Devolution

‘You are a complete idiot! Why did you do that?’

Jeremiah shrunk under the intense glare and angry words spitting from the mouth of his employer. Taller than Jeremiah and heavier, and surrounded as he always was by fearsome looking monolithic bodyguards, the man was frightening even in a good mood. Having just received Jeremiah’s report on the botched attempt on Jacobssen’s life, he was in a rage.

Jeremiah wanted to protest his innocence. His boss was shooting the messenger, Jeremiah was not assigned the job of taking out Jacobssen, he was just here to report on what happened. Despite the man’s opinion of him, he was smart enough to realize that he should keep his mouth shut at this point in time. Besides he was half right about Jeremiah’s incompetence.

‘It was a simple bloody thing I asked you to do. Finish the job, report to me, and leave the scene. That’s it. Too much for you was it?’

Wilting under the older man’s insults and condescending tone, Jeremiah began to deeply regret getting involved in this business at all. Why? Why had he done it? Out of boredom? For the money? Certainly nothing so noble as to want to help a worthy cause; to join a righteous battle. He didn’t even really understand what it was all about.

Jeremiah’s silent and private debate angered the man further. ‘Answer me! Why did you jeopardize the whole operation with your foolishness?’

‘I didn’t think it would do any harm and it-’

‘You didn’t think. That’s it, you nailed it.’

Jeremiah continued staring at the floor, afraid of being scorched by the intensity of the man’s glare, and the lash of his tongue.

The tall man leaned down on the table with his fists firmly clenched and planted on the shiny clutter free surface.

‘Eli, come in here please.’

The clear voiced monotone reply came from an invisible speaker. ‘Yes Sir.’

Flustered and scared out of his mind, Jeremiah was still trying to apologize and somehow justify his actions, when Eli strode into the room and stood silently beside him, like a dog brought to heel and awaiting its master’s command to move.

‘See our friend, Jeremiah out of the building,’ he said sitting down, and nodding at Eli.

What was that nod for? Jeremiah wondered. Realization was quick and disturbing. Eli was not just going to take him out of the building, he was going to take him out of existence. He should have realized this at the beginning when he was first approached to help, as the go-between had so nicely put it. Regardless of whether he had made the mistake of up loading his eyewitness account of something he had actually been involved with, the man who had hired him and just fired him, would have killed him. He would have had to kill him no matter what. Jeremiah cursed himself with the wisdom of hindsight, only now working out what an error of judgment he had made. Error of judgment? A massive understatement if ever one had been uttered. Now as he was led away to die, he could either dwell on his stupidity, feel sorry for himself and accept his fate or he could think of some way, however unlikely it might seem, to escape.

All smiles while still in the building, Eli revealed a much darker, more foreboding side as he began pushing Jeremiah and cursing him while they crossed the carpark. Was he trying to psyche himself up to kill? Suddenly it occurred to Jeremiah that he had better try to get away now before it was too late, so he used the one thing he was really good at it, his only area of talent; speed.

Running. Running towards the gatehouse. Why? To get out but how? I still have a security clearance, thought Jeremiah, but they may have canceled it. Running. What if they have canceled it? What then? Running.

At the gatehouse he almost knocked himself out leaning forward to have his eyes scanned before he had fully stopped. It seemed to take too long and he felt the pressure of his pounding heart would kill him anyway, but the scanner triple beeped and the booth revolved and he was through. Running again.

Quickly glancing over his shoulder, Jeremiah saw Eli exit the gatehouse booth and continue the pursuit. Only now he had two armed security officers with him. The trio was quickly joined by a fourth in a white ATV.

Crash! Jeremiah smashed his way through a small group of men standing around a soup stall. Watch where you’re going, they yelled after him. Exactly what I thought I should do, replied Jeremiah to himself. Running. Sweating. Looking forward. Don’t look back.

Mumbai was a galaxy of laneways leading in all directions, criss-crossing each other and zig-zagging for block after block. Not knowing where he was, Jeremiah ran blindly, turning left or right then running straight whatever his instinct told him. He could run for hours, he wasn’t tired, just scared and the adrenaline rush from the fear that ravaged him would definitely help him last longer than he normally could.

Finally he found himself in a dead end crowded with garbage compactors. Jeremiah squeezed in between two of them and squatted down as his aching body shook from the exertion of his flight to freedom. Desperately trying to slow his breathing down so he could hear above its wheeze, he tried to listen for any sounds of his pursuers. After several minutes of normal city life sounds, he began to relax a little.

Reasoning it would probably be safe now to make a call, he tapped his badge phone and dialed his cousin Joshua who he hoped would be able to help him, although he could not possibly think of how.

‘Hello, this is Joshua.’

‘Josh, I’m in trouble. Some guys are after me and if they catch me they will kill me.’

‘Why? What for? Where are you?’

Poking his head out from between the garbage compactors, Jeremiah waited until he had a good look to make sure the lane was empty before continuing.

‘I don’t have any time to answer questions, Josh. Can you come and get me or send someone?’

‘Where are you?’

‘Andheri East. Listen,’ said Jeremiah, before cautiously peering out again into the lane. He lowered his voice. ‘I’m going to activate a tracker.’

‘Okay,’ replied Joshua, ‘Use the low frequency band and F9 code. You remember that one?’

‘Yeah, thanks Josh.’

Standing and stuffing his hands into his trouser pockets after disconnecting, Jeremiah took a few deep breaths to consider his next move. Was he sure he could remember and use the F9 code? Was the tracker going to lead Eli and his cronies right to him? Were they even still pursuing him?

Jeremiah carefully squeezed out from between the compactors and stood quietly in the middle of the dead end lane. There was no one around and the sounds of the city were muffled. Slowly he walked toward the T-section. His breathing was now as normal as it could be for someone who was afraid for their life, and with each step he gained confidence. Entering the code and activating the tracker, he turned left and continued down the lane.

‘There he is!’

Jeremiah turned quickly to see a man yelling and pointing in his direction. Then he ran.

The chase resumed at high speed and was the same as before with Jeremiah zig-zagging his way through the rabbit warren of lanes and serviceways out of sight of Mumbay’s bustling main streets.

Running. Praying that the tracker would bring his salvation, whoever that might be. Praying and hoping it was not the reason why Eli had found him again. It was obvious the pursuit would not end until either the hunter or the prey was dead, and even if he escaped them this time, Jeremiah knew they would continue searching for him because of what he knew. Although he did not know the man’s name, he knew his face and where he was so he was a threat to them and could not be allowed to live.

As he ran, he kept looking left and right and forwards as far as he could to find a hiding place or some way to throw them off his trail temporarily. He had to meet his rescuer out of sight of Eli.

Running. The lane ahead tapered to not much more than a crack in the wall. Closer now, Jeremiah could see there was just enough room for him to force his slight frame through. Bigger men, Eli and the others might not be able to follow. He didn’t slow down as the lane ended and he approached the gap between two buildings, trying to propel himself through what now appeared too tight a space even for him. Pushing. Struggling. The pain of skin being scraped off increased the harder he struggled. It felt like he was in the gap too long and Eli would catch easily but suddenly he was through and standing, sore and bleeding in the middle of a crowded sidewalk.