MAN FROM TOMORROW

“What happened next?” Martin asked. He slipped the hand that wasn’t holding his briefcase into his pocket. He was thinking about how her encounter with Joseph was in a way, her doing. Of course, he didn’t say anything about it. She might get confrontational and defensive.

“I ended up stepping out onto the street just after the light turned green, and there was a vehicle coming right toward me. I froze when I saw it,” Anita paused, a small, grieving smile shaping her lips. “I should have been dead.”

Martin was moved by the amount of emotion he saw in her eyes when she finally looked back to him. He hadn’t expected this woman, Anita, to accept or even understand the gravity of the situation she’d put herself in. Her understanding came to him with great surprise, because if he was able to respond to such a statement, he couldn’t have told her what would have happened if she were hit.

“Well, there was one thing I forgot to mention,” Anita’s face lit up a bit, as though she’d moved on from the fact that she knew she shouldn’t be alive. “It was a few minutes before I ended up on the street, but I actually bumped into the guy who ended up saving me. That’s the only reason I really had any idea what he looked like at all. That time, he also prevented my fall, but we stood in front of each other for a brief moment before I went on my way. He looked so… unusual,” she admitted.

It took Martin a long moment to completely understand what she just told him. But when he did, he experienced a moment of utmost clarity. Everything suddenly seemed to make sense, but at the same time, he became frustrated.

That she’d seen him before the accident was incredibly significant. It meant that neither of them was relying on a memory that was potentially botched by a traumatic event. Though neither of them could say that her state of mind was much better before the incident, it was at least a bit more credible. What got Martin’s heart racing was that it was that the image Anita had of her savior- be it Joseph or not- wouldn’t be something fabricated. She might have seen Joseph after all, and it was time to either confirm that fact or eliminate the possibility. Things seemed to be falling into place.

Martin placed his briefcase on the nearby bench and opened it as carefully as he always did. He unclipped a file divider from one side of the case and began sorting through it, eventually pulling free a folder, the one he was given by his Director. From it he took the picture of Joseph, flipping it around so she could see it. Before he asked his question, she gave him an answer with her eyes: her eyes widened with what Martin understood as recognition.

“Are You sure this is the man you saw?” He asked, making sure to hold the picture steady. She reached out to take it from him before she said anything in return, and stared at the glossy surface in awe.

Earlier, she hadn’t seen the photo close and long enough. That’s why Martin showed her the photo again. “Yes, Yes. This is him,” she whispered. Martin barely heard her over the irritable sound of traffic, but even if he hadn’t heard her, the expression she gave him was more than enough. How did we meet, supposedly the only two people in the city looking for the same person? Martin thought.

The information she gave him, even though a simple recount of events was valuable. Anita had noticed something about the man without having much time to examine his bodily structure as Martin had done. This fact made him confident that Anita had indeed encountered Joseph and not someone else.

Martin wasn’t one to believe in fate or anything of the like, not even luck. But when something like this happened, he felt challenged. There couldn’t have been something else at work, but even now, he wasn’t so sure. He glanced at Anita again, somewhat amused by her. There was still more he wanted to know.

“You said he fled the scene after saving you. Did you see which direction he went?”

“I… um…” Anita turned away from Martin and stared off at the crosswalk and the kerb, and then turned back to look at the sidewalk. She seemed to be trying to recall exactly what happened after he saved her. “He went in that direction. But there were lots of people, so he could have gone anywhere. Up close, he smelt like diesel oil, but that could also be because of the vehicles around. All that and the truck screeching to a halt. “She lingered over her thoughts for a few more moments. Sorry, that’s all I can recall.”

Martin sighed. It looked like from here on, he was on his own. Anita had given him a fair bit of valuable information, but he couldn’t involve her any further unless she had more to tell him; which, at this point, he was positive he’d been told everything of value.

It wasn’t only that, though. He still needed to get the job done with as soon as possible; he still had his eyes on the prize: getting the time off that he desperately needed. In order to get the most out of his time, he knew he’d need to dismiss her and get on with the search.

“Not a problem, miss,” he said, trying to end their meeting. The quickest and most painless method of doing so came to his mind just then; he reached into his coat pocket to pull out a business card, which he handed to Anita. “I think it would be best if we parted ways for now. Continue about your day as usual… but if you think of anything else to tell me or are in need of my expertise, you’re welcome to give me a call.”

“Sure, thank you,” she accepted the card. She looked at the card in her hand, and then back up at him; She fished out her smartphone and quickly save his number.

I am giving you a missed call. You can add my number to your contacts.”

“Sure, I will,” Martin replied. A question formed in her mind that reflected in her pretty eyes. “Do you think you’ll be able to find him?”

Martin looked to her, not sure what to tell her. While he knew the odds were not in his favor, he knew that Anita would expect him to get in touch with her again. But once he found Joseph, would he be able to mention it to her? Could he allow her to thank a “terrorist”? If he told her that he found him, he would need to explain that.

While he was sure she wouldn’t care too much about that fact- she would still be thankful for her life- he just wasn’t sure if he could morally accept her to thank someone who had previously put the lives of many others in danger. He thought it was likely that he wouldn’t let it happen, and that it would be best for them both if they just parted ways and thought nothing else of it. Even if that meant giving her false hope.

