Prisoners’
Dilemma
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| Source: http://images.nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/chair090216_560.jpg |
Prologue
‘Sir, can we start with the
interviews?’ the coordinator asked in a rather nervous tone.
‘Yes..’, Mr. Peterson said.
‘The first one in line is one Mr.
Patrick…’, the coordinator started.
‘We would like to have a meeting
with Mr. Cooper first’, Ms. Patel said, even as she was engrossed in a file.
‘Ma’am, but there is no one by
that name on the list of shortlisted candidates’
Her eyes left the file and fell
on the coordinator.
‘I wonder, why would that be?’,
she said raising her eyebrows
‘Because he didn’t apply for this
job’, the coordinator suggested.
‘I don’t want reasons; I want
him’, she raised her voice.
The coordinator stumbled with
nervousness.
‘You are new here, aren’t you?
You can check with your seniors if you might, I always get what I want’
‘But Ma’am..’, he started.
‘If you fail to arrange our
meeting with him, we won’t hesitate to walk out of this process’, she warned.
‘The more you try to reason her
out, the more formidable she is going to get; so please bring this guy in’, Mr.
Peterson made an effort to kill then argument.
‘Sure Sir..and…Mam. I will try
and….umm…I will get him in 5 minutes’, he hesitated and left.
‘Why trouble that poor kid?’, Mr.
Peterson asked.
‘Because, he needs to learn how
to handle pressure’, Ms. Patel smiled.
‘Why are you so interested in
this Cooper guy, anyway?’
Ms. Patel re-opened the file in
her hand.
‘Here… take a look’, she passed
on the file to him. ‘This file says his IQ is 215. That is 65 points north of
what is considered as Intelligent’ she started.
‘If the numbers are to be
believed, this guy ought to be smarter than 99.99% of the world’s population’
‘And do you believe in these
numbers?’, Mr. Peterson asked.
‘Well, if he outsmarts me, I will
start believing in them’, she said.
***
‘It’s a pleasure meeting you Mr.
Cooper’, Mr. Peterson said.
‘The feeling ain’t mutual, no
offense’, a young man dressed in a cramped T-shirt and a boxer replied.
Mr. Peterson was visibly taken
aback by his rudeness. Ms. Patel spoke nothing; she was just
observing her
subject, her eyes and mind were doing all the work for her.
‘I was disturbed from my slumber
to attend an interview for a job which I am not interested in. This conversation
better be worth my sleep’, Cooper said, looking at the ground.
‘We shall together try to make
this conversation a fruitful one, Mr. Cooper’
‘We represent the European
Detective Agency and we are here to recruit for our task-force. If you make it
through the interview you will be trained for 1 year and then you will be a
detective for one of the most reputed Detective agencies in Europe’, Mr.
Peterson started.
‘Being a part of your task-force
doesn’t interest me’, Cooper started.
‘Why should I join your agency?
Give me one good reason’, he said, still not making eye contact with Mr.
Peterson.
In 20 years of his experience of
conducting interviews, this was the first time he met someone with the nerve to
ask him why he should join EDA.
With every passing second Mr.
Peterson’s dislike for Cooper increased exponentially.
‘What are you interested in Mr.
Cooper?’, Ms. Patel finally spoke.
‘I’m passionate about solving
problems…problems which no one else can solve’, he said.
‘Great, so I will give you one of
our cases. Would you please solve it for us, because none of our detectives
could solve it’
Cooper’s eyes finally left the
floor and met Ms. Patel. ‘Go on’, he said looking her square into the eye.
‘So here’s how it is going to
work. Since I do not have the case report with me here. You can ask me for the
facts that you will be needing to solve the case’
‘About 5 years back, a person in
his mid-40’s was found dead in his house’, she started.
‘What was the cause of death?’,
Cooper asked.
‘According to the forensic
reports, he died due to suffocation’
‘Murder weapon?’
‘None found’
Cooper paused for a couple of
seconds. ‘What did the murder scene look like? Any clues? Finger prints?’
‘Glad you asked’, she smiled.
‘A number 13 was scribbled on the
table with the blood of the victim’
’13….Why 13?’, Cooper thought.
‘I want to see a picture of it’,
he asked.
‘I don’t have it right now but…’,
she started.
‘Never mind, it won’t be of much
help’
‘Why 13?’ he asked.
