Chapter Four

The woman in the front office had introduced herself as Megan, and told Alex that Mr. Darcy was on a phone call and would be with him in a moment.  In the meantime, he could have a seat.

Alex felt a tiny twinge of concern about sitting on someone’s leather furniture after spending the entire day sweating more than he’d sweat in years, but got over it pretty quickly when he noticed, again, how badly his legs hurt. 

And his butt.  As he sank into the chair, he had to suppress a groan.  Apparently his bicycle seat muscles were not in particularly great shape.  And as he relaxed into the plush, inviting, chair, he noticed all the other places where he hurt.

How am I supposed to get up and do this again tomorrow?  I can spend an hour stretching when I get home and I’m still not going to be able to hobble my ass outside and get on a bike again, Alex thought.

Speaking of his bike, he wondered where exactly he’d left it after he got here.  He couldn’t remember what he’d done with it, and he didn’t have a lock for it anymore.  He half-suspected that he’d rolled it into the lobby downstairs, and hoped fervently that he had. 

Wow, I can’t believe this, Alex thought.   Who’d have thought this job would be so exhausted I’d forget where I’d left my bike.

Maybe that was part of the reason Frank had told him to get a bike he wouldn’t mind having stolen.   Then he wondered if many other couriers misplaced their bikes on their first day.

He woke up with a start, again, when Megan said, “Mr. Darcy is ready to see you know.”

Alex popped up out of his chair, and immediately regretted moving so quickly.  Everything still hurt, maybe even a little more than it had before he’d stopped moving.  He wondered again how he was going to get himself home.

“Great! Thanks,” Alex said.  He picked up his bag, and knew exactly which muscles he’d used doing it. 

Megan gestured towards the door to Mr. Darcy’s office and said, “He’s just through there.”

Alex opened the door and walked through.  He barely got inside before stopping again to take it all in.  Like the lobby, it was all dark wood, with comfortable looking leather furniture.  There was an antique, ornate floor globe in one corner of the office, and bookshelves lined the walls. 

He was still looking around when he became aware that someone had shut the door behind him.  He assumed it was Megan.

Mr. Darcy sat behind an imposing desk.  There was a black leather pad on the desk, a lamp, and a pen set.  Otherwise, the desk was empty.  Mr. Darcy himself wore a charcoal grey suit.  He looked like he was probably in his mid-fifties.  He was balding, but his remaining hair was dark and combed back.  He had a neatly trimmed beard. 

And he was looking at Alex with great interest.

“Hello Mr. Minor,” Mr. Darcy said.

“Hello,” Alex said, and walked the rest of the way into the office.  He’d started to hand Mr. Darcy the envelope he’d come to deliver when he realized he hadn’t yet told anyone here his name.

“Wait a minute.  How do you know my name?” Alex said.

Mr. Darcy calmly leaned forward and plucked the envelope out of Alex’s half-extended hand, and set it down to one side on his desk.

“Trivial details, Mr. Minor,“ Mr. Darcy said.  “I know a great deal about you.  Everything I need to know, really.  Tell me, how have you enjoyed your first day as a bicycle courier?”

Alex was suddenly very concerned about the situation he was in.  He wasn’t sure, but he suspected that people in mysterious offices who know his name and claim to know everything they need to about him were probably bad for his health.  Or his finances.

“It’s been fine.  What, exactly, do you know about me?” Alex said.  “And why?”

Mr. Darcy sat back in his chair and smiled slightly, amused.  He gestured towards the chairs in front of his desk, and said, “Please have a seat and relax, Mr. Minor.  I don’t have any nefarious intentions for you.”

Alex sat down, but did not feel particularly relaxed yet.  He had a strong suspicion that he was being set up.  Or about to find himself embroiled in some kind of government investigation.  Or something else that he’d have to hire a lawyer for.

Mr. Darcy opened one of the drawers in his desk, and reached in.  Alex expected him to produce a folder of some sort, but instead he brought out a bottle of Fuji water and set it down in front of Alex.

