Abacus

if I call, you jump. Do not stuff me around. Okay? You don’t get a second chance with me.”
    The bait nodded nervously as he got up and walked back to his car, leaving her behind. From behind the wheel he closely watched the emaciated frame of his newest bait push herself slowly up from the bench and tentatively walk past. “Have they really thought this through?” he said softly as he watched her slowly trudge towards the exit of the park.
    Stopping at a garden bed, she bent down to pick a flower, smelt it, then continued to amble out of the park. He momentarily thought about his own daughter Jane, and imagined how awful it would be if she was the bait. It made him feel very uncomfortable but he had no influence over their choice, he had to work with the bait he was assigned. It was not his call.
    * * *
    Back at the office, Randall walked over to Hobbs’s desk and tapped him on the shoulder. “How did you get on with Interpol?”
    Hob bs put down the report he was reading. “I have sent off the request and also emailed a consular official over there. It may take a few days for them to assist, but I will keep on them.”
    “Thanks , mate,” Randall said, heading back to his office.
    He returned to his desk to contemplate the next DL assignment. He laid the “Deliver Live” document on top of his keyboard so he could again read details about the new bait. He thought there might have been a detail he had missed or a clue as to why they had chosen a female for this particular assignment.
    As he read , he glanced up at the dark computer screen. A reflection of the letter was clearly visible on the screen, however, the letters were displayed upside down. He stared at the heading “Deliver Live,” and thought, It just doesn’t make sense. We are certainly not delivering the targets alive. They are very much dead when we finish with them.
    He looked again at the screen, and recalled his earlier conversation with his daughter regarding reversed wording. Staring at the screen he reversed the reflection in his mind and scribbled the result on a piece of paper. With the name “Deliver Live” now written in reverse, it’s true meaning appeared. He picked up the piece of paper and smiled. Well, what do you know? Very clever. With the new name now obvious, he couldn’t believe it had eluded him all this time. Reviled Evil . Now that makes a lot more sense , he whispered.
    * * *
    It was now a few days since Randall had met the new bait, and based on his experience he knew the next assignment was looming close. He walked around the office, stopping at Jesse’s desk. “Still here, mate?”
    “Ye p, just tidying things up. I’ll be out of here shortly.”
    He leant over his desk with his arms outstretched. “The big fella has still not had word from Interpol on our elusive nurse.”
    Jesse nodded. “I’ve reread through the transcripts and listened to the recordings of the listening post. I can’t hear Helen’s name being mentioned at all in-house, but knowing what we know now I would have to agree they were definitely onto us. There is no mention at all about the murder or the victim. It just seemed everything they talked about was cleansed, you know. Anyway, taking everything into account I don’t think Helen is in anyway involved. Hoskings was quite candid in interview and didn’t mention her initially. I spoke to him at the bail application today; he doesn’t even know who she is. I think Cheung and our nurse were having a little tryst of their own without his knowledge, and once Helen found out about the murder, she got a little embarrassed and scampered.”
    Randall ’s phone vibrated in his pocket. “Excuse me, mate,” he said, holding up the vibrating phone as he hurried back to the privacy of his office. He read the screen. Set the bait you have the tackle. Usually he was excited about the next assignment, but this time it was a little different. He still had serious reservations about the suitability of the new bait.
    * * *
    Randall sat in his car in the darkened lane, having just collected the envelopes in the heavy rain. He opened the console and looked at the sodden envelope that contained the beige powder. In the coming days this powder would be used to end a life. A life that was destined to menace and cause pain to others.
    When he first started working with DL he was uncomfortable with being involved in the whole drug supply scenario. But as time went on, he was able to justify his