Ten; Special Agent Bocco

With Bocco towering over me, I spilled my guts.

I have no idea why I told him the things I told him. He didn’t ask and I had no reason to assume he cared, but faced with a seven foot talking blue bear I couldn't think of anything else to do.

"I heard somebody calling for help from a storeroom. I wouldn’t even have been anywhere near the storeroom, except I had a dream about the door the night before. Which was really strange, because I had never even see the door before," I took a deep breath, "and I went inside because somebody had called for help, and I wanted to help them, but also because I thought I was going mad and wanted to check. I got inside and heard somebody laughing at me, and then I fell over and suddenly I was inside a cave, and a leprechaun was laughing at me, and then the leprechaun ran away, and then..."

"Silence," said Bocco.

"And, and," I couldn't seem to stop talking.

"Silence," Bocco's voice rose to a rumble.

He ambled over to the bars of our cell and boomed, "Done."

I sat on the bench panting. I was definitely losing my mind.

Bocco stood at the bars for a moment longer, then Old Red returned and unlocked the cell. He stepped inside and addressed Bocco, "Well."

"Ziggy," said Bocco, and for a moment I thought the wine gum magic had worn off. I was on the verge of becoming a gibbering wreck when Old Red said, "I thought so. Ziggy is up to his old tricks again. Well done Bocco." The top of Old Red's head only reached Bocco's knee. It was quite an odd sight, seeing the tiny leprechaun praise the giant bear.

"What is going on here," I eventually managed to articulate the appropriate words.

"Ah, Jimmy," Old Red walked over to me, and Bocco ambled along behind him, "this is special agent Bocco."

"Special agent?" I looked up at the big blue bear.

"Yes, he's one of our interrogation experts."

"Interrogation expert?" that didn't seem right, "but he hardly says anything."

"Well, that's just part of his technique," Old Red explained. "Anyway, I must apologise for any discomfort we may have caused you, but we find Bocco tends to get the answers we need quickly."

"Hang on a minute," I said, "he told me he just appeared here too."

"Yes, that's another technique of his," said Old Red. "Now, down to business. My name is Zain Zorinski, I'm..."

"You people use a lot of Z's, don't you?"

"What? Don’t be ridiculous," snapped Old Red, who I was now going to have to get used to calling Zain Zorinski. "I'm in charge of homeland security, and it would appear you have been the victim of a practical joke."

"A joke?"

Chapter Eleven