Kor

Kor was a strange man to say the least. He spent all his time indoors, ordering food with the help of today's technology. He had the money for everything, so what practical reason was there for leaving? For me, someone who has a life and relationship, plenty, but for him, not at all.

Kor was a machine, a productive man on his worst days. He created, he bought, he navigated and nobody knew he did it. Until one day, we caught a leak, a lapse in his security gave us the smallest look into his world and it is sick, sinister. All we got out of it was a name, ‘Kor’. However, he is a smart man and he knows that if we raid him we won’t find anything.

That means we need someone to get close, somebody on the inside. We need a new type of operative, one that Kor wouldn’t mind getting close to. In his situation, that might seem like mission impossible, but we can’t simply let him get away with what he has done. After all, that was a lot of money he took from the one time we saw his shadow. Who knows how long he has been doing this?

“So who is our girl?” the representative asked, his suit restricting him from making any expressions, so he simply wobbled.

“Not girl, guy,” I corrected.

“So he swings that way?”

“We’re not sure which way he swings, but I am not proposing a honey-trap. We need someone to get inside that house and so far there is only one person that can.”

I pressed a button on the presentation remote. A new slide slid into place, showing a pizza delivery van. The aerial view gave use a vantage point on the man who walked from the van to the door, being let in by the target. You didn’t get a good look at his face, but you did see him walk into the house.

“It seems that Kor has made friends with the pizza delivery guy who delivers to him every Friday,” I announced. “With the go ahead, we can wire this kid up with every type of sensor, camera and microphone. If we’re lucky, we get more information out of this man, but simply pinning something to Kor is all we need to put him out of commission.”

The representative looked around the room at a board of advisors and other officials. He wasn’t seeing one of them shake their heads.

“You have my go ahead, get it done.”

***

“I swear, I don’t know nothing,” the pizza man, Eddie Williams told me. The cuffs around his hands rattled on the metal table.

“Don’t know nothing?” I asked. “That’s a double negative, Eddie. So, what do you know?”

I slammed my palms down on the table and Eddie hit the ceiling in fright. It’s funny messing with the civilians, but it got them in the right place. When I was done having fun, I told him that he was going to be wired like Christmas tree, but in a pizza delivery guy’s uniform

“What? Why?” Eddie asked.

“Because,” I began sitting on the table. “You know people, Mr Williams and if you help us, we will help you with your...unpaid parking ticket.”

“I’m in.”

***

The very next Friday, Eddie was making the same delivery to Kor’s house. He always ordered the same pizza, Hawain. That alone was enough for me to throw the hermit in jail, but the higher-ups wouldn’t go for it. I bet they are pineapple people too.

“Agent is approaching target,” the intern announced staring at the screen.

“Thanks, Brian, I’m sure the blind in this room really appreciate it,” I muttered.

Everyone looked at Carlos, the blind guy, who gave a thumbs up. It’s strange how a blind man got hired for a surveillance job.

The bell was rung as Eddie stopped in front of the door. I truly hoped he would keep his cool, or he would never get in. We needed Kor and this is the only way we can catch him red handed. There won’t be a second attempt unless he makes another slip up and I doubt he ever would.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Eddie asked.

The camera was switched to the button cam on Eddie’s shirt. Unfortunately, it didn’t give us an angle on Kor’s face. A quick ID scan would have helped, but I guess we would see him later.

“Not much,” Kor replied in a whisper. “Put the pizza on the table, I will get your money.”

We watched as Eddie entered the home while the man walked away, going deeper into the dark home. With all the curtains drawn, it looked rather grim. However, that’s the life Kor asked for when he started involving himself in a career with computers.

I looked around the surveillance room. It wouldn’t hurt if it had a window, but this is the life I chose.

Kor returned and we all got a good look at him. Everyone froze, unbelieving in what they saw. My own jaw detached itself from my skull and fell to the ground, rolling around Carlos’s ankle. I know, because curiously, he noticed, picked it up and handed it to me. Give me a vital part of my body and a tone of questions.

Eddie left the house and hopped in the van. He had got a decent tip and was on his way back to work with a smile painted on his face. However, we stopped him a few blocks down to remove the wires.

“Did you get what you needed?” Eddie asked. “I made sure the camera-”

“Yeah, we got enough,” I muttered, grabbing the wires hanging off of Eddie’s glasses and yanking them off. The duct tape pulled the glasses off with them.

“I can’t believe it,” I muttered, trying to untangle the wires from the glasses. “I mean, I always believe he was alive, but still, that’s shocking. Of course ‘Kor’ was a code-name, but code-name for-”

“What, man?”

I looked at him confused.

“Eddie, didn’t you realize your were talking to the King of Rock himself?”

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