The gloomy clouds over the mountain-lined valley never lifted and seemed to get denser as the afternoon passed into evening. The sun was a pale disk beyond the clouds, lighting up the glacial lake to mirror the grey sky, reflecting like polished silver plate. We were still going through books that were relevant to the predicament the Valdorians had set up for Daniel, trying to find the best way out. The news story had broken as Daniel had intended, thanks to the Louise Tribune’s star reporter Sarah Chen, connecting the dots of the debased Valdorian gold coins and the King’s plan to undermine Louise independence by funding a Treasury that was only worth a fraction of it’s purported value.

Daniel grimaced as he scanned through the newspaper article again, ignoring the grease stains from the fish and chips that it had been wrapped in. With a sudden move, he crumpled up the newspaper and threw it in the garbage, and he started cleaning up the remnants of our lunch delivered by Murphy down the road. He was sighing heavily, which was a bit out of character for him, and his brow was knitted with concern and a trace of anxiety.

I looked up from my reading and asked him, “Do you need help?”

Daniel waved off my offer and noisily dumped dishes, glasses and cutlery into the kitchen sink. He looked back at the garbage can where he had just thrown out the newspaper and a slight smile appeared on his lips, then just as quickly disappeared.

“You have an idea?” I asked, wondering if he was going to share it with me.

“I do, and it involves Justine, the third player in our game of Monopoly,” Daniel said and picked up the phone. “I think we need to give her something that she could really use in her own battles with Valdoria.”

“The videotape copy of the recordings of JD Ruff you buried?” I ventured, although I doubted Daniel was about to give that up too easily.

“No, I’m going to need that later, after the Valdorians start spreading edited sections of the original recordings. Ms. Chen is going to need to see the full context of that meeting with JD. No, I have something that Justine can only get from me.” Daniel started dialling the black rotary phone and absent-mindedly reached over to the pachinko machine next to it, turning the dial and watching a few of the silver balls shoot up over the top of the peg board and plink-plink-plink back down to the receiving tray.

“Hello, Murphy!” Daniel said as he looked over at me. “Yes, the fish and chips were delicious! The best!” He nodded as he listened to Murphy speaking on the other end. “Ah-ha. You don’t say. Just now? Well, that is quite the coincidence that I happened to call you at the same time. OK, that saves me making another call, I’m glad I called you first.” Daniel snapped his fingers at me, pointing at the Bookface magazine on the coffee table, the one with Justine on the cover.

“Justine is coming over now?” I guessed, standing up quickly and started gathering books together and tidying up our research materials while Daniel finished his phone call.

“Wow, speak of the devil and in she walks,” Daniel said, hurrying over to help with the tidying up of the cabin, putting books back on the bookshelf and piling together all the loose pages of handwritten notes. “Justine and her guards just pulled up to Murphy’s store. She rented a bike and is heading here alone.”

“Alone? How long do we have before she gets here?”

“My guess is about 10 minutes. We’ve had a strenous day. You have a shower and put on some clean clothes,” Daniel pointed at the bathroom as he continued to put things away, adding “She rather likes you.”

I put away the books in my arms and then headed to the bathroom, starting the hot water in the tub and gathering a bath towel from my room. The water was warm enough to turn on the shower so I slipped out of jogging suit and had a quick wash and rinse. I dried myself as I went to my room and put on a button-down shirt and a pair of black jeans. While I put on my socks and tightened my belt, I called out to Daniel to let him know I was about ready. Daniel didn’t answer back but I could hear he was still in the living room area, moving around and putting things away.

I came out into the living room, and found Daniel working on the grandfather clock, loading a wax cylinder in its base and the film canister behind its face. He caught my quizzical look and explained, “Just in case, even though she knows all about it.” Not a moment after Daniel closed the panels on the clock, we could see from a side window a shock of platinum blonde hair whiz by the cabin and the sound of bicycle tires skidding on loose stones out front.

A few seconds later there was a louding rap on the cabin door, and Daniel headed over to open it, tucking in his t-shirt and straightening his camouflage pants. He straightened his hair with his fingers, opening the door to Justine leaning on the door frame in a cyclist’s outfit. She removed her helmet and let her shiny hair fall down over her shoulders and walked into the cabin. She brushed past Daniel and headed over to me.

“Al! So good to see you again!” she said and leaned over to kiss my cheek. Her perfume made me a bit dizzy, but she grabbed my elbow as if she knew I needed her support.

“Hello again, Justine. What brings the Honourable Prime Minister of Canada to our neck of the woods so soon after your last visit,” Daniel asked plainly.

