Answers.com Creative Writing Challenge #3

Jack was one of the five accused caught in a raid conducted by the Narcotics Division two months ago. They were caught trying to smuggle out a contraband of heroin from Prey Docks, a small trans-shipment hub and a major fishing boat construction center. The cops had made major breakthroughs in reigning in the drug cartel in the city. Due to the crackdown on major supply chains from across the seas, and the increasing awareness about the rising drug abuse in the society, harsh punishment for drug trafficking was in zeitgeist, owing to the huge public support to keep the dope off the streets.

As the judge was reading out the sentences, the scenes of that night flashed before Jack's eyes. His co-worker and co-accused Pete was given a term of 15 years. His sentence was to be read out next. Both were dock workers at the Prey Docks.

He was at the small confectionery shop inside the new workers' recreation center, when he got a call from Pete, saying the boat will land in 15 minutes . He grabbed two packets of halva and rode to the new under-construction wharf on his electric moped. He saw Pete, standing near the jetty, smoking a cigarette and gazing out into the sea. He seemed to be in a state of ataraxia. Jack offered him one of the packets.

"Where is it?" Jack asked, looking in the direction of Pete's sight. He pointed out to a small blip of yellow light, that seemed to be getting closer. Jack could not see the boat around it. The semilunar night did not offer much light.

"How is it?"

"Tasty! Sapid! Delicious! Marvellous! Just what you need before you offload illegal stuff you get paid lots for!"

"Why the sarcasm?"

"I do not like the feeling I have tonight, something does not seem right here. Could turn out to be one of those nights... We could be spending a long time behind bars for this..." he trailed off.

"Hey, I have a great feeling today! I found out that my maternal granduncle left me a $1000 worth of shares in a defunct company. Imagine the serendipity!"

"Ah, the irony of things!"

They both shared a dry laugh.

Soon the motorboat came up to the jetty and was roped in.

"Did you see any patrol boats?" Pete asked the driver.

"No, none at all."

"Did you look around properly?"

"Ok, I did not! But I did enough for a lick and a promise. The two decoys also did not report anything," he offered.

The 'decoy trick' was a praxis among the smugglers and was 'as old as smuggling itself', as they liked to put it.

They got down to offload the two small crates, one by one. They placed the packets into their bags.

"Your follow through code through the east exit-gate point is, 'geronimo'," said the driver as Jack revved up the engine.

The code changed at every drop. The guards were paid by the smugglers to let the workers go through without their bags getting checked.

They rode on the moped till they came to the east exit-gate. There were a lot of people in dock workers' uniform waiting behind the gate. This made Pete very nervous. When one of the guards came up to Pete to check his bag, he whispered the code, but he saw that the guard's face had turned pale. He looked at Jack, but he just gave him an apologetic shrug. Suddenly from almost nowhere, a voice growled, "Peter Mason, this is Officer Reynolds, Narcotics Division. You are under arrest, on charges of drug trafficking and using this area for unlawful purposes. Drop the bag and put your hands over your head. You have the right to remain silent..."

He had never looked at Jack after that. Then the judge read out Jack's sentence. It was five years behind bars for him. He suddenly remembered Pete's now seemingly mantic words that night.

He had decided to help the cops when he saw his own son take cocaine. His sentence was reduced for turning an approver in the case. Five years was still a long term, but considering the crime he was party to, he felt it was just a rap on the knuckles for him.
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