Anthony

   (When we last left Fred he had been offered a job by John Smith, head of M007 and then dropped off in front of the hotel he had been kidnapped from)

   Fred walked into the hotel, taking care to let the doors slide open, and saw that there was a new desk attendant.  This one looked just as nice, and Fred hoped he wouldn’t get killed like the other one had.
   Fred went up to the desk. “Is there a Jonathan Toque here?” he asked.
   The attendant looked at a computer screen and nodded. “Yes, sir.” He took another look at Fred. “Are you Fred?”
   Fred nodded.
   The attendant smiled and gave him a keycard. “Jonathan said you would be coming and to give you your key.  Room 117, second floor.”
   Fred took the key. “Thanks.”
   He was feeling energetic, so he decided to take the stairs.  He bound up them three at a time, but the top was his downfall.  Literally.  His last leap was a little too long and he lost his balance, tumbling back down to the bottom.
   “By Jove!  Are you all right?”
   The owner of the voice pulled Fred to his feet and brushed him off a bit.  Fred reeled around for a second, then got his bearings enough to see who had helped him.  It was a young man, barely in his twenties, with light brown hair and green eyes.  He was wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. 
   Fred swayed slightly. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
   “Oh, an American,” the young man smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Anthony.”
   Fred shook his hand. “Fred.”
   “Well come on, Fred,” Anthony took him by the arm and began to help him up the stairs. “Let’s make sure you don’t have any more mishaps on the way, shall we?”
   Fred gave a hollow laugh. “Mishaps are the least of my worries.”
   “Oh?  Why’s that?”
   Fred ticked the reasons off his fingers as they climbed. “In the past twenty-four hours I’ve been ambushed, shot at, kidnapped, and thrown to alligators.  Falling down stairs is the low note of my day so far.”
   “By Jove!  What have you gotten yourself into?”
   “Hey, they started it by stealing my peanuts.”
   Anthony looked at him with a mixture of surprise and horror. “Not the PEANUT terrorists?”
   Fred nodded. “Them, and The Terrorists, apparently.”
   Anthony looked puzzled. “What’s the difference?”
   “Capitalization and italicization.”
   Anthony nodded. “Ah.”
   By now they had reached room 117.  Fred pointed to it.
   “Here’s my stop,” he said.
   Anthony grinned. “Really?  I’m surprised we made it.”
   Fred adopted a hurt look. “Hey.  I’m not that clumsy.”
   Anthony laughed. “I’m sure you aren’t.  But I am.” 
   As if to make his point, he stumbled.  As he fell, he grabbed Fred’s arm, dragging him down too.  Anthony hopped back to his feet with practiced ease and helped Fred up.
   “Sorry about that,” he said.
   “No problem.  Nice to know I’m not the only one.”
   “Yes.” Anthony nodded.  “Well, nice meeting you, and I do hope you get everything sorted out.”
   Then he waved and went back to the stairway, tripping over his own feet as he did.  Fred chuckled as he tried to slip his keycard into the door.  He missed several times before he got it in, which succeeded in taking the smile off his face.
   When he finally did get in, he found Jonathan sitting in one of the chairs.
   “Ah,” the man said. “I thought I heard you out there.”
   Fred stared at him. “That’s it?  I was just kidnapped and that’s all you have to say?”
   Jonathan watched him calmly. “Yes, Fred.  That’s all I have to say.”
   Fred glared at him.
   “If you’re going to be dealing with terrorists, you’ll have to get used to this.”
   “They could have killed me!” Fred protested.
   “So why are you alive?”
   “An alligator saved me.”
   “Ah.  So The Terrorists got you, eh?  No doubt you were saved by M007?  They had Alexander    undercover in the alligator tank, right?”
   Fred stared at him. “How do you know all that?”
   Jonathan smiled. “Brace yourself.”
   Fred was about to ask why, when the room exploded.

   To be continued….