A Smith Mystery - The Delivery
A short mystery solved by Smith, an retired agent.
He sat relaxing on his old lawn chair in the grassy backyard of his. For a retired agent in his 60's, enjoying the brilliant sunshine and it's comforting warmth was a delight Smith indulged in everyday, of course, if the weather permitted him to do so. His mouth curved into a satisfied smile as he thought of the weather forecast for the remainder of the week: 'all brilliant sunshine! Nothing can interrupt me from enjoying life now that I am retired!' Yet, as if life wanted to play a practical joke on him, his phone rang loudly, piercing the placid atmosphere in which he reclined.
"What?!" Smith shouted into the phone.
"Good morning, Sir! Sorry, Sir!" the voice on the other end was a mix of fear and respect.
"Oh, Henderson! Did I not tell you calling me at this hour on a sunny day is a terrible idea?" Smith calmed down knowing it was his young acquaintance Manny Reed who called.
"Yes, but I need your assistance, Sir. It's urgent." Manny waited for Smith's approval to continue.
"How many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to refer to me as SIR. I no longer work at the agency. Call me John. What emergency is it this time?"
Though Smith is retired, his experience, intelligence, and observational skills made him a valuable asset to the agency; many agents still respect him as a legend, and of course, call him when assistance is required to complete a job.
"It's a delivery, Sir...I mean...John. A week ago, our agents uncovered the identity of a level three spy. We followed him for three days and got hold of information that he would make a delivery by meeting a contact in Rosa's yesterday. The delivery in question is the address to the ammunition base they established, written on a piece of paper."
"Rosa's? The Greek restaurant Tom frequented more than his own apartment?" Smith joked at his old colleague's expense.
"Yes, that would be the one Sir."
"Hehe..." Smith chuckled, "Back to the delivery, I'm guessing chief want this one down pretty badly."
"Yes, which is why I called. We followed the guy to Rosa's and watched him the whole time while he and his contact conversed; we even had undercover agents placed at the table beside theirs to tap in for more information. They ordered a full course, ate it, then left, during which no contact of any kind occurred. I honestly have no idea how the information could have been delivered, so I ordered the squad to arrest the two men and locked them up in the Station. I couldn't take any chances. I later searched them, their clothes, their belongings, five times, and found nothing even in the least bit resembling the address. If I don't find it by 10 o'clock tonight, I'd have to let them go and face severe consequences..."
"I see, this is all assuming your information about the contact is genuine?"
"I vouch that it is."
"Hmm. Alright, I'll help but you'll have to give more than that. What did they look like? Did anything peculiar happen during the course of meal?"
"Oh right, the guy was wearing a gray trench coat, a long scarf, and brown trousers. He also carried a cane with him, I guess for fashion purposes. It makes a click sound, the kind high heels make, because there is a silver cap at the bottom. I know this because I followed him as he walked to the restaurant. After he arrived and walked into the restaurant, I kept on going to avoid suspicions. I went into an apartment in the building across the street and watched from there through binoculars. He approached a table by the wall where a mid 30s man was sitting and as I said before, they simply greeted each other and ordered. While they waited for their meal, they apparently had a little debate about sports."
"Sports eh? Which one?"
"......"
"Oh never mind. Continue."
"The waitress came with their food, and placed it on the table. As she was about to leave, she accidentally knocked over the canes..."
"Canes?"
"Oh now that I think about it, the peculiar thing is that their clothes were almost identical, they even had the same cane. It was placed by their chairs on the same side until the waitress knocked them over, then they both picked up their canes and put it at the side facing the wall so it wouldn't trip anyone again."
"Identical clothes? They wore it the whole time? Well, I suppose that doesn't matter since you searched them already."
"They started to eat their meal, and after they finished, left. I went after the contact, noticed the contact had a limp, so he probably needed a cane to support himself. They were both very composed when I had them arrested. Both swore that they had no idea what I'm talking about, and I can't find the scrap of information I need from them."
"So, you want to know how the information was delivered."
"Yes, and where it is right now. It must be on them since I picked them up right afterwards and watched them the whole damn time!"
"Well Henderson, you have overlooked something...I believe you are currently at the Station where the two men and their belongings are. Are you?"
"As a matter of fact, I am..."
"Very good. Now the secret is in the cane. I believe the address will reveal itself once you remove that silver cap you mentioned before."
"Why...I never thought of that before! Hold on sir..." the voice trailed off before Smith could reply and the sound of hurried footsteps was evident.
"But...Oh! Couldn't he stay until I finish?? The sunshine is almost gone..." Smith muttered a half whine mumble to himself.
"SIR!" Henderson was clearly excited; sheer joy and thankfulness also filled his voice.
"Ya, ya. Ok, I think you know how the transfer of information was going to be made now.When the waitress accidentally knocked the canes over, they picked up each other's cane. Since the canes are identical, and everything probably happened really fast, I doubt the agents noticed it. Now I'm going to sulk in my living room because the sunshine is completely gone...Oh well, at least you're happy."
