John Action was surprised when he answered the telephone and it was Jeremy Saint calling him. He didn't know where he stood with the guy right now: They were once friends but then Jeremy was brainwashed by Geoffrey and Nancy Landgraab into hating Action and working against him. Recently Action confronted his former friend with the truth about what had happened to him and it seemed to break the Landgraab's hold over him but were there still residual thoughts of hate? Jeremy's voice on the other end of the phone didn't sound hateful...he was proposing the two men met up for coffee in town.
"We could meet at the Blue Velvet or there's a cafe next to my workplace..." suggested Jeremy.
"No...too many people know us there; how about going down to Windenburg? I know a good place there: Good coffee, decent chow. And it will be away from prying eyes; you get a different crowd down there." replied Action.
The two sat down to talk, Jeremy wasted no time in getting to the point. "I want revenge, Action. Revenge on the Landgraabs for what they did to me!"
Action didn't respond immediately. Instead he looked down and then took a deep breath. Looking up he fixed his gaze squarely at Jeremy. "Careful what you wish for. The Landgraabs are more dangerous than you think. I'm not sure how far they're prepared to go in getting what they want."
"That's why I want to do my part to stop them! Bringing them down will be beneficial for all of us...for me, for you, for our city"
"OK, you want to do your part? I need information....for starters, that basement room they use to brainwash people: There's a control room on the 2nd floor. Can you gain access to it?" said Action.
Jeremy drew a breath. "I could. It might be difficult, given security, but I'm established in the company now. I could see if I can get in there. If I do, what am I looking for?"
"Anything about their brainwashing programme: Documents and files about it and who they're targeting. I don't think you and I are their first victims."
"OK got it. Anything else I can help with?" asked Jeremy.
"You leave the rough stuff to me...I don't want you getting hurt doing this. Barbara would kill me if anything happens to you. OK, let's get a coffee..."
Inside the café they got coffees and continued their conversation. Action gave Jeremy a list of things he wanted Jeremy to look out for and relay back to him.
"You can count on me, Action...in the meantime while I'm around the Landgraabs I'll pretend I am still under their control" said Jeremy.
"Good idea...and in public you've got to keep up the pretence that you hate me....and Suzy." replied Action.
"Pretending to hate Suzy..." said Jeremy, shaking his head. "...that's going to be tough; especially now we've renewed our friendship"
"You've got to! You've got to focus! Don't let the Landgraabs suspect you've broken their conditioning! This is a dangerous game, Jez; you can't be worried about relationships"
Jeremy paused before he replied as he was about to bring up a sore point with Action. "You were. You were so worried for Katherine's safety you pulled away from her." he said, eventually.
"That's a low blow, man!" said Action, tersely.
"I'm sorry, Action, but you've not been happy since you broke it off with her."
"Are you sure you've broken free of the Landgraabs?" said Action, putting his coffee cup down firmly. "I don't talk about my personal life! Catch you later, Jeremy!" he said, immediately getting up and walking out of the café.
Action was upset that Jeremy brought up the subject of Katherine, but deep down he knew his neighbour was right. He felt bad for chewing his friend out especially since he prized straight, no-nonsense talking instead of platitudes and Jeremy was being straightforward. He cursed his impulsive nature.
Action decided to cool off and near to the café was a swimming pool. A few laps to clear the mind and calm down was the order of the day.
The water was cool and refreshing and Action felt better instantly. However, whilst swimming up and down the pool little things kept bringing back things he'd been supressing in his mind. Like a old couple having a tender conversation by the side of the pool...the kind of conversation he could have been having if Katherine had been there with him.
He swam faster and harder, trying to push the memory of her away. No, he was right...this case was too dangerous to get her involved; it was too dangerous for Jeremy but he was a useful conduit for information. But Katherine....Action had dated other women very briefly since their break up but nothing had replaced her in his affections.
"Yo, Action! Broken any swimming records today?" came a voice from the other side of the pool. Looking around he saw it was a friend and contact of his: Dean Lunn. Action swam over to the side where Dean was sitting and hauled himself up out to sit next to him.
"Yo, Dean...keeping your nose clean?"
"You always ask me that, Action, and my answer is always the same: I'm always clean. You seem to think I'm some kind of gangster" replied Dean.
"I know you're an honest...well, mainly honest, businessman but you have one foot in the underworld"
"I have friends in all kinds of places, Action. Doesn't mean I do what they do."
"But you see and hear things, Deano. What have you been hearing lately on the street?"
"Depends...do you have anyone specific in mind?"
"The Landgraabs" said Action, plainly.
