The Henchman



The conclusion of Episode Three


:- The Story so far:

    Geoffrey Brutus, Henchman number 1, is due to go on leave tomorrow. However, he is acutely aware that he has little to no money for spending on the trip. Having witnessed a particularly interesting moment between Chris Rhomford and his secretary, Anya, Brutus sells the tape to the Geek (who subsequently distributes it). When Anya approaches Brutus later, she asks him to help her get revenge on the Geek, whom she believes to be entirely responsible. Read the previous episode to find out what she did to him. Now halfway through the day, Brutus still feels like he’s a little light in the wallet and decides to negotiate a supply deal with the local black marketeer.



:- The Secret Fortress
:- Back in the Security office, later that day
:- Somewhere on the Pacific Rim

“Hi, Simon. It’s Brutus.”
“Hi Brutus.” Simon McDowell, a.k.a. Researcher 23 replied. “What can I do for you?”
“Just checking up on the Black Market.” Brutus explained.
“I haven’t got anything special for you, if that’s what you’re asking. Though Chris’ new research is coming on well.”
“I’m not here to talk about the projects, black or open. I’m heading off on leave for a little while and I’m wondering if there’s anything you need that I could bring back.”
“Ah, I get you.” Simon scratched his chin. “Where are you heading?”
“Europe. A few of the big cities.”
“What are your limits?”
“Nothing that can’t be flown. Nothing that will give me trouble at customs and I only have a finite weight I can carry. Depending on the size and value, I’m going to stick on a 10% handling fee. Cash in advance, I haven’t got any working capital of my own right now.”
“Sheesh, you’re a hard negotiator. Ok, here’s my list: about twenty packets of smokes, some cannabis if you’re heading to the Netherlands, I’m sure you can find somewhere to hide it, some unusual sweets, they sell well as long as they’re not too similar to our normal share, a roll of silk, the ladies will kill for it, and some cheap and cheerful novelties, like a music box or something.”
“Ok, I reckon I can do most of that for three hundred. And I’ll take fifty over that.”
“That’s nearly 20%!”
“If I get caught with too much weed, I’m going to find it very hard to talk my way out of it and get back here.”
“Oh, ok. Fine. I’ll have the cash dropped in the usual place. If you spot anything else worthwhile, grab it if you can. I’ll pay for anything that will sell.”
“I’ll keep an eye out, Sim, but my own capital isn’t all that good right now.”
“Righto. See you in a week or two.”
Well that was another fifty in the bank, Brutus thought as he logged out. Not a bad profit on the day, and it was barely 3 o’clock. Unfortunately, he’d run out of ideas…
“Geoffrey Brutus?” someone declared in an official voice behind him. Brutus turned around and regarded the two me who’d stepped in the room. One was a henchman, one who’d only been working here for just over a month. The other was a hacker who was a little more familiar with the place.
“It’s just Brutus, henchman.” He reprimanded. “Captain, Sir or Boss, if you want to be official.”
“The Dark Master has requested your presence.” the hacker continued.
“No he didn’t. ” Brutus replied, smelling the bluff a mile off. Both of these two were looking far too shifty. Besides, why would a hacker get involved? If Brutus was to be marched in front of the Dark Master, he’d send Tom and another huge henchman, both armed.
“He did.” the henchman grunt retorted.
“No, because he would have contacted me if he wanted to summon one of you. Even if he bypassed me, I would have been warned. Aside from this, you’ve been standing in the corridor whispering to each other for the last twenty minutes.”
“How did you know that?” The henchman blurted.
“I’m sat in front of the CCTV monitors.”
“Well if you force us to speak plainly,” The hacker replied, lowering his voice, “We wish to discuss a delicate matter. Please come with us.”
“Why would I care about your delicate matters?”
“It involves you.” The hacker replied, obviously the brains of the partnership.
“Oh, fine. Follow me, please.”
And they did, Brutus noted. Reading between the lines, anyone who comes with a fake yet important reason to get you alone, coupled with a ‘delicate matter’, is obviously planning something dodgy, like blackmail. Seems like someone’s been watching the Geek too much and thinks they can match up. The problem was that they had no idea how to make it work. Having something on someone was only the start. You have to take charge, make them fearful and cautious. Just like what Brutus was doing right now. He marched quickly down the corridor, making them hurry to keep up, then stepped into an elevator, pressing a button seemingly at random.
“Ok boys, what’s on your mind?” he asked. “The security camera is off, no-one can overhear us in here. This is strictly off the record. I’m here for a shaking down, right?”
“Right!” The henchman replied, drawing himself up.
“We thought you’d like to know about how you set the Geek up.” The hacker remarked.
“I already know how I set the Geek up.” Brutus retorted. “You mean ‘I’d like to know who else knows’, right?”
“That’s right. We know that you set the Geek up to take a fall so you could get money from both him and Anya. We have evidence that you copied the video files and we overheard you in the canteen. Jack was just in the corridor.”
Jack, the henchman, nodded.
“And before you think of dealing with us, you don’t know what we have written down.”
“Oh please.” Brutus told the hacker. “I’m sure the Geek has an idea who was behind it anyway. He’s gotten me in the past. As for your writing things down, if I can’t find it and shred it, which I could probably do quite easily using the CCTV records and security’s network privileges, all I have to do is write a few more pages from different people implicating just about anyone else and leave them in convenient places.”
“But we…”
“You two are useless. You barely have one brain between the two of you.” Brutus gunning the two down, pushing the hacker out of the lift door as it opened. Behind him, the bottom dropped out of the lift. The henchman disappeared with a scream, which got quieter and quieter and ended with a splash.
“You don’t even have the sense to blackmail someone on your own grounds!” Brutus continued.
“How did you do that?” The hacker stuttered, apparently ignorant of the fact he was in the piranha pool room and was backing up to the pool.
“Who maintains all the traps in this place?” Brutus asked, waving a key fob that looked for all the world like the central locking remote for a car. “Why, I do believe it is us henchman. And as the lead henchman, I oversee all repair and modification projects.”
The hacker’s foot hit the raised lip at the edge of the pool and the shock seemed to make him realise where he was.
“Why…?” he began before Brutus’ hand caught him by his lapels, lifted him up and over the edge.
“Now guess what I’m going to do to repay the insult?” Brutus asked, his voice smooth again.
“Wait!” The hacker gulped. “What’s it worth?”
“Are you trying to bribe me?” Brutus asked.
“Pay you off!” The hacker was trembling now.
“Well why didn’t you say so, boy?” Brutus lowered the man, letting his feet touch the course of bricks that lined the pool. “Money talks in this place. How much do you have to make me forget this little incident?”
“On me? Uh…thirty.”
“Try again.” Brutus growled, beginning to lift again.
“Ok, here’s my wallet! Take the lot!”
Brutus took the proffered item and opened it. A thick wad of grey notes looked back.
“You’ve tried this tactic on some others, I see.” he remarked. “Well, this is a windfall. Thanks.”
“You’re welcoooo…” the hacker’s voice cut off as Brutus gave him a quick push. There was another splash and, a few feet below, a sudden thrashing in the water.
As Brutus wandered off, over the bridge across the pool, he wondered how long he should wait before telling the hacker that the piranhas had been temporarily replaced with carp…