‘I don’t have a definite answer,
but I do have a theory. As per the theory, the detective who was investigating this
case had 12 unsolved cases in his kitty. Through this number, the murderer was
trying to challenge him that this would be his 13th unsolved case’
‘That’s a ridiculous theory’,
Cooper commented.
’13 could mean anything’, he
continued.
‘We have good reason to believe
that the purpose of this murder was to maintain a count’
‘And why do you say that?’,
Cooper asked.
‘Because this was not the only
murder. There were four other murders similar to this one’
Cooper raised his eyebrows. ‘We
are talking about 5 unsolved murders!’
‘Yes. We couldn’t even figure out
how these murders were done, let alone catching the murderer’’
‘Who were the victims?’
’14 was Mr. Paris, the detective
who was investigating the 13 murder. About 1 week later we found Mr. Paris’s
maid, Ms. Douglas, murdered with the number 15 scribbled in front her corpse.
16 and 17 were Tony and Ashley respectively, both of whom had assisted Mr.
Paris in investigating his last case’
‘This is all the information on
this case that can be disclosed to you’, Ms. Patel said.
‘So Mr. Cooper tell us how was
the murder done…and if you have any insights about the identity of murderer, do
let us know’
Cooper didn’t reply for a couple of
seconds. He was busy doing some deep thinking.
‘You’re asking the wrong question
Ms. Patel’, he broke his silence.
‘Why did the murderer stop at 17;
that’s the question you should be asking’, he said.
‘And why did he scribble the
numbers near all his victims in the first place?’, he continued
‘If he had figured out this
seemingly perfect way to murder people, why stop at 17?’
‘May be he wanted to kill all the
people involved in the case. Once he executed them, he stopped’, Mr. Peterson
thought aloud.
‘Fair enough. But now comes my
next questions; why would he write the numbers?’
‘The murderer considers himself a
very smart person. The numbers are his way to show off this expertise in
executing a perfect murder’, Mr. Peterson suggested.
‘Exactly. You have finally spoken
some sense, Mr. Peterson’, Cooper remarked.
Mr. Peterson frowned.
‘The murderer is a smart guy…and
he is showing off. And that’s exactly why he stopped at 17’
‘What do you mean?’, Mr. Peterson
snapped.
‘A smart person thrives for 2
things. The first thing: he needs to be told, time and again, that he is smart.
Usually this is achieved by showing off. Just like our murderer showed off by
scribbling the numbers’, Cooper started.
‘And now coming to the second
point: a smart person needs to be challenged. Assuming that our murderer is as
smart as he thinks he is, I believe he stopped at 17 because no one could
challenge his methods. None of the detectives could even come close to figure
out how the murder was done, let alone catching the murderer’, he said.
Ms. Patel smiled. ‘So you mean
that he stopped killing as he didn’t enjoy it anymore...because none of the
detectives could come close to solve this case! That’s ridiculous’
‘Trust me, I am smarter than this
murderer; if I were in his place, I would do the same thing. Why continue to play
a game after realizing that it is not challenging anymore’
‘But you still didn’t solve the
case, Mr. Cooper’, Ms. Patel exclaimed.
‘I can’t. The information you
have provided is not sufficient. I need access to the official reports’, he
said.
‘I am sorry, but that is not
possible. Only the detectives of EDA have access to the official investigation
reports’
‘Give me those case files and I
will challenge the murderer. I will drag him out of his hiding. I will be the
worthy opponent he is been waiting to encounter’
‘I am very well convinced about
your capabilities Mr. Cooper. But rules are rules: only an EDA detective has
the access to the investigation reports’
‘I cannot rest until I solve this
case, and I cannot solve this case without the official investigation report’,
Cooper stopped as a realization dawned upon him.
He looked at Ms. Patel and let a
half smile escape his lips. ‘You cunning
bitch!’
‘So now, Mr. Cooper did I give
you a good reason to join EDA’, Ms. Patel returned the smile.
***
After 1 year…
I stood there restlessly, even as
John opened the locker which read: Unsolved
cases.
John extracted a file, dusted it and
handed it over to me.
‘This one hasn’t been looked at
since a couple of years. Given its history, it’s considered a bad omen for any
detective to work on it’
‘Don’t worry about me; I trust my
abilities more than my stars. This file isn’t going back into that locker. I am
going to solve this goddamn case’, I said.
