Boris was up early the
following morning, he needed to be in the office. Since the announcements of
the official closure due to government cutbacks things had already started
getting packed up, and fast. He usually
walked or used the bus most days but today he felt he was being watched, he got
a flash of an elderly guy on the bus, then in a shop window, and then two old
chaps on a park bench. He shrugged it off, after all he is a spy and spies are
paranoid and they were all old men, but he doubled back and took a taxi anyway.
Once a spy always a spy.
As he entered the department it was a shock,
it was half empty and even as he looked around he saw his own desk being loaded
up into a van. . . . ITS LIKE THE LAST DAY OF THE CLOSING DOWN SALE AT WOOLWORTHS
he said to one of the men sifting everything . . . . SORRY SIR, YES SIR BUT ITS
ORDERS FROM THE TOP was the reply. Boris was angry he needed to find out what
was going on. He made a few phone calls, but was told he was old school, field
agents were not needed anymore it was all desk jobs now, monitoring social
media and reading email, Boris was a dinosaur and was being pensioned off. It
was a big pension and he should not rock the boat or else.
As evening fell Boris
headed to the Zoot Suit Jazz Club alone, he was confused and very angry. He and
Irene were a good team and he could not understand how she could be working for
someone else. As he entered the half light of the old jazz club he heard a
voice saying WELL THANK YOU ZELDA AND THE ZODIACS THAT WAS A GREAT SONG. . . .
. WE WILL HAVE A SORT BREAK AND THEN IT WILL BE TONIGHT’S SPECIAL GUESTS THE ZAMBEZI ZITHER QUARTET FOLLOWED BY OUR VERY OWN BLACK
WIDOW AND THE SPIDER JAZZ BAND
As Boris looked round the
club he saw the old men he had seen in the morning, alarm bells rang in his
head and in the gloom he checked his revolver. As he did so a voice behind said
YOU DON’T NEED THAT BORIS . . . He turned, it was Irene . . . . . . WHATS GOING ON he said I THOUGHT WE
WERE A TEAM. . . . . WE ARE . . . LET THE GENERAL EXPLAIN she said smiling.
SORRY BORIS . . . YOU
CRACKED THINGS QUICKER THAN WE THOUGHT, CAUGHT US ON THE HOP. . . .WE ARE
INTELLIGENCE DEEP INTELLIGENCE; IRENE SAYS YOU ARE ONE OF THE BEST. WE HEARD
ABOUT THE IMPENDING CLOSURE OF YOUR DEPARTMENT MONTHS AGO AND SHE SUGGESTED WE
RECRUIT YOU, WE NEED SOME YOUNGER BLOOD HERE WE ARE NOW ALL VERY OLD FIELD
AGENTS. Another elderly man joined them,
HOW DID YOU WORK OUT THE LINK WITH THE ZOOT SUIT JAZZ CLUB AND THE SPIDER SO
QUICKLY. . . . Boris looked puzzled I DIDN'T IT WAS THE OLD GUY; THE STRANGE
ONE, HE TOLD ME TO LISTEN TO THE LIVE SHOW ON JAZZ FM LAST NIGHT THAT IRENE DID
WITH HER BAND. Irene now looked puzzled THAT’S NOT UNTIL NEXT WEEK BORIS. The General also confused asked Boris what he
knew about the old man. . . I DON’T KNOW MUCH, HE HAD AN OLD MATCHBOX AND A
SPIDER said Boris AND HE DID SAY HE PLAYED PIANO IN A BAR IN BERLIN
Later in the early hours Irene and Boris drive back to Boris’s home in a black Mercedes passing an old
man, he watches them as they drive past; bending down and carefully
sliding a small spider into an old matchbox. As he does so the owner of the
Italian coffee shop opposite shouts across the road . . . ANOTHER JOB DONE . .
. . The old man nods and turns into the park and through the undergrowth to his
forest shack deep in the Patagonian rain forests.
THE
END
Ooooooo some of you will have noticed that part one was W, part two X part three Y and part four Z from a previous A to Z challenge. . . . .well spotted
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