MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 28)

The old man identified the man in the picture. He could not tell much about Joseph. He had paid cash, looked muscular, unusual even. "You know those Biker boys? The ones who are crazy about bikes? Always smelling of oil and stuff?" the old man had asked. Martin nodded. 

"Well, he was one of 'em. He was riding a 1969 Honda CB750 which he parked over there" he said pointing to a parking lot in front of the shop. Martin raised his eyebrows. This old man knew the model of the bike? "How can you be so sure it was a 1969 Honda CB750?" Martin asked. 

"Because..." the old man chuckled, "I was a Biker Boy once and used to own one myself" He said pointing at a portrait on the wall with him in his younger days standing with his bike. "And once a biker, always a biker."

An hour later, Martin was in his office. Anita had earlier mentioned that he smelt like diesel oil. Same with the old man. The thing was, in Martin's mind Joseph was 'probably' not a biker boy, but perhaps a mechanic who had taken an old bike he had repaired for a spin. That 'probably' weighed heavy in Martin's investigative calculations. 

Martin assumed that Joseph was a mechanic, because he knew where to look for mechanics- in a garage. Hot on the trail, Martin marked out auto garages in and around the place Joseph had saved Anita. A few minutes later, he found 4 auto garages nearest to the Old man's shop. The haystack was getting smaller.

Martin went in search of the building that housed one of the garages on his new list. He parked his car on the street opposite of the building and waited, observing. The street was deserted, and for the several minutes he sat watching. Not another car passed by. His was the only operational car on the block. 

He remained in his vehicle for longer than necessary to observe the area. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for a neighbourhood on the edge of the city. It was quiet, sparsely populated, with a few homes and buildings. Fifteen minutes into his wait, there were no people, no cars, nothing but him and the hum of street breeze. He could barely hear the traffic in the distance, and even then, only when he focused on it.

He observed the building. The address belonged to an old auto shop, a run-down without much business. The place went by the name of ‘Clark's Auto’. Another ten minutes passed with him staring at the building before he got out to take a look. If no one was here now, it was unlikely that anyone would be in another twenty minutes.

He stepped onto the street. Martin heard only the wind blowing and the faint sound of traffic in the distance, a bit louder now that he was out of his car. The highway was some distance away, but a moment after he stepped out; he heard the sound of a vehicle approaching. It was the first vehicle he’d encountered since arriving. It sped away.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

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MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 27)

Martin zoomed onto the site of the incident on the map. Then he marked all the Avanu selling outlets around the street. There were 13 exclusive outlets and 32 others that also sold Avanu in the radius of 2 miles around the street. That was quite a number, but manageable, Martin thought. Now he took a print out of the map and slowly started joining outlet locations to each other with a sketch pen. The figure of an irregular shaped circle formed on the map with its centre roughly being the street where the incident happened. Martin now had the haystack. All he needed to do was find the needle.

It was four days since he met Anita, and Martin had spent a lot of his time following the leads. He was moving from outlet to outlet which was selling Avanu and showing Joseph's photo and asking the employees if they had seen him. Most of the times, he received a "No". He had covered a lot of ground in ticking out the outlets from his list. He was concerned that if none of the employees replied in the affirmative, he had to find another lead.

But at the same time, Martin was positive that he was on Joseph’s trail. It wasn’t only because Anita confirmed he was the one who saved her, but also because of how Joseph had saved Anita. But it made him wonder why Joseph bothered to save Anita in the first place. Martin felt a wave of unease move through him. There was something he was missing, and he should have realized by now but had not.

He noticed it first in his Director’s office when he was given the case. Facts about Joseph weren’t making sense. Joseph wasn’t matching up to the typical terrorist profile. Nothing in the case was adding up. Though he couldn’t place his finger on it, what he was leaning towards, in the end, was that the case was fabricated. Probably not something so drastic, like the whole thing being an elaborate lie, but maybe just important aspects of it, such as Joseph’s identity. It wouldn’t have been the first time where the truth was hidden in order to forward some agenda.