‘After a long wait of 1 year; finally, I have you’, I thought
looking at the file in my hand, with an air of man looking at his first love.
***
‘You do realize this won’t be
your first case, don’t you?’ I heard a familiar voice.
‘Ms. Patel’, I said.
‘This is for my homework’, I said
even as she walked past him.
‘I have a case for you’, she said
as I left the file on my desk and chased her.
‘Who died?’ I gleamed, even as I
tried hard to catch up.
Ms. Patel gave him a sarcastic
glance.
‘It’s a heist!’
‘Which Bank?’
She gave him another glance as
she entered the conference room.
‘The Royal Museum of London’, she
said even as she started the projector.
‘What was stolen?’
‘This’, she said pointing at the
screen.
A painting of a girl standing at
the end of a cliff, appeared on the screen.
The girl was dressed in black,
her hair was dancing to the tunes of the wind. She looked beautiful and spooky
at the same time.
‘The Melancholy, by Charles the
IV’
‘How much does it cost?’
‘It’s an antique. Antiques do not
have a price’
‘So my first case is to hunt a
painting?’
’Dull’, I thought.
‘Hunting is one way of seeing
it….’ Ms. Patel smiled.
‘Or, you could just ask them
where the painting is’, Ms. Patel smiled and produced the pictures of 2 middle
aged men on the screen.
‘Who are they?’
‘They are the people who pulled
off this heist. Your job is to extract the painting from them’
‘Where can I find them?’
‘They are in the police custody.
I made arrangements to have them brought here’ she started.
‘Recover the painting from them
and I will consider this case closed’, Ms. Patel concluded.
‘You must be kidding. This can’t
be my first case. It’s an open and shut case’
‘Solve this at the earliest and I
will allow you to reopen the 13
case’
‘She does know how to play a man’, I smiled.
‘If you know what a man wants, you can make him do whatever you want’,
she gave a mental retort.
‘How much time do you need to
close this case?’, Ms. Patel asked.
’20 minutes’, I said.
‘Are you sure?’ she gave me a
glance whilst adjusting her spectacles.
‘A couple of hours?’, I hesitated
‘You overestimate yourself; I’l
give you one day’
‘I need to see the painting back
in the museum by tomorrow’
‘Easy..very easy’, I smiled
***
The Duel
‘You are not focused’, he said
even as he attacked her with his left arm.
Elizabeth tried dodging his
attack, but in vain. She shrieked in pain and fell on the ground.
‘On your feet’, he commanded her.
She ignored her pain and jumped
back on her feet.
‘This is no game for a girl!’,
she heard one of her peers shout out.
This time she decided to attack first.
She raised her left leg and aimed an attack on his arm.
He dodged it.
Before she could make her next
move, she felt his leg rush into her face and the next second she was on
ground.
A sharp pain of originated from
her face and resonated in her body. She had a feeling that she could never move
again.
‘You won’t win until you focus.
You won’t be able to focus if you have no purpose’, her master announced.
‘Purpose and perseverance’, they
win battles, not anger.
‘Until you find a purpose, you
will never be me’
Elizabeth took the support of the
railing to stand on her feet, even as her master started to leave.
She was shivering. Her eyes were
moist as if she was about to cry. But she didn’t. Her otherwise pretty face was
covered with blood.
‘I didn’t give up yet’, she
shouted spitting out some blood even as she spoke.
Her master looked into her eyes.
He saw pain in them, but he didn’t see fear.
‘She is still standing’, this girl with a pretty face had exceeded
his expectations.
‘You have enough determination to stand up,
but you have no strength to fight’, he said as he gave her a final blow.
Elizabeth fell on the ground
unconscious.
***
One Confession
‘He is Mr. Walker, the manager of
the Museum’, John said.
‘So Mr. Walker; walk me through
what happened’, I asked.
‘He wore a mask…he had a gun’,
Mr. Walker stammered.
‘He threatened me to switch off
the security system. I was af…I was terrified’, he started sweating.
‘And then before I knew, he was
gone..with the painting’
‘When did this happen?’
Mr. Walker looked at him, but
didn’t answer.
‘What was the time?’, I rephrased
his question.
‘Around 10:20 AM’
‘Thank you Mr. Walker’, I said. ‘We
will get back to you in case we need any other information’
***
‘One gun, one painting, two
men…’, I said even as we watched the CCTV footage of the heist.
