by J E Loddon
“I think it’s time for you to leave,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. I tried to think. What were my options? I didn’t have a gun in the flat. They would both have guns, though. So how to play it? I glanced around the kitchen. The saucepan had a pretty heavy bottom to it. My path to it was cut off, but if I could just grab the stool, swing it at the shorter guy’s head. If I could do it quickly enough, that might win me the element of surprise. Duck whatever attack the wiry guy threw at me, grab the pan. Swing it at his face. Knock the squat guy back down again. Grab his gun. Shoot them? Or run?
“I’m afraid I’m not allowed to leave until you agree to take on the job,” he told me. I could say yes to the job, then clear out as soon as they were gone. They’d found me once though.
“And what are you gonna do if I don’t agree to it?” I asked him.
“Your father upset a lot of people,” he told me. “We’ll release your last known location to the world. You can run, sure. You’ll have people looking for you, though. People who had forgotten you even existed.” It wasn’t the answer I’d expected, but it was a pretty clever one. These people had found me. They were asking me to do a very specific job, too, so it didn’t sound like they’d been looking for me the whole four years. If this outfit could find me, with hardly a thing to go on? Several groups, with the flat as a starting point, would mean that at least one of them would track me down, probably within days.
“It doesn’t sound like I have much of a choice,” I conceded. Whatever happened, I had to say whatever I needed to just to get them out of the flat, so that I could properly think. “How much?” I asked him. He looked at me blankly. “For the job?” I said. “How much do I get paid for the job?” He shook his head, still looking confused.
“The job’s paid for,” he told me. “I thought the situation was perfectly clear?” I raised my eyebrows.
“I get nothing?” I replied indignantly. “What about inflation? What about expenses? How do you expect me to do this job with nothing? You’re setting me up to fail.”
“The job’s paid for,” he repeated. “You have your inheritance, that should be enough to get the job done. Then, your debt to our employer will be paid.” I just stood in silence. It was madness. How did they expect me to track down a complete stranger, with no money for bribes, equipment, or personnel?
“What if I can’t get the job done?” I asked him. He shrugged.
“Our employer has faith in you,” he said. “He seems more confident of your abilities than you do. He says you used to be good. By the looks of it, though, you’ve let yourself go,” he continued, glancing down at my belly.
“I guess you’d better give me whatever information you’ve got,” I said ruefully. He produced an envelope from an inside pocket.
“We’ll be keeping an eye on you,” he said. “Remember, you’re not to use the net to find this guy. If you do, it’ll compromise the search. He’s a talented coder. You need to keep this job offline.” I opened my mouth to protest, then thought better of it. It wouldn’t make any difference. I just needed to get them out so I could start making decisions. He handed me the envelope, and I saw them out. The wiry guy eyeing me the whole time.
The squat guy turned around to regard me as they stepped out of the door.
“Listen,” he said to me, dropping his cool posture for the first time. “Don’t screw around with this. The guy is a coder, but he’s worked for some dangerous people. Take this job lightly, and it won’t end well.” I nodded at him. “If you decided to run instead, run fast and far, boy. Your father had a lot of enemies. You wouldn’t want them after you. And you don’t want to make more. Do you understand me?”
