Confirmation

He felt his phone buzz. It was an email: the subject read "Confirmation for flight #76RUSS112". Charles immediately stopped walking.

 Without looking up from his phone, he mumbled some incoherent apologetic words to the woman who bumped into him. She stared at him for a second and then walked past him. Charles opened his internet banking app to check if any money had been taken. Waiting for it to load, he took a deep breath.

Bewilderingly, nothing was debited. He raised his eyebrows, and continued his walk to work.

A few hours later he received another email for a hotel booking and yet again he found his account had not been charged. He rolled his eyes and continued with his work. He planned to phone his bank when he finished the day.

Later, he received a new email addressed to him, only this one was not a confirmation email. It was sent from a throwaway email address. "A car will be waiting for you outside when you leave work" it read.

Charles' stared at the screen for a while. Then, without thinking he got up and stared out of his window. He was greeted with his usual grey view; there was nothing yellow in sight. So far he had received two confirmation emails - a return flight to Moscow and a hotel reservation there for one night only. Charles wiped his sweaty hands on his trousers and glanced at the clock, twenty minutes till he finished the day.

The twenty minutes passed like an eternity. Charles pushed the doors to the exit wide open. His hands trembled. There it was, parked right in front of the building. The yellow car was waiting. Charles stood planted until someone emerged from the car.

"Get in" he said. Charles stood still.

"Get in, now" said the man louder. Charles was still but his legs transported him into the car. There was silence, then the engine started and the car started moving.

"Everything is arranged, you should have received the confirmation emails. There is a briefcase in the boot. It contains all the information needed and half the money. The rest will be given to you after the job is complete" informed the man sitting in the front in a heavy Russian accent.

There were three people in the car not including Charles, they were all wearing suits.

With his hand on the door handle, Charles managed to say "I don't know what you're talking about, you must have the wrong person..."

The man in the front smiled, his golden tooth was visible. He looked at Charles through the rear view mirror and said " Having second thoughts are we Charles?". 

Then, Charles heard the click of the locks.