It was an ordinary morning at my grey headquarters. Cats were napping quietly on the various sofas, comfy chairs, radiators and computers that filled the large space that was my main control room, and Samantha and I were curled up on a sofa listening to relaxing music on the radio.
It was peaceful. I knew it couldn't last, because it never does, but I was determined to enjoy it while it lasted.
Then the grey telephone rang. The screen told me it was an international call, and I picked it up, hoping it wouldn't just be some Indian call centre trying to sell me something I didn't want. I hate them, and one of these days I might go out to India to do something naughty about it.
"Hello?" I said.
"Señorita! This is Manuel Almederos!"
Manuel Almederos, my contact in southern Spain and steward of the hacienda I inherited from my Dad! It was important!
"This is the Girl in Grey. Go ahead, Manuel."
"It is Señor Akenbola, Señorita. He has escaped."
"Escaped? How?"
I had locked J. Bucky Akenbola in a dungeon underneath a ruined Spanish castle I happen to own as a punishment for working the 'Spanish Prisoner' con. I have that sort of sense of poetic justice. And the dungeon really needed to be used for something. It was just wasteful, leaving it empty like that.
"His brother, Señor O. Bucky Akenbola. The Spanish Prisoner contacted him, and Señor O. Bucky brought a gang of armed men to free his brother. And now they are loose in Spain!"
"Not for long," I promised. "I'll be over there as soon as I can, Manuel, if not sooner. And then I'll recapture The Spanish Prisoner. And his brother."
"But Señor O. Bucky has bionic arms..."
"Then we'll just have to disarm him, Manuel. Look, I'll see you at the hacienda tonight. 'Bye!"
I rang off and jumped to my feet.
"Right, Samantha," I said. "We need to pack. This time to-morrow we'll be in sunny Spain."
I anticipated a quick capture. How wrong I was! For at that very moment, under the shadow of my castle in Spain, the Akenbola brothers were planning their terrible revenge upon me!
1 comment:
The Ackenbola Brothers are a formiddable force. They used to sing on The Lawrence Welk show. One of them played the accordian and the other one danced around his hat. It was a constricting experience. In fact several people were always found choked to death after the thundering applause- which they gave themselves by jumping on a set of castanets. I would stay away from them.
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