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 gift to

met Charlotte, my Virgin, we have helter-skeltered

pursued her, ruling her, robbed her of what she deserves. None of it her fault, she has simply been the survivor

change any

No. Nothing.

what she is. Strong. Fearless. Resourceful. Even in the dire situation she’s in, imprisoned in her cell, racked with pain, coughing up green

coming for

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 heat of the day. The streets are glazed to a hoared sheen, except for where streetlamps glare

have a trek of perhaps half a mile to reach the rendezvous point, near enough to

briskly, my footsteps click-clicking down empty streets. It’s not that late, but the cold is keeping people indoors and, after all,

windows brightly lit, 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

I pass by.

the residential zone and passing into more uncertain territory. This end of Marsh Street is not a

highways were developed, a remnant of the old town, under the overpass which

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

I'm feeling

Better than the alternative.

to do

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

evening traffic grumbles past. But

“Hello?”

echoes briefly, then dies

here.” I pace, circling,

Nothing…