For parts one click here and part two click here
‘Curtis, welcome,’ the woman said. Curtis sat nervously on
the edge of the seat.
‘I’m Jewel and this
is Steep,’ she continued, despite her excellent English, Curtis decided she was
Czech.
Curtis nodded cautiously.
‘We’re the Czech branch of a secret organisation working
against capitalism and consumerism, no doubt you’ve heard of us?’ Curtis nodded again, He noticed an American
twang to her voice. ‘We know you are one of the best social media marketing men
in the country, we also know a little about your politics and we wondered if
you would like to come and work for us.’ Curtis didn’t have to ask how they
knew this, they’d obviously been inside his computer. He wondered what else
they knew about him. Did they know about his late night messages to
ex-girlfriends that he wrote but never sent? Did they know he disguised himself
as a cat and trolled his industry’s Twitter conversations? Did they know how much porn he watched? Of
course they did, they probably knew everything. But another thought had come
into his mind.
‘How did you know I’d come in here today?’ He asked.
Steep smiled again. Jewel nodded. ‘We have our ways,’ she said.
‘And laxative in the coffee?’ Curtis said. But Jewel didn’t
answer.
‘We need someone to write our copy, make it clear what we do
and why, make videos, send tweets, you’re the man we want. ’ Steep said, his
English was good but his Czech accent was stronger than Jewel's. ‘We pay well, but we expect
standards. Obviously secrecy is the main criteria, but there are other things
as well. What we do is sometimes illegal; we will sometimes ask you to do things that
might be unpalatable. Therefore you have to believe in the cause, you have to
want to achieve our aims, money doesn’t buy loyalty, dedication does.’ He
sounded like he was reading an autocue.
Curtis listened to Steep go on to outline the objectives of this
secret organisation. They seemed muddled in their thinking but broadly how
Curtis viewed the world.
‘And if I say no? I suppose you’ll kill me.’ Curtis said.
‘No, not at all.’ Steep replied.
‘You don’t have to make up your mind now.’ Jewel said, ‘go
to work, when you are ready come back into the café, have a coffee and use the
toilet, we’ll come to get you.’
‘You trust me? What if I go to the police?’
‘Curtis, you won’t do that now will you.’ It might have been
the Czech intonation but Steep sounded sinister. ‘For one, will they believe you? A man came
through a door in a toilet and offered you a job? You’ll be carted off to Bohnice
before you know it. But also the Czech police are very suspicious about
foreigners with child porn on their computers.’
‘I haven’t got...’ The penny dropped. They could do anything
they wanted, they would make sure he did if he went to the police., maybe he
already did just in case.
‘How long do I have?’ Curtis asked.
‘As long as you need.’ Steep said.
Jewel stood up.
‘Now come, I’ll take you back upstairs, we sent your boss a
text message saying you’d be late due to a tram problem so no worries there.’
They walked up the stairs, Curtis was out of breath again. He
really did need to get some exercise.
At the top of the stairs Jewel turned to him. ‘We’ll send
you an email with the job offer. Think
it over.’
Curtis nodded and the door swung open and he was back in the
cubicle. This time the toilet door opened easily. He washed his hands again,
splashed more water on his face and tried to walk out of the café as
nonchalantly as possible.
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