Dean drew a deep breath. "Top table, eh? I don't mix in their circles, Action, but I know people who do and they tell me they're buying up a lot of land...farmland in particular." he replied.
"I didn't know they're into agriculture as a business venture" said Action.
"They're not. It's something new but I don't think they're buying the land to grow fruit and vegetables"
"So what are they using it for?"
"That, detective, is for you to find out. I'm just a source of gossip." said Dean. Action nodded.
Changing the subject, Action said "So, Dean, are you still seeing that woman who hates cops?"
"I am...and she still hates you lot. Are you still seeing that rich girl?" Dean replied.
"Not at the moment" here we go again, thought Action.
"Not at the moment? What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means we're on a break but we haven't properly broken up"
"So you could get back together with her, is that what you're saying?"
"I thought you said you weren't a detective?"
"I can see it eats away at you...I think you should sort it out one way or another because being in between the two states is clearly getting to you. And what kind of badass would you be with that gnawing away at you inside?"
"Do you know, I think the world is trying to tell me something...catch you later, Deano." said Action, making a pistol shape with his hand and pointing it at Dean. Action then went to get changed out of his swimming shorts and into his suit but before he left the pool for good, he stopped by a payphone. He got out a dime, picked up the receiver but hesitated before he started dialling.
"Is this a good idea?" he mused to himself. "Aww, heck!" he muttered and then he proceeded to dial a phone number he knew by heart...
"Will she pick up?" he pondered. The phone answered at the other end.
"Hello?" yes, it was her voice!
"Hi, this is...." he began.
"Action...well, well, well...what took you so long to call?" replied Katherine.
"You know why..." he replied.
"Guilt? Or are things less dangerous now and you've decided to resume your normal life?" she said, sarcastically.
"Can we meet up to talk?" he said.
"Hmmm, let me check my diary? I might have to squeeze you in between appointments....let's see, where are you going to be in the next hour?" she said, stringing him on.
"I'm in Windenburg, near that café that we...."
"That we used to go to together? I know the place. Stay there, don't move: I'll be there soon-ish" she said before hanging up the phone. Action was left standing, listening to the clicks over the receiver.
He made his way back to the café but he was too impatient to go inside and get a table. "What's wrong with you, Action? You're supposed to be a cool cat, not some kind of nervous groom on his wedding day and Katherine's certainly not your bride!" he muttered to himself.
He scanned the scene to see if he could see her and, approaching from the dockside end of Windenburg, was the unmistakable form of Katherine. Although she wasn't exactly like he had remembered.
"You've changed your hair" was Action's opening line.
"You noticed" Katherine replied.
"I am a detective, after all"
"So...what do you want to talk about?" she said, cutting to the chase.
"I wanted to see you. See how you're doing"
"As you can see I'm alive and well"
"And with an amazing new hair-do as well. Look, Katherine, I won't beat about the bush...I've been thinking about you a lot lately."
"Uh-huh" she said, blankly.
"Is that your only response?" he said, incredulously.
"Well, I won't lie; I've thought about you lot since you put us on ice. So, what's the deal, Action? Is the danger over? Is it safe to see me again? Did you get your memory back?"
"The danger isn't over, I don't know if it's safe and, no, my memory is shot full of holes" he said, dryly.
"Well, as it happens, I might be able to help with that last part..." she said, enigmatically.
"Oh" replied Action, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "How so?"
"Well, since the last time I saw you I did some investigating of my own...well, more accurately, I hired a private investigator to look into your movements that day you lost your memory."
"You...hired a P.I.?" said Action, even more surprised at this turn of events.
"I'm a bored rich girl, Action, and you made life less boring for me so I decided that your bull in a china shop approach wasn't working so I decided to use more subtler methods to find out what happened to you."
"And what did happen to me? Did your private dick find out anything?" he said, in a dismissive tone.
"He did...but we need to go to San Myshuno next...that is, if you're curious enough" she said, almost flirtatiously.
"I am" he said, smiling in excitement and anticipation.
"The Romance Festival, seriously? You've brought me here? Listen, Kat, if you wanted to woo me you could have out and out said it instead of bringing me here!" said Action, incredulously, as he looked around his surroundings: Petals strewn everywhere, pink bunting and people trying to carry off fake Indian style clothing.
"We're not here for the festival...we're here to meet someone" said Katherine, calmly and enigmatically.
"And who would that be?"
"A witness...I can't see her yet but she's due to be here. Let's sit down and I'll fill you in on what's been going on."
"An offer I can't refuse...." he mused.
"OK, then, what have you found out?" he continued.
"That day we were due to meet, when you lost your memory...apparently you were here" she said.
"I was?"
"Yes. You were doing some investigations down here; that much I got from a woman you know called Tasha..."
