Agents

         Shadows mixed with fog and night mixed with mists rising up through the parapets; wrapping up the bridge in an inveigling gloaming.  I was supposed to meet the man here over an hour ago, but it's just been me, my cigarettes, and the occasional strong baritone foghorn of the tugs going up river.  I've been on so  many sides now, its hard to tell where I am anymore. I'm on my own bridge between Europe, Britain, the good ole USA and what I hope is a way out of all this, hell maybe even an end to the war. But the fog is so goddam thick.  What the hell, where is this guy; boredom, the price we pay for information these days.  In my coat are two letters, one I'm supposed to hand to this guy; if he ever decides to show, and one for Ava in Paris.  It’s damp and the tobacco smoke from my lucky strike clings to my hand and finds its way up my coat and around my fedora.  A siren is wailing in the somewhere out there that I presume is the city. A fire alarm. Clicking of Florsheims and he was on me before I realized it. 

      "Nice evening, don't you think? Especially for our line of work. No?"

      "Yeah, just wonderful.  I feel like I'm back in London. Lets get this done- I’m running out of smokes waiting for you." my irritation flooding over.

     "I didn't know if it was you, Hamlet's father or Jacob Marley."

     "Yeah, great." I didn't have time make jokes.

     "Sorry, ran into some unexpected circumstances." the man said coldly, flatly.

     "Just hand it over." I said taking out the letter.

     As the man reached into his jacket pocket- I for once got a good look at him. He was of average height, with fair hair cut short. From under the brim of his hat, eyes that were intense, perceptive eyes, there was a icy rigor to the man that didn't match his lighthearted quips.

     "Here you are." He held out his parcel, I handed him his letter.

     And when we exchanged; I noticed a gap were his first two finger should have been on his left hand. 

I realized then that I just exchanged top-secret documents with the man codenamed: Kestrel.

      "Just remember what your working for, not who. There's no reason to turn a young spook into an old ghost." He called back as he vanished again into the sightless night.