I rubbed my eyes, rolling out of my inch-high bed. Well, when I say bed I mean pile of dirty clothes on the floor that I had hurriedly shoved together the night before. My breath stank of stale beer and cigarettes yet again. I picked up my phone that was ringing and noticed the time, 3am.
"Can I not catch a break?" I asked huskily, coughing to clear my throat.
"You know you're needed, Thomas it's important." He snapped, I could hear the false hope in his voice.
"It always is, Sir."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I could practically feel the vein in his forehead throbbing. He was more stressed than bed ever been on any task beforehand.
"It means, Sir, we are never going to find this man. He wears a different disguise each week. I know we need his help but I doubt we'll get it."
"He will help us by choice, if not, then by force."
"Yes, Sir.” I agreed, if you don’t agree, you don’t have a job. “So you want me out now? I take it there's been another sighting." I rubbed my forehead. I knew this would be the beginning of another wasted morning.
"Of course I do, 0231. Why else would I ring you this early for the fifteenth time this month?"
I tightened my jaw, being polite and calm were not my strong points. "Excellent point, Sir. Fill me in on location."
"He's been spotted by agent 0903 by the water fountain in the centre of town. Maybe he's looking for another place to rob. We have limited intelligence on this, Thomas."
"I know, Sir. I'm on my way." I sighed, pressing the disconnect button. I stood up, slowly, being careful not to tread in the wet patches on the floor where the roof had been leaking. The place I had been based was disgusting and sometimes I'd lay awake and wonder why I'd given up my house, my friends and my normal life to do this. Then I'd remember and come back to reality. I pushed my phone into my tight jean pocket and found the only piece of clothing I actually liked hooked onto the door handle. It was a thick, leather jacket that I used in every task, I liked the fact that it hid the tattoo on my arm which was probably the only way anyone who was looking for me would identify me with. I looked around the one room that was in my name and grabbed my ear piece before clicking the door shut behind me. I ran through the sticky, damp alley until I reached the edge of town only a few streets away from the last location he had been sighted.
18 months I had been set to find this man after he broke out of prison. He was in for over 150 major robberies. I had been so close before, close enough to look into his grey/blue eyes and see sorrow not anger. All I had been told about Max was that we needed him for a very special task and I wasn't allowed to know about this until I had caught him.
I pushed the button on my earpiece. "Can I have some identity description please?"
"Long, brown trench coat, very short dark brown hair and is shorter yet stockier than you, 0231. He's also got a bronze colour dog on a black lead, breed not specified."
"Received." I carried on walking, hoping the dog would be his downfall. If you're hiding from everyone, why would you buy a dog?
I'm sure you're wondering how I got into this situation. How I ended up being in a secret agency helping to solve mysteries and crimes no other institution could attempt.
It all started a few years before when I was very close to finishing my shift at the local bar. I was a bartender, known for the best cocktail combinations in London. One evening, just as I was about to finish my shift another customer slid onto one of the many neon barstools around my work station. I smiled at her and winked, pulling a cocktail glass onto the table in front of us. I could smell her flowery perfume from across the counter and she smiled back at me, twisting a lock of dew-dropped blonde hair ,that had just come from the rain, around her fingers.
“What can I get you?” I asked, adjusting the white tie higher on my black shirt. I winced as I felt a sharp, stabbing pain on my left arm, like I was being stabbed with a shard of glass. I looked behind me but no-one was there and the girl was reading me. She was analysing all the moves I was making. The pain was ongoing but I powered on through.
“Cosmopolitan, please.”
“Sure, darling.” I got down the vodka, lime juice and cranberry juice when suddenly the shooting pain got worse. I rolled up my sleeve and saw the mark I’d had since I was a baby throbbing. Over the years the mark had got more and more prominent until you could clearly make out the tribal symbols that looked like black tattoo ink.
“Are you ok, Tom?” She asked leaning forward towards me and looking closer at my mark. I quickly rolled my sleeve down again.
“How did you-“ I began.
“Name badge.” She started staring at my sleeve again. “What does that symbol mean?”
“I don’t know.” I growled, anger had built up inside of me, I didn’t know where from and I threw the drink I had made for her in her face. I pulled all the glasses from the shelves, causing them to shatter on the floor and unplugged beer kegs so the whole floor flooded with the stench. People around me were staring at me, giving me looks like I was crazy but I didn’t stop. I kicked some of the memorable plates my boss had hung around the bar, cracking them until they were beyond repair. I shouted “Stop!” to myself but I still didn’t. I noticed the girl slipping out of the door, probably scared of the rage I was randomly taking out on the workplace. I turned around and my boss was sat behind. He went to grab me but I dodged his grasp. “I’m so sorry, Kev, I really am.”
“Tom, why would you possibly do this?” He wanted to pull out what locks of hair he had left.
“I don’t know, I swear I don’t know what came over me.” I knelt down, scrambling on the floor trying to scavenge for any surviving pieces of crockery. “I’ll pay for it all.”
“Yes, you fucking will. Now, get out of my business! My lawyer will be in touch.” He threw the box of paper umbrellas at me, mainly because everything else was smashed beneath our feet.
I felt sudden tears prick my eyes, I had just lost my dream job, I was going to have to pay him a few thousand pounds and I was going to have to tell everyone why I had lost my temper and I had no reason to give them. I unclipped my badge and left it on the side before rushing out into the rain, letting the droplets mask my own, making my spiked up hair stick to my forehead.
That’s when my phone rang, a secret agency wanting me for some reason. I always asked them why me, why now but they never gave me a straight answer. I knew that they had got someone watching me, spying on me and checking to see if I was the right one. I had the ability, the stamina and the control of an expert... well apparently, that’s what the agency told me.