Every single case he’d worked on in the past had a pattern, and using that pattern he could find the next piece of the puzzle. Getting one step ahead of his target made it easier to bring the case to its end. But in this case, he was sure that wasn’t going to be how things worked. Of course Martin thought that he might have made a mistake, but after going over all of the information he was given about Joseph from his Director, there was no other way. Either there was something off about the case itself, or he was experiencing something completely new.

Martin walked into the next Avanu outlet on his list. It was a small building with the typical glass showcase, with dressed mannequins. As he opened the shop doors a chime rang, the door touched a bell placed at its upper edge. "Yes? What can I do for you?" An old man asked Martin. Martin introduced himself and showed him the picture of Joseph. There was a gleam of recognition in the old man's eyes. And he smiled at Martin. 

BINGO!

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)
[The complete Book ‘MAN FROM TOMORROW’ can be downloaded at amzn.to/2MSf1ng ]

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 26)

Anita walked off into the busy street, leaving Martin alone in the crowd with his briefcase. Though Martin didn't know it at the time, there was someone nearby that was equally interested in finding Joseph as Anita and Martin were.

         Martin had indeed kept something important from Anita- something other than the fact that the man they were after was a terrorist. The entire time he’d been on the street examining where Anita was saved, he was searching for clues as to where Joseph may have gone. Finally, just before the woman left, he was sure he was on to something. Martin's mind was racing at the speed of thought, and he liked it.

After Anita was gone, Martin turned to examine the mystery of where Joseph had come from. Martin went back to his office. He sat down on his swivelling chair and thought hard about his target.

One trait that made Martin stand out among other officers was his extensive knowledge base. He was a voracious reader. He read fiction, non-fiction, comic books, scientific journals as also film magazines and tabloids. He was game for all things knowledge. He followed the principle that human knowledge needs to be ocean wide even if ankle deep. This trait of his was responsible for his high success rate in solving cases. He could connect fields as diverse as Jet engines to a recipe of Alambre- a Mexican dish. He had done this once when he was a new agent, at a dinner hosted by his superior. He had gone on to explain how barbecue grills based on simple Jet engine principles could cook the Alambre faster and better. Obviously, his boss was highly impressed.

Martin even had a volume of the latest Organic chemistry Journal beside an archaeology Book discussing the excavation of the Indus valley ruins.

He took out the tag Anita had given him. The Avanu Logo was prominent though it was jagged and roughed out at the edges. Avanu was a local brand of leather clothing. The company had opened a few months ago and had just had a few outlets limited to the city. He googled ‘Avanu outlets. It threw open a map with the outlet locations highlighted all over the city.

Martin marvelled at the power of modern technology. In the earlier days, an agent had to meet the head of the Avanu brand and take from him all the outlet addresses in the city. Even though they would part with the information, as it was a Federal investigation, they would do so with reluctance. Who would one want to be caught up in a crime investigation in their early days of business? But there was a catch in this investigation.

Avanu could also be sold by non-branded outlets. i.e those that sell other brands also. Martin thought of how he could narrow down the location of Joseph Cooper, his target. Anita's description hinted that it was a brand-new coat. And so did the tag appear; brand new. There were abrasions all over the logo, but it still had that fresh gleam that only a new product can have. If Joseph had bought the jacket recently, it must have been near the site of the incident.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

The Book ‘MAN FROM TOMORROW’ can be downloaded at https://amzn.to/2MSf1ng

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 25)

“Sure, thank you,” she accepted the card. She looked at the card in her hand, and then back up at him; She fished out her smart phone and quickly save his number.

I am giving you a missed call. You can add my number to your contacts.”

“Sure I will.” Martin replied. A question formed in her mind that reflected in her pretty eyes. “Do you think you’ll be able to find him?”

