The Good: A page turning thriller where politics meets future technology in a bid to control human behaviour

by Carl Andrew

  The general feeling was that if you didn’t have anything to hide, then you shouldn’t be worried about taking the pill. Owing to mobile phones and the internet as well as things like Twitter and Facebook, most people were perfectly comfortable sharing personal details for specific purposes.

  This came as a surprise to Leon but, after some of the terrible atrocities he’d witnessed on videos from the ‘State of Hate’ website along with stories he’d covered himself, he could understand why the public were reacting this way.

  Chapter 21:

  A few days later - Somewhere in Birmingham

  “Who’s this guy and how do you know him?” asked the man in the red ski jacket.

  “Steve, don’t worry, he’s just someone I know. He’s ok, a good’un,” replied the man in the grey coat.

  “Well I don’t know him and I don’t like this. Who’s the mark?”

  “Some loudmouth dickhead in London,” the response came. “He’s willing to pay big.”

  “How much,” Steve was suddenly intrigued when the prospect of money came up.

  “Double the usual.”

  “Carl, fuck me, double the usual. This sounds wrong. What is this shit you’ve got us messed up in?”

  “Steve, calm it mate. They just need this done well and besides, he’s got funds. He ain’t shy with the money.”

  “Ok, when?” Steve said, beginning to allow pound signs to convince him against his better judgement.

  “Tomorrow, it has to be,” said Carl.

  “And when’s settlement?”

  “The day after, by bank transfer into a neutral account.”

  “How do you know him again Carl? Don’t bullshit me.”

  “We served together, Falklands.”

  “Jesus. I tell you, we don’t half do some fucked up things when we stroll back down Civvy Street,” said Steve.

  “Tell me,” said Carl. “So, you’re on?”

  “Aah fuck it, may as well. This better not be fucked though or there’s no more.”

  “Of course Steve, no problem,” Carl handed Steve a black bag. “All the deets are in there.”

  “Ok, I’ll look at them later. See you mate,” Steve left. His brown Ford Mondeo coughed a few times before starting and then headed off into the night.

  The next morning, no one suspected anything about the man in the dark suit with the briefcase taking the 7.18am from Birmingham New Street.

  He was just another businessman heading to the City to make a killing…

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  Finsbury Park, London

  Leon woke up to what felt like a completely new world. The dust was only just beginning to settle on the policy announcement from the day before.

  He read a few of the early articles and got a sense that the media had been swayed somewhat by the reaction of the public. After all, in his opinion modern journalism was about eyeballs more than the pursuit of the truth.

  A few of the articles loosely attacked the policy but more were extolling positive elements and focusing on the need to eradicate the streets of the thugs that have been plaguing them for too long.

  It seemed as though the Lawson Government had managed to dodge yet another bullet.

  He thought about his day ahead, it was pretty straightforward; he had an interview in the West End before meeting up with Abby for lunch in Covent Garden.

  He got his stuff together and gave one last check to the apartment before heading off.

  Abby was already in town pursuing a story of her own. Her role on The Day Today had grown exponentially as she proved herself to be an excellent writer and an even better news hound with each passing day.

  Leon wanted to make sure he didn’t give her reason to complain by leaving the lights or heating on. Satisfied all was well, he exited and made his way to the tube station.

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  London Euston, London

  The train pulled in on time. Steve was pleased with that. His life in the military left him with a hunger for order. He hated sloppiness particularly with transport.

  He left the main station and made his way to Victoria to catch the tube north. A twenty minute journey later and he found himself exiting Finsbury Park tube station before taking a left on Stroud Green Road.

  He purchased some provisions from the local store and carried on his journey by foot towards the unoccupied building. That would be his lookout for today.

  The haste with which the job had been organised meant that he hadn’t had the usual time beforehand to scope things out. He hated that too.

  His life was all about planning and preparation. This type of last minute, in and out type gig worried him. He was on edge and he knew that.

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  Haringey, London

  The Christmas period had been good to Ben and the team at the depot. Call outs had been much lower than anticipated and he found himself getting through the maintenance list much quicker than expected.

  Into the beginning of the New Year now and he was able to deal with all of the ‘if you ever get a chance’ jobs at the bottom of the list.

  He was off to one today, a vacant apartment building located just down the road.

  It was weird because even though this building hadn’t been occupied for a few years now and was destined for demolition, the Council still sent them through for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance work.

  This one was scheduled. It had to be done within the next 12 months but with the time on his hands now, he felt he may as well get to it.

  He liked to keep busy; it meant he got through his day much quicker that way.

