The Curious Case of the Two Dirk Gentlys

22: Emergency

"Wake up. Emergency. Up. Up." Dirk and Todd woke up from what had been a relatively pleasant sleep (as pleasant as sleeping in the spare room of a complete stranger could be) to the sound of a pan and a wooden spoon clashing against each other. Svald called from downstairs. The men rubbed the sleep out of their eyes and looked at each other for answer. Neither of them had any. All they knew was that sitting in bed during an 'emergency' was rarely a good move. The two bolted out of the door and peered over the border.

"What's going on? Is it a fire?" Asked Todd.

"Worse than that." Svald called back.

"Flash flood?" Speculated Dirk.

"No."

"An attempt to put out a fire that resulted in a flash flood?" He guessed.

"Absolutely not." Svald shook his head.

"Then...what?" Asked Todd.

"We failed to solve the case." Svald told them.

"What? How do you know? And how is that an emergency?" Todd blurted out an ocean of questions. They fell into the air before he even finished thinking of them. Of course, he was eager to step back into the fold as much as anyone, even if it did mess with his plans a little. Still, he didn't think that declaring a mistake as a state of emergency and getting everybody's heart rates up first thing in the morning was a good idea.

"I'll take those one at a time if you don't mind, Todd. Firstly, we failed to solve the case. Secondly, because Victoria called me and explained the situation. Lastly, because the latest disappearances isn't an object, it's a person. Robert's gone." Svald explained.

"What?" Dirk and Todd exclaimed.

"I said-"

"We heard what you said." Todd nodded.

"Then stop dilly dalling and get ready. This is now a missing person's case and there's no time to lose. Emergency. Emergency. " Svald went into the kitchen, still banging the pan and spoon together like there was someone else to hear him. Perhaps he was trying to recruit the neighbours, not that they would have helped.

"So much for our early morning flight." Sighed Todd.

"Hmm." Mumbled Dirk.

"Are you okay? You've been acting weird since last night." Said Todd.

"Weird?" Dirk exclaimed.

"Well weirder than usual." Todd clarified.

"That doesn't really help, Todd." Dirk told him. "I'm fine. I just need to talk to Svald." He explained.

"Okay, go talk to him then." Todd nodded down the stairs. Svald had stopped making a racket and was waiting for them to hurry up so they could save Robert, though how and from what they didn't know.

"No. I need to talk to him alone." Dirk replied firmly.

"Oh...okay."

"Todd, Dirk, perhaps you didn't get the meaning of the word emergency." Shouted Svald.

"We're coming." Todd shouted down the stairs. "Can it wait? I don't want to sound mean or anything but it can't be that important right now. I think Robert might be in actual danger." He said.

"What makes you say that?" Asked Dirk.

"Because whenever someone involved with us disappears they're normally in a lot of trouble." Todd reminded him.

"Fair point." Dirk nodded.

"I'm sure if you ask you two can talk about what ever you need to once Robert's home." He assured.

"Yeah, you're right. Danger first, questions later."

"The agency way." Todd smiled.

"The agency way." Dirk repeated, seemingly unsure in his response.