Monty's Master – Part 5
As soon as he returned to his personal office, he found Monty spinning the globe, trying to read what was written on each note, fascinated, and despite the impossible speed of rotation.
"Oh wow, Agent P, looks like you've been pretty much everywhere already. Except... here!" Monty paused with his finger on a small, unmarked space in the western part of the North Atlantic. "Oh, maybe this is where they'll send us!"
"I hope not," said Perry, "considering that's the Bermuda Triangle."
"Alright, so on to your mission..."
They both turned to Carl who took a few steps in front of the giant world map. He pulled out a remote control and the outline of the seven continents faded away to make room for a series of data on a glowing screen.
"Huh, I didn't know it could do that," Perry murmured.
"This is Doctor David Bringdown, but you may already recognize him as part of Doofenshmirtz's former inner circle."
The image of a man Perry vaguely remembered took shape in front of them. He looked about his parents' age, had curly hair and freckles, and wore large eyeglasses. At the moment the picture was taken he wasn't wearing his lab coat, and his sweater vest, much like the way he tucked his hands behind his back, gave him the appearance of a college professor, which he supposed was rather ironic.
"Hey, he kind of looks like you, Carl," Monty said.
"What?! N-no, he doesn't!"
"So what about him?" Perry pressed on.
"Oh." Carl turned his face to him, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "So, as I was saying, Doctor Bringdown is one of the more obscure members of the evil organization L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. That's not to say he's any less evil; it's just that he focuses more on the mystical and the paranormal than science."
Carl showed them next the dark interior of an ancient pyramid with colorful hieroglyphs all over the walls.
"So far he's been accused of multiple grave robberies, as well as starting a cult based on the Norse myth of Calder the Cleft, a half-man, half-walrus legendary being."
"You mean like some kind of bulky mermaid?" Perry asked.
"No, quite the opposite."
Carl pressed the remote once more and Monty wrinkled his nose at what turned out to be a man with stumpy legs, short fins for arms, a huge bald head with spiky whiskers, and long tusks almost touching the ground.
"I didn't need to see that," Monty said, glancing at Perry who simply nodded at the screen.
"This cult involved offerings consisting of human teeth, so its members were often caught in what appeared to be street fights in which the facial area was mostly targeted."
"Huh, figures," Perry said, crossing his arms.
"Is this all normal to you?" Monty asked in disbelief.
"Eh, you've seen an obscure cult based on a dispensable body part, you've probably seen them all. Anyway, Carl, as much as I value both moral and oral integrity, I don't really see how this can be helped. It won't be easy to get any hard evidence, and they've probably already made a pact with each other to deny all allegations."
"Exactly," said Carl. "On this basis, Doctor Bringdown could never be held accountable for his actions, but we still kept him on watch just in case, which brings us back to your assignment."
"It's recently been brought to our attention that Doctor Bringdown hasn't returned to his personal residence in over two weeks. We believe he's out of the country, but we don't know his exact whereabouts. There's been no plane ticket purchased in his name, nor does it appear in any customs report."
"That means he either traveled by illegal means or under a false ID," Perry said.
Carl nodded gravely. "We also managed to crack his search history, but we didn't find anything incriminating."
"I don't know," Monty said, squinting at the screen. "10 Hours of Ambient Bagpipe Music sounds pretty evil to me."
Carl gave him an unimpressed look and then glanced up at Perry. "I will send you his address. Maybe you can retrace his steps and find out what he's up to."
"How come every Mad Scientist lives on the top floor?" Monty asked between heavy breaths. "And I still don't get why we couldn't just take the elevator."
"Honestly, I've never really thought of that," Perry said, climbing up the stairs with perfectly square shoulders. "I guess it gives them a sense of superiority or something like that. And I said no, it could be a trap. Before you know it, the walls are closing in on you, you're free-falling, it could be filling with toxic gas, or the background music is trance-inducing and it makes you choke on your shoelaces."
Monty paused to catch his breath, "Wow, guess I never realized how much can go wrong in an elevator."
"A secret agent must always be one step ahead," Perry said, stopping to look back at the entire flight of stairs that separated him from Monty. "Looks like you still got quite a bit to learn."
Monty lifted his head and smiled brightly at him, "Well, it's a good thing I'm learning from the best then!"