         Martin looked to her, not sure what to tell her. While he knew the odds were not in his favour, he knew that Anita would expect him to get in touch with her again. But once he found Joseph, would he be able to mention it to her? Could he allow her to thank a "terrorist"? If he told her that he found him, he would need to explain that.

While he was sure she wouldn’t care too much about that fact- she would still be thankful for her life- he just wasn’t sure if he could morally accept her to thank someone who had previously put the lives of many others in danger. He thought it was likely that he wouldn’t let it happen, and that it would be best for them both if they just parted ways and thought nothing else of it. Even if that meant giving her a false hope.

         “You can never say for sure. People have many ways to disappear from the sight of the authorities,” he said with his signature shrug, which served as a dismissal. “Have a good day now.”

         Anita stared at him for a moment before nodding. She knew she was being dismissed. There was still so much she wanted to know. Martin clearly intended to hide what he could from her, and it wasn’t that she blamed him but she, too, was dying for answers. Why was he also in search of that man? Had the man done something? Was he really missing like Martin said? She knew far from enough to judge what was happening before her, and though she was hesitant to do so, for now she had to settle with knowing that someone was helping her find the man who saved her. That was enough, wasn’t it?

         She said her farewells to Martin and then walked past him on the sidewalk, moving in the direction of her office; she would need to get to her car before returning home. It was difficult to get her mind off of the meeting with Martin, but for now, she knew she had to let it rest.

Once she was back at her place, she would have the opportunity to brood over what she’d learned. Anita was glad to have finally gotten the story off of her chest, but it was impossible to deny the fact that her quest was incomplete. Martin had been hiding something from her. But what was it?

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

[The Book ‘MAN FROM TOMORROW’ can be downloaded at https://amzn.to/2MSf1ng ]

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 24)

         “Are You sure this Is the man you saw?” he asked, making sure to hold the picture steady. She reached out to take it from him before she said anything in return, and stared at the glossy surface in awe.

         Earlier she hadn't seen the photo close and long enough. That's why Martin showed her the photo again. “Yes, Yes. This is him,” she whispered. Martin barely heard her over the irritable sound of traffic, but even if he hadn’t heard her, the expression she gave him was more than enough. How did we meet, supposedly the only two people in the city looking for the same person? Martin thought.

The information she gave him, even though a simple recount of events was valuable. Anita had noticed something about the man without having much time to examine his bodily structure as Martin had done. This fact made him confident that Anita had indeed encountered Joseph and not someone else.

         Martin wasn’t one to believe in fate or anything of the like, not even luck. But when something like this happened, he felt challenged. There couldn’t have been something else at work, but even now, he wasn’t so sure. He glanced at Anita again, somewhat amused by her. There was still more he wanted to know.

“You said he fled the scene after saving you. Did you see which direction he went?”

         “I… um…” Anita turned away from Martin and stared off at the crosswalk and the kerb, and then turned back to look at the sidewalk. She seemed to be trying to recall exactly what happened after he saved her. “He went in that direction. But there were lots of people, so he could have gone anywhere. Up close, he smelt like diesel oil, but that could also be because of the vehicles around. All that and the truck screeching to a halt." She lingered over her thoughts for a few more moments. Sorry, that’s all I can recall.”

         Martin sighed. It looked like from here on, he was on his own. Anita had given him a fair bit of valuable information, but he couldn’t involve her any further unless she had more to tell him; which, at this point, he was positive he’d been told everything of value.

It wasn’t only that, though. He still needed to get the job done with as soon as possible; he still had his eyes on the prize: getting the time off that he desperately needed. In order to get the most out of his time, he knew he’d need to dismiss her and get on with the search.

“Not a problem, miss,” he said, trying to end their meeting. The quickest and most painless method of doing so came to his mind just then; he reached into his coat pocket to pull out a business card, which he handed to Anita. “I think it would be best if we parted ways for now. Continue about your day as usual… but if you think of anything else to tell me or are in need of my expertise, you’re welcome to give me a call.”

