Officer Jones was standing at the corner of the street. Actually, he was observing, staring at the street right across the road. The new moon was over his head, shining brightly in the dark sky. It was a remote place in the rural area. At night, very few people went there–except the triad members.
Earlier today, Jones and his team received some secret news, saying that Tigo, the head of a triad, was going to traffic in drugs. As there would be a lot of drugs, Tigo would come himself. Jones and his members had been waiting quietly.
All of a sudden, their targets came in a car. However, the car did not stop beside the street. Instead, it turned left into a large car park which kept junk cars. Jones and his team followed in silence.
As they had predicted, Tigo stepped out from the car and not far away, a man was waiting with a big case in his hand. What surprised Officer Jones was the next one who steeped at from the car. His name was Tyler. Jones knew him.
Years ago, when trying to catch a thief, Jones ran into the filming of a movie. He followed the wrong person as the extra had dressed like the thief and they showed up at the same place accidentally. When he shouted ‘Don’t move!’ and pointed his gun towards the ‘thief’, he discovered that a professional camera was facing him. It was the biggest mistake he had ever made. A week after the mistake, Jones met the extra on the street.
‘Hi, sir. I’m Tyler, the extra. How’re you doing? Did you explain to your leader about the foolish mistake?’ laughed the extra.
‘Well, I just say that because I’m not careful enough,’ said Jones.
Then, they had a drink together and chatted happily. Since then, they became friends. Although they had not met for five years, they kept chatting online. Jones was promoted from a policeman to an officer in this period.
Back to reality, Officer Jones did not understand why his friend showed up. ‘He won’t join the triad although he is not rich. He’s not that kind of person,’ thought Jones. ‘We don’t have his information as a triad member, either.’ Full of confusion, Officer Jones ordered his team members to take action.
‘Action now!’ shouted Jones.
All policemen ran out. The man selling drugs did not have enough time to close his case. Packs of drugs fell down. Tigo started to run, but it was too late. All of them were caught. When Tyler saw Jones, there was amazement and shame in his eyes.
Sitting in the interrogation room, Tyler and Jones remained silent. After a long time, Jones broke the silence.
‘I can hardly believe that you are one of their members.’
‘Then you’re wrong. I joined them three years ago. Tigo kept my entry as a secret, so you did not know that I was their member,’ answered Tyler.
Another period of silence.
‘Okay. Let me tell you why. I was fired by the film company. Then I did several jobs within a short time. Unfortunately, my mother was ill, and her illness needed much expensive medicines. There was not enough assistance for us from the government. As you know, my father died when I was small and we don’t have many relatives. Nobody is willing to help, so….’he paused for a second. ‘I decided to help the triad to traffic in drugs.’
Officer Jones was upset. He was not listening to what his partner asked Tyler. His partner recorded some factual information provided by Tyler. Jones was just in a daze.
‘Some people do illegal things for interest. Some people do it accidentally. Some people just try to challenge social order. Reasons can be different but the results will be the same. Life is complicated,’ he signed while thinking to himself.
At last, he put the handcuffs around his friend’s hands.