Vain City (Pt. 9)

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Having signed his letter of reply, he sealed it with his official stamp just as Zacky's letter had requested. After enveloping it, he handed the letter to his orderly to be dropped at the designated place.

"I still have a bad feeling about this, sir," a worried Yusuf said, not taking the letter.

Bashir squeezed his face, "Bad feeling?"

"I think we might be walking into some kind of trap,"

"Oh, Yusuf," the superintendent chuckled, "this is not the first time Zacky will be handing over a catch to the police, is it?"

"Well, no, sir. But why do this now? Just last week he and his men were trailing and shooting at me."

The superintendent sat back in his chair, dropping the letter on his table, "But You were outgunned that night. They could have killed you if they wanted to. You and I both know that Zacky isn't a cop killer. If anything, his delusion is that he helps us."

"I know, sir. I just think it's a little too weird that he's asking for a letter from us too."

"Oh, so you're worried about the letter then? So, what do you think we should do?"

"I think we should let the commissioner know about the drug and the letter. Maybe he can even find out Zacky's hideout and catch him through that. And with Zacky caught, the commissioner would think it's mission accomplished and leave the city sooner than we expect," Yusuf explained.

Bashir shook his head in disagreement, "Listen to yourself, Yusuf. You're suggesting that we tell Bodey to forfeit fifteen pounds of heroin. That much money? Do you even know how much our cut would be if we recovered the truck for him?" he paused, apparently waiting for Yusuf to do the calculations in his head. Then he continued, "Besides, it will be a huge blowback on us if the commissioner finds out that the truck belongs to Bodey. If Bodey goes down, we all go down, too."

Bashir was right. Zacky's plan was an almost infallible one. The plan was to determine the culpability of the Vain City police department in Bodey's drug dealing business. If the department was not guilty, then the commissioner would be informed about the parcel. But that was not all. If it was guilty, telling the commissioner about the parcel would result in a betrayal of Bodey Deen whose truck would be found filled with heroin. The best thing to do then would be to hide the whole thing from the commissioner. Ironically, that also would be a wrong move since the commissioner already knew about the parcel. Mustafa had referred to the plan as the ultimate checkmate.

Bashir rose up from his chair, picking up the letter from the table, "Now, take the letter to the designated spot before it's too late. If you're scared, let officers John and Bassey accompany you, alright?"

"Yes, sir," taking the letter, Yusuf saluted and made to walk out of the office.

"Wait, Yusuf," Bashir called him back. "On your way back, inform Mr Bodey of everything."

The corporal saluted before leaving the office.

To be continued.