A man sat behind an enormous desk. He was dressed in a trench coat with turned up collar, wore dark glasses and had Wellington boots on as he stretched out his legs under his desk; when we sat down we could see them. Our gaze was immediately diverted as on the walls were pictures of scantily clad blondes. Who wanted to look at a clownish person dressed as if he was expecting a high tide to appear in his office?
Suddenly he said, ‘Raise your feet off the floor!’
I thought it was some sort of test and raised mine instantly, perhaps it was a reflex test and I had passed with flying colours, but no, it was not as water appeared as if by magic and flooded the floor. Unfortunately Roger had not raised his feet quickly enough and had to take off his shoes and socks. I looked round the room resting my chin on top of my knees surveying the situation and thinking how comical it was, it was too silly for words, perhaps it was just a silly joke and we both had been sucked into a surreal world of fantasy by someone who did not want us to know his identity. It was at this point the man removed his coat and glasses, stood up and walked towards us as the water receded from the room. He proffered his hand for us to shake and said, ‘Sorry about that! This building was built on marshy ground and every now and again we get a tide invading this office. I’ve spoken to the Council about it, but nothing seems to happen. He sighed.
‘You both want excitement, well you’ve come to the right place. I’ve looked at your CV’s and everything appears to be in order. You’ll both receive special training and become part of an elite force. Just sign on the dotted line. The man leant forward and proffered them a blank sheet of paper to sign. We both looked and said, ‘There is nothing on this paper to signify to what we are penning our names. ‘Don’t worry about that, it is nothing underhand, we take our job seriously and as we are a Secret Service for this wonderful country of ours, we keep our administration to a minimum. It all boils down to costs. Your progress reports will be placed on this form as you start your training and hopefully pass. They both signed the forms and the man retrieved them. He said ‘I forgot to mention that should you fail any of your tests, you will be eliminated. Don’t worry you look like a very promising pair, but should one of you fall by the wayside, at least you will be killed off by your best friend, that should be rather comforting and if either one of you fail to kill the one that has failed he will be eliminated too. The less paperwork we have to do, the better.
You realise that you both can’t go back to collect your clothing and other personal things. We will arrange for all your stuff to be brought here.
We looked at each other in a rather peculiar fashion and it appeared they had joined this group as friends, but were now enemies. I wished I had not joined and Roger, well I didn’t know what Roger was thinking at the time.
Jake stopped talking and looked at Samantha. ‘Are you sure you want to hear the rest of my story?’
‘Yes! Carry on.’
Jake took a deep breath. We both finished our three year course of training which covered many subjects. We were equal in everything we did. One day I let my feelings get the better of me and I confided with Roger that I missed Penny who was with me at the college. Obviously I did not know Roger, who immediately told the boss man and he was given his first assignment to kill her and stage it to look like I had done it with a trumped up story that I was captured by a gang and held captive for two days and given drugs. I was arrested and let go to be looked after by my girlfriend. It wasn’t my girlfriend who picked me up, it was some woman I had not seen before in my life, a blonde…a blonde. Oh how stupid of me, the group must have arranged it all and now I am on the run because the police think I killed her.
Samantha said, ‘They will know that you didn’t do it, I don’t know much about killing and such things, but they must realise that you couldn’t have done it because of the timing and everything.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘If Roger killed her before the group let you go and staged this story, surely common sense will tell them that Penny had been murdered two days before you were released, because I assume a body goes through several stages.’
‘How do you know all this, you’re not an ordinary person are you?’
‘I better own up I suppose. I work for the Government. I am part of a special unit to crack down on groups like this who have sprung up over the years and have caused problems. I was put here for your protection. I might as well tell you that your friend Roger Tamworth was murdered as soon as he left the police station. He was found just a few yards away. The police tried very hard to hush up the incident. But they all have been arrested, thanks to you. I am just sorry about Penny your girlfriend.’
‘She wasn’t my girl friend. She was my sister. We made an arrangements with our parents to safeguard her and if everybody knew I was around, there wasn’t going to be any monkey business. All she wanted to do was to get her degree and move on. She wanted to be a career girl. I have let my parents down and I have lost my sister – you know deep down I loved my sister. She used to play terrible tricks on me, but I loved her really. I want revenge, but even that has been taken away from me.’
‘No you don’t.’ said Samantha. ‘You’re too nice!’
Jake broke down and cried and Samantha cuddled him and they kissed.
The Government agency of secret service members captured the group who were going to infiltrate and cause mayhem, although they were thwarted in capturing the top man and a few others that were drowned by all accounts. The basement had been filling up with water from the marshy ground and had not managed to drain away and subsequently the building sank without trace. It was as though it had never been there.