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 23)

“What happened next?” Martin asked. He slipped the hand that wasn’t holding his briefcase into his pocket. He was thinking about how her encounter with Joseph was in a way, her doing. Of course, he didn’t say anything about it. She might get confrontational and defensive.

“I ended up stepping out onto the street just after the light turned green, and there was a vehicle coming right toward me. I froze when I saw it,” Anita paused, a small, grieving smile shaping her lips. “I should have been dead.”

         Martin was moved by the amount of emotion he saw in her eyes when she finally looked back to her. He hadn’t expected this woman, Anita, to accept or even understand the gravity of the situation she’d put herself in.Her understanding came to him with great surprise, because whether or not he was able to respond to such a statement, he couldn’t have told her what would have happened if she were hit.

         “Well, there was one thing I forgot to mention,” Anita’s face lit up a bit, as though she’d moved on from the fact that she knew she shouldn’t be alive. “It was a few minutes before I ended up on the street, but I actually bumped into the guy who ended up saving me. That’s the only reason I really had any idea what he looked like at all. That time, he also prevented my fall, but we stood in front of each other for a brief moment before I went on my way. He looked so… unusual,” she admitted.

         It took Martin a long moment to completely understand what she just told him. But when he did, he experienced a moment of utmost clarity. Everything suddenly seemed to make sense, but at the same time, he became frustrated.

That she’d seen him before the accident was incredibly significant. It meant that neither of them was relying on a memory that was potentially botched by a traumatic event. Though neither of them could say that her state of mind was much better before the incident, it was at least a bit more credible. What got Martin’s heart racing was that it was that the image Anita had of her saviour- be it Joseph or not- wouldn’t be something fabricated. She might have seen Joseph after all, and it was time to either confirm that fact, or eliminate the possibility. Things seemed to be falling into place.

Martin placed his briefcase on the nearby bench and opened it as carefully as he always did. He unclipped a file divider from one side of the case and began sorting through it, eventually pulling free a folder, the one he was given from his Director. From it he took the picture of Joseph, flipping it around so she could see it. Before he asked his question, she gave him an answer with her eyes: her eyes widened with what Martin understood as recognition.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 22)

For now, at the very least, he knew that something happened on the corner of this street. If it was as Anita said, he would be able to create a vivid picture of what happened. If she wasn’t telling the truth, then he would learn it.

He turned to face Anita, stepping away from the kerb to temporarily quell the anger of those passing by. “Recount all of the events that led up to this point, if you would. I’ve analysed all I can from the surrounding area, but now I need to create a picture. If I can do that, I may figure something out,” he said.

She stood silently.

“I have an idea, but to be as accurate as possible, I’ll need to know a bit more. Recall every small detail. we can’t miss anything,” Martin said. The possibility that Anita could lead him to Joseph was increasing as he learned more, though he still wasn’t counting on it. Though, he did briefly consider where he would be now if he hadn’t encountered her. What kind of luck was it, to encounter such a lead? He scratched his head, hoping that he was on to something. He listened to everything Anita had to say.

“It sounds really stupid, I know, but… I was a disaster that day. There’s no one at fault for what happened that day but me,” she sighed. “I was running and not paying attention to where I was going. I just needed to get away from everything… I needed to breathe… I needed to get home and be alone. I guess the dangers of sinking into myself like that didn’t matter to me at the time.”

“What happened?” he asked. Anita told him a bit about what happened, but not the details he was looking for. He understood that from the way she said what she did, she was under tremendous stress when the accident happened. He watched Anita’s expression change from cautious to something he couldn’t read. She seemed to be more guarded, she was only sharing more not because she wanted to but because she thought he would be able to do something with the information.

“I was running away from my ex-boyfriend,” Anita started, tilting her head away from Martin to focus on something. “We broke up before this whole mess happened… In the end, well… I was running because I didn’t want to be anywhere near him.”

  

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 21)

Martin reached out to take the tag from her, and she dropped it into his hand. The tag was familiar, from the inexpensive Avanu brand.