“Have some water, you must be thirsty,” Mr. Darcy said.  “Let me just recap the highlights of what I know about you, to put your mind at ease.  I know that you’re ex-military, and you were honorably discharged. You’ve had several jobs since leaving the service, and you’ve been fired from all of them, primarily for sleeping on the job, or otherwise behaving like you weren’t interested in being there.  You bought a brand-new, expensive, bicycle after getting hired as a messenger.  You’ve done 20 deliveries today, including this one, which means you’ve earned $50 today.”

He continued, “I also know that you chased down a thief who tried to steal your new bicycle, and caught him.  Impressive even if you hadn’t been on foot.  And it’s interesting that once you’d recovered your bicycle, you lost all interest in bringing the thief to justice, instead getting immediately back to the task at hand – delivering this envelope.”

Mr. Darcy picked up the envelope Alex had delivered, briefly, before setting it back down on the desk again.

Alex’s mouth had gone dry.  How could this Mr. Darcy guy know so much about him?  He took the bottle of water Mr. Darcy had offered, and took two big swallows before closing the bottle again and setting it back on Mr. Darcy’s desk.

“Have you been following me?” Alex asked.  “Why?  How did I even get on your radar.  I’ve never heard of you before.”

“Of course you haven’t heard of me.  I pay a small army of people to make sure that no one has heard of me.  And I haven’t been having you followed, although I did have someone watching you from when you arrived to pick up my delivery until you got here.”

Alex interrupted, “So you knew I’d be making this delivery?  Did the bike thief work for you?”

Mr. Darcy laughed.  “No, that was just some guy who saw an awfully nice bicycle locked to a lamp post.  I have to say, however, you handled it admirably.”

“Anyway,” Mr. Darcy said, “You came to my attention because I also have a great many associates watching for people with… certain characteristics.  Usually they’ll turn out to be hopeless cases, completely useless to me.  They turn out to be stupid, lazy, undependable, cowardly, or otherwise undesirable.  But a very, very few are people like you.  People who aren’t cut out for ordinary jobs.  People who need a lot of excitement.  People with guts.  Risk takers.  People who will follow through on what they’ve started no matter what.”

He continued, “One of your superiors in the Army is an associate of mine.  He first told me about you, and so I paid attention to what you’ve been up to.  The recruiter at Sanderson Staffing is associate of mine too.  He let me know about your boredom with traditional work.”

“OK,” Alex said. “So why are you looking for people with ‘certain characteristics’?”

“Well, so I can hire them, of course,” Mr. Darcy said, and smiled.

Alex’s mind spun.  He wondered if this was all a set up.  Marlboro was screwing with him, any second a camera crew was going to pop out and Ashton Kutcher was going to say something stupid at him.

“You want to give me a job?” Alex said.

“Yes,” Mr. Darcy said.  “I need people who can cope with high pressure and unusual circumstances, who thrive on adrenaline.  But I need my thrill junkies to get the job done too.  Originally, I just wanted to get you in here to size you up a bit before sending you on your way again.  But then someone tried to steal your bike, and from the way you handled that situation, I know everything I need to for now.”

“So, Mr. Minor, would you like to come work for me?”

Alex sat quietly for a moment, thinking about what Mr. Darcy had just told him.  On the one hand, it seemed way too good to be true.  On the other hand, it still seemed too good to be true.

“What, exactly, are you hiring me to do?” Alex said.

Mr. Darcy smiled again.  “Let’s call it troubleshooting, or perhaps problem-solving.  I’ll give you the details for a problem, and it’ll be up to you to solve that problem.  And, of course, there will be the occasional odd job.  Deliveries, things along those lines.  You will, of course, be paid well for your services.  Unless you’d rather keep earning $50 a day, sweating in traffic dressed like a bike weenie.”

“Solving problems?  Odd jobs?  Is this some kind of crime syndicate?” Alex asked.  He’d been worried he was just going to be blackmailed, but suddenly he was nervous that things might be even worse than that.

“No, Mr. Minor, nothing like that.  I assure you, we are the good guys,” Mr. Darcy said.

“So you’re some kind of government organization?  Intelligence, or something?” Alex said.

“No, it’s strictly private enterprise. I thought I’d made it clear that we are the good guys, Mr. Minor,” Mr. Darcy said.  “You won’t have to do anything that goes against your moral code, I assure you.”

Mr. Darcy sat back in his chair, and steepled his fingers.

“Are you interested, Mr. Minor?”