Agent Brynx – Episode 13

Agent BrynX – Episode 13
The New Job

By Brian Ngoma

Leah stood at our house door watching me get the things i had bought, out of the car. She couldn’t help because Zoey was giving her a hærd time crying probably hungry. “Can you imagine this girl?” she sternly looked at me. “She’s been crying all noon. I just br-ast-fed her,” she said coyly.

“Just br-astfeed her again,” i laughed walking past her. I saw the confusion in Leah’s eyes. She was anxious and curious. The things i had bought were just too much. When i left home, i had no money. She couldn’t ask but wait for me to finish. “Perhaps there is something wrong with her?” I asked touching Zoey.

“No she’s fine. She’s just been eating too much,” Leah said tiredly. “She doesn’t give me space.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked. I was carrying the last parcel. “Let’s get in now.”

“It is a good thing but I’m tired today ah,” she complained. She watched me with a straight face while i sat on the couch breathing heavily. She finally saw a time to dive in. “You left in a hurry, where did you go?”

“Can’t you ask me how i am?” I smiled wryly. I was thinking of what to tell her. Should i tell her the truth? I thought of the Dwarfs words. At least i had to tell her something close to the truth. That would make me feel less guilty. “I have a New Job.”

“Wow,” she exclaimed sarcastically. “A job that pays on the first day?” she curiously stared at me. The question gave me the chils. I had to play this intelligently. There was no need to alarm her. “Baby?” her eyes showed she needed an answer.

“Come here,” i called her. She stood up and walked to me. “Bring Zoey to me,” she handed me Zoey who apparently had fallen asleep from eating too much and draining her mother. “Sit beside me,” i told her. She sat with a worried face searching for answers. “What kind of person wouldn’t feel sympathy for a man who tells them that they have a one year old daughter and a beautiful wife they are taking care of? Wouldn’t that person help in any way they can?”

Leah searchingly looked at me. I guess i sounded melodramatic because she had that stare where she is concentrating on a character on TV spilling out the words the script instructed them to. “My new boss gave me an advance. I was straight with him. He seems understanding and didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t refuse, could I?” I put Leah in a corner and i was finally breathing fine.

“He seems to be a good person,” she said sighing. “What kind of Job is it?”

“I’ll be managing finances for his hærdware,” I said proudly. “It’s not one of those small hærdwares, it’s a big company.”

“What is the name of that same company?” she asked me her eyes brightened.

I stammered. I didn’t think of that. Then i remembered the name of the camouflage hærdware in front of the agency. “Goma’s hærdware.”

“Okay, I’m happy for you babe,” she said.

I knew she was fine now and was glad that i had found a job. She leaned on me while she looked at Zoey. I could feel her breath. It was a breath of relief. A year was too much for her husband to be jobless. “I promised to take care of you and i will never fail,” I said.

Me having a job meant she didn’t have to stress nor ask her sister money. I was also glad because Floyd would no longer feel superior to me. “Let me prepare something for supper baby,” she stood up.

“I bought pizza,” I said when she stood up. “I think we might have that for dinner, what do you think?”

“All the better,” she smiled and went to the kitchen. She came back with the box of pizza. “We are just eating from here, i don’t have time to start washing plates.”

“I’m okay with it,” I said while i laid Zoey on the couch nicely. I looked at her and she was obviously in dream land. She was smiling and moving her body as if she was running. I envied her innocence. She had it all. Parents who loved her and a roof over her head. Her only worry was her mother who was denying her br-ast milk. “Let’s eat,” I said.

We ate. Later, i put Zoey to bed after Leah br-ast-fed her for the night. I could see how Leah was tired. After br-astfeeding Zoey, she directly went to bed. I took Zoey to her bedroom which was just next to ours. She never liked sleeping with the light off. I left the room and went to the bathroom to shower. By the time i got to bed, Leah was snoring. She had a rough day and Zoey was doing her bad, in a good way.

I sat on the bed while thinking about Black & White. I got up and checked outside through the windows. I didn’t see anything strange. I laid on the bed with my eyes on the ceilings. I couldn’t sleep and The dwarf was the reason. What kind of person would call themselves a dwarf even if they were one? Was it a defensive mechanism he had employed to fight bullies while growing up? Even if i had a big head, i wouldnt call myself Big head. Not at all. The dwarf was exceptional, intelligent and clever. It all showed in the way he carried himself.

