Agent 9

Chapter 8: The Three Stooges

It's amazing how life always finds a way to screw me over.

Usually, I'm not one to dwell on misfortune, but this? This is a whole new form of torture. I wonder how Archer Burns found Ephriam. However, I quickly change to wondering how I'll find Burns.

The only plan I manage to come up with is to go back to the bar. I mean, obviously, he goes there often enough for me to have stumbled across him. Then again, was it a setup? A set up for what? Archer wasn't planning on killing me or he would have tried to. But who goes to a bar in their free time and orders a glass of water? It doesn't add up to anything but a setup. I sigh in disbelief and facepalm because what I just thought of is just his style.

It was a tease. All a tease. He wanted me to see him there and know that he was loose. All of it was to escape from me and rub it in my face. All of it ignites another fire. I'm just waiting for the moment when I can quench the fire inside with Archer's blood.

I've been parked in front of the bar for a while now - thinking.

Well...Time to get back to work.

I open the door and jump out but my shoes catch a fly pebble and send me tumbling to the ground. I sit on my butt for a second and then jump up and dust myself.

I swear, one more thing and I'm gonna scream.

The atmosphere inside the bar is muted compared to last night. One glance at my watch reveals it to be 8 am. No sane person would be in the bar at this time. But I wouldn't expect a sane person to be able to tell me where to find Archer.

I sit myself down in a booth with a red leather cushion and survey the room for anyone to question. The first people I see are three men around Archer Burns' age sitting around a square table to my left. One of them glances in my direction, smiles, and then takes a swig of his drink. I decide to hold off talking to them until I absolutely have to.

There's a new, elderly bartender on the job. Sitting at the bar is a man on the end who looks as if he just hopped off his tractor and came in here for a quick break. On the opposite end is a woman who has either passed out or died.

Out of anyone here, the group of guys seems to be my best bet for finding Burns. I really, really don't want to talk to them. My last defense is my cufflinks. I take one off and hide it in my palm as I approach them.

"Well hello," Says the man who had noticed me earlier. His accent is similar to Archer Burns'. He rubs his fingers across his red stubble and smiles.

The two other guys look me up and down, the larger one winks at me. I ignore it and introduce myself.

"Hello, my name is Erina from the Agency Of Terror Detection and I'm looking for this man." I hold up the picture of Archer Burns I had shown Levi the night before.

The man with the red stubble rubs his hands together and gazes up at the ceiling.

He looks at his companions. "Well, I'm Bill. This is Wallace," He gestures to the largest of them who waves. "And Ricky," Ricky's the smallest of them.

Bill finishes off his drink and slams it loudly on the table. Wallace jumps and then starts laughing at himself. I roll my eyes and turn my attention to Bill.