The Train and the Secret Witness

By Mike Ike Chinwuba

Marie enters Roger’s room one morning to find he has disappeared. Unknown to her, he’s gone to live on the trains travelling from station to station without any destination. His journey of self-discovery is triggered when he hurls a briefcase full of fifty-pound notes at the police and scales the ticket barrier at London Victoria station.

From then on, his eventful journey becomes anything but far from his expectations. He observes series of unsavory and unlawful activities which he divulges to an unimaginative detective inspector about to be fired from his job. In consequence, he not only saves his career but also gains promotion.

Soisin, a gipsy girl he meets on the train introduces him to Buddhism and his life begins to turn around, rapidly transforming his karma into mission.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Feb 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781984592491

Mike Ike Chinwuba

The Author Mike lives in London, he graduated in a London university with a master’s degree. Having travelled extensively and experienced a great deal of life’s tapestry, he has the power to inspire. Mike is a practicing member of the SGI – a Buddhist organisation for value creation: Peace, education and culture. His novels include: A Vow to Change, The Train and the secret Witness and Photo in the Frame.

Book preview

The Train and the

Secret Witness

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MIKE IKE CHINWUBA

Copyright © 2020 by Mike Ike Chinwuba.

ISBN:                  Softcover                        978-1-9845-9250-7

                            eBook                             978-1-9845-9249-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/04/2020

Xlibris

800-056-3182

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

731898

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

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Roger reminisced of days gone by, when he was a tramp aimlessly gallivanting from station to station without any destination. Deep down, he cherished all the antics and shenanigans that were always taking place within the grand theatre of the train carriages by total strangers, a stage on which it was free for all to perform irrespective of talent. It was a natural mandate by which the song in everyone’s heart filtered out and inevitably escaped like smoke from the tiniest of seams.

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Dare to believe in that song in your heart. Dare to believe in the dreams. You’ll dance as long as you dare to believe.

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Buddhism teaches that all problems, difficulties, or challenges can be transformed into value creation.

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Good fortune does not lie far away. Our lives themselves are entities of good fortune, entities of happiness as indestructible as diamond.

Daisaku Ikeda

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CHAPTER 1

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V ictoria Station was littered with the British transport police standing in groups at each of the ticket barriers on that summer’s day. The station was very busy as usual, with passengers hurriedly entering and exiting or simply in transit to catch another train to their destinations. It served as a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex, making it a very busy hub for many train stations and tubes. There was never a dull moment in Victoria Station.

It was during the morning rush hour on that eventful day that a train arrived and slowly stopped at one of the platforms. Passengers started to alight and were making their way towards the ticket barrier to exit. Suddenly, a young man was seen clutching a briefcase as he struggled to power through a long queue of passengers, pushing and shoving and rapidly making his way to the ticket barrier. On reaching the ticket barrier, he had no alternative but to jump over it because he had no ticket to let himself through. Before one of the transport police officers could stop him, he launched the briefcase in front of them and disappeared into the crowd. There was total pandemonium. The groups of transport police officers abruptly dispersed in fear, wondering whether the contents of the briefcase were nefarious. The briefcase lay on the floor, and no one was seen within twenty metres of it.

Within minutes the police swarmed the station. They were accompanied by firefighters and several fire engines. The police were busy talking into their communication devices and trying to prevent passengers who were arriving or departing from getting closer to the briefcase. In no time at all, the area was cordoned, and most of the ticket barriers were closed. Three police dogs were seen milling around, attempting to unleash themselves from their handlers as they frantically sniffed around. About an hour later, a robot was despatched to diffuse the contents of the briefcase in case it was an explosive device. The crowd was gripped with anxiety and fear as they awaited the eventual detonation of the briefcase.

As the robot began to move towards the briefcase, the crowd’s anxiety and fear turned into excitement and fascination as they held their breath. The robot reached the briefcase, circled it, and poked at it, but there was no reaction. This supposedly meant there was no explosive device detected in the briefcase. A sigh of relief could almost be heard from the crowd. The robot retreated to base, which was about thirty metres away, where military personnel by the name of Jason was operating the remote control which controlled the robot. He meticulously checked the robot’s data and conferred with the police inspector, Collin Smith, who oversaw the operation.

‘Data suggest there is no explosive device in the briefcase," Jason said.

"Not good enough, In my recent experiences, robots have proved to be falible, so, I want the damned thing blown up before I send any of my men near it that’s the only way to be sure,’ replied Inspector Smith.

‘OK, that’s pretty easy,’ said Jason, ‘I like blowing things up.’

He quickly reprogrammed the robot and sent it on its way back to the briefcase. With a smile, he said to Inspector Smith,

‘Watch the stuff go boom!’

‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ Inspector Smith stood aside and watched.

The robot set off again towards the briefcase, this time slowly but steadily. When it reached the briefcase, it placed a device on it and returned to Jason. The briefcase exploded with a loud boom. Some of the crowd who had been anxiously watching, took cover, and others turned away and ran for their lives. Fifty-pound notes rained down on the terminal, littering the entire area. Everyone was dumbfounded when they realized that the cash was indeed the contents of the briefcase. The crowd instantly descended on the fifty-pound notes but were restrained by the team of police officers.

‘Wow! I have never blown up bundles of cash before,’ said Jason with dropped jaw.

‘Why did the briefcase have loads of money in it?’ asked Inspector Smith.

‘Don’t ask me; I have no idea,’ replied Jason.

‘What do you make of it?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The reason behind hurling it at the police and running away.’

Jason said,

‘Do you mean why he did not run away with the money’?’

‘Yes, that’s the point: why?’

‘When you find out, please do let us know, inspector,’ said Jason.

‘You bet.’

The inspector paced to and fro while his men swiftly collected the fifty-pound notes. This took most of the day to complete because some of the notes were inside the nooks and crannies of the station, including on the train tracks. A total of three hundred thousand pounds was retrieved, all in fifty-pound notes.

The result of the CCTV examinations that followed identified the young man who launched the briefcase as nineteen-year-old Roger Dean. He was from a middle-class family, and both his parents were politicians who had walked the corridors of power for almost two decades. With this new development, Inspector Collin Smith proceeded to his parents’ home in order to find him, learn where and how he got all that money, and discover why he’d disposed of it the way he had. It was early in the morning that the inspector arrived at Roger’s parents’ address. Mr Dean, Roger’s father, opened the door to the inspector who immediately showed him his ID and asked Mr Dean whether Roger was available.

‘Roger?’ enquired Mr Dean.

‘Yes, we believe he is your son,’ said the inspector.

Mr Dean opened the door wider and asked him to come in. As the inspector stepped inside, Mr Dean closed the door and proceeded towards the dining room, the inspector following right behind him. In the dining room, the table was adorned with breakfast cereal, a pot of tea, and some broadsheet newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph and The Times. Marie, Roger’s mother, was seated at one end of the table, cup of tea in one hand, immersed between the pages of the newspaper which lay open on the table. She didn’t notice the inspector.

‘Marie, a police inspector is here,’ said Mr Dean.

Marie gradually lifted her head from the newspaper she was engrossed in, ‘Police inspector?’ she repeated as she peered through her reading glasses.

‘Yes, he is looking for Roger,’ said Mr Dean.

‘Well, he has come to the wrong place, then,’ said Marie.

‘Please sit-down Inspector,’ requested Mr Dean.

As the inspector sat down, he removed a picture from his top pocket and showed it to both. They confirmed it was their son, Roger.

‘What has happened to him?’ enquired Marie.

‘Is he all right?’ asked Mr Dean.

‘We would like to ask him some questions,’ replied the inspector.

‘He does not live here anymore,’ said Mr Dean.

‘Last time we saw Roger was about eight months ago," said Marie.

‘Do you know where he might be?’ the inspector asked,

‘We have not the foggiest idea,’ replied Marie.

Mr Dean poured himself a cup of tea and offered one to the inspector, which he declined. Mr Dean informed the inspector that Roger was their only child. When he was young, they had sent him to a very good boarding school, where he seemed to do very well. He had been a happy chap and was popular amongst his friends. Mr Dean said that he and his wife had been quite pleased at Roger’s extraordinary progress with his studies to become a lawyer, despite his strong objection to go to university. Mr Dean confirmed that Roger eventually but reluctantly changed his mind and went to study law due to the power of Mr Dean’s persuasion.

In the summer of the previous year, Roger’s life had taken a turn for the worse. His world had rapidly turned upside down, taking his parents’ world with it as well.

Roger came home for the summer holidays and was getting ready to travel to South America with some of his university friends. Roger and his friends had organised a party before their scheduled departure. At the party, something happened that profoundly changed his personality. When he came home very early the following morning, he slept all day. The following morning, he was still in his bedroom and did not join his parents for breakfast. His mother, very much concerned, swiftly went to his room and found him unconscious in bed. She called an ambulance, which took him to the hospital.

The doctor had not found anything wrong with him but suggested that perhaps his drink had been tampered with at the party. After that, Roger had stayed in his room for days without food or bath and did not make any contact with his parents or anyone. When his parents went into his room to check whether he needed to be taken to the hospital again for another check-up a few days later, they discovered to their horror that he was not there. He was gone. That was eight months ago, and they had not seen him since then. Occasionally he would drop a line to his parents