She quickly turned around and glared at Daniel, almost shouting, “You know exactly why I’m here Daniel! You’ve stirred up a nest of Valdorians, and they are stinging everything in sight! What are you trying to do?”

“You know full well what I’m up,” Daniel said tersely. “You would do the same if you were in my position.”

“No, I would not have even gotten myself into this trap you clumsily fell into. You should know the Valdorians cannot be trusted.” The grandfather clock chimed the half-hour and Justine let go of me. She walked over to the clock while looking into it’s face and saying loudly, “Only a fool would make a deal with a Valdorian to do anything other than what benefits a Valdorian!” She looked at a watch on her wrist and added, “Your spy clock here is three minutes fast.”

“Valdorian untrustworthiness isn’t exactly headline news,” Daniel said sarcastically and sat down on one of the chairs. Justine and I sat down in the other chairs around the coffee table. “Did you come here just to gloat or what?”

Justine looked at me and then at the picture of herself on the Bookface cover. She looked up at Daniel and asked, “I came here to find out what you said to the Valdorian ambassador that so shook him to the core.”

“I told him he was infected with spores of a lytic parasite that was selectively bred to germinate in the presence of a specific chemical triggers.”

Justine rolled her eyes and sighed. “You must be joking. That old saw? And you told him to take antibiotics and drink a glass of cooking oil?”

“Actually it was Al who hit on this microbial leash on Valdorian operatives. He’s quite resourceful. I filled in the lurid details of what happens in the presence of the chemical trigger to cause the spores to germinate.”

“You are a clever man, Sweet Cheeks,” Justine told me and grabbed my hand. Her hand was soft and warm and I resisted the impulse to put my other hand over it. She looked into my eyes and commented coolly, “Too bad there’s not much going on behind those pretty eyes of yours.”

“He’s the best assistant. Always calculating the best response to anything you ask him to do, eager and willing to look up anything you ask him. He rarely expressions deep emotions, kind of like how the candy bar “Turkish Delight” is only a sweet imitation of the real thing.” Daniel stood up and walked behind the chair I was sitting in.

“Thanks for the compliments, but I’m right here, you two,” I said, becoming a bit uncomfortable with the situation.

Just then Justine squeezed my hand and dropped her helmet, revealing that she was holding a pair of handcuffs. Simultaneously, Daniel reached over the back of the chair behind me and firmly held down my shoulders. Before I could react, Justine slammed the handcuffs on my wrists, with Daniel continuing to hold me down. We could hear large vehicles roaring down the road and coming to a skidding halt on the driveway outside the cabin.

“You’re under arrest for threatening harm to a Valdorian ambassador and engaging in esponiage, Sweetie!” Justine exclaimed, and the door flew open, the cabin filling with the Prime Ministerial guards.

Daniel let go of my shoulders and only said, “Go peacefully, Al. This is bigger than you can comprehend. You were always my opponent in the game of Monopoly. You assumed it was the Valdorians? They are only the arbitrary rules we play the game by.”

In my shock I stood up and allowed myself to be led handcuffed out the door and into a waiting limousine. Justine was grinning from ear to ear, delighted with my capture. Daniel stood by impassively, not saying anything.

“Oh I almost forgot! We need a picture of this for my Bookface page!” Justine looked around the cluster of vehicles hurriedly parked around the cabin and saw her photographer dart out from behind one. She looked at my shocked expression and said, “C’mon Sweet Cheeks! Look like you’re enjoying this! You have been a big part of creating this sensation!”

The photographer snapped some pictures of the Prime Minister kissing my cheek and laying her head affectionately on my shoulder. Done with the charade, she guided me into her limousine and sat down beside me. I looked for Daniel but didn’t see him anywhere, assuming he had never left the cabin. All the doors tot he vehicles slammed shut in unison, and we left the cabin behind us, driving at top speed down the gravel road and careening onto the highway past Murphy’s store.

“Where are we going? What do you want from me?” I asked, feeling a rising panic about what all this meant for me.

“You know, in my Instant Letters I always tell my followers that it’s all about the journey and not the destination. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for you at all,” she said reaching down for something in one of the back seat pouches. The driver reached for something too, and on looking closer I saw that everyone in the car was putting on gas masks. The guard sitting next to me opened a spray can and filled the cabin with a sour-smelling gas that made me cough. The interior of the car got dark and I couldn’t keep my eyes open, feeling myself fall over into Justine’s lap.

“Sweet dreams, Sweet Cheeks,” the Prime Minister said softly through your gas mask, and gently pushed my hair out of my face. “You have a lot to answer for.”

I completely blacked out at that point, feeling completely betrayed by Daniel and grasping at reasons why he would abandon me this way.

*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***