‘One confession is all we need’, John
completed the sentence for me.
‘Yes, that is all we need’, I
said lost in thoughts. ‘One confession,
is all that stands between me and my dream case’
‘Tell me one thing, how did the
police get their hands around these two guys?’, I asked, dragging myself into
the present.
‘They found them fleeing in the
opposite direction from the crime scene’
‘How did they know it was them?’
‘They were carrying their masks
with them’
‘That’s pretty stupid of them,
don’t you think?’, I remarked.
‘The police made your case easy’,
John said.
‘They made my case less
interesting’, I sighed. ‘Where are these two guys?’
‘In two separate interrogation
rooms; just like you suggested’, John said.
‘How are you planning to go about
it’, he continued.
‘I am planning to deploy a game
theory which has never been cracked before’
‘And what might that be?’
‘Prisoners’ dilemma’, I said and
stormed out of the room.
Prisoners’ dilemma
‘This is awkward, how do we begin?’,
I asked.
‘I think this is where you ask me
where the painting is?’, Rob suggested.
‘And what would you say, if I
did?’
‘I’d say I don’t know’, he smiled
‘See that is why I didn’t start
with that question’, I smiled.
‘You guys have allegedly robbed a
painting which is an integral part of England’s history’, I started.
‘People out there are mad at you
guys. They’ll kill to get back the painting’
‘You talk as if you aren’t a part
of them’, Rob smiled.
‘Nice observation. I actually
don’t give a fuck about the painting. For me it’s just a case. A silly stupid
first case which I need to solve as soon as possible’, I said.
‘Tell me one thing, why carry the
masks with you? You guys had dumped the painting and the gun in some safe
place, why didn’t you dump those stupid masks there as well’
‘A-silly-stupid-case you had said; let’s try and change that a
little’, Rob started.
‘I may have, allegedly, carried it
because either I am as stupid as you think; or maybe I just wanted to be
caught’, Rob smiled.
‘Ohh thank god! You almost sound
like a smart guy. I was starting to feel bored’, I said.
‘Why would you want to get
caught? You think you can escape from this place?’
‘Maybe I will’
‘I would love to see you try’, I
said.
‘Let’s cut to the chase. You seem
like a smart man, I might have some trouble breaking you’, I started.
‘But your partner, in the other
room; he doesn’t seem very shrewd’
‘What! He has my partner!’, Rob was shocked.
‘I am quite sure I can manage a
confession out of him; don’t you think?’, I asked.
‘Try your luck’, Rob said.
***
‘How did it go?’ I asked John as
he finished interrogating the other suspect.
‘It’s not going to be as easy as
we thought it would be’, John said.
‘Get a background check on these
two guys. I need to know everything about them’, I said.
‘The task force is on it even as
we speak’
‘Great, then let’s take the interrogation
to the next level’, I suggested.
‘Next level?’, John asked.
‘This is when we make them a deal
they can’t refuse’, I smiled.
***
‘You have two kids, Stan’, John
said.
‘You won’t touch them. They have
nothing to do with this’, Stan replied.
‘Don’t worry; we are the good
guys here. We won’t harm them’, John started. ‘But who will look after them
after you are gone’
‘I am not going anywhere’
‘You and your partner will be
sentenced for life long imprisonment…unless’, John paused to study the change
in Stan’s reaction.
‘Unless… what?’
‘Unless, you give us the location
of the painting and the gun’,
‘If you do, I will see it to it
that your sentence will be reasonable’, John continued.
‘How much time am I looking at?’
Stan asked him.
‘3 years..5 maybe’, John started.
‘Only if we find the painting and the gun, that is’
‘3 or 5?’ Stan asked.
‘I don’t know Stan, I am not the
one who gets to take the decisions here’
‘Then why should I trust you?’,
Stan said.
‘I am your only chance to
freedom, Stan’, John said.
Stan fell silent. He seemed to be
doing some deep thinking.
‘Get the documents ready, and
call my attorney. I will confess only if he approves of it’, he finally spoke.
***
‘Where’s their attorney’, I
asked.
‘He is waiting at your desk’, John
said.
‘Let’s get done with this’, I
said and stormed into my cabin.
‘I was expecting a meeting with
Ms. Patel’, the attorney said.
‘I am sorry you will have to
settle with us’, John said.
‘So be it! I am here to represent
my clients Rob and Stan. I need to see if they are fine’, Peter started.