“You can never say for sure. People have many ways to disappear from the sight of the authorities,” he said with his signature shrug, which served as a dismissal. “Have a good day now.”

Anita stared at him for a moment before nodding. She knew she was being dismissed. There was still so much she wanted to know. Martin clearly intended to hide what he could from her, and it wasn’t that she blamed him, but she, too, was dying for answers. Why was he also in search of that man? Had the man done something? Was he really missing as Martin said? She knew far from enough to judge what was happening before her, and though she was hesitant to do so, for now, she had to settle with knowing that someone was helping her find the man who saved her. That was enough, wasn’t it?

She said her farewells to Martin and then walked past him on the sidewalk, moving in the direction of her office; she would need to get to her car before returning home. It was difficult to get her mind off of the meeting with Martin, but for now, she knew she had to let it rest.

Once she was back at her place, she would have the opportunity to brood over what she’d learned. Anita was glad to have finally gotten the story off of her chest, but it was impossible to deny the fact that her quest was incomplete. Martin had been hiding something from her. But what was it?

Anita walked off into the busy street, leaving Martin alone in the crowd with his briefcase. Though Martin didn’t know it at the time, there was someone nearby that was equally interested in finding Joseph as Anita and Martin were.

Martin had indeed kept something important from Anita- something other than the fact that the man they were after was a terrorist. The entire time he’d been on the street examining where Anita was saved, he was searching for clues as to where Joseph may have gone. Finally, just before the woman left, he was sure he was on to something. Martin’s mind was racing at the speed of thought, and he liked it.

After Anita was gone, Martin turned to examine the mystery of where Joseph had come from. Martin went back to his office. He sat down on his swiveling chair and thought hard about his target.

One trait that made Martin stand out among other officers was his extensive knowledge base. He was a voracious reader. He read fiction, non-fiction, comic books, scientific journals as also film magazines and tabloids. He was a game for all things knowledge. He followed the principle that human knowledge needs to be ocean-wide even if ankle deep. This trait of his was responsible for his high success rate in solving cases. He could connect fields as diverse as Jet engines to a recipe of Alambre- a Mexican dish. He had done this once when he was a new agent, at a dinner hosted by his superior. He had gone on to explain how barbecue grills based on simple Jet engine principles could cook the Alambre faster and better. Obviously, his boss was highly impressed.

Martin even had a volume of the latest Organic chemistry Journal beside an archeology book discussing the excavation of the Indus valley ruins.

He took out the tag Anita had given him. The Avanu Logo was prominent, though it was jagged and roughed out at the edges. Avanu was a local brand of leather clothing. The company had opened a few months ago and had just had a few outlets limited to the city. He googled ’Avanu outlets. It threw open a map with the outlet locations highlighted all over the city.

Martin marveled at the power of modern technology. In the early days, an agent had to meet the head of the Avanu brand and take from him all the outlet addresses in the city. Even though they would part with the information, as it was a Federal investigation, they would do so with reluctance. Who would one want to be caught up in a criminal investigation in their early days of business? But there was a catch in this investigation.

Avanu could also be sold by non-branded outlets. i.e. those that sell other brands as well. Martin thought of how he could narrow down the location of Joseph Cooper, his target. Anita’s description hinted that it was a brand-new coat. And so, did the tag appear; brand-new. There were abrasions all over the logo, but it still had that fresh gleam that only a new product can have. If Joseph had bought the jacket recently, it must have been near the site of the incident.

Martin zoomed onto the site of the incident on the map. Then he marked all the Avanu selling outlets around the street. There were 13 exclusive outlets and 32 others that also sold Avanu in the radius of 2 miles around the street. That was quite a number, but manageable, Martin thought. Now he took a print out of the map and slowly started joining outlet locations to each other with a sketch pen. The figure of an irregular shaped circle formed on the map with its center roughly being the street where the incident happened. Martin now had the haystack. All he needed to do was find the needle.

It was four days since he met Anita, and Martin had spent a lot of his time following the leads. He was moving from outlet to outlet which was selling Avanu and showing Joseph’s photo and asking the employees if they had seen him. Most of the times, he received a “No”. He had covered a lot of ground in ticking out the outlets from his list. He was concerned that if none of the employees replied in the affirmative, he had to find another lead.

But at the same time, Martin was positive that he was on Joseph’s trail. It wasn’t only because Anita confirmed he was the one who saved her, but also because of how Joseph had saved Anita. But it made him wonder why Joseph bothered to save Anita in the first place. Martin felt a wave of unease move through him. There was something he was missing, and he should have realized by now but had not.

He noticed it first in his Director’s office when he was given the case. Facts about Joseph weren’t making sense. Joseph wasn’t matching up to the typical terrorist profile. Nothing in the case was adding up. Though he couldn’t place his finger on it, what he was leaning towards, in the end, was that the case was fabricated. Probably not something so drastic, like the whole thing being an elaborate lie, but maybe just important aspects of it, such as Joseph’s identity. It wouldn’t have been the first time where the truth was hidden in order to forward some agenda.

