*****
I wait until I am sure and then press the button below my desk. Then I tap onto the intercom. “Francis, is Mr Alexanders there?”
“He is, Kirstie, I’ll pass you through.”
“Hello, Kirstie. What can I do for you? Is this connected to the message that just came to my phone?”
“Yes, there’s a man in the cafe over the road, and he’s watching this building; everyone that comes in and out. I thought it was my imagination at first, but he’s definitely watching.”
“I’m on my way.”
Within two minutes, the elevator doors open and James steps out, making a point I think, of walking deliberately casually. He leans against my desk, his back to the front windows propping himself with arms folded, looking down at me as if he is simply chatting.
“Can you point him out to me, please.”
“He’s just left, while you were coming down. But I caught him on my phone camera.”
“Let me see.” He peers in at the two-inch image on my tiny screen.
“I’m sorry it’s not very good. I was trying not to be conspicuous about it and I couldn’t hold the phone still very easily.”
“Don’t worry about that, Kirstie. Email it to me and I’ll take a proper look at it.”
“Can you do anything with it? I don’t know much about this image-enhancing stuff.”
“No, but I do.”
“You do?”
He glances askance at me. “There’s a reason that I’m the Technical Director here, you know.”
can you man the front
*****
laptop, a grainy
point him out to me,
blurred face of a fair-haired
but the
image tightens, resolving into a recognisable face.” He rubs his
you know him?”
long was he
I noticed. I thought I was imagining things at
well, Kirstie; very well. May I see your
“My phone?”
and he holds out his hand,
says “Unlock it please.” As I hesitate, “I don’t want to spy on your photo
in my passcode and return it to him. He taps the screen, running through menus. After only a few moments, he comments, “Mmmm, not a fantastic
a bit deeper than mine, Sir. I bought the phone I could
you can afford, but in this case, given the excellent work you did this morning, I want you to have the equipment to match the job. I assume you have
“Er, no….”
???
lot more memory. I’d like to look at the laptop
being used on the desk when I started the job,
no, on second thoughts, it would look a bit odd for me to be sitting at the reception desk….” He stands, opens the door and sticks his head
there is a tap on the door: Francis, looking at me curiously, the lobby
Francis.” says James, “What’s the log-in,
“kirstie-01”
think we can improve
about it. I didn’t think the
change,” he comments, jabbing
eSg3oyiVhYFRKC7p8PbsBdiRUIQpcpdm0ukZNBp9HuCdeDkX/UG2lCZAG7hHeCPwZDt16NJeG4TdMNkgz/cQq0fCV3Yo0gm9SfPUvG8A2XNzY3bbSenbJFaFaZTlbvu1pKjWbERjRCWSKtTFWQi++dIUV79qycZkaD4pxtJodAx3COQxCHGOOvhO3OWo2Nynp31dEjlySzp4gUqIn4ZwB59d9FPUu2z8k257TsR4MFvwZ1FsxiwySc/m1OGw7MfbVVwTDJ+qXv776HspJQp3k7GaJAN77iQpqfY8+U/jjllew2+ok5NLdpnGsj9gCOVgMN6/xJmr4uKTh3xjWSHtooUE2vXAQmMKB9VKRt3a8aBFm4fa3dE6gQIMPfUogK3AlqjILTfTD2ak3Gr4DXr0n1LOaXgxSqLDv//rgYcjKIWvZz+x3CfjTMmhvlFDFMxghhEY6htKeyFW2d8Glh2GDFiLAW0SHlEYhHpp2Ik1pvzXcdAbEX2yLlDGycWCtfZ0bhlRvKzqWAfzHudRf3DOuCWwL2+xNxNYlaDjczjm8rcsCpP+axy+QNsPjp9ItRO7Y9imHLgmOV/pXGeQOKbkMSVgVQKUoGJTnEREZEmM2ie62NY5M+ioVosgB7O0meT2jfgASe85j9RD5UZK02lbTNYa8iNJft2c/Vxw6VjHPAOD+kBm7EaZ/NuiYsOHBdBhk53xtxGSvHV5yvd5vKb9LQkL6eqVMd0zRzhpW36YfQEsT/qr8QMGyBLIaBJvQL3LbQ7rHX/+evw5xCGzvtMAqIMyQuOqUN/dVQ6byIHhm8dA4YQlgCzPEbS2oQzrjJYczdgiNWFhHYOwpFTAOkmG0/ERdnovoxv8QykCXXjNQBwI52Edz3qJUa3FFRlbasajb3Vv/GTg99XPKMZeID7O2QQg/wUFJD8cnr0Eu0b4IqyWHA9MWdKG8pJmo+uiE7n+b4v48PWdzVNcTsNaI+9SKW7nxypKMAaLhP0GakpGsVt8szqPO+Qh98in/RxDyCe+BDw9UQcdXQS09wtkHaBBCKBwwyDaner+9RhnxBcDdxd1jYdE/0stobdN0vIJXTA8s3M8ujKHBp7EQG8k1hN+20tg33rIldWXN4e2apsncH90CCuOUJ50xkWz0A7NKbmnzlTlgrfnaWLi+yZ2w6Xsl2JQX1ZllAEdfVW++I7NavO3tG2MwIqFiK0FaB5Im6L/gfmCBTLZbikURtn/HHKkJDja2Ky7qggCJ2B99vZHD3qho7nx5KzklbieLotEzAUv3US/iq27lf8eNzhUeR+0FbV+xdPfEW/kqD2UIeenYamGSUPMthkP2kOECaLzODo/aApWMZYJ2LZZJnzAX8pPPX2bqnkEUhQAn8AlIQ7qq9v0ynMt1fTUveFC8wNnA82fUN+S3Bb/86EmEazJrR0vwDeenSyRiJBc4JwyB200//3FOP4FjMc9kOizlwm7QfD2U3ZLNU1I+JYAoUi2C8hFpiFcGzfJieTKPDfFRCBiXRToe9yZe4OC0YNamSxjn5ijlvKoSHjpp4aXqPg+6X/CvkjJn9FU+OZVgMWfNYEuR4301T/Ge5Rf36sTr91qygz2umxWOMrEHzmIbeYfHdBC7grLeaU45byW9Dqeput8lg8uytnM7zALB1SHOa65SA3hBnX/Q3e/qstZm9xi9FCsCsh6RrjrQcJotPReL6ejicbajfK/h9Qt60d7UmseraGr3n2VWEsGwupVhtfYoMmGqg+n1FKLMRFlqHeui0mZLNN8RF1TJNdreCBYUXpte2zzTzmSqZW8syAbA+RYE8wFHRv1UIDlihEBv7RV+Ari+NKIyKu3xXRhzv917tp/u7x7l7AgXziMuA0bohit3klw6YQOX9zfDf4+yPCGRiiqHGPddOBE+UTuOfdpuIfqdiVtsvg/XXmV9eMayyGFXUWHrMRsf0Bz5TGCwgho3yQ8h/stvAG+yDBYK+QuauXK1Ki53iT8mcztQxTENrk2lS7elKAun3p3XAMFw8vMo2B6pcJCgnN8NVjOGMU7y8/99lWXt1RDO8F3gpXY0oKrmooSmlaod9+nxQ85hU9UfkRX9Ap+sGMEiXJ2Nt95oZhpJdg7SeOVBSKPVwQBejOmE+C1LHEI5I5Ps9fqGaD6LKEbSMt9Qky2G8lwH//OGzzryc4iUlfTe6qfXb7kfw7gO1N1lNay+zbI3nl4BAB5T/AwLkLlNxVSUUgmXJzkYevfADdEBW3cD3UeM7deV8Y7Ltdo2T/RHu0vRyrEycAdZOU8FAE6DS3SGDaFlNjc9w5t2BPSYoJtEnrVf2xaTt8SFgUl7oqGYeMA+FHyr2a/rfLbmzcjK0zO5iO5TBxZHBfzFMWU7S6DgVl5QGAJq2R2h4eVwmPSWBztDDyzqIq6ujvOuUlL5NNbDcTCESdX+tDsu6lNXo9wB7e63f+/AUM2haHp7e5Ulntjm1W2jrdhd0jDul62CkoK15V+mal7LxLMDm/qeVfd/bJXjeWs6nGbwBv6N2QJ1Vst+8Ru/xEOF5viW7r7Qu6U+gfnAbidbocHu2wJ56lfbiYzcfWWkMihRLJ7a17fbQ0xJxPcT+2PG/fL3ZHdBdxno18aDg3Mq3oDoUxT3ytst1hMKhv5ta1sw7mM4Ss7x818qXjMh1f/5wH41cNGsAUiVGWo1vITf40QgQC+4atw6gIa2cHdRuYUkLckpCYSqKZTacvx2Flu2HmsYO1Z3vJFi4sVHC/Q06YtH6nj3vFq73LvAe1HRw/5YAsgZxfKvFoPaN96XGp0z3BuCKjjm8bEhIBQsNDNP5w/5G41Fy4OcjhNoKpoMNDSwNFA+HyNcPd6Aoa31oBnEACPHMW8z1GH5C+5n/X8N4AOrKxL+oAAm9Jw9TbsGvo3lpur6uijc2T4s+fxV5lIQAzL0hzHxSRYMZKtNqxPKnANoPdbFE+Rcrxi2DHz2Bpl7hrhyFYhMRCxBwh0KvV64stwpAlQxxaJgduyB9RcJ4LblGpiz7oL7JjaNUV5aCWqyrWRs0Cx6D9rDu/jEoty8oWcDcGn1DxNjE6rfaZB52RejfiF3XLMJ+MhCXiVSM98gPFhJ1JXe55w+KrV+FVu3qoXGNbcC+O/2OkV0XjduPgyubFon96CRMUzsO0VYEz1IF1ya3KW/D7VwaV2R9wLGPoYyoAw8DO+2GSnkmxIYy6fIi7Jb/F3aBblWjvVexVEsMoC7qMzeUtUcFlQdv1+O/bqX1aFOG7jDWCrtyF3mcOrr52ZHPpjQBM4UPsZhf7uUJiLSe1Co5nzSdMCBcajz+Ixi6V0GXoHz+wguBua/pnYg6+QLYr8kmHLNX7ebsRVVn0qctrhn3WFON2sl3zZNYEy3pKVOcHkLbPMPERVug==
The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!