “Now, I need that list,” said Karen. “How do I know I can trust you?,” asked Jimmy. “The people you’ve met today including myself are the only ones who haven’t tried to kill you. If you give me the package I promise justice will be served,”. Jimmy took a minute to think and then handed over the package. “When are you going to publish the story?,” asked Jimmy. “Tomorrow morning,” said Karen. Jimmy nodded his head to her and she nodded back. Then they went their separate ways and disappeared into the night.