Friday, March 26, 2010

The Wanderer: Pawn takes Bishop

1540hrs - Alley behind Post Office.
Four men in dark suits and sunglasses. Odd. He expected six men. Where are the other two? One of the men steps forward. Slight build, 6"2' with hawk eyes. He has a peculiar tie pin. Golden with a green amber set in it. Leone Salgado.
"Eh, Bruce...Good to see you, finally."
"To what do I owe this disturbing pleasure, sir?"
"I'm here to make a proposition. I'm sure you won't refuse it."
"I'm not interested. Those days are way behind me."
"Yes, Bruce. But your skills are the best. Quite remarkable, yet unbelieveable. No one thinks there's a guy as good as you are in this 'trade' today."
Bruce shrugs.
"Just cut to the chase, Salgado. What does a high profile marketing manager want with a guy who spends his days playing video games and sipping Novida?"

A beefy guy in black suit hands him a parcel.
"Get back to me if you're interested. Same time, 3 days from now."
"Sayonara."

1700hrs - Quiet house on outskirts of city
Bruce stares outside the window, watching youth play, or rather, attempt to play the beautiful game. Their laughter rises and hangs in the air like a fragrant mist. Things he missed growing up. It reminded him of his time in Japan when....

(Encrypted Phone rings)
"Hello?"
"Did you see him?"
"Of course I did. He gave me the stuff. Said I should get to him in 3 days."
"Good. We'll have time for rest and relaxation. And I need you to do something small for me in the meantime."
"Anything for you, bro."
"Meet Janice. Take a load off. She's quite nice."
"Yeah, I could tell. Will think about it."
"You know you work too much. And when did you start taking that much Novida? It's non-alcoholic, you know."
"Yeah. I guess some habits just rub off. Learnt too much from you."
"OK. Brief me on the proceedings."
"As usual, Max. Later."

Max stands up from his workstation and walks over to the wall filled with newspaper clippings, red marker in hand. He goes to a particular photo and draws a circle over a face. Salgado, Leone Salgado...

8 comments:

  1. hmmm..nice stuff. think i'm going to have to go back and read the rest though...

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  2. Oh.... the Wanderer!!!!
    :-)

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  3. why can't i blog something this short?

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  4. 14:21.. Ugandan girl reads this blog..nice...

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  5. Salgado..there's something funny about that name. It was prolly originally a name for pets, like viscous Alsatians..js saying. Love the tale

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