Montreal, Canada

Saggar noticed the large flat TV screen hanging on top of the wine rack behind the counter of the Bistro Bar. It was still early in the night so, there were only five customers in the bar. A man and a woman that looked like a couple was sitting together in a table at one of the corners of the room. Two men with loose ties were playing dart in the back room. The fifth was a middle-aged man drinking alone in the counter and watching the news on the large TV screen. The bartender’s attention was also focused on the TV. He didn’t notice Saggar’s arrival. Saggar had to call the man’s attention.

“Do you have Niagara?” he asked the bartender once he got his attention. Niagara was a type of ice wine.

The bartender nodded.

“Give me a bottle.” This was the first time Saggar had ever been to Canada. But he had already heard about Canada’s famous ice wines. These wines were made from grapes frozen while still in their vines. The frozen grapes were then pressed resulting to a more concentrated and very sweet juice.

The bartender placed the Niagara bottle and a small wine glass in front of Saggar who had made himself comfortable on one of the stools in front of the counter. The bartender then turned his attention back on the news on the TV.

A woman reporter could be seen standing in front of a hospital named St. Anthony’s Medical Hospital. She was reporting about the latest incident involving a culprit nicknamed by the media as the Kissing Bandit.

“Sheila Baker is the third victim of the notorious Kissing Bandit for the past two weeks. According to witnesses, the bandit went inside the bank where Sheila was working as a teller. He went straight to where she was sitting, dragged her off her feet and kissed her passionately on the lips. Everyone in the bank was too shocked to move. Before the security guards could apprehend the bandit, he let go of Sheila and made his quick escape, easily rendering the guards unconscious with his punches and kicks. Since the Kissing Bandit never took off his mask and Zorro costume, witnesses failed to provide a good description. The police are still unable to find out his real identity”.

“He must be one hell of a kisser since all his victims had lost consciousness,” commented the middle-aged man on the bar as he let out a chuckle.

“Or he has terrible bad breath!” said the bartender as he joined in laughter.

Saggar memorized the name of the Kissing Bandit’s latest victim and the hospital where she was brought in. Before coming to Canada, he had already gotten the names of the two other victims and the hospitals where they were being kept under observation. The other two victims, Olivia Anderson and Emma Cloutier, had yet to regain consciousness since the Kissing Bandit kissed them.

“Maybe that is why he has to steal kisses from those women. No woman would voluntarily kiss a man with a horrible breath!” commented the middle-aged man.

“Or he gets turned on by stealing kisses,” added the bartender.

Saggar wasn’t sure why the bandit was stealing kisses from women. But he came to Canada to capture and stop the bandit from his shenanigans.

His thoughts were interrupted when his cell phone rang. It was his secretary Scylla. Scylla was the best in finding information since she was also an expert hacker. There wasn’t any password or system she couldn’t crack.

“Bad news, Saggar!” she exclaimed.

Saggar groaned. The only problem with Scylla was her tendency to only call him when she had bad news.

“Olivia Anderson is missing!”

Olivia was the first victim of the Kissing Bandit.

“Has she awakened?”

“No. According to her last record in the hospital, she was still in a coma. But the hospital had to release her to her parents who came to take her home. They said they would just take care of her at home.”

“So, she’s not missing but with her parents.”

“Impossible! Olivia is an orphan. She grew up in an orphanage and never got adopted. Her parents died when she was five years old. She also has no relatives living here in Canada.”

“Have you contacted her friends and co-workers in the massage clinic?”

“I have. None of them knows where Olivia is now or who had really taken her out of the hospital.”

Saggar became worried. It seemed he needed to focus his attention first on the victims than go after the Kissing Bandit. The bandit would attack every five days. Sheila had just been attacked today so, he still had five days to find the bandit before he would claim another victim. He would use that time to find Olivia Anderson and find out the current condition of Emma Cloutier and Sheila Baker.

“Okay. I will look into it.” He ended the call. He also paid for his drinks. He then gulped the wine he had poured on the glass and grabbed the bottle of Niagara.

As he was leaving Bistro Bar, he almost collided with two women who were entering the door.

“Excuse me, ladies,” he said as he gave them an apologetic smile.

He was quickly rewarded with smiles and seductive looks.

“You are leaving already, handsome?” teased one of the women.

“We will be here all night so, if you have time to come back, we could treat you to another drink,” invited the second woman.

“Sorry, ladies. Duty calls!”

He walked past the two women. Saggar rarely flirted with the locals unless he needed information from them.

He quickly hailed a passing taxi cab. He sat on the back seat of the car and turned toward the driver.

“McGill Hospital!” he said before he downed every last drop of the wine in the bottle.

The driver chuckled.

“First baby? All first time fathers get nervous when they get a call that their wives are having a baby.”

Saggar laughed. He didn’t correct the misunderstanding. He was going to the hospital to see Emma Cloutier. Emma was already seventy years old. It was impossible for her to even get pregnant.

Whenever he had a chance to try out a new wine, he would always make sure to drink a whole bottle. He had always loved wine since the first time he tasted it. He liked the heat he felt whenever wine ran down his throat. It felt like he could blow fire from his mouth. When he was still young, he really thought he would be able to produce fire from his mouth if he would drink a lot of wine. Unfortunately, such skill was beyond his capability.