‘Your clients have robbed one of the most
prestigious antique paintings from the Royal Museum of London’
‘We want the painting and you
want your client’s safety; let’s make a deal’
‘What deal?’, Peter narrowed his
eyes.
***
‘It’s a lucky day for you, Stan.
We’ve cracked the best deal for you’, John said putting a paper on the table.
‘You give us the location of the
painting and the gun and you will be sentenced for 5 years imprisonment’
‘And it is signed by your
attorney’
John looked as Stan examined the
papers.
‘I dropped the gun and the
painting in a trash can on St Louise Street’, he confessed.
***
‘We have recovered the painting’, John said. ‘I
think we can close the case’
‘Great’, I replied and went back
to speak with Rob.
‘As, I had promised we broke your
partner; he confessed’, I said to Rob.
‘We recovered the painting’. Rob
looked surprised.
‘We no longer need your services.
Mr. Rob you are under arrest for stealing an antique painting from the Royal
Museum of library’
Rob laughed.
‘Which part of you-are-under-arrest did you find
funny?’ I asked
‘Did you find the gun?’, Rob
asked.
‘No. We couldn’t trace it in the
location mentioned by your partner’, he said.
‘If I may ask, who is this
partner of mine you keep referring to?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I robbed the museum…alone. I had
no partners’, Rob laughed.
***
Case Solved
‘What! This can’t be possible’,
Ms. Patel exclaimed.
‘Both of them confessed that they
robbed the painting’, John said.
‘And they didn’t do it together?’
‘From what we have gathered from
our interrogation: Stan robbed the museum with his gun and dropped the painting
and the gun in a trash can. Rob says he picked up a gun from the same trash can
and robbed the same painting from the museum’, he said.
‘One of them has to be lying’,
Ms. Patel spoke slowly as if she was considering other possibilities.
‘Unless….’, she started.
‘Unless, someone else lied’, I
suggested.
‘Yes’, she said even as a
realization dawned upon her.
‘Mr. Walker’, I whispered
‘Ahh…we have been played with,
gentlemen. Someone just pulled off a perfect heist and we can do nothing about
it’, she deduced.
***
‘You guys still didn’t get it?’,
she smiled.
‘Let me explain’, she pulled a
paper and a pen.
I will just think aloud, correct
me if get any facts wrong.
‘This is the Royal Museum of
London’ she said drawing a big circle. ‘This is the painting of the melancholic
girl’, she drew a small circle inside the big circle. ‘And this is Mr. Walker,
the Manager of the Museum’, she drawing a stick-man.
‘One day Mr. Walker, decides to
make some extra money by selling the painting. So he gets a duplicate painting
and replace it with the original one’, she started.
‘Mr. Walker, he is behind it’, John
deduced.
‘No, don’t be judgmental. Mr.
Walker is a victim of a larger game’, she said.
‘Larger game?’ John said making
no effort to hide his confusion.
‘This larger game starts when
Stan pays a visit to the museum and robs the painting. Mr. Walker cleverly
leads him to the duplicate painting. So Stan leaves the museum with a duplicate
painting and drops his gun and the painting in a trash can at St. Louise
Street’
‘Now that he has lost the
duplicate painting, Mr. Walker decides that it’s not a good time to sell the original
painting as he had no replacement for it which could be displayed in the museum.
He places the original painting back in the museum and decides to wait for the
right time’
‘Much to the dismay of Mr. Walker,
the universe had decided to pee on his parade in the form of Rob. He comes into
the museum with the gun that he picked up from the trash can. He moves out with the original painting. Now
that the original painting has also been robbed, Mr. Walker has no option but
to call the police. Of course he doesn’t divulge any information on the robbery
of the fake painting’, she paused.
‘The painting which we have
recovered from Stan, get it checked with experts. I will bet good money it’s a
fake one’
‘We can still win this’, I said.
‘No we can’t’, Ms. Patel snapped
back at me.
‘There are good reasons I called
this: a perfect heist….well, an almost perfect heist’, she said.
‘We are all ears’
‘Mr. Walker, the victim, would
never confess that there had been 2 robberies that day in the museum. And, we
cannot arrest two people when, according to the victim, only one man robbed the
bank’
‘You said the painting which we
have recovered is a fake one. We can use that against Mr. Walker.
To prove that
he had a duplicate painting’, John said.
