and so far I was playing no part, and now I was betting all my chips on a kid’s game, it felt like a kind of betrayal.
We decided to reconvene in the morning at the Institute under the auspices of Lloyd and Toby. I bid a disappointed Detective Z goodnight and then went home and slept badly all night; pursued by alligators.
Chapter 14
OXYGEN THIEF
They had surprised Alan in his allotment shed; he seemed an unlikely progenitor of insurrection in his green tweed jacket and dusty brogues. The two heavies, who had been dispatched to find him, simply taped him to a handcart and wheeled him into their van, before driving through the rush hour traffic to bring him into the presence of Eddie Brocade on an upper floor of the Vertical Abyss .
“I’m not saying you don’t have a fucking good reason,” Eddie said, whilst pacing up and down. “To meet with a certain Detective,” he stopped walking, his face inches away from Alan’s. “Perhaps you are old friends?”
Ever since his wife had died two years ago Alan had been spending more and more time at his allotment, even to the point of cooking meals on the wood-burning stove he had installed and brewing his own wine. The fact that he had been disturbed whilst testing the latest batch of elderflower wine gifted him the idea of simply pretending he was drunk whilst being interrogated, until him came up with a better plan.
“I was in me hallotment,” he slurred whilst exhaling what he hoped was a sufficiently wine-laden lungful into the man’s face. A smooth faced preening faggot whom Alan would have decked with one punch when in his prime. He let his head loll forward as if in a drunken swoon.
“You pissed up old oxygen thief,” said Eddie almost absent-mindedly. He was thinking of the collection of medieval torture equipment that Simon Magus had someplace; he had always harbored a desire to try some of the pieces out on a real person; an achievable scenario - to oil hinge, flange and spike with some fresh blood.
“Tell me when he sobers up,” he called to the minder.
Alan was left alone – to his captors a semi-conscious old boy, his wrists bound with a plastic tie, in a locked room.
With a swift downward movement he broke the wrist restraint and then took from his pocket a flick knife and then a mobile phone. He quickly ascertained that there was a signal, albeit a weak one. He then sent a text. Turning his attention to the knife he squeezed the release on the handle a couple of times to test the spring action, both times it opened smoothly. Afterwards he lolled back on the bunk bed in readiness for captor or captors to return, the knife tucked loosely in the sleeve of his jacket.
Chapter 15
UNDERTOW
We entered The Nest of Loops. We could skim over the cityscape until our appetite for destruction might lead us to a riot zone or an ‘anything goes’ unregulated area where the authorities had abandoned any pretence of law and order and anarchy held sway – here drugs, weapons and women were freely bought and sold. Of course Detective Z and I wished to avoid these blazing vectors of bad karma and high scoring opportunities; much to Lloyd and Toby’s disgust.
Instead we followed the semi-deserted streets towards a forgotten bend in the river. We were here to see what goes down in beta town; to reconnoiter the latest and freshest of crime scenes and hopefully prove or disprove the theory that the dead girls were denizens of that hidden obverse world.
“It’s down here someplace,” said Clive. We were finally on first name terms, Detective Z and I.
Right on the spot where, according to Clive, a dog racing stadium had stood was a glitzy palace of plastic and glass – Welcome to The Babadrome – Kage Kandy Every Night – promised the illuminated hoardings. In much smaller lettering it said: Except Wednesdays ; today was Wednesday.
For some reason I elected to wait outside, somewhere alarm bells were ringing – it was in my head.
After a
We decided to reconvene in the morning at the Institute under the auspices of Lloyd and Toby. I bid a disappointed Detective Z goodnight and then went home and slept badly all night; pursued by alligators.
Chapter 14
OXYGEN THIEF
They had surprised Alan in his allotment shed; he seemed an unlikely progenitor of insurrection in his green tweed jacket and dusty brogues. The two heavies, who had been dispatched to find him, simply taped him to a handcart and wheeled him into their van, before driving through the rush hour traffic to bring him into the presence of Eddie Brocade on an upper floor of the Vertical Abyss .
“I’m not saying you don’t have a fucking good reason,” Eddie said, whilst pacing up and down. “To meet with a certain Detective,” he stopped walking, his face inches away from Alan’s. “Perhaps you are old friends?”
Ever since his wife had died two years ago Alan had been spending more and more time at his allotment, even to the point of cooking meals on the wood-burning stove he had installed and brewing his own wine. The fact that he had been disturbed whilst testing the latest batch of elderflower wine gifted him the idea of simply pretending he was drunk whilst being interrogated, until him came up with a better plan.
“I was in me hallotment,” he slurred whilst exhaling what he hoped was a sufficiently wine-laden lungful into the man’s face. A smooth faced preening faggot whom Alan would have decked with one punch when in his prime. He let his head loll forward as if in a drunken swoon.
“You pissed up old oxygen thief,” said Eddie almost absent-mindedly. He was thinking of the collection of medieval torture equipment that Simon Magus had someplace; he had always harbored a desire to try some of the pieces out on a real person; an achievable scenario - to oil hinge, flange and spike with some fresh blood.
“Tell me when he sobers up,” he called to the minder.
Alan was left alone – to his captors a semi-conscious old boy, his wrists bound with a plastic tie, in a locked room.
With a swift downward movement he broke the wrist restraint and then took from his pocket a flick knife and then a mobile phone. He quickly ascertained that there was a signal, albeit a weak one. He then sent a text. Turning his attention to the knife he squeezed the release on the handle a couple of times to test the spring action, both times it opened smoothly. Afterwards he lolled back on the bunk bed in readiness for captor or captors to return, the knife tucked loosely in the sleeve of his jacket.
Chapter 15
UNDERTOW
We entered The Nest of Loops. We could skim over the cityscape until our appetite for destruction might lead us to a riot zone or an ‘anything goes’ unregulated area where the authorities had abandoned any pretence of law and order and anarchy held sway – here drugs, weapons and women were freely bought and sold. Of course Detective Z and I wished to avoid these blazing vectors of bad karma and high scoring opportunities; much to Lloyd and Toby’s disgust.
Instead we followed the semi-deserted streets towards a forgotten bend in the river. We were here to see what goes down in beta town; to reconnoiter the latest and freshest of crime scenes and hopefully prove or disprove the theory that the dead girls were denizens of that hidden obverse world.
“It’s down here someplace,” said Clive. We were finally on first name terms, Detective Z and I.
Right on the spot where, according to Clive, a dog racing stadium had stood was a glitzy palace of plastic and glass – Welcome to The Babadrome – Kage Kandy Every Night – promised the illuminated hoardings. In much smaller lettering it said: Except Wednesdays ; today was Wednesday.
For some reason I elected to wait outside, somewhere alarm bells were ringing – it was in my head.
After a
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