"Yes, Tasha...she hangs out a lot down here at Planet Honey Pop. So she knows why I was here?"
"Well....no. She says she remembers seeing you in the bar but...and here's the strange part...she doesn't remember any conversation the two of you had. In fact, she says her mind's blank from the time she went to sing and then waking up on a nearby bench at 3am when she was awoken and hailed a cab."
"That sounds uncannily like what happened to me" Action pondered.
"That's what I thought" replied Katherine. "And here's another strange thing...people remember seeing you in the bar but everyone says you were talking to yourself all evening."
"That's not like me! Did they say I was drunk?"
"No, they said you sat at the bar talking to an empty seat next to you but you didn't seem drunk...except for the weird thing of having a conversation with a bar stool"
"Well this answers nothing! I don't talk to empty bar stools!" he said, angrily.
"Don't worry, not everyone thought you were talking to one...actually one person remembers you talking to an actual person, other than Tasha"
"The person you're looking out for this evening?"
"You're not as dumb as you look" she said, coquettishly. "And there she is!" Katherine pointed to an old lady in a Saree who was standing on the other side of the festival. "That's who we've come to see."
"That's a love guru" said Action, blankly.
"She's also a witness...you want to find out what's going on, don't you?" Katherine stood up and turned to look at Action, wondering if he'd stand up and walk with her. He shrugged his shoulders, stood up and waved Katherine through to take the lead.
"Mrs Sakamoto...this is the friend I was talking about with you that last time" said Katherine to the old lady.
"John Action" he said, acknowledging the old lady
"Saya Sakomoto. I do remember you Mr Action...I saw you here on that evening in question" the old lady said in a quiet but soft voice.
"From what I hear, you're the only person who remembers that I was talking to someone whilst everyone else thinks I was going mad and talking to thin air."
"You were most definitely talking to someone. A man. He had red hair slicked back and a tiny, triangular beard. He wore a pink shirt and a black tie."
"That's more detail than I bargained for" said Action, looking impressed. "Do you have a name for this man?"
"I see him here sometimes, working on the food stalls. Others called him 'Luke'" said the old lady.
"Called him? Past tense? Why? What happened to him?" asked Action.
"One day he was here and the next day he was not. No one knows where he went."
"But you could see him? How, when no one else could?" asked Action.
"Perhaps it's because I have the gift of the Insight" the lady said, enigmatically.
"I've had enough of this!" said Action, exasperated that he was being given some mystical garbage answer.
"Any more unusual than a strange woman who disappears into thin air, or a laser gun being fired at Lily Feng, or your mind being erased? Do you have any stronger leads, Action?" interjected Katherine. "For whatever reason, the hypnosis this Luke did to you and everyone around you didn't affect this lady. What harm can come from following up this lead?"
"How much did you pay this private eye? Oh, OK, I'll indulge you this time...Luke, used to work here, red haired guy with a small triangular beard." said Action, grudgingly.
They said their thank yous' to Mrs Sakomoto and wandered over to the Planet Honey Pop to discuss things further. Action seemed troubled by this whole experience and Katherine sensed this.
"I should thank you for finding this stuff out...you really hired a P.I. to help me out? That must have cost you"
"I can afford it" she said, diffidently. "So, what did you want to meet me for...again?"
"To straighten things out....OK, I was wr-wr-wr-wr-ong about shutting you out!" he said, struggling to say the word 'wrong'.
"Yes you were! It hurt like hell to have a door slammed in your face! she exclaimed.
"I did it for your safety!"
"I can handle myself!"
"You don't know what you're up against!"
"I've found out a lot about what we're up against"
"We? It's not 'we'? This is my life on the line!"
"Is that it? Mr Tough Guy, John Action goes it alone...oh, except he has Suzy Humphries, her husband and your next door neighbours helping out but not his girlfriend! Oh no, she has to be excluded!"
"Those other people aren't the same!"
"How? How come they can voluntarily risk themselves for you but I'm not allowed?"
"Because....because....dammit, woman! Don't make me say it!"
"So Mr Tough Guy Action can't say three words?" she pouted at him.
"You want those three words?" he scowled.
"Say...them if you're such a big man!" she glared back.
"Oh you want those three words...well I'm going to say them just to shut your pouty mouth up!"
"Pah, you're all talk!"
"OK...ready? Here goes...I'm not backing down!"
"Blah, blah, blah!" she said, making a yapping mouth shape with her hand.
"DAMMIT! I LOVE YOU, KATHERINE!"
"Wow, you actually said it...I'm impressed!" she said, smiling.
"So? Now you know where you stand with me, where do I stand with you?"
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