Olaf Manful smiled as he stashed the hard drive in his bag. He turned to his diminutive companion.
‘This should have all the information we need,’ he said. ‘With this, we can bring down the entire multinational criminal operation and prevent those nukes from being fired.’
‘Great, great,’ said Gilgo Shortington. ’So let’s get out of here before the guards find us.’ He moved for the door, but Olaf put a hand on his shoulder.
‘Not so fast, little buddy,’ he said. ‘I want to know what else they’ve got hidden here.’
‘Why?’ Gilgo said, throwing his hands in the air. ‘We’ve got the computer drive thing, so let’s just go.’
‘No,’ said Olaf. ‘We’re just getting started.’ Gilgo stared at him for a moment as the alarms blared around them.
‘Just getting started? What do you mean just... This is what we came for. This is the whole point. If we hang around, we’ll probably get caught and have to do a daring escape. We’ll almost definitely get into some sort of spectacular shootout. We should just go. There’s literally nothing to be gained from staying.’
‘Ha!’ Olaf laughed. ‘You’ve got a lot to learn about undercover work, little buddy.’
Ooooh some kind of subliminal romance going on here??
ReplyDelete:-)
I hate it when this happens! Please, please, only bring on the action scene if it's plausible. Sometimes a narrowly avoided action scene is more powerful - remember the Fellowship of the Ring section (in the book, not the movie) where the hobbits are narrowly evading the Nazgul? It's the creepiest part of the whole series, and there isn't a single sword clash until Weathertop.
ReplyDeleteThis is very similar to http://writebadlywell.blogspot.com/2010/03/sacrifice-motivation-for-sake-of.html
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing as the previous anonymous, but perhaps the subtle difference is that in the "sacrifice-motivation etc." post the character's were being jerked around for the sake of plot, whereas here, the motivation change is strictly for the purpose of throwing in an action scene which will have little to no effect on the plot, two equally despicable but distinct authorial ends...do I sound like I'm stretching? We're all on your side, Joel.
ReplyDeleteLittle buddy?
ReplyDeleteWell ok; my novice is showing. I liked that they got what they came for, but it wasn't enough for our hero. He wants to "know" what else is there.
ReplyDeleteNow, I can't say the characters are changing motivations because, based on this one single scene, I feel as if I'm just getting to know my risky characters.
I liked the "little buddy" tag. Showed a sense of humor - character building - for Olaf.
I guess there is a series I should have read before this post?
I'll go look through the blog.
..........dhole
Huh. This is indeed very similar to the previous post, but not as funny. Well spotted. My apologies.
ReplyDeleteYou're a Gilligan fan, Joel Stickley.
ReplyDeleteI figured it was a "sam and max: freelance police" reference, personally
ReplyDelete