The Heroes We Weren't

Chapter 3 - L'appel Du Vide

The upside to working in your dreams is being able to sleep in.

The downside?

The downside arrived with the morning news.

I was seated in my couch, coffee cup in hand and blanket swirled around cold knees. The local news anchor had been going on forever about the single most boring topic of the day, including the oh-so-exciting discovery of a pig-escapee from a nearby farm.

Needless to say, not nearly enough happened in our town to ever let the news last for longer than five minutes. That said, this morning it did come as a shock when the news anchor suddenly placed his hand against his ear to carefully listen to the sudden alert.

"This just in," he began, "fifty thousand dollars from a charity for children in need have gone missing. The charity's account was handled by a banker of high status, and witnesses have confirmed that the before mentioned did indeed visit the bank early this morning to make a transfer; from the charity's own account to an unknown recipient."

My blanket had to shelter my clothes from the sudden rain of coffee as I violently spat my drink out. The CCTV footage had been badly censured and so it didn't take me long to recognize his checkered suit. That was for sure the man who I had spoken to in my dream; the victim of my first so called mission.

"Police are currently tracking the owner of the account to which the money appear to have been transferred." The news anchor continued. "Meanwhile, the suspect is denying all involvement with the case."

I had already dialed the number to Mister Question Mark, aka my boss, at least three times, but without him picking up. Go figure, he was probably one foot out of the country already.

Now, I didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but the fact that I had been ordered to read a couple of numbers out loud to a banker who had now transferred the entire charity account to an unknown recipient, did make me question my boss' motives and role in the matter.

I stopped outside the empty bar on my daily walk to nowhere. I could see Gus through the window but he was too busy drinking to acknowledge me.

As I was dialing my new boss for the eleventh time, I stopped outside of a restaurant. I could see Adam through the window, and it didn't take long for him to notice me. He raised his hand the slightest in a vague greeting and so I allowed myself to take a break from my non successful attempts at reaching the possible thief of a boss.

I adjusted the scarf around my neck to assure myself that the horrid cut from my slay-the-soldier attempts wouldn't show.

"Good day!" Adam waved me over to his table.

"Good day indeed," I studied the big clock on the wall as I ordered a caffe latte, "shouldn't you be at the office?"

Adam raised his nearly empty plate, "I was never one for lunchboxes."

As the waiter placed my cup opposite to Adam I took a seat, hoping he wouldn't mind my company. There wasn't really anyone in this town that I knew enough to hang out with, and my workplace sure didn't bring a lot of great conversations. Might as well spend a moment or two with this man whom I had since long fancied, no?

It wasn't so much the Gucci shoes or that clean shaved chin of his; I liked how dependable he seemed. Always spoke with such courtesy, always worried for those in need, always-

Come to think of it, he had mentioned once about donating money to that one charity; the one from the morning news; the one with the now missing money that I was probably quite blameworthy of.