“Go!” shouted the man who had just jumped into the passenger seat of Redman’s vehicle.
Redman slammed his foot on the accelerator and began to turn the car, avoiding the fancy fountain and its statue as he drove around it like a roundabout. In the rear-view mirror, he couldn’t see any obvious sign of danger, but the stranger certainly seemed to think something terrible was going on.
“What’s going on? Are you with the commercial plumbers guild? I’m supposed to meet a professional plumber here.”
The man shook his head. “No, I’m not, but you made the right decision by letting me get in this car.”
Redman pursed his lips, thinking that perhaps he shouldn’t admit that he’d tried very hard to get the electronic lock to activate before the mysterious figure arrived.
“Listen,” the man said, “I just saved you from a world of trouble. The guy in that building – the plumber you were going to see? Yeah, well that guy isn’t who he says he is. A commercial gutter cleaning expert from Melbourne? Yeah, right. If he’s a plumbing expert, my name is Nicky.”
“Is your name Nicky?” Redman asked, slowing the vehicle down as they approached the gates again.
The man scoffed. “No, my name is Jessie. Nicky is a girls’ name.”
Redman shrugged. “Hey, I wouldn’t judge. So why don’t I want to get involved with this not-plumber guy?”
“Well,” Jessie said, “my boss sent me over here to spy on this guy, Gideon. He’s predominantly known as a house builder, but he actually is one of the biggest charlatans in New Melbourne. He pulls people into his circle with claims of making the world a better place, but really, he’s just another one of the elites. Trust me, if you’d gotten out of this car, you would have become nothing but another one of his victims.”
“If you’re against this guy, who do you work for?”
The young man pulled up his sleeve, revealing a tattoo of a gemstone on the underside of his wrist. “Jessie Silverhand of the Zircon Clan, at your service.”