  He got into his van and started the engine…

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  An hour later – Central London

  Leon’s interview had gone as expected. It was a pretty straightforward follow up story to see what had become of a victim of a crime he covered a few months ago.

  There was no urgency to it so he planned to write it up later when he got back home.

  He had made good time to get to Covent Garden and found himself early for lunch. Abby turned up about five minutes later and they enjoyed what felt like a date lunch.

  They hadn’t been out together for a while because life had been a bit crazy with the blog, also because they were still getting used to being a couple.

  He was keen to organise something so they had a chance to get together, with no distractions.

  Lunch was a very pleasant mezze platter followed by a delightful pasta dish each.

  They talked about life, what the next steps were for the business and the potential of buying somewhere. Although the last part was quite a way off, judging by how expensive property prices were in the Capital.

  Abby asked about his family, she hadn’t met them yet and was keen to understand a little more about the potential future in laws.

  “So, your dad is a little bit strict then?” She asked.

  “Well, he’s just a dad, you know. Always likes to be right, convinced the younger generation don’t work as hard as they did in his day, that sort of thing.”

  “Anything else I should know? Also, when am I going to get to meet them?” She wanted to get something organised so she could get the full picture of the Bryant family.

  “I’ll try and get something sorted soon. Dad hasn’t been too well.”

  “What? You didn’t tell me about that. What’s wrong with him?”

  “I didn’t want to say anything. We’ve had so much going on and with you getting back in touch with your mum I just thought, you know, we don’t need another drama in our life.”

  “Leon, that’s crazy. He’s your dad. Is he ok?”

  “It’s something he’s had for a few years. He’s been coping with it but it’s started to get a little worse. He has type 1 diabetes and it’s starting
to affect his eyes and legs.”

  “Oh no, that’s awful. We should go and see him. Show him you care.” Abby was genuinely concerned.

  She thought back to a magazine article she read a week or so ago about hereditary conditions and that the jury was still out on whether type 1 diabetes was hereditary.

  “Ok Abby, I guess you’re right. I’ll get something organised for us to go up in the next few weeks,” Leon said, succumbing to her request.

  “What about you? You know they say that around 10% of people with type 1 diabetes have a close relative who suffers from the same thing. It might be hereditary.”

  “I’m fine Abby. I had a health check recently after the attack. I’m good. I did discover a chronic problem though…” Leon said with a smile on his face.

  Abby’s expression changed to concern, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “I’ve got nagging girlfriend syndrome,” he said chuckling away to himself.

  “You idiot,” Abby said, punching him gently on the arm.

  Lunch went by in a flash and Leon really enjoyed being able to spend quality time with Abby. It cemented his feelings for her, not that he needed any further confirmation.

  After a quick walk around the shops, quick was all that Leon could muster, they headed to the tube station to begin the journey home.

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  Finsbury Park, London

  Steve found the building with ease. The information he’d been provided had been spot on so far. It was a good sign.

  He did a couple of laps of the block to check out any potential issues. It was all good. The exit routes were clear and well shielded from the road way.

  On closer inspection, the building looked like it hadn’t been used for a while. He needed to sweep the floors to make sure there was no one lodging or hanging around.

  The ground floor was just the entrance way with a stairs in the centre and an opening to two large storage areas either side. No visible signs of life were found

  All in all, the building had four floors. Level one had no doors to it so that was pretty easy to navigate and was cleared with ease.

  Level two and three had doors but they were the same layout as the previous floor with four apartments in total, two on either side of the stairwell.

  There was graffiti on the walls to show that life had existed here after the block was vacated. He spotted a couple of newspapers on the floor which showed a date from over two years ago.

  By the look of the mould on the food scraps that were left around, they were from around the same time span.

  The fourth floor, his floor, had just the two larger apartments on it. He started in the one opposite to where he was going to be based.

  The door was jammed, bugger, he thought to himself.

  Leaning on it with more pressure, he managed to get it to move. The cause of the blockage was pretty evident, there was post backed up from the door to the back wall of the entrance way.

  This one had obviously been left vacant long before the others. Fortunately, there was still no sign of life.

  He moved across the corridor to his apartment. The door opened with ease and he navigated his way around the lounge room before checking out the two bedrooms, nothing, not a sound.

  The bathroom and kitchen were also clear. He went back to the main bedroom and set himself up by the window.

  He placed the briefcase down on the floor and opened it. Neatly packed away were pieces of a rifle. He built it methodically checking each component the same way he’d checked it that morning when he packed it and the same way he’d checked it the evening before.

  He lifted the sash window up and allowed the cold air to sting his face. Looking out he checked the vista to identify the target and also any potential over-lookers.

