Men and Murder

Dombay is a city on the west coast of India. It is india's commercial
capital. Thousands come to Dombay usually by train with dreams of a
better life in their eyes. The people in this city have to struggle
hard to realize their various ambitions. But a large number of them do
strike it rich. They live in style and flaunt their good luck. And
thousands more are added to the list of the hopefuls who have stars in
their eyes. Danny is from Azam which is a small town in the province of
Bengal. A lot of people from Azam have shifted to Dombay in the last
ten years. These people usually live in the temporary camps outside
Dombay city limits. These camps are made up of shelters, each created
from plastic sheets and a little wood. The shelters can be destroyed
rather fast and also erected from scratch quite easily. The train from
Azam entered Dombay station at exactly six am. Danny has no relatives
in Azam. He used to live with his late mother's brother. When his uncle
died, Danny had nowhere to go. Well, he is a graduate and is not afraid
of hard work. So, he decided to come to Dombay. When Danny set foot on
platform no.5 of Dombay station with his trunk and a mattress rolled up
and tied he was shocked. He had never seen so many people together. He
knew no one in Dombay. However he was optimistic that things would work
out. He would find a place to live and find work. Well, he chatted up
one of the taxi-drivers outside the station. For a hundred pounds Danny
was taken to one of the temporary plastic sheet camps. Danny was
looking at the many rows of shelters when someone hit him on his back.
"Hey brother," a voice said, "I am making my house here." Danny turned
back and saw a thin man wearing unclean clothes with a plastic sheet in
his hand. Danny felt a volcano of anger rising within him. With all the
strength in his body he punched the thin man three times in the
stomach. The man was thrown back at first and then slumped on to the
ground. By this time a lot of people had gathered around Danny. One of
them, a lanky middle-aged man said to Danny, "The boss wants to meet
you." In the distance the police siren could be heard. The man who had
just spoken to Danny said softly, "Come with me." And before Danny knew
it he was moving through a labyrinth of plastic sheet shelters. There
were thousands of such shelters and there seemed to be no end to them.
Finally, Danny and his companion came to a big house that had three
floors. There was a beautiful manicured garden in front of the house.
Though this beautiful house was adjacent to the camp it was so
different from it. Inside the house Danny met a man whom everyone
called Boss. He was tall and well-built and wore a woollen cap on his
head. Thereafter, whenever Danny saw the Boss he was always wearing the
same cap. Nevertheless, the Boss asked Danny a few questions-his name,
where he came from, whether he had any work, whether he wanted to earn
a lot of money in little time. Danny told the Boss that he indeed
wanted to make a lot of money in less time. The Boss called one of the
men present in the room. He whispered something in his ear. The man
took out something from his hip pocket and gave it to Danny. It was a
gun. Danny began to sweat. The Boss spoke to Danny, "Can you operate
this machine?" In his eagerness to please everyone Danny said, "Yes."
He was asked to demonstrate. Well, Danny had never seen a gun before
but he was a natural. The Boss was pleased with his shooting skills. In
the course of the next few days much happened. The police case against
Danny was withdrawn. Danny began to accompany the members of the Boss's
gang in their many 'operations'. Danny gradually understood that he was
basically employed as a sharpshooter by the Boss. He learnt to kill.
The Boss was a generous man. Danny was given an apartment on Aquiline
Drive and a state-of-the-art motorcycle. Not a car. He was told that he
would have to prove his worth before he was given a car. The
opportunity came soon. A property developer was looking for a plot of
land. The plot was occupied by a house and in the house lived an
elderly couple. Both the man and woman were over seventy but had
resisted the developer's great offer so far. Danny was sent on the
mission to get the old man to sign the mutation deed. It turned out
that the couple was from Azam. Danny was able to get them to sign the
deed without any bloodshed. The Boss was very pleased with Danny. He
was given a trendy sports car. His next mission was somewhat more
complex. He was asked to kill the same property developer for whom he
had got papers signed. The developer was refusing to pay the regular
protection money. He was also cosying up to a rival gang. He was
starting a big project and the Boss wanted a part of the pie. It was
difficult to get to this developer who was called Sham. Sham lived in a
fortress like house with a ten feet high boundary wall. He had four
Dobermans who were always angry and on the prowl. The house had at
least ten security guards. Either the guards or the dogs had to be
killed to get to Sham. Danny chose to deal with the dogs. By
observation Danny found out that Sham never stepped on to his front
lawn when the dogs were barking. Danny decided to carry out the
operation on a Sunday morning before the dogs were fed. He rented a
third floor apartment just opposite Sham's fortress-like house. From
the window of the apartment he shot dart-like bullets into the dogs and
the animals gradually lost consciousness. Then Danny moved to the
balcony to wait for Sham. Sham came into the lawn in ten minutes and
with a powerful weapon Danny shot him dead through the heart. Sham was
dead and the Boss was rather pleased. Too pleased actually. In one
month the Boss himself was found dead in his well-decorated bathroom.
Almost everyone knew who had done it but there were no protests. Danny
was the new Boss. He led all operations from the front. Not only did he
plan he also executed. He was a hands-on mafia don who took his job
very seriously. The gang came to like and admire him. He was thinking
of shifting to the boss' residence. He was thinking of a date on which
he would do it. He was thinking of getting married too. One day his gun
was lying on the dining table. Danny was taking a nap on the sofa. The
front door was open. The neighbour's six year old daughter came in
through the door and begun to play with the gun. Before anyone could
stop the little girl the gun went off. The bullet hit Danny on the head
and killed him instantly. It was a sad end to an eventful life.