Harold watched Tennis highlights with his son. With the Light Plague quarantine, he was able to take a break from the news/blog stand and bond with his son over Tennis on the big screen. This calmed him down especially after he completed his October orders. The rest of the year was just about collecting his pay and securing his accounts with his haunts so-to-speak.
The psychological dynamics that took place were brutal. He had to rid himself of all the evil that he committed repeating to himself that there were “no humans involved” – only snitches and competition. He knew that these street thugs had regular lives – they had their barbers and hairdressers, their tailors, their legitimate business personnel. However, Harold knew that at their core they reveled in breaking the ten commandments and Harold was a paid professional with a Glock.
The year 3020 was a messed up year and Harold knew that his only aim was to teach his son how to survive a cruel world – if his son ended up in the streets or at a university did not matter as Harold was able to move in any circle.
Christmas was the best time of the year – people were so giving and grateful. By that time, Harold was recovered enough to soften his heart and be the corny family dad running Starbucks errands and fixing leaks in the plumbing. What kept Harold awake at night was good old-fashioned childhood PTSD and not the merciless killings.
He thought about his daddy behind bars with his distant look forever consumed with bitterness. Before the unfortunate event, his father was like ten men put together – he worked two to three jobs and still checked on his son, doting to his daughters, and gave them a sense of valor and purpose. What Harold’s mother failed to understand was that her man became so involved in his work to the point that hid his emotions in conversations about promotions and his colleagues. He got to the point that he loved his workplace and the tedious business that he tended to. And so when the evil 10-year old CEO corporate overlord stepped in to put his beloved I-pad in charge of senior’s position, Harold’s father flipped out and went savage on his closest relatives.
Cousin Jamie was senior’s confidante so of course when he couldn’t console this big man, senior turned irate – he shot Cousin Jamie, then as many people that he could find around him stripped of their familial scent. When the bloodshed ended, the neighbors tied the mad man in twists and knots until the police apprehended him, putting him away until death.
Harold was lost in thought when his son asked him “what is wrong”? Harold forced the cheesiest of grins and smiled “Son, let’s work on your backhand”. This is what Harold’s life became – he had a steady job manning a news/blog stand, a secret life as a gangland assassin and he shopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond for fun.
After a while, the severity of his crimes which also involved murders of corrupt police officers could not be brushed aside by law enforcement. Harold would be brought to justice. It took a crack team of FBI agents working with locals but after 9 or 9 years of October killings, the FBI found their boring Tennis dad fiddling with a pack of Double A batteries at Costco. What made this bust so near impossible to conclude was the conspiracies and complexities involved in his crisscrossing case.
First, Harold loved the cameras – he was a narcissist in this way. He always wore various hoodies hiding his swell, pleasant face. He really loved the cameras – they added ten pounds to his already portly dad body-look, very plain, bookish, balding and unremarkable. He was short, only about 5’7”, and kind of looked like Danny Devito in Taxi. The cameras helped Harold’s reign of terror because they belonged to millions of social media users turned media moguls. The lawyers made it near-impossible for the FBI to gather evidence using self-deleting software to hide Harold’s tracks. In addition, the local law enforcement had a complex about the sterling, gilded FBI with their spotless lives and very simply – the locals hated that these college kids made more money than they did.
Harold was never truly feared because he killed mainly gang and cartel members disgraced by more powerful bosses – he killed the soldiers for the generals and society was safer. Of course, the quarantine made catching Harold the FBI’s highest priority – they always catch their guy! And with the quarantine, the Light Plague virus would spread with old fuddy-duddy Harold cleaning the streets October, 3021. The final months of Harold’s freedom were indeed harrowing as thousands of criminal conspiracies were figured out by law enforcement and Harold’s near-escape.
(END OF PART 2 OF 4)
