A Special Touch

            Dan and I strive into what I have coined the T.B. Project. He’s there, he’s here, he’s on that, he’s under that, he’s everywhere, and nowhere long enough to catch him. Scurrying from one monitor to another, cords draped along his arms and his button down shirt making it’s way down. “You want to catch T.B.?” I ask Dan.

            “Not particularly,” he replies.

            “Will you catch Dan?” I ask.

            “For a price.”

            “What’s your price?”

            “One kiss?”

            “How about I don’t tell Brent your use of the company gadgets to woo females at bars?”

            “That works too,” off Dan goes trailing T.B. and shouting as he goes. When T.B. gets this way, it’s very hard to get him out of his zone, Dan tends to be the one with the best track record in beating him back into reality.

            “Look who finally decides to show-up,” Brent bounds.

            “Excuse me Mr. Prudent, I was a little busy at the moment,” I say climbing the stairs to his littler cavern.

            “What did you find out?”

            “A fellow known as Kez hired the Brutes to track down the flash drives. I don’t know why, but I know he covered his tracks very well. He calls the Brutes on a cellphone he arranged for them, that doesn’t record his number to send them to various pick-up spots for their assignments. The Brutes should be getting out of their predicament soon, so we’ll see soon if they truly can’t call him.”

            “Good work Rose.”

            “Thanks. Now you, what did you find out?”

            “The explosion was very central to our offices, specifically the flash drive’s position. It was measured accurately and by a professional. It was also a controlled experiment, whoever shot us down wanted to make sure they only got us and not anyone around us. “

            “Could it be government espionage or something of that nature?”

            “Sounds likely by the car of bystanders. However, the government is not usually keen to loosing their toys.”

            “Then what is it?”

            “I’m not sure. I think most of this won’t make sense until we combine all of those flash drives.”

            “I just hope there is a way we can get ahead of Kez in this hunt, if we have to keep following him, it’s going to cause us more danger than most.”

            “What are you guys discussing up here without me?” Dan asks striding into the on-look with T.B. following.

            “How you ever snapped T.B. back I will never know,” I say.

            “I just have a special touch,” Dan says. “You’re welcome to find out what that touch feels like anytime.”

            “I’m assuming that T.B. taught you that touch, so maybe I should just go to the source,” I fire back.

            “Anyway,” T.B. interjects. “First off, I’m prepping the control system downstairs to be off of the grid and hide our spectrums as well as emit opposite signals, as a prevention method from another attack.”

            “Thank God, we’re running out of headquarters,” Brent sighs.

            “Secondly,” T.B. states. “I did teach Dan that touch.”

2 Bulges

            Brute 1 has his arms tied up and connected to the bumper of Dan’s car. Brute 2 is hanging by his arms to a fire escape. I have a bat in my hands and Dan is sitting in his driver’s seat waiting for my word.

            “So this is how it is going to work,” I say beating the bat in my hands and crossing from one brute to the next. “I’m going to ask one of you a question and if they refuse to answer or give me an answer I don’t like, the other will pay,” I say stopping my pace. “Understood?” I scream.

            “Shut your bloody mouth you whore!” Brute 2 screams.

            “Now what do you know about my sexual track record?” I ask coming close to him with my bat. “Go Dan!” I scream. I see Brute 2’s eyes wander to Brute 1, as Dan revs his engine and then spurs a couple feet as Brute 1 drags along the hard pavement. Dan stops a couple of feet away.

            “We’re going to try this again, got it!” Both Brutes kept quiet this time.

            “Who do you work for?” I spit.

            “We don’t know,” Brute 1 quivers, still in pain from his little ride.

            “I don’t like that answer,” I say. Striding over towards Brute 2, I push the bat out to take a wide swing and lunge.

            “It’s true!” Brute 2 screams with some blood spilling with his words. “We’ve never met him.”

            “How do you get your assignments?” I ask.

            “He sends us to them in an envelope through the mail,” Brute 2 answers.

            “Where do they arrive?”

            “It’s a different spot each time,” Brute 2 responds.

            “How do you know where to go?”

            “He calls us,” Brute 1 shares.

            “On what?”

            “On our cellphone from him. He has our number, we don’t have his,” Brute 1 says

            “Do you have the phone with you right now?”

            “It’s in my front right pocket,” Brute 2 says.

            I walk over to him and toss the bat aside. My hand slides into his pocket where I find two bulges. Only one I need though, and that one was bigger than the other.

            “Dan,” I yell. He runs out of the car and trots beside me.

            “What’s up?” He asks.

            “Has T.B. taught you any new tricks?”

            “Yeah, why?”

            “I think we may need one?”

            Dan seems to catch on, and takes the phone from my hand. He runs back to the car and unlocks his gift from T.B. Though I’m sure there are other surprises in that car T.B. hooked him up with that Dan doesn’t know of yet. As Dan becomes acquainted with his hook up, I become more acquainted with the Brutes.

            “What’s his name?”

            “We call him Kez,” Brute 1 answers. Brute 2 seems to be having problems with his other bulge.

            “What does he call himself then?”

            “Kez as well.” Brute 2 looks like he I going to be preoccupied for a while.

            “Do you know why he wanted the flash drive?”

            “We’re not that important in his schemes. He gives us a mission and we accomplish it. We don’t know why he wanted the flash drive.”

            “Do you have another mission from him?”

            “We’re probably going to die because we didn’t get all the info from that flash drive.”

            “I wish you luck with that,” I say turning from Brute 1. “Dan are we good?” I scream.

            “We’re good.” He tosses me Brute 2’s phone. It sucks for Brute 2, it seems he was just getting his bulge situation under control. Until I stuck his second bulge back in there.

            “Here’s what is going to happen, we’re going to untie Brute 1 from our car and leave, so good luck with that living thing,” I say. Dan is untying the rope from his bumper as we speak.

            “You fucking bitch!” Brute 2 shouts! Why do they still think I need a bat or some sort of instrument to hurt them?

            I walk over and punch him in his nose. “Good luck with that broken nose as well,” I say strutting over to Dan’s car.

            We leave the Brutes squirming and bleeding in the alley. “So what’s the plan?” Dan asks.

            “Learn what Brent found out and keep track of this Kez fellow.”