Going Dark
Page 30
‘I kind of agree with you, but I do believe that bad things happen to bad people more than they do to good people. Adebayo is a bad person; something bad will happen sometime. It’s bound to. Rule of averages. Do more bad stuff then more will come your way, I reckon.’
The two men just stared for a full minute at the morning scene in the London park.
Mike’s mobile phone made a distinctive ‘Ping’ as they sat and, after a few moments, Tom heard a soft chuckle come from the American.
‘Check this out,’ he said and slid his mobile phone across the bench to Tom, who picked it up and looked at the screen. Two pretty blonde girls, aged about eight, grinned out from the screen: both had bunny ears, sparkly eyes, and stars seemed to be circling their heads, all obviously computer generated onto the twins’ picture. Tom recognised Mike’s kids, having met them once during a trip to California a few years before.
Tom smiled and slid the phone back across the bench. ‘They’ve grown so much, mate. Cute kids,’ he said, suddenly envious of Mike.
‘It’s a Snapchat. Do you have it? I’ll get them to send you some, they still talk about you,’ Mike said.
‘I don’t have it. I’m not much one for social media apart from as an investigative tool.’
‘Don’t be a grouch. Download it, my kids want to send you messages.’
‘Maybe,’ Tom said. Then added, ‘How’s Pet?’
‘She’s good, she’s in Berlin for a while. She said to say hi and that you should call her.’
‘Maybe I will,’ Tom said, not knowing if he meant it or not. He’d not seen Pet, other than at a very brief meeting after the arrests of Taylor and the others. He’d figured it was safer to keep a distance between them until things were resolved, but he couldn’t say he didn’t think of her a lot. Relationships were not something that Tom could quite get his head around, though, and he couldn’t see how anything could work with both of their itinerant lifestyles.
‘I’ve been asked to offer you a job by my superiors; they reckon that someone who can do what you pulled off would be an asset to the Agency as a UK resource. You interested?’
‘It’s flattering and interesting, but I work for the UK. Britain gave me a life and I would never reveal anything that may harm this country. I owe them everything.’
‘I told them that’s what you’d say. Honour is a rare commodity these days, old friend and you have it. You’d be a valuable resource and we’d pay very well, but I doubt that would make a difference.’
Tom didn’t reply, just turned and looked at Mike for the first time during the meeting and flashed him a warm smile.
‘I gotta go, Tom. I have a flight back to the States later today. I’m reassigned: I start in Washington next week.’
‘Well, best of luck, mate. I think I can now say that we’re even in the favour stakes.’
‘Never. I’ll always owe you, as you probably know after seeing my daughters. Be lucky, man. And if you change your mind about the job, just holler.’
Tom smiled once more and watched Mike stroll off towards Highgate Hill without a backwards glance.
Tom finished his coffee, dumped the cup in the trash and began his light jog back home through the bustling Camden streets.
Once home, he flicked through his iPhone, went to the app store, downloaded Snapchat and created a basic profile. He figured a bit of banter with Mike’s kids would be quite amusing, so what was the harm?
He showered quickly, dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a white polo shirt and pulled his shoes on, getting ready to go to work. He’d been moved from the main office into the proactive team and he had a planning meeting at 9am.
A tone he didn’t recognise from his phone indicated some activity required his attention. He picked it up and saw that he had a Snapchat message. It took him a few moments to familiarise himself with the new app but soon it came up with a message from ‘Mike B’.
He opened the message and stared at the image in front of him.
Michael Adebayo was pictured, a haunted look on a face which now sported a long, unkempt beard. He wore orange overalls and leg and wrist restraints and had clearly lost a great deal of weight. His sunken cheeks and deep-set eyes radiated desperation and hopelessness. A ‘No Smoking’ sign behind Adebayo was underwritten in Cyrillic script. The picture suddenly disappeared into thin air as quickly as it had appeared, to be replaced with a text message which simply said, ‘Bad things happen to bad people.’
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Acknowledgements
Writing a first draft of a book is a long and lonely process involving many hours of procrastination, frustration, brain racking and head-scratching. Getting a book ready to publish, however is very much a team effort. My eternal gratitude goes to all those who have encouraged me in my quest to write a book and get it published into the world, where strangers will hopefully read and enjoy it.
To the friends and family who read the earliest drafts of the book: Angela Rowbottom, Gail Wilson-Kenny, Matt O’Neill and Andy Scripture, your encouragement gave me the impetus I needed to keep plugging away. To my good friend Simon Hammock for keeping me straight on all things relating to search-and-rescue helicopters.
A number of very talented authors kindly read the manuscript and gave vital critique, observations and the belief that I could do this. Huge thanks, therefore are due to Margaret Kirk, Alex Walters, Ian Patrick and Michael Jenkins. Your support and friendship has been of such value and without your help I wouldn’t be writing these words right now.
A special thanks goes to the wonderful editor, Emma Mitchell, who turned 103,000 words of gibberish into 95,000 words that a publisher wouldn’t delete at first sight. You taught me that less is more, a lesson every author needs to listen to.
Thanks also to my beta readers for their invaluable feedback: Andreas Rausch, Ami Agner, Kirsti Wenn, Alison Belding, and David and Joyce Oxley. And to our amazing proof reader, Paula Beaton.
To Si and Pete at Burning Chair for believing in the book and taking the chance on a washed-up ex-cop with an urge to tell a story. I hope this is the beginning of something brilliant.
Of course, thanks to my lovely wife, Clare and my kids, Alec, Richard and Ollie for all your love and support. You all make it all worthwhile.
Finally, thanks to you, the reader, for taking a chance with your cold, hard cash on a debut author. Stay tuned; there’s more where this came from.
Neil
About the Author
Neil Lancaster served over thirty years in law enforcement in the both military and Metropolitan Police, working in a number of detective roles investigating serious and organi
sed crime. During his career he chased murderers, human traffickers, fraudsters and drug dealers.
Neil now lives in the Scottish Highlands where he spends his time writing crime fiction, influenced by his experiences.
You can follow him at www.neillancastercrime.co.uk, where you can join Neil’s readers’ group and get exclusive news and content, including a free, confidential, report into DS Neil Wilkinson’s most troublesome team member... www.subscribepage.com/Novak-Fans-Group
Or on Twitter - @NeilLancaster66
About Burning Chair
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Other Books by Burning Chair Publishing:
Beyond, by Georgia Springate
Burning: An Anthology of Thriller Shorts, edited by Simon Finnie and Peter Oxley
The Infernal Aether Series, by Peter Oxley
The Infernal Aether
A Christmas Aether
The Demon Inside
Beyond the Aether
The Wedding Speech Manual: The Complete Guide to Preparing, Writing and Performing Your Wedding Speech, by Peter Oxley
www.burningchairpublishing.com