At that point, everything seemed too solid to be made up. From there, Martin took everything she said seriously and progressed with due caution. He contemplated all of the possibilities. A lot could have happened here, in the short span of time Anita experienced her accident, more than either of them knew. Martin was beginning to believe that he might be on Joseph’s tail, but there were still some things keeping him from being absolutely positive.

For a moment Martin couldn’t hold back the doubt that crept into his mind. The possibility that he could be following a dead end after all was real. But better to follow a dead end than to leave a lead left unfollowed. This was one of those instances where he wasn’t sure what to expect, but, in the end, he managed to push those thoughts from his mind and continue on with his investigation.

Martin placed his briefcase on the cement in front of him, carefully opening it so the orderly fashion that he kept everything in wouldn’t be disturbed. From it he took a small plastic baggie, where he dropped all of the leather strips for later. Though as far as he may not need them, evidence was evidence and it was possible that it could be of use in the future.

Once the strips were safe inside the bags, he plopped them inside the briefcase and closed it; resuming his search of the general vicinity. As he was now satisfied that he’d gotten all that he could from the kerb itself, he stood tall once more, searching the rest of the area. If there was any other evidence that Anita’s incident even happened, he would find it. The first and only thing he saw were the fresh-looking skid marks relatively close to the side of the road. Even after scanning the area, looking at every detail and finding nothing, he thought there might be more. His silence continued; his search was put on hold.

Could Joseph Cooper really have been here, only several days prior, with Anita? Could it have been him who saved her? These were the questions Martin needed and wanted to know, but they weren’t the ones he could ask. Not yet.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 20)

“I…” Anita was silent for a moment, trying to find the words to describe her feelings. “There’s a few things, I guess, but the biggest thing is that no one seemed to have noticed the man who saved me at the scene. Surely, they thought I was dead in the middle of the street. How could I not get hit and have no one think twice about it?” she shook her head, frustrated, but said nothing else.

“Yes… I agree. That’s most unusual,” Martin said. As time went on and she told him more, he became a bit more interested in her story. He had always listened well enough to derive facts from words and decide whether or not it may be relevant to his case. But now he was also listening to learn more about her, and what had happened.

Everything she said, and what he deduced from it, was stored in some part of his mind for future reference. Even if it had nothing to do with his case. At this point he was wondering what had actually happened, but he knew that he didn’t have to ask; she would tell him on her own accord in due time.

“How far from here did it happen?” he asked.

“Just up ahead.”

Neither of them spoke for the next bit of their journey. They passed through a crowd that was noisy around them despite their silence. Finally, they reached the end of the block, and Anita moved them off to a side so as to not disrupt the flow of people. She stared down at the kerb, her eyes glazing over in remembrance.

“It was right here,” she said. Martin recognized the pause she made; it was one necessary in order to hide the imminent cracking in her voice. “This is where we landed when he pushed me out of the way.”

She left the rest up to Martin, keeping her distance while giving him to freedom to examine the location to his heart’s content. Though she was not there to interfere with his work, the many other pedestrians were. None were impressed when he crouched by the edge, in the middle of the pathway, doing something deemed unimportant. He’d only been crouched for a minute, and he was sure he’d already heard every insult possible thrown his way.

Anita was still within earshot, so she continued to speak. She knew that the more she told him, the better chances there maybe of finding the man who saved her. “We both came from the other side of the street. Though the time between when I saw the oncoming vehicle and when I realized I was lying on the side of the road was brief, I don’t remember what happened.

I didn’t see the man come for me and I didn’t feel him push me away. And After he left, I discovered this tag," she reached into her purse and pulled out the silver tag, which was attached to a hunk of leather from Joseph's coat. "He was wearing a leather jacket at the time. I think it's possible that it got torn from his coat during the incident. While I doubt it's of any real use... but here it is."

