Lightning Cloud

Cobrashot

"So tell us a little about yourself Mr. Thiago." Mark's crisp, clear voice sounded over the chatter, and everyone fell quiet.

Thiago shifted uncomfortably and said,"Really, there isn't much to tell. I'm quite a boring person in that regard...,"Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Michelle grinning at him, and resolved in his mind to make it a point to ask her how to avoid all these community meetings in the future, before continuing,"I was born in Switzerland, my parents shifted to Dubai when I was very little, they died in a car accident when I was twenty, I used to work as a
ban-"

"Not so fast Mr. Thiago, even us fast talking States people can't follow you when you go that fast!" Mark exclaimed.

Thiago thought in his mind that if he couldn't follow his speech, he needed to have the holes in his ears widened... with a bullet. Smiling inwardly, he repeated the former a little more slowly, finishing,"bank manager. Then after moving around a lot and earning a bit of money, I decided to retire and move here to live out the rest of my life."

Mark said," But you don''t look a day past forty. Why retire so young?"

Thiago replied, irony dripping from his voice," If I continued to work in that line, it would have been the death of me."

Light laughter rippled across the room. Thiago thought inwardly that if they knew what he really used to do for a living, they might have laughed less and agreed with him more.

Mark asked,"So do you plan to earn some more money while you're here? This is, after all, the land of opportunity."

Thiago said,"Yes, I plan to open up a garage here. Fix up people's cars and all that. I'm quite good at fixing things."

Indeed he was. When he was a whole lot younger, he had learned to fix everything from a broken down radio to futuristic technology not yet seen or heard of, training from his agency that he had applied everywhere, in many of his hits. A few cars would really be of no trouble to him at all.

An old man wearing a sky blue silk short and black trousers shouted,"If you are, I'd like you to fix up my old Beetle. Had the baby since it first came out in '66. Now she isn't working so well, she isn't."

Thiago gave the warmest smile he could muster and replied,"It would be a pleasure to fix her up... for a price though. I was a banker, after all."

Everyone smiled, and the old man wheezed,"If you manage to fix my baby up, I'll pay you in gold boy!"

Michelle's mother stepped up. She was only an inch shorter than her husband, and he was tall to begin with. She had the same kind of blond hair and forget-me-not blue eyes as her daughter. Slim and graceful even for her age, she had a tray in her hands, upon which were laid drinks and an assortment of hors d'oeuvres. She exclaimed," Fruit punch, anyone?"

An hour later, having eaten a little and listening to the old man with the Beetle's war stories, which even a man like Thiago admitted were quite interesting, he got up and bid farewell to his hosts. However, the parting shot was fired by Mark, who much to his chagrin promised to hold a dinner in the near future and introduce him to some friends who were into financing small businesses, in order to help out with Thiago's garage idea. As he stepped out, Michelle followed him and said,"I'll see you off to your home, make sure you reach safely. Old men like you shouldn't go around wandering in the dark."

Thiago thought if he heard any more irony that day, he might just turn into the real metal. Considering that he was a recently retired master assassin who had killed people in the most impossible of situations and was capable of using almost anything as a weapon, she was the one who needed to be safe.