Post

Region: Lerodas

Mencaria

The Jaguar and the Tiger - Part III

600 Word Post

“Ah yes, please, come in. Close the door behind you.”

The room was dimly lit, a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, with two chairs inhabited by two Pelay APPN agents on one side, and an empty chair on the other. The floor was somewhat dirty, though the table itself was completely clean. Itzcali shut the door gingerly, then turned back around to the officers.

“You’re here toda-”

“Oh, cut the act already,” Itzcali stated as he strode over to the empty chair and procured a cigarette packet from his pocket. He grabbed a match and struck it on the matchbox, lighting the cigarette now in his mouth and putting away all of the others. Inhaling deeply, he saw the somewhat blank expressions of the two APPN agents in front of him; “Don’t worry, I’ll say it was one of you two smoking. That’ll be easy to believe.”

“You know, it would be much easier to maintain your cover if you didn’t strut around like you owned the place,” one of the APPN agents stated dully.

“What would maintain it even more easily is if I didn’t get ‘pulled over for questioning’ every few weeks before work. Most people get questioned on the way home from work, or waiting for the bus… Maybe try that, once in a while, hm?” Itzcali sighed as he kicked up his boots onto the table, “So, who am I tailing today?”

“Luckily enough, someone you know quite well;” the second agent stated, pulling monochrome photographs from his jacket pocket. Itzcali picked up the first and held it out in front of his face. He moved it to look quizzically at the agents.

“Teuili? Wouldn’t have thought that man posed a threat to state security.”

“Indeed, it might not have appeared so. The man has a pretty clean record, as records go. Especially for Jah-”

The agent’s partner jabbed the first agent in the ribs, and he stopped speaking and looked sheepishly back at Itzcali.

“However, a routine stakeout of a KTJ-frequented establishment saw Mr Teuili appear on the evening of one of their meetings. It seemed as if he was organising a number of the events for the night also.”

“A subsequent bag search found notes for a speech he was to deliver the next week,” the second agent continued, “We didn’t raise the alarm with him - wanted him not to suspect anything.”

“And what about the second bag search?” The two agents paused, puzzled. Itzcali looked between the two with equal confusion; “The second bag search? Where Teuili’s briefcase was broken?”

“We didn’t authorise a second bag search…” the first agent replied, still sounding confused. Itzcali grunted. ’Figures.

“Well, make sure you don’t allow any other officers to perform ‘unscheduled bag searches’,” Itzcali instructed the two, “This will go a lot easier if Teuili doesn’t know the extent of his investigation.”

“And you oversee his actions at work,” the first agent spoke again, “We think he may be trying to recruit more of the Jahay workers in the shipyard. Try to mitigate any of the damage he does, in whatever way you think best, and report back to us via the usual ways.”

“And if he approaches you to join, accept it,” the second agent continued on from the first, “This may even be the golden opportunity we’ve waited for to monitor the KTJ even more closely.”

“Understood,” Itzcali replied, flicking the cigarette onto the ground and stamping it with his foot, before he rose to his feet and grabbed his briefcase, “Keep me as updated as you can also.”

“Of course, agent. For Security.”

Itzcali always felt somewhat guilty saying it, but it was the general farewell of the APPN, and he essentially had to say it. It was an imperfect organisation, and one for which he held little sympathy. But they paid well, allowed him greater freedom, and it was truly something that he was good at, aside from the general labour that went into his cover; “For Security.”

He continued out of the door, closing it again behind him, and made his way to the front of the line. As he reached his old position, he heard a cough from behind him. Looking around, he saw the guard commander making a circular motion with his finger, indicating for him to turn around, to the back of the line. Itzcali picked up his briefcase again, and strode back to the other end of the line.

Albraltar, Desula, Shuoria, Inomora, and 1 otherLudernia

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