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 19)

"It was three weeks ago, on June the second. My boyfriend, who I thought was perfectly happy with our relationship, called me to the local Starbucks to have 'the talk'. Of course, I didn't know that was his intention until I got there and we started talking... but that's irrelevant, I suppose. It all happened so fast. I was in the building, and then I wasn't. I was running away," Anita paused when they reached the end of the block. Her face was tilted down and she was looking at the cement, but Martin could see the sadness within her. He said nothing, and she guided him across the street and onto the next block.

Anita didn't resume talking until they reached the Starbucks. Martin didn't need her to say that it was the one she'd been running from.

"Right here was where I bumped into him," she said, motioning with her arms. "I bumped into and angered many people in the short distance I traveled, but... it was different when I crashed into him. It was like charging into a brick wall, that's the only way I can describe it. I had to stop. And when I did, I looked at him. I didn't notice much about him in that moment other than the fact that he didn't seem angry like all the others."

"When did he save you?" Martin asked. Anita wasn't quick to respond, and was silent for the rest of the block. They crossed the road, and Anita went to lean against the wall of the nearby building. Martin followed her, he stood next to her.

"It was only a few minutes after, on this street," she lifted her arm to point over the road they just crossed. "I continued running after I bumped into him, and wasn't paying attention to incoming traffic. I could have sworn he was nowhere nearby... but I couldn't say for sure. What I do know, however, was that I was standing in the middle of that street, and he came running faster than anything I'd ever known. He grabbed me and rolled us to safety, right here on this curb. And then he was gone." Anita shrugged.

Martin looked over the street, which was no longer busy with pedestrians, but vehicles that sped back and forth in front of him.

"Is that all that happened?" he asked.

        “I have to be honest with you about this incident…” Anita began. He noticed that the knuckles she used to support the large strap of her bag had turned white. she was holding onto it for dear life. “It feels none of this ever happened. But I’m not crazy, I know it really did. I have the tag from his coat and my body still aches two full days later from the fall.”

         “What’s making you feel this way?” he asked. Martin had to be honest with himself, something about this incident felt surreal. He was pleased to find that Anita also thought there was something strange about it.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 18)

Martin turned the chair with him to face her, holding up the picture for her to see better. It wasn't just a brief glimpse of familiarity that he saw in the woman's eyes. He saw full-blown recollection and admiration. While Martin doubted that he could be so lucky to find someone who'd spotted his mark, the lead was most definitely worth following.

"I believe I just said that," she smiled. "We, ahem... met a few blocks from here. My boyfriend and I had broken up moments before, and I... well, to say the least, wasn't paying attention and ran out into the traffic. Before I realized where I was going, I saw an incoming truck and froze. Right when the vehicle was about to hit me, he seemed to appear out of nowhere and took me to safety."

Martin took special note of the emotion that came and went from the woman's fine features. Her face moved from sadness, to fear, to admiration, all in a matter of seconds.

"How long has he been missing for?" she asked, her voice sympathetic.

"A few weeks now," he began, believing that it would be best to take advantage of the situation that grew before him. "I've been entrusted with the job of finding this man. If you could provide any information on your encounter with him, I would be truly grateful."

The woman smiled and retrieved her purse from the nearby table. "I could take you to the street I bumped into him, as well as tell you everything I can about him on the way there. It's not much, but perhaps the information will be useful."

Martin slid the photo back into the file folder, and dropped it into his briefcase. A moment later he stood next to the woman, gulping down the last few sips of his coffee.

"Lead the way, ma'am," Martin offered, and she gladly did so.

They were hardly outside the coffee shop when the woman stopped, turning to him. She was a little to the side of the walkway. He moved to join her; his expression alerting her to his confusion. When he neared, she reached out to shake his hand. He obliged.

"I'm Anita Williams, by the way," she said, offering him a firm handshake. Her ocean-coloured eyes stared into his expectantly. Martin wasn't too excited to be introducing himself, but he needed to be polite. After all, if this woman, Anita, had information that could help him, he would need her on his side.