‘He’ll say he had lost an
original one, but we are giving back a duplicate one. The blame comes back to
us’
‘We still have the CCTV footage.
We can use that against Mr. Walker’, I suggested.
‘The Royale museum is not liable
to give us their CCTV footage. And if I am not wrong, they might have already
destroyed all possible evidence proving the second robbery’
‘We are screwed, aren’t we?’, I
started. ‘Rob and Stan are not as stupid as we thought they were’
‘Rob and Stan are not smart
enough to pull this on their own. Trust me, I know a smart man when I see one’
she started. ‘I think they are just pawns who were used to pull this heist’
‘Used by whom?’, John asked.
‘Who is this mastermind who could outsmart the prisoner’s dilemma?’,
I wondered.
‘There is no way we will know’, John
sighed.
‘There is always a way’, Ms.
Patel smiled.
We both looked at her in awe.
‘Rob and Stan, they said they
didn’t know each other?’, she asked.
‘Yes’, John said.
‘During the interrogation, did
you guys notice anything which was common between these two guys?’
Both John and I were confused.
‘Did they mention any common place
they used to visit, any common friends, any common interests?’
Me and John tried hard and
replayed the entire interrogation and then suddenly it hit us right in our face.
‘Their Attorney’, we shouted at
the same time.
‘They had the same Attorney’
‘And you are telling this to me,
now!’, Ms Patel shouted in anger. ‘What was his name?’
‘Peter..Peter Cooper’, John
recollected.
‘Run his name in our database. I
need to know everything about this…’, she paused.
‘I am on it’, John said even as
he typed his name in the online database and waited for the results.
‘This guy is no lawyer…’, John
exclaimed.
‘He is a former student of the
National Detective Academy’, Ms. Patel completed the sentence for him.
‘How did you know’, John looked
up from the screen.
Ms. Patel fell back in her chair
as if she was electrocuted. ‘Cooper; that
bastard is behind all this!’
***
‘I had made an offer to him to
join the EDA one year back and he refused’
‘I will solve the case on my own’, his last words resonated in her
mind as if it had just happened yesterday’
‘Which case did he want to
solve’, I asked.
Ms. Patel dragged herself into
the present, ‘13…’, she started her answer. ‘Oh my god, where is the 13 case
file?’, she asked.
‘I had left it on my desk in the
morning’, I said.
‘He came here to steal the case
files’, she said as we rushed into my cabin.
‘The file is still here’, John
said even as he started examining for any missing pages.
‘That’s strange! If it’s not for the file, what did he come here for’,
Ms. Patel wondered.
‘You might want to have a look at
this’, John said as he handed over the file to Ms. Patel.
He pointed towards the last line
of the report.
It had read ‘The killer stopped after the 17th murder. Ashley Parker was
his last victim’
Someone had struck the work “his”
with a red pen and wrote: ‘It’s not a he; it’s a she!’
Ms. Patel then noticed another
sentence at the end of the last page
“13;
A perfect murder - Case Solved”
‘He solved it without the case
files’, Ms. Patel exclaimed.
‘Cooper, you genius! You have outsmarted all of us’
***
A worthy opponent
Elizabeth sat in the dark corner
of a room. She tried to focus, but chaos prevailed inside her head.
‘I can never beat him’, she gave
up.
She felt her phone vibrate in her
back pack. It was text message from an unknown number.
The message read: ‘13 – 14 – 15- 16 – 17…’
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
‘Who is this?’, she replied.
‘I am your knight in the shining armor, sweetheart. I am the worthy
opponent you have been waiting for’
John Paris’s last words resonated
inside her: ‘there is always someone who is smarter than smartest. I found my
match in you. You too will find your match sometime’
Elizabeth looked at the message
and smiled; she had finally rediscovered her purpose.
***
Five minutes into her next duel
with her master, Elizabeth had him on the ground; his neck under her feet.
Her peers couldn’t believe what
they had just witnessed.
‘This girl is devil. She will
kill our master’, she heard them shout.
She smiled.
‘Elizabeth, I yield’, her master
declared his defeat.
‘It’s Ashley…Ashley Parker, she
said as she spared his life and started walking away.
‘I no longer require your
services, master’, she shouted as she left the shaolin temple.
‘And you, my worthy opponent;
I can’t wait to meet you. I think we will have fun’, she smiled.
***
An, art by
Shashank
