Claws

Chapter Six

       "Who's there?" I demand, walking to work. I swear I saw a man on the roof of a nearby building. I can't be sure if it's the same man I saw yesterday. A piece of paper flutters to the ground beside me. I pick it up, turning it over in my hand. It has a message on the back.

Scrawled in messy, yet readable handwriting, it asks:

What do you know about SAKA?

"Why does everyone keep asking me this? I know nothing! I don't even know what SAKA is!" I shout upwards, exasperated. "Now, I have to get to work, please!"

Another note flutters to the ground.

Then why did you stop our man?

"Because he was robbing an innocent woman!"

That woman was far from innocent.

"Well that's her problem! I got the guy committing the crime. Now leave me alone!" No note flutters to the ground, so I assume the guy has gone. Then a gunshot echoes through the air, and I'm running towards work.

"Jean! Jean! Oh, thank goodness!" I say, falling into her as I arrive.

"Shh! What happened! You were nearly late!"

"I got held back. Holy crap, I ran all the way here after that," I say, panting.

"I can tell. Are you okay? I heard a car backfire and then there was a black streak out the windows and the doors flew open and you were here!"

"That wasn't a car backfiring. That was a gunshot."

"A gunshot! Sweetie, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I think he fired a blank..."

"Who? Adrian?" Jean gasps, her eyes wide.

"What? No, not Adrian! The guy on the roof!" I say, taken back.

"Guy on the roof? This roof? What guy?" She asks, her eyes toward the ceiling. I clutch her forearms, following her gaze.

"Not this roof. I was walking to work, and yesterday their was a guy I thought was a repair worker, except I saw him again today, and then he disappeared and this note came down from above me. It asked me what I knew about this thing called SAKA, and I shouted that I didn't know anything, and he asked me why I stopped their man, and I shouted that I was just taking a robber to jail for robbing an innocent woman, and they said the woman wasn't innocent, and I said that's not my problem, and then there was a gunshot!" I said, out of breath.

"Woah, woah, woah! Slow down!" Jean told me. "So you were stalked by a man who was working with the robber and he shot a blank at you?"

"Yes."

"And he dropped notes to speak with you?"

"Yes."

"And he said the woman the robber robbed wasn't innocent?"

"Yes."

"What does that mean? I think you may have stumbled on a secret organization!" Jean smiles.

"Look, we both have to get to work. How about we speculate at lunch?"

"Sounds good to me." She flounces off to her cubicle, and I walk to mine.

We both take our calls dutifully, waiting until eleven. When the clock hits eleven, I shut off my phone and meet Jean at the front doors.

"There you are! Now, Adrian's?" She asks.