The living room was still dark. Heavier curtains, overlapping, keep out the humanity, keep in the distractions.
The only light in the room was a red flashing glow that beckoned from the answering machine.
I had heard the phone ring the night before.
A ringing phone always means business. I have no friends - I try to limit my ties to those whose loss I will not feel.
During last night’s athletic preoccupation I opened a mental portal and began counting phone rings. Between the kisses; between the pleas.
Everyone has a way of deciding what’s important.
The telephone’s repetitive insistence is my barometer of a potential client’s desperation; I only work for those more desperate than me.
Less than five rings is a lost pet. Five to 8 rings is a lost child or adult. Eight to 12 rings is a larceny. Over 12 rings is a body.
Bodies have become the only things that interest me. Curly blonde or bloodless corpse, it doesn’t matter.
I don’t waste moral currency on missing dogs.
As I approached the winking light I noticed that the empty tumbler was still in my hand. I put it down on the end table.
Last night’s caller had made fifteen attempts.
I pushed the button.
Moses Armstrong. Agent provocateur. I work alone. Some may say I'm a mercenary, but that would imply I care... I am an agent of fortune, a spy, an undercover intelligence office. My past is checkered. I had a wife named Madeilene, a son names Jonas. They were killed. I take lovers, prostitutes, women, blonds, into my bed for succor. I drink heavily, scotch whiskey, alcohol. Some would say I'm an alcoholic. They'd be right, but it's only self-medication. Some have called me Jack Bauer, 24, James Bond, but they have more scruples than me. I'm more like the Joker, Batman and his Dark Knight. I fight against both governments and criminals; against terrorists, terrorism, Muslim fanatics, pirates (Somalis, African, Kenyan, doesn't matter), enemies of justice. I have no friends, excpt the bottle and my cigarettes. I live by night, sleep by day, visit the underbelly of Paris, my current landing place. I am American, lived in London. My fees are high, because I only deal in bodies: blonds and corpses.
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