Stroke At Midnight (Beginning) PT.1

Stroke Of Midnight Pt.1
Written By:
S.Labib Iqbal

Chapter I

‘ Father! I feel so happy, I just can’t express it in words!’ She gushed with joy.
‘ I know, I am proud of you too. Con…..’
She suddenly found herself hearing static on the other side of the telephone. Merde! These Telephone lines were so unreliable. But she made no attempt to recall her father because in all true sense, they had never been close. Even when she was in Italy, her father was mostly away on business trips so they didn’t really know each other that well.
Sussianah Thompson, known by her friends as ‘Sue’ had always had a good academic record, while maintaining it with her extra-curricular performance. She had a God-Gifted knack of learning languages in record time, which people said had been inherited by her grand father, the literary philosopher and poet, Jaliamin Thompson, who also had command over 7 Languages. She was the captain of the Female Football Team of Oxford University from where she was completing her law studies. Her motto was ‘ Life can’t get better’ .
The 20 year old Sue had proved it again that she was a genius. She had scored the highest on her Law Exam and, up until her graduation ceremony, which was 2 weeks later, she was free. After the ceremony, she could become a full-practicing lawyer.
She could just imagine it. The Principal of Oxford University requesting her to step on the stage, to speak a few words after accepting her gold medal and Degree. She could just visualize standing on the podium thanking her father for his hard dedication to her (which wasn’t true at all) and she could just imagine his face, ecstatic and proud.
She could just imagine it. A cosy office, filled with books all around. A Picasso, which she had inherited from her mother ( who had died giving birth to her) on one side and a little Ming Statue, a replica of Pen Q, one of the greatest Chinese Sculpture ever, on one side. She could visualize her table, filled with files on one side and a black plate, on which were written in golden letters.
Advocate Sussianah Thompson
(L . L . B)

Charles Dickens had once said: ‘ Imagine, but just to a certain extent.’


Chapter II

His plan had been going perfectly up till now. He had always performed to his best, never leaving his masters, or perhaps, he thought ruefully, people who wished for my service, any complaints. Whenever, he performed his duty, he performed it so cleanly, so beautifully, that nobody ever even suspected him.
He never left any loose ends before leaving the scene of crime. Nobody ranging from the local police to the FBI and the CIA could ever catch him.
He still could remember the murder perfectly.
The victim was taking a walk in the park when he approached him and asked the victim to accompany him on a walk. He took him to a secluded spot, drugged him with Chloroform and then slit his throat from ear to ear. He then later abandoned the body on a beach. Surely, no doubt, the body was some 1000fts beneath water, in a mucky, dirty grave. No one would ever find it. Never!!
His thoughts were interrupted from the ringing of his cell phone. He always had an insatiable appetite for gadgets and this cell phone was one of his most loved possessions.
He had approached the world’s leading mobile making company, Nokia and presented them with a formidable task. He wanted them to make him a one-of-a-kind cell. He had made a laundry list, listing all the features he wanted embedded in his cell. He had promised to give them twice what it was worth. Of course, the cost was a bit on the high side, but it didn’t matter. He had been promised that the cost would be taken care of by one of his clients.
The cell had laudable features that helped him to go around his job. The most important of these were a 10MP camera to record the assassinations, a GPRS system that helped him keep track of his victims. It had a pager like system also embedded in its system, which set at a certain frequency, allowed him to communicate with his clients without being traced and immediately. It also had a heavy SAT encryption so that no authority, not the FBI, not the CIA, not the NSA could ever trace him down without his wish. It had a 40GB memory chip. Other than this, it had some other features as well. Of course, it’s sleek design and durability didn’t matter either.
After all, this cell had cost a $60,000!!!
‘Hello’, he said, who is this? , ’
‘You know who this is’, a raspy voice came over the phone, ‘Get ready for another mission.’
‘When do you need me?’
‘In 3 or 4 weeks. I called you earlier because I do not want you take another mission before completing this one. No matter who calls, no matter for what reason, you cannot accept another mission. Get it?’
‘Okay, I got it.’
He turned his cell off and couldn’t help keeping a smile of his face. This mission looked to big , he was sure of that. And a big mission meant danger, and he loved to live his life dangerously. But still there was a lot of time to go. A lot of time to attack.
He closed his eyes and relaxed into his chair. His final thought before sleeping was ‘The Deadly Viper will strike again, again at the stroke of midnight!!’

Chapter III

Life was getting tougher and tougher for Mr. William Norton. He was a no-nonsense person. Although he was a bit strange and eccentric at times, no one ever questioned his sincerity for his country. He loved his country more than himself. And literally, he was ready to sacrifice his life for it.
2 weeks ago, life couldn’t have been better for him. Perhaps, he thought to himself, my whole life had been great for me. America had nearly always remained a superpower, a very well off country. And nothing pleased him more than this fact.
Then, suddenly, everything turned upside down as if a hurricane had gone through his personal life, ransacking him, his life and everything. His wife, Gratia Norton had announced that she was getting a divorce. She had fallen in love with a Harvard engineer, who although was 10 years younger than her, also was interested in her!! William did not care whether she divorced him or not, it was his child that was worrying him. Gratia had promised that she would file a court in the case if she was not allowed to take her only son, the talented 21 years old, Peter Norton with her.
Peter was a very striking young man, with deep blue eyes and a muscular body, aided by his love for soccer. He had been the captain of soccer team at Oxford. He had just recently returned to his homeland after becoming a Chartered Accountant. He had hoped to follow in his father’s steps and become the owner of his large empire.
William owned a franchise restaurant named ‘Kingly Burgers’ The branches were spread all over the States.
TO BE CONTINUED…