The Dicer

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I stood behind the theodolite screwed onto the tripod. I was surveying the area to begin measuring the boundary lines so that the boys in the van could begin construction. That was my job as a surveyor. San Fran's top surveyor, Anton Berlique. The tradies in hi vis were waiting for me to finish up, but they weren't acting patient. The company van's back doors were open with the college dropouts hanging their legs out, enjoying the autumn breeze. Music was blaring out of the radio and Bluetooth speakers, which made no sense since they were playing different songs.

They're a bunch of pricks for purposely trying to sabotage a surveyor. Everyone at the company knows I need my peace and quiet to get the lines precise for the property to be built within. If I didn't get the lines right, there would be legal disputes from our neighbours - the Italian restaurant which was purported to have been recently visited by Gordon Ramsay. My company, Bechtel, for as much preserved good ratings it gets as a construction company, do not want to mess with a Ramsay-approved diner.

I didn't used to be the best surveyor around. I had a friend that worked with the company. His name was Barry. He showed me the ropes. He wasn't fired, he jumped off the planet. Either missing or dead, because I sure never got an invite to his funeral. As we were partners in the surveying department, we used to finish early and play a board game in the van. He would bring different board games each time. I stole a dice from his Monopoly set once and he spent all afternoon deconstructing the van trying to find it. Good times. Sometimes I think the job killed him in the end. It's tough, especially dealing with the type of people in the van. I mean, I still have the dice. I keep it as a memory of him.

I unscrewed the theodolite off the tripod and replaced it with the end of the measuring tape. I marked the last side of the boundary and held all of my equipment as I returned to the van. They hollered as they saw me walking back.

"Our great surveyor returns!" the leader of the pack exalted. "No it ain't Jesus, it's Berlin Ant!" They all laughed over their music. That was their nickname for me. I could have reported their behaviour at a workplace to be offensive and our boss would have listened a long time ago. But I haven't. It's because they happen to be the fastest hands. Especially, Jerry Rolf who was the leader and a bigger dick than his own. They put on their construction hats, safety goggles and ear mufflers as I packed up my equipment into a bag. Then it was my turn to wait. Without the music. No board games as well.

At the end of the day, they finished at least a quarter of the job. We were building a Wendy's there, which had the floorplan of a generic fast food joint. I had to drive the van back to the company and then leave in my car. But I stopped by my office first. Yes, I have an office instead of a cubicle. The left wall is covered with employee of the year awards. The right wall is where I study blueprints for the next project. I nudged open the glass door to my office with my foot because my hands were full. It was easier when I had another pair of hands. I laid all of my equipment on the thin carpet, convincing myself that I would pack it up in the morning. I took one last look at the blueprint for the Wendy's. There was a note pinned to the task board next to the blueprint. This is what it said:

Hotel Tango Tango Papa : / / Whiskey Whiskey Whiskey Stop Charlie Lima Kilo Echo Romeo Stop Charlie Oscar Mike / Charlie Lima India Papa Alfa Romeo Tango - Sierra Quebec Uniform Alfa Romeo Echo - Bravo Alfa Charlie Kilo - Tango Echo X-ray Tango - Golf Romeo Echo Yankee Stop Hotel Tango Mike Lima (space) ( Hotel Tango Tango Papa Sierra : / / Sierra Lima India Delta Echo Papa Lima Alfa Yankee Echo Romeo Stop Charlie Oscar Mike / Sierra Lima India Delta Echo / One Six Zero Seven Six Six Three / ) - Six Two (space) Hotel Tango Tango Papa Sierra : / / Echo November Stop Whiskey India Kilo India Papa Echo Delta India Alfa Stop Oscar Romeo Golf / Whiskey India Kilo India / Bravo Echo Charlie Hotel Tango Echo Lima

I knew what this was. Barry had made me play Codenames before and I was pretty certain this had been encoded using the NATO/ICAO phonetic alphabet. I wandered behind my desk with the note. I opened up my tablet and went on a translator. I typed the whole thing in and this is what got back to me:

http://www.clker.com/clipart-square-back-text-grey.html 

(https://slideplayer.com/slide/1607663/)-62

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechtel

Three websites. I opened each of them up in seperate tabs. The first website led me to the word 'Back' with a blue curved arrow above it. In the second website, there were a bunch of words next to numbers. I scrolled down to number 62 which referenced the word 'of'. I knew what word the last website would give me before I clicked on it. 'Bechtel'.