I sat at a table on the patio of a French Café located in the heart of Paris, drinking a Perrier; I turned to the sports section of the local French newspaper, and had started to read when a short, feeble looking man approached my table. "Monsieur Conrad?" the stranger asked with a strong French accent.
"Yes." I said as I folded the paper and sat it on the table.
"I am Agent 6, of the French Intelligence Agency, I was to meet you here on regards of Dr. Conner’s whereabouts." He said. "Fine, what have your people found out about the disappearance of Dr. Conner and the Eden formula?" I asked, as I studied the man.
"He is no where to be found, it seems as though he has..." he paused for a second, looking for the right thing to say," fallen off the face of the earth..." he said.
"Really," I paused for a moment thinking, a little strange, that doesn’t exactly make sense, I thought. I continued talking," I was told that he was in jail in St. Petersburg because he wouldn’t give up the formula to the Russian government?" I said, trying to lead him into contradicting himself proving that he was lying.
"Err, um yeah," he said, there was a little fear in his voice. I didn’t think this agent was for real, French intelligence agents are world famous for their logic and toughness. I’ll see if I can lure him into divulging any info headquarters could use, I thought.
"So, what else have you found?" I asked suspiciously. He looked around fearfully, as though someone was watching him, that was when I noticed a tall, blond haired man sitting a few tables away reading a newspaper, glancing towards us every once in a while. I dropped the idea of getting info from the supposed agent; I quietly and secretly pulled my small pistol, a brugger, out from my trench coat pocket, and readied it. I decided to be straightforward, "I know you’re not an F.I.A Agent, You are a man who works for Konax, correct?" I asked.
He looked beaten but answered quietly, " Yes...I was told that you would believe me, but I was followed by another, I guess I’m expendable." " I noticed, seeming that you are being followed, you will probably be dead by tomorrow." "So do you wish to tell me anything?" He was about to speak when he fell forward onto the table, causing the table to flip towards where he was once standing, he laid dead on the patio. I looked over to where I saw the "Agents" follower, and saw him running away carrying a berretta.
I got up and started to run after the gunman fleeing the cafe. I reached a bridge, which went over a small river, catching sight of the man jumping onto a boat below. I fired at him, but missed him by a few inches. I ran for about a mile dodging and darting cars and pedestrians, trying to catch up with him, but to no avail. He jumped off of a bridge and onto a small speedboat that was apparently parked under the bridge. I looked at him as he stood in the boat, he smiled at me, mockingly as if to say, go ahead, try me. So I tried again to kill him, but still I missed him. Solemnly, I walked back to where my Audi was parked, grabbed my cell phone and called my supervisor,
"Jona, its me, Eric, we have a code red, Gunner is back, bring in Malcolm." I said, silently cursing myself, wishing that I could have brought down the gunman. I’m not as young as I used to be, I thought, remembering that I was 52 years old, not 20, that was how old I was when I joined the C.I.A., young and full of energy. With that I got into my car and drove off.