:- The Secret Fortress, The Bar
:- Krakatoa the Second
:- Somewhere on the Pacific Rim

    ”And after I fished the daft grunt out of the underground lake, I found he had another hundred and fifty on him too.” Brutus told the barmaid. “I can’t believe they managed to scam three hundred and fifty from people before I found out.”
“Well, I suppose you can’t be everywhere.” Lisa observed in a philosophical manner. Mostly, in a place like the Secret Fortress, the more civilian roles are performed by kidnapees, people who have gotten in the way and have had to be removed. Or by ex-members of other departments who suddenly aren’t useful anymore. Lisa, on the other hand, was an Australian who just happened to ask one of the Numbers for a job whilst they were holidaying in Sydney. She was cheery, had a good sense of humour and was smart enough not to question or poke into anything she shouldn’t.
“I know, but I have people who are supposed to tell me these things.”
“I didn’t hear it either, and I hear a lot from across this bar. Guess the politics of this place worked against you this time.”
“Guess so.” Brutus downed his drink. Lisa, who knew him well, had another ready. She slid it across the bar as if they were in some kind of cowboy film.
“This one’s on the house.” She said, winking.
“You know you shouldn’t do that.” Brutus warned, grinning regardless.
“Yeah, well.” She shrugged. “Your stories entertain me. It’s worth a little. By the way, are we still on for tonight?”
“What time do you finish here?”
“Late. I’ll close up around eleven, depending on custom.”
“Damn. I’m on patrol duty from nine.”
“Oh, in that case, could your patrol take you past my quarters? Someone’s tried to break in the last couple of nights.” Lisa winked again, nearly covering the neat lie with fake sincerity.
“I’ll have the patrol routes altered immediately.” Brutus promised.
“Great. Want another drink?”
“I’d love…” Brutus paused as his pager beeped into life. “Bugger. Summons from No. 2. Looks like that drink will have to wait.”
“Ah well. See you later. Tell me if anything interesting happens.”
“Will do.”