“So Agent BrynX, what I’m trying to say is your life has always been in danger ever since you tempered with the Blackmailers,” The dwarf said looking at me closely. He’s eyes were all over me searching for a point that could break me despite knowing that he had already broken me when he mentioned my wife and daughter. “The Blackmailers is a National underground org-nization. It’s been in operation God knows for how long.”

“Why haven’t they come to me?” I asked. “It’s been over a year now.”

“That’s my question too,” he nodded. “The way i know this org-nization, they would have struck a long time ago but what’s holding them back?” he touched his head. If he had known, that was not doing me any good but making me more anxious. He seemed to know it all and the most important thing i wanted to know, he didn’t know. What a bummer. “The information i have is that they have you on their watchlist and when they do that, they Don’t forget.”

I felt a rash of blood in my nerves. What the hell was a watchlist? I was no criminal but they were the criminals. Why would they put me on a watchlist? I shifted uneasily in the chair and Mathias noticed. “But you don’t have to worry,” he said assuredly.

“Meaning?” I asked.

“When you work for me, you will have my immunity, ” he confidently said. “I have been in this business for too long and no one can touch me unless they want to die,” he said smiling but i could feel he meant it. There was something deadly about this dirty short man. He seemed fearless. “I will protect you and your family.”

For some reason, i believed him. He seemed sincere. “Work for you how?” I asked relaxing in the chair.

“What you do best,” wrinkles formed on his face studying me. “Your reputation as an agent exceeds itself.”

Did he know how s***ty of an agent i was? He kept praising me when all i did was dodge bullets when one almost smashed my head off but instead took a part of me with it. My ear skin. “Agent? Doing what?”

“According to my sources, Agency X Corps was working to bring down the Blackmailers but since that incidence, the Agency went quiet. I personally searched for it but to no avail. I was saddened with the death of its founder and since i knew her personally, i wanted to help the agency to bring down the Blackmailers. If three Agents could have managed to bring down a major operation, what more?” he paused. “When i gave up, i started hearing about Agent BrynX. I had my people search for you. You kept a low profile. I knew one day you will go back to Agency X Corps. Before you went to the Agency, i kept tabs on you, my people found you. When Nomsa called me….”

“The receiptionist?” I interrupted him.

“Yes, she works for me too,” he said. “When she called that you had gone back there, i knew you needed a job. That’s how i decided to take action.”

“Well that’s good,” i said feeling proud. “I don’t know anything about the Blackmailers other than that they s-cked money from people who came at that brothel,” I said.

“I know you don’t but there is someone who knows enough don’t worry. I need your agent expertise. That’s what I’m interested in,” he smiled. “You have to go now, come in tomorrow morning.”

I stood up and shook his hand. He reached for his drawers while he motioned me to hold on. I stood still while i looked around the office. “Here is something for you,” he handed me a brown envelope.

“No i cannot accept this,” i waved my hand.

“Just get it Agent BrynX,” he said. “You need it. I know you have been out of work for a year now. That’s really hærd for a family man and by the way, my men said your little girl is adorable. Now get the money,” he said with command in his voice. “With it is the job’s contract.”

I got the money and walked outside. I didn’t find the girl i had met when coming in. I got to my car and opened the envelope. I counted the money and it was K4,000. What the heck? Who is this man?

I woke up early the following Morning . Leah was still sleeping. I checked on Zoey after finishing everything and she was still asleep like her mother. I guessed they were both tired from troubling each other the previous day. “Baby,” i whispered in Leahs ear. She whined. “Have gone to work now,” i k-ssed her goodbye. “Have left some money on the table,” I left the bedroom.

Sitting across each other with the dwarf. I could see him scrutinizing me while he was going through the contract i had signed. We were waiting for the person he said knew more about the Blackmailers. It had been an hour now and i was getting impatient. “Mr. Goma,” I said.

“Wait,” he said.

In a split second, the door opened. “See? She’s here now.”

“She?” I asked turning around.

“Agent BrynX, meet Marie,” The dwarf said.

Marie, the girl from the brothel. I clenched my fists.

To be continued

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