Bureau Rats – Episode 6
Scene 1
At Molly’s Munchies, Molly and her daughter Katia have just opened and their first patron sits at the counter. It’s one of their regulars, Lester.
Molly (bright smile): Lester, haven’t seen you in a while! Welcome back. You having the usual?
Lester: Yes, Molly. A deep fried chocolate ice cream bar and a quadruple espresso, please.
Katia: On another health kick, Lester?
Lester: At my age, I’ll do whatever I please.
Molly: You tell her, Lester.
Lester: Hey Molly, I heard you were shut down for a while.
Molly: It was a day. Then they reversed their decision, for no apparent reason. Horrible, but short lived, mess.
Lester (scratches chin, thinking): Hmmmmm…..
Katia (giggling): Why the suspicious face?
Lester: Have you heard about what’s been going on at the BORE?
Molly and Katia shrug.
Lester (looks over shoulder, whispers): Lots of people have been quitting their jobs at BORE.
Molly and Katia lean closer to Lester.
Molly (amused): Why are you whispering?
Lester: Cuz there’s a rumor going around that there’s some sort of vigilante causing chaos within the BORE.
Katia (laughing): Like some comic book villain?
Lester: Or super hero, depending on how you look at it. And why are you laughing? I’m serious!
Molly (rolls eyes): You and your rumors, Lester.
Lester (defensive): I’m serious! My niece’s husband’s brother works at the BORE.
Katia (sarcastic): Sounds like irrefutable evidence to me!
Lester: And it’s on a lot of independent media websites!
Molly (sighs deeply): You and your conspiracy websites, Lester, I swear.
Lester: Tell ya what. I’ll send you some information, you look at it and decide for yourself.
Katia: Fair enough, Lester. Pass it my way. I’ll have a look.
Scene 2
At the pentagram building in the BORE complex, FLOP Commissioner Lance A. Mann is having a meeting with an international underworld crime figure known as “El Toro”.
Lance A. Mann: Now look here, Mr. Toro.
El Toro interrupts: El Toro, not mister. (rolls eyes) Gringos…..
Lance A Mann: El Toro, we’ve been more than accommodating to your organization.
El Toro: Accommodating? Two of my lieutenants were arrested this year! And another was killed!
Lance A. Mann: We have to at least look like we’re trying! And besides, you personally approved those three as expendable.
El Toro: Oh, right. I forgot, those guys were super annoying. But still, how can you demand a higher cut?
Lance A. Mann: It’s not me, it’s my bosses.
El Toro: Oh, sure, point the finger. (thoughtful look) Are you sure it’s ok we talk about this in your office?
Lance A. Mann: Totally fine. (cocky) I’m pretty much untouchable.
Scene shifts to White Hat’s mediocre apartment. He’s intensely watching his laptop while hacking on the keyboard.
White Hat: Cobra, this was a brilliant idea.
Cobra: Glad you approve. Here comes the delivery now. Question. Why didn’t you choose to do this electronically?
White Hat: I dunno. Sometimes I’m old school like that.
Cobra: Ok, here comes the delivery.
Scene shifts back to Lance A. Mann’s office at The Pentagram. There is a quick knock on his door and two envelopes slide underneath the gap.
One envelope has the message, written in red:
URGENT for Commissioner Mann
And the other says:
URGENT for El Toro
Commissioner Mann and El Toro both turn and eye the envelopes suspiciously. Commissioner Mann goes to retrieve the envelopes, struggles to bend to the floor, finally succeeds, straightens up, and opens one. His face is shocked and he turns 50 shades of red.
El Toro: What is it?
Commissioner Mann (nervous): Uh, nothing important. Well, I think we’ve got things settled here, right? You’re a busy guy and probably need to go, right?
A visibly angered El Toro walks over to Mann.
El Toro: Why does that have my name on it?
Mann (nervous laugh): Must be a typo, I dunno….
El Toro snatches the envelope and opens it. There is a still photo of his meeting with Commissioner Mann. The photo was taken minutes earlier.
El Toro (fuming): Untouchable, huh? Isn’t that what you said? Untouchable?
Scene 3
Three days later, Katia is at her reasonably nice apartment in a decent neighborhood. She’s sitting at a solid wood table that she found at a thrift store, mesmerized by an article she’s reading on her
phone. The article is on The Free Life website, which was recommended to her by Lester. It was written by Tommy Zee.
Katia (thinking to herself): Commissioner Lance A. Mann goes missing after meeting with notorious underworld figure ‘El Toro’….police leaving en masse….BORE scrambles to hire more rights violators…..Still reeling from bureau rats leaving other departments
Katia sits back and whispers to herself: What is going on?…...Wait, and what about that strange guy that knew about Molly’s shutdown? How did he know that?
End Episode 6
To be continued....
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