"Martin Phillips." He said nothing else, but he offered her a forced smile. she returned him one of her own.

"Well, I guess I'll tell you what I can about...," Anita began, "George Wilson?" Martin said.

Why tell a stranger the real name of an alleged Terrorist?

Also, it would help Martin fathom how much she knew about the man.

"Oh... George" Anita said. Martin walked alongside her on the busy sidewalk, weaving in and out of the crowd in such a way only done by long time New Yorkers. There was a brief moment where Anita and him were alone, and that's when she began her story.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 17)

This time Anita couldn’t stop her mind from drifting back to the man who saved her. There were two things she distinctly remembered about him. The first was his arms; she recalled him wrapping them around her twice in a matter of minutes. The first time was to prevent her from falling over on the street, and the second time to save her life; it felt the imprint of his arms and muscles were permanently etched into her body as tingling markers telling her where he’d touched.

 The second thing she remembered was the structure of his face. He had high and attractive cheek bones, and a nose that complemented them. Considering that, however, she wasn’t able to form a solid picture of him. No matter how much she thought about him and tried to envision him in her head, the picture didn’t look quite right. Was his hair color brown or black? Were his eyes hazel or grey? The only thing she could say for sure was that he looked much different than the average person. Anita thought she had a reliable memory, but it was failing her now. It was rather frustrating. She needed to shot of caffeine, Now! So she rushed to the nearest café.

***

Martin's unease deepened every passing day. A big part of that stemmed from the stress of his upcoming divorce. The project he had with him for many days already had no results to show. It was beginning to cast a shadow over his personal dilemma. There was no way for him to push aside his thoughts over his divorce. He needed to do that now, or never. Then there was the question of the ‘we’. Who was this ‘we’ that the Director kept referring to, the other day?

With a sigh, Martin leaned back in his chair, stretched his arms and reached for his coffee mug. For the first time that morning since he arrived in the local coffee shop, he opened his senses to his surroundings.

The pleasant scent of freshly baked croissants and coffee wafted through the building, along with the chatter of other patrons. He used this time as a small break from the task at hand, though his eyes seldom left the image of the man- the so-called terrorist. An image he held in his hands.

He spent a lot of time over the last few weeks examining the face of the man in the photo. His body structure appeared unusual. Compared to the average Joe, the man's build was simply something he'd not seen before.

Of course, Martin had spent time examining the picture’s minor details. And there were those leads he had in the file. He had even researched other, even vaguely related information. Nothing came out of it. That was quite unusual. Even more unusual still that he found little on what he thought to be the most important leads: the events in which the man, Joseph Cooper, took part in as a terrorist.

"Excuse me?" a voice came from behind Martin, interrupting his thoughts. He turned his head to see a young woman, perhaps only a few years younger than him.

"I couldn't help but notice that photograph... that man; do you know him?"

Martin didn’t know how to react to the situation at first. "Yeah. He’s a guy who has been missing for some time now." He answered politely, but with no interest in conversing with the girl. 

she was pretty- young blondes often had a certain charisma to them- and he enjoyed looking at her for the brief moment that he gazed at her.

"He's missing?" the woman seemed puzzled. Martin had returned to gazing at the photograph and didn't see her face twist in confusion. He heard it in her voice.

"I've been looking for him for many days now. He rescued me. And I want to thank him."

"You've what? You've seen this man?!" Martin was much more interested in the woman now.

 (To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 16)

Anita was exhausted by the time she got off work that evening. She loved her job- she was an accountant- but days like today always made her wonder how long she would last. She sighed, stepping out of the office building and onto the busy street. The entire day at work, despite how busy she’d been, her mind had been overwritten and distracted by the event that happened two days ago.

It seemed unbelievable that two days already passed since her ‘accident’ and her encounter the man who saved her life.  In the entirety of time that passed, she was left wondering how to get in touch with that man. She owed her life to him, and that wasn’t something she would forget.

she merged into the crowd on the sidewalk and started her walk. Normally Anita would be heading straight home after work, but that wasn’t the case today. With her work bag slung over her shoulder, she instead headed in the local café’s direction.

