Hot Revenge Box Set 2

*****

James

The message from Charlotte’s abductors…

Finchby…

Baxter…

… replays in my head…

Marsh Street under Barnbridge Road overpass 9pm

Bring the money

No police. No other people or she dies

If late she dies. So does the baby

Brandy and rage burn inside me.

The bag containing the ransom money swings heavy in my hand. I'm the decoy and at some level, I know I may not come out of this alive. Klempner's Kevlar vest gives me a little comfort, but it’s the fury inside that warms me against fast falling temperatures.

I should be afraid…

But I’m not.

Jade-Eyes…

My beautiful Jade-Eyes…

Your

day I met Charlotte, my Virgin, we have helter-skeltered from

of it her fault, she has simply been the survivor of everything life has dealt

change

No. Nothing.

situation she’s in, imprisoned in her cell, racked with pain, coughing up green slime,

coming for you,

And me?

I’m the decoy.

merest hush of a breeze. High cloud makes a haze of the stars but does little to blanket in what passed for the

the rendezvous point, near enough to get there quickly. Far enough that, hopefully, they won’t spot

click-clicking down empty streets. It’s not that late, but the cold is keeping people indoors and, after all, Christmas is coming. Most folks will be with friends, at parties or simply at home

glowing with warmth and welcome, sparkling with fairy lights, dressed with spray-on snow and Santa, Please Stop Here signs. In my own home, we never finished the trimming up. Charlotte’s abduction killed off any

I pass by.

of the residential zone and passing into

was once the boundary of the City, it was built before the main highways were developed, a remnant of the old town, under the

is noted for hoax calls of fire or medical emergency followed by muggings for cash and

feeling windy about being

Better than the alternative.

to

inadequate sodium lighting. From the road above, moisture trickles down, streaking stark concrete walls white before

on the overpass, late evening traffic grumbles past. But here below, all

“Hello?”

voice echoes briefly, then

I pace, circling,

Nothing…