:- The Secret Fortress, en route to No. 2’s office
:- On a conveniently unobserved, undiscovered island
:- Somewhere on the Pacific Rim

    Brutus strode towards No. 2’s office, which sat right at the top of the building, just before the Dark Master’s own study. He was less than halfway there when No. 2 was suddenly walking alongside him.
“This way.” She said, beckoning as she turned down another corridor that led towards a set of meeting rooms.
Brutus followed, his paranoia already smelling a rat. If she just wanted to talk to him, why intercept him rather than waiting in her office? Something was going on. He’d have to have his wits about him. No. 2 may be a blonde bubblehead, but though she wasn’t classically intelligent, she was just as much of a weasel as he was.
“In here, please.” She purred. As Brutus entered the room, looking around suspiciously, he noticed that the top button seemed to have come undone on No. 2’s blouse, showing a tantalising hint of full cleavage. He could have sworn it was done up a moment ago, and her hands hadn’t moved from her sides.
“What can I help you with?” He asked, a little on edge.
“We both know of your reputation.” She said, swaying towards him. “I’d like you to do a small favour for me.”
“Favour?” Brutus gulped as she stopped about three inches into his comfort zone.
“And of course,” She purred, taking another step forward, “You’ll get a favour in return.”
Brutus, a man used to being in control, realised that she had the upper hand here, a realisation that didn’t do much for his nervousness. Aside from this, he was a short man and No. 2 was tall for a woman, putting his eyes nearly on a level with her chest. The sight of her breasts made it so hard to think.
“I…” he began, before he was cut off by No. 2 planting a full kiss right on his lips. What happened nest, he wasn’t quite sure. As he tried to step back, she caught his foot and pulled back, making them both topple onto one of the sofas. Brutus hit the sofa with his knees, throwing his hands out in front of him to catch himself. Somehow, he ended up straddling No. 2 with one hand on her breast, her blouse having somehow slipped open and off one shoulder.
*FLASH*
“That should do nicely.” Tom remarked from just behind the door, tilting the camera phone’s LCD screen to get a better look.
“Wha…Bu…YOU SET ME UP!” Brutus roared, removing his hands.
“Of course.” No. 2 replied, putting a foot on his chest and kicking him off her. She got up and adjusted her clothing, appearing demure and professional again. “How did the photo turn out?”
“Excellent.” Tom replied, wandering into the middle of the room, still examining the picture. “Your expression as you pulled away from the kiss, the way you fell back, steering his hand like that…”
“Not bad.” She remarked, appraising the photo herself.
“Such devious subtlety, my dear.” Tom praised. “You are truly a master of such situations.”
“Give that here!” Brutus made a grab for the offending device.
“Brutus, I’ve already sent it to several other phones and email accounts.” Tom admitted.
“Ok, ok.” Brutus calmed himself down, knowing they had him over a barrel. “What do you want?”
“Call it three hundred.” Tom offered casually.
“You know my wallet’s bare!”
“It was yesterday.” Tom agreed. “But today I was investigating two members of this organisation regarding their questionable conduct. I observed your encounter over the CCTV, which I had reconnected. After I approached No. 2, she talked about a visit she had from Anya earlier today. And of course, we can guess what happened with the Geek.”
“Your point?”
“You must have made at least five hundred today.” Tom summarised, astutely as ever.
“And you two decided to conspire to relieve me of my hard earned cash?”
“Your ill-gotten gains, yes. Three hundred, please.” No. 2 countered, smirking.
“Oh, very well.” Brutus got out his wallet and handed Tom the sum with bad grace.
“Don’t take it badly.” Tom counted out the cash, handing half of it to No. 2.
“Why not?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy that.” No. 2 smirked.
“No I bloody didn’t!”
“Really?” She asked, grabbing Brutus by the shoulders and hugging him tight, burying his face in her bosom. “How about this?”
*FLASH*

    Well, two hundred pounds profit in one day wasn’t bad, Brutus thought to himself early the next morning on the boat off the island. The sky was glowing faintly in the pre-dawn light and the cool sea breeze on his face helped ease the bitterness a little. He didn’t mind getting caught out so much, when you scam people on a regular basis, occasionally you’re going to get hit back, but word had spread throughout the lower levels of the Secret Fortress like wildfire. That was the bit that hurt. On top of that, Tom had managed to get another fifty from The Geek just for showing him the pictures. Well, take it like a man and learn from it. Next time, Brutus would include Tom right from the start. And he had over a week to figure out how to get back at No. 2…