         That morning, Anita had made the odd move of driving to work. Since she lived so close- only a seven-minute walk- she more often left her vehicle at home. But today she felt the urge to bring it with her, though she hadn’t a clue why, even now when she was avoiding her car and walking to the cafe in her fancy work dress suit and high heels. She tried to tell herself, reasonably, that she just needed the fresh air.

In a way it was true. The thought of her pursuit and wondering how she would achieve it sent her heart on a marathon. she knew, deep down, that there was something else. Something she would not argue with. So, her car would be left at the office building until, presumably, she was ready to pick it up later on that evening.

She tried to delve deeper into the reason she walked. Other than serving as an effective way to calm herself down and have some rest, no reasons came to her. Instead, she began thinking of the interesting prospect of meeting him. There were many things about him she wanted to know, though,, she knew little, if given the opportunity, she would ask. A lot of her curiosities just seemed rude.

Her face warmed at the thought of meeting the man. Then she pushed the thoughts away, calming herself again. She didn’t want to think about the man anymore. Instead, she distracted herself by thinking of the actual incident. Her idiocy that day was appalling, and, had she been hit, it would have been entirely her fault. She would have died and traumatized the person who hit her, and several of the onlookers, for life. The scene of her ‘accident’ was another block past the cafe, and she’d been running in the opposite direction that she was walking now, heading for home.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 15)

Martin closed the folder and looked back up at the picture on the big screen behind the Director. The man looked like someone who’d never gotten into a lick of trouble his entire life. In other words, he didn’t fit the typical terrorist profile. The large majority of terrorists always seemed to have something off about them, but from this man, Joseph Cooper, Martin was getting no such vibes. Was it the perfect disguise, or was there something he was missing?

“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, why am I being assigned this mission instead of Homeland Security or another agent who specializes in taking out terrorists?” Martin asked, eyeing the Director. He was looking for a change in expression that never happened. 

“Not to say I don’t appreciate the honour of being assigned such a high-profile case, but though my abilities do fall in line with some aspects of this case… terrorists are not something I’ve handled before.” The Director didn’t seem to even miss a beat.

“This case was thoroughly discussed before it was assigned to you. High profile cases are distributed as soon as possible because depending on what’s on the line, they can take a long time to process and solve. However, this was handled differently. The higher ups wanted an agent skilled in detection and this case has a lot of detective work.

You need to find this man- his whereabouts are currently unknown. Hell, for all we know, he might not even be on American soil. And since it involves a matter of high national security it was agreed that we need to first locate the man and then move into action.  So, it was decided to put an individual with the skills necessary to solve on their own. Moreover, don't think you are alone in the real sense. An army of surveillance specialists are scanning the land with drones, satellites and supercomputers searching for that man. You are our Eyes, ears and brain on the ground.

You’re not lacking anything that will make this any harder for you. You’ve got a good mind, and you know how to use it. This is a sensitive case, Martin, and with your specific set of skills, we expect you to find this man faster than anybody else. Since it’s believed he has many dangerous contacts… well, I’m sure you get the point,” the Director said. “Regardless, that is all you should need to know. Everything else is in the file. You and I both have work to do, now, do we not?”

Martin stood up and saluted the Director, moving towards the door, but he heard the Director clear his throat.

“One last thing, if you don’t mind. All the higher ups have agreed that Joseph Cooper is to be caught at any cost. Bring him to us dead or alive, whatever it takes to end his threat.”

He said nothing else, and Martin took his leave, intending to walk to his office and contemplate the situation. During The entire walk back, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. Neither could he decide whether that feeling stemmed from the case itself, or just the man he was faced with capturing. It was one thing to catch a man, and it was something else to do so without any attempt to preserve their life. Martin would brood over these feelings for the remainder of the day.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow…..)