The three of them clambered up the stone spiral staircase that lay through the doorway and as they reached the top they heard voices talking and saw a bright light coming from the top of the stairs. Hans turned round, and began to put his finger to his lip to warn everyone to keep quiet before he realised that he was invisible and they wouldn’t see it.
As they reached the top of the stairs they could hear two voices speaking, but not quite clearly enough to make out what they were saying. They had to get closer, but the door was not ajar enough for them to squeeze through.
“Hans, I’ve got an idea,” said Ted, “make me visible again.”
Hans hesitated for a second, but then went ahead anyway as it wasn’t as if he actually had a better plan.
Ted immediately proceeded to walk straight into the room. “So where’s the leak?” he asked loudly.
The men were sat either side of a desk at the other side of the room, they wore pink hooded robes and both turned round as they heard the door creak as Ted entered.
“Who the hell are you?” they both asked.
“Plumber, can’t you tell from my moustache? You did call me didn’t you? Nevermind, I’m just doing a quick check first, won’t cost you anything if I didn’t, it’s covered in the cost of the call out so if it’s a prank then its been an expensive one.” said Ted.
He walked over to the solitary radiator in the room and started tapping the pipes to make it look like he knew what he was doing. Of course he used to be a plumber, but he didn’t have any tools with him.
“Don’t mind me,” he shouted over to the two men by the desk, who were whispering, asking each other who’d called the plumber out.
“Well, its not costing us anything Bill,” said the one sat behind the desk.
“I guess so,” replied Bill, leaning over the desk towards the other man, revealing a scar down the left side of his face. “So, George, kippers was an awful way to go for the old man wasn’t it.”
“Well, he had been suggesting the surname was Smedley – I mean after all the trouble with the Smythe lot he should have known that would make him a target.”
“But George, he didn’t deserve that though.”
“You’re right there Bill – but Agent X is in charge now, he says he found some books that have given him an idea for how to implement the plan. He reckons he’s only a day or two away from completion”
“That close, well I suppose one good thing is that Agent X is a damn sight better looking than the old man.”
“But either way Bill, we’d have got rid of all these scars all over our faces. The only thing I’m worried about is whether we’ll end up sounding like he does too. Agent X is a bright guy and all, but he has the most irritating voice ever”
“Yeah,” replied Bill, then turned and asked Ted if he’d finished yet.
“Just leaving now,” Ted chirped, realising that if he stayed any longer the game was up.
“Right, time to pray to glorious conformity George, do you want to lead the prayers?” asked Bill. But he got no response as Hans shouted “Ice” and cast the second spell he’d learned and froze them in time.
“There’s got to be some more info on this Agent X person somewhere in here,” said Jane urging the other two to search the office.
Eventually Hans surprised everyone and pulled a file out of a cabinet in the corner of the room that actually contained the information they were looking for. It didn’t have a picture or any biographical information. But it did give an address, 12 Crackpot Street, Dunraer.
