Chapter
2. You Can Bank On It
Captain Hi “Tek”
Future took the elevator down to the ground floor and darted across the
street.
The
pillars of the bank rose up into the sky above him like a victim raising
his arms in the air during a robbery. Captain Future passed between
the Corinthian columns and strode purposefully into the hushed corridors
of Privy Ledged Town's foremost financial institution. Mr. Munay, the bank
president himself, stood there waiting to greet him.
“Commissioner Gowens
said you were coming, sir.” Mr. Munay flashed a fatherly smile around him
and led Captain Future towards the rich but austere confines of his private
office. The sounds of commerce disappeared as the door sighed shut behind
them.
They
were immediately swallowed up in silence. The tapered length of silk draperies
and the deep piled carpet masked any human sound made between them. Captain
Future watched as Mr. Munay pulled out a monogrammed handkerchief and mopped
at his brow. Fat blubbery lips trembled obscenely above his triple chin.
“We've been losing funds steadily for a week! I expect results! If you
can't do something soon, we're lost...as well as those who depend on us
for fun-ancial backing like Ms. Hannah Taylor.”
The words seemed
torn from his mouth, as though he were too stingy to give even them away
for nothing. “I was assured by Commissioner Gowans that you'd be discrete
about this uhm...delicate problem, sir.”
The handkerchief
was refolded and tucked back into place. The man pushed his bulk behind
a tremendous expanse of polished desk. He made a temple out of his hands
and stared into Captain Future's eyes before his own eyes darted irritably
around his office. He cleared his throat uneasily, “Just the rumor that
this is happening could cost us a fortune.” The words were coated heavily
with weighty concern as if the two men were in a funeral parlor rather
than the most modern banking facility in all of Privy Ledged Town.
“We
think there has to be an inside man assisting Ace Britely to pull this
off...” offered Captain Future.
The bank president
looked offended and threw a steely eyed glare across his desk. “Suppositions,
now? Where are the facts?”, Mr. Munay stated evenly while clenching and
unclenching his small, well padded hands.
Captain Future leaned
against his straight backed chair and looked mildly across the opulent
desk of the bank president. He slid a manila folder across it towards the
harried looking executive.
“Special Agent Mark
Richardson has provided us with GIF files of master criminals, Ace
Britely and Sci-Fye. I've included pictures
of myself and my compatriots as well so that your staff can become familiar
with all of them. They should just ignore anything we may do when we are
in here instead of following us around like puppies...”
~6~
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