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

Charlotte, my Virgin, we have helter-skeltered from one crisis to

deserves. None of it her fault, she has simply been the survivor of

I change

No. Nothing.

imprisoned

coming for you,

And me?

I’m the decoy.

a haze of the stars but does little to blanket in what passed

reach the rendezvous point, near enough to

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

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 thoughts of

I pass by.

only a few minutes I’m leaving the relative safety of the residential zone and passing into

remnant of the old town, under the overpass which carries the modern road to Barnbridge. It's a

in pairs and the other emergency services are cautious. The area is noted for hoax calls of fire or medical emergency followed by muggings

I'm feeling

Better than the alternative.

has to

lies straddled by two great concrete supports for the overpass, dim under inadequate sodium lighting. From the road above, moisture trickles down, streaking stark concrete

the overpass, late evening traffic grumbles past. But here

“Hello?”

briefly, then

I pace,

Nothing…