*Click*
Henderson smiled. He knew the true reason Smith hung up on him. It wasn't because Smith was angry that he missed his sunshine, it was because Smith was too modest to stay for Henderson's thanks. Smith had helped him solved another mystery, yet again!
"What?!" Smith shouted into the phone.
"Good morning, Sir! Sorry, Sir!" the voice on the other end was a mix of fear and respect.
"Oh, Henderson! Did I not tell you calling me at this hour on a sunny day is a terrible idea?" Smith calmed down knowing it was his young acquaintance Manny Reed who called.
"Yes, but I need your assistance, Sir. It's urgent." Manny waited for Smith's approval to continue.
"How many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to refer to me as SIR. I no longer work at the agency. Call me John. What emergency is it this time?"
Though Smith is retired, his experience, intelligence, and observational skills made him a valuable asset to the agency; many agents still respect him as a legend, and of course, call him when assistance is required to complete a job.
"It's a delivery, Sir...I mean...John. A week ago, our agents uncovered the identity of a level three spy. We followed him for three days and got hold of information that he would make a delivery by meeting a contact in Rosa's yesterday. The delivery in question is the address to the ammunition base they established, written on a piece of paper."
"Rosa's? The Greek restaurant Tom frequented more than his own apartment?" Smith joked at his old colleague's expense.
"Yes, that would be the one Sir."
"Hehe..." Smith chuckled, "Back to the delivery, I'm guessing chief want this one down pretty badly."
"Yes, which is why I called. We followed the guy to Rosa's and watched him the whole time while he and his contact conversed; we even had undercover agents placed at the table beside theirs to tap in for more information. They ordered a full course, ate it, then left, during which no contact of any kind occurred. I honestly have no idea how the information could have been delivered, so I ordered the squad to arrest the two men and locked them up in the Station. I couldn't take any chances. I later searched them, their clothes, their belongings, five times, and found nothing even in the least bit resembling the address. If I don't find it by 10 o'clock tonight, I'd have to let them go and face severe consequences..."
"I see, this is all assuming your information about the contact is genuine?"
"I vouch that it is."
"Hmm. Alright, I'll help but you'll have to give more than that. What did they look like? Did anything peculiar happen during the course of meal?"
"Oh right, the guy was wearing a gray trench coat, a long scarf, and brown trousers. He also carried a cane with him, I guess for fashion purposes. It makes a click sound, the kind high heels make, because there is a silver cap at the bottom. I know this because I followed him as he walked to the restaurant. After he arrived and walked into the restaurant, I kept on going to avoid suspicions. I went into an apartment in the building across the street and watched from there through binoculars. He approached a table by the wall where a mid 30s man was sitting and as I said before, they simply greeted each other and ordered. While they waited for their meal, they apparently had a little debate about sports."
"Sports eh? Which one?"
"......"
"Oh never mind. Continue."
"The waitress came with their food, and placed it on the table. As she was about to leave, she accidentally knocked over the canes..."
"Canes?"
"Oh now that I think about it, the peculiar thing is that their clothes were almost identical, they even had the same cane. It was placed by their chairs on the same side until the waitress knocked them over, then they both picked up their canes and put it at the side facing the wall so it wouldn't trip anyone again."
"Identical clothes? They wore it the whole time? Well, I suppose that doesn't matter since you searched them already."
"They started to eat their meal, and after they finished, left. I went after the contact, noticed the contact had a limp, so he probably needed a cane to support himself. They were both very composed when I had them arrested. Both swore that they had no idea what I'm talking about, and I can't find the scrap of information I need from them."
"So, you want to know how the information was delivered."
"Yes, and where it is right now. It must be on them since I picked them up right afterwards and watched them the whole damn time!"
"Well Henderson, you have overlooked something...I believe you are currently at the Station where the two men and their belongings are. Are you?"
"As a matter of fact, I am..."
"Very good. Now the secret is in the cane. I believe the address will reveal itself once you remove that silver cap you mentioned before."
"Why...I never thought of that before! Hold on sir..." the voice trailed off before Smith could reply and the sound of hurried footsteps was evident.
"But...Oh! Couldn't he stay until I finish?? The sunshine is almost gone..." Smith muttered a half whine mumble to himself.
"SIR!" Henderson was clearly excited; sheer joy and thankfulness also filled his voice.
"Ya, ya. Ok, I think you know how the transfer of information was going to be made now.When the waitress accidentally knocked the canes over, they picked up each other's cane. Since the canes are identical, and everything probably happened really fast, I doubt the agents noticed it. Now I'm going to sulk in my living room because the sunshine is completely gone...Oh well, at least you're happy."
*Click*
Henderson smiled. He knew the true reason Smith hung up on him. It wasn't because Smith was angry that he missed his sunshine, it was because Smith was too modest to stay for Henderson's thanks. Smith had helped him solved another mystery, yet again!
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