Every single case he’d worked on in the past had a pattern, and using that pattern he could find the next piece of the puzzle. Getting one step ahead of his target made it easier to bring the case to its end. But in this case, he was sure that wasn’t going to be how things worked. Of course, Martin thought that he might have made a mistake, but after going over all the information he was given about Joseph from his Director, there was no other way. Either there was something off about the case itself, or he was experiencing something completely new.

Martin walked into the next Avanu outlet on his list. It was a small building with the typical glass showcase, with dressed mannequins. As he opened the shop doors a chime rang, the door touched a bell placed on its upper edge.

“Yes? What can I do for you?” An old man asked Martin. Martin introduced himself and showed him the picture of Joseph. There was a gleam of recognition in the old man’s eyes. And he smiled at Martin. BINGO!

The old man identified the man in the picture. He could not tell much about Joseph. He had paid cash, looked muscular, unusual even. “You know those biker boys? The ones who are crazy about bikes? Always smelling of oil and stuff?” The old man had asked. Martin nodded.

“Well, he was one of them.”

He was riding a 1969 Honda CB750 which he parked over there,” he said, pointing to a parking lot in front of the shop. Martin raised his eyebrows. This old man knew the model of the bike? , “How can you be so sure it was a 1969 Honda CB750?” Martin asked. “Because...” the old man chuckled, “I was a biker boy once and used to own one myself.” He said, pointing at a portrait on the wall with him in his younger days standing with his bike. “And once a biker, always a biker.”

An hour later, Martin was in his office. Anita had earlier mentioned that he smelt like diesel oil. Same with the old man. The thing was, in Martin’s mind Joseph was ‘probably’ not a biker boy, but perhaps a mechanic who had taken an old bike he had repaired for a spin. That ‘probably’ weighed heavy in Martin’s investigative calculations. Martin assumed that Joseph was a mechanic because he knew where to look for mechanics- in a garage. Hot on the trail, Martin marked out auto garages in and around the place Joseph had saved Anita. A few minutes later, he found 4 auto garages nearest to the Old man’s shop. The haystack was getting smaller.

Martin went in search of the building that housed one of the garages on his new list. He parked his car on the street opposite the building and waited, observing. The street was deserted, and for the several minutes, he sat watching. Not another car passed by. His was the only operational car on the block.

He remained in his vehicle for longer than necessary to observe the area. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for a neighborhood on the edge of the city. It was quiet, sparsely populated, with a few homes and buildings. Fifteen minutes into his wait, there were no people, no cars, nothing but him and the hum of street breeze. He could barely hear the traffic in the distance, and even then, only when he focused on it.

He observed the building. The address belonged to an old auto shop, a run-down without much business. The place went by the name of ‘Clark’s Auto’. Another ten minutes passed with him staring at the building before he got out to take a look. If no one was here now, it was unlikely that anyone would be in another twenty minutes.

He stepped onto the street. Martin heard only the wind blowing and the faint sound of traffic in the distance, a bit louder now that he was out of his car. The highway was some distance away, but a moment after he stepped out; he heard the sound of a vehicle approaching. It was the first vehicle he’d encountered since arriving. It sped away.

He examined the lot further. Surrounding the lot was an old chain-link fence, with panels that were rusted, eaten through, and falling apart. It showed the condition of the place. Either the owner didn’t care to fix everything up, or there wasn’t anything valuable enough for thieves to steal. There were several piles of scrap and other miscellaneous items littering the deserted ground next to the building. The front had a small parking lot leading up to the front door of the establishment.

Martin crossed the road and onto the property, paying attention to every detail that caught his eye. The pavement in the lot was old and crumbling, so much that it was more gravel than a road. It was covered in bits of debris and weeds grew through the cracks; looking at this, Martin wondered if the place was in such disrepair because it was abandoned.

He moved closer to the building to see that the windows were dusty with underuse. He wiped enough dust away to see inside. It looked like someone was there, enough to maintain the place and keep some materials stocked. Now the question was whether that person was his target or someone else.

His next move was to try the front door. It was, as he anticipated, locked. There was no point trying to force it. Even if he got inside, there was no telling what he would find. He stepped back from the building and looked it up and down, wondering what to do next. He saw that there was a second storey. He was as curious about it. No way he was going to find out at that moment.

There was little he could do without getting inside. But Martin figured he may as well take a look at the back—perhaps there was another entrance to the shop?

There was a gap in the stretch of fence to the side of the main building. It led to the yard where the shop’s vehicles and other works in progress were located. He saw some of them as he approached. Before he could go further, he felt his smartphone vibrate. He was unsure of who might be calling him- his soon to be ex-wife wouldn’t be calling. He pulled it out from his pocket. It was a number that didn’t look familiar, but as an authority figure, he had learned to answer the phone, regardless.

“Martin! Something’s happened-“a terrified, female voice sounded from the other end the moment he answered. Martin didn’t recognize the voice at first, but when he did, it was someone he never expected to hear from again and so soon; Anita. Her voice cracked between panicked breaths. “M-my house-”