Perry raised his eyebrows and didn't move even as Monty staggered past him.
"Um, Agent P, you coming?"
Perry blinked. "Right."
When they finally reached door number 297, Monty rubbed his palms together, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.
"Let me do the honors!" he said, lifting his leg as if he were about to launch a football into the air.
"No no, that's a solid oak door, you've got to get some momentum," Perry said.
"Well, you're the expert!"
Monty withdrew a couple of steps until his back was against the wall, bent his knees, and used his elbows to push himself forward. He was about to jump for the door when a strong hand grabbed him by the hood.
"On second thought," said Perry who was holding his other hand behind his back. "Let's not draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves until we know what we're up against."
He let go of him and leaned toward the door, pulling a small black object out of his pants pocket.
"I didn't know you wore bobby pins," Monty said, curiously eyeing Perry's chin-length teal hair that was mostly tucked under his hat anyway.
"They're my sister's. I just borrowed them," Perry said only half listening as he twisted the pin, his ear pressed against the lock. "You never know when they'll come in handy."
He slowly cracked the door open and they slipped into a small, dark corridor.
"Uh, I can't find the switch," said Monty, fumbling through the darkness.
Perry picked up his pocket flashlight, pointed it at the thick curtains that covered each window, then raised it to the massive chandelier that had real, half-melted candles.
"Seems like ol' Doc here's a bit old-fashioned," he said, lighting the candle on the coffee table using a match he also carried in his pocket.
Monty leaned across the table and began scrutinizing an open bag of mini pretzels. He rubbed his chin, and before Perry could say a word, grabbed a handful of pretzels and stuffed them in his mouth.
"Mm, yes," Monty said as he chewed, "so dry and mushy, they must be at least two or three weeks old."
Perry took a deep breath and spoke as calmly as he could, "I hope you realize that for all we know this could have been another trap or one of the Doctor's latest experiments."
"A pretzel trap, seriously? You know, I'm starting to think you've been spending way too much time with Vanessa's dad."
Perry glared at him. "Anyway, you should know better than to put things in your mouth!"
Monty swallowed and gave him a strange look.
Perry took the candle and set it on a low desk filled with open books and manuscripts with yellowed edges. He pushed aside a pencil holder and discovered an ink-stained map of an eastern Indian state called Odisha.
"Who owns a computer but doesn't use electric light?" asked Monty who picked up a small and very old-looking white monitor from under a pile of papers, and started shaking it. "No wonder Carl found nothing in his search history. This thing's like a toaster, I wonder if it even works."
"I guess he used different sources," Perry said, looking down at the mountains of books covering the moth-eaten cashmere rug.
"Wow, this guy's really an old-timer. Now what? We're not just going to flip through all these until we figure out what he's looking for, are we? There's like a bajillion books in here!"
Perry bit back a remark about teenagers and their lazy attitude towards reading, so he wouldn't sound like an old-timer, and instead returned to the map. He noticed an X marked above a small stretch of land between two cities on the Bay of Bengal, and the X led to a word written on the edge and circled in red: Nagaraj.
He raised his hand and clicked on his earpiece.
"Carl, do you copy?"
"Oh, Agent P? Found something already?"
"Perhaps," Perry said, sitting cross-legged on the couch. "Got anything on Nagaraj?"
"Let's see..." From the other end of the line came the sound of keys being hit at high speed.
Monty bounced over the back of the couch, sending dust everywhere as he landed on the cushion. Perry pursed his lips but didn't say a word.
"Ah, King Nagaraj, whose name literally translates to The Snake King, is said to have reigned around the fifth century BC," said Carl.
Monty reached for a half-empty soda can across from the pretzel bag, but Perry slapped his hand away.
"According to some sources, his reign was cut short, but the reason remains unknown. That's about all I got, sorry Agent P. But he doesn't seem to have been a very relevant historical figure, more like a forgotten local legend. Are you sure this is what Doctor Bringdown is looking for?"
"Let's just say I have a hunch," Perry said, turning to Monty who was sullenly rubbing his hand.
"I'll call you back when I find out more," he finished the transmission, standing up and dusting off his sleeves.
"Great!" Monty said jumping to his feet. "Does this mean you have someone in mind?"
"When it comes to forgotten local legends, I think I know just the right guy for the job."