  Nothing was really within eyeshot of where he was. There were a few buildings but windows faced the other way. It was almost as if this building had been built purposefully to be discreet.

  Clever builders, he thought to himself, allowing a smile to crease his lips.

  His weapon was built; he had a visual on the target location. He was ready. Now, it was the waiting game.

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  Finsbury Park, London

  Leon and Abby held hands as they exited the tube station and headed left on Stroud Green Road.

  They walked past the shops on the right and the residential buildings on the left. This part of the walk was always the bit that Leon hated. At the end was a steep hill and that was a bugger after a day on your feet.

  It was a cruel way to end the journey. He suggested to Abby to pop into The Old Dairy pub for a cheeky drink. It was mid-afternoon but time wasn’t pressing for them.

  They settled in to a table near the exit. Leon was enjoying a bitter and Abby nursed a glass of wine. It was still cold enough for Leon to stick with a bitter rather than return to a lager. That was for when it became a bit warmer.

  He’d always been that way. He was the same with food, soups and casseroles in the winter and salads or barbecues for the summer. He was a creature of habit. Just like his dad.

  They carried on the conversation from lunch and before long, Abby who had already consumed a couple of wines earlier, was a little along the way to tipsy.

  “I think we should go home,” she said suggestively.

  “Really, you don’t fancy another?” Leon responded completely misreading the signs. It was the classic male/female dynamic in full swing.

  “I fancy something babe, but it’s not a drink…” Abby said, painting a much clearer picture.

  “Eh… oh… oh right… Yeah let’s go. I’ll race you…” Leon smirked as he spoke. The penny had finally dropped.

  They waved to the bar staff and went on their way. Being their local, they had gotten to know the people who worked there.

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  Finsbury Park, London

  The traffic was a bloody nightmare. It had taken Ben almost an hour to get from Haringey to the middle of Stroud Green Road. He could’ve walked it quicker if he had somewhere to leave the van.

  Trouble was, the parking around there was worse than the congestion.

  It hadn’t been helped that he had an urgent call out just as he was leaving Haringey and had to turn back. That basically doubled his time on the road and he’d pretty much lost most of the morning and early afternoon.

  He turned off the main road and followed the directions to his next maintenance job. This one was a relatively simple check of the fire alarms and fire escape.

  He pulled up outside the run down property and pulled his tool box out of the cab.

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  Steve chewed on some nuts and focused his eyes on the target location.

  The window he was peering out of was protected by a couple of well-placed trees. It meant that the end of his rifle was also not visible to the outside world. It was the perfect sniper scenario.

  He glanced at the photo he’d been given to re-check what the mark looked like. He needn’t have bothered, the persons face was imprinted on his mind; he’d studied it that often.

  He looked down the road towards the turn from the main street. While the tree was good for protection, it made viewing a little tricky.

  He squinted to glance through a couple of the branches and made out the shape of two people walking up the road. He pulled out his binoculars and gave them a closer inspection.

  It was his target.

  He primed himself and had already identified where and how the shot would take place.

  He was ready. Not long now…

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  Leon was almost dragging Abby along the road. The promise of some mid-afternoon action was too good to pass up.

  She was playing along by slowing down an
d pretending to do her laces up.

  They knew that they were each playing a role in a game but they didn’t want to stop it. This is what the fun part of a relationship was all about, the tease.

  They were about 100 yards from their building and Leon pulled his keys out in preparation.

  “Wow, you’re keen,” Abby joked.

  “Just getting myself sorted, don’t want to delay,” he responded.

  The sun was just allowing the evening to present itself and the beginning of dusk was upon them.

  “Oh shit,” Abby said, stopping as she spoke.

  “What, what’s wrong?” Leon enquired.

  “Aah, I think I forgot to push my seat in when we left the pub. I should go back,” she chuckled as she spoke.

  “Ha ha very funny, you’re not getting out of it that easy.” Leon replied.

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  Ben checked the fire escape to the exterior of the building and it all looked ok so he made his way inside.

  The ground floor fire door was a little stiff so he replaced the hinge to make it easier to move.

  He removed a pile of rubbish blocking the door, put it in a bag and took it out to his van.

  He placed the rubbish bag in the trailer and walked back in to the block to start the fire alarm test.

  This’ll shock the neighbours, he thought to himself. I bet they haven’t heard a peep out of this place in many a year.

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  The target had stopped a little way down the road. He appeared to be messing around with the girl he was with.

  Steve had to be careful because she was on the near side which meant he would have to shoot passed her. It was a little tricky but something he was quite used to.

  They began moving up the street again and were about 10 yards from the target zone. He pressed his finger down to put some force on the trigger…