The Bag

John was on his lunch break from work. He was tired from the early morning starts and the long drive into work he had to commute each day across motorways. However it was a well paying job and he needed the money in these times of post COVID strife.

He stopped at Starbucks and got his usual Choca Moca Chino, and started to down it like a beer. Gosh he needed this. Something to perk him up and keep him awake. He had already found himself nodding off at his desk earlier this morning and that wouldn't be a good look in his first week at a new job if he had been caught by his eagle eyed boss.

He entered the local park that sat in between the office blocks and walked down the pathway through the Westminster garden like yards, that filled the squares of that posh part of town. He was looking at the birds fly around chasing each other, and then a couple of squirrels tapping the ground for nuts when he instinctively came up to the bench he had sat on each day this first week of his new job. He plonked his cheeks on the metal bottom and stretched his legs out high in the air and kept the angry growl of stressed energy internal as he pushed his arms out wide.

It was just as he finished his coffee and threw a perfect 3 pointer at the bin which lay on the other side of the bench that he noticed there was a brown paper bag sat underneath him on the floor.

He looked around to see if anyone had forgotten it but couldn't see anyone at all. Everyone looked busy and happy and no-one looked like they were looking for something at all. He decided to have a peek inside.

Stealthy, he picked the bag up and held it tight between his thighs. With another quick look around to ensure no-one was watching him he opened the bag to see what was in it and was shocked.

It was full of cash. A big bag full of money. It looked like a good 30 grand plus at least from the wrapped up banded hundred pound notes. Whose could he be he wondered for all of a split second before other thoughts entered his mind.

The mood in John, changed instantly as he suddenly thought of all the things he could do with that money. He could take time off from working a draining soulless cubicle job for a while. He could even take Sandra on holiday somewhere nice for once. This money could change everything he thought.

He picked the bag up and started walking out of the park with a much happier demeanour his head was full of ideas for once and he wasn't dreading going back to the office after lunch as he had for each day he had been here.

It could be the start of something new and exciting and he actually felt happy for the first time since he had got the job at the interview.

However little did he know that what he had picked up was a drop off from an MI6 agent to a compromised Russian agent who had been caught up in the London traffic. He had been slowed down by getting a ticket from the police and then having to explain that he had diplomatic immunity and all the checks the police had to carry out to confirm his story. The money in the bag, was bribe money to keep him passing on information from his embassy. Info about possible computer targets that the FSB were planning to exploit in the UK using their new computer malware.

The two agents in the van sitting outside the park were furious. Their plan was up in smoke and all because someone had found the money first. “What shall we do No 1”, said a man in a dark suit and shades.

“We'll have to retrieve the money” he replied, “at any cost”.

“Affirmative”, the other man nodded his head and left the van. He started to walk towards John who was skipping along in a happy mood thinking about all the things he was going to change his life with and do with this new money.

However as he was about to cross the road, a tall man in a suit bumped into him, and John suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. The bag of money was loose in his hands as he slumped into the man's arms who sly-fully placed him down into a near bench, taking the brown packet of money with him.

John was just thinking of the holiday he was going to book after work as his eyes started to get heavy, and his heart started beating slower and slower. Before long he was pale white and almost dead, his head was slumped down into his chest. People carried on walking past him without even giving him a second glance, what concern of theirs was he, thought the selfish mob of London workers eager to get back to their offices.

However there was one person who was concerned that John was not back at his desk almost an hour after he should have been back in the office, his boss.

He was standing by the window looking around trying to see if he could see John, all the time tapping his watch, “That John, he had been a mistake to hire. He was always looking tired and rough, he would definitely be letting him go at the end of the week”. He thought to himself as he eventually sat down and extracted a form from his desktop to write up John's dismissal.

However John wouldn't be needing the new job, or the bag full of money, he would just need someone to find him soon. Very soon, before he was dead.

© 2021 All Rights Reserved Robert Reid