by Matt Troy
I think I managed to burble something about this being my first time in America and stumbled back to the table where I pulled myself into a small sulking mass.
Never one to be discouraged by such a thing, Carly began to poke me in the side. "Well? What happened?"
"He thought I was trying to pick him up," I muttered sourly.
Rather than the desired words of comfort, I heard Keiran's distinct laugh. "We asked you to get his name, not his phone number. From the sounds of things he turned you down."
"I didn't think the moody guys were your type," Kate added.
I raised my head and glared at the people who liked to masquerade as my friends. "I didn't proposition him and he is certainly not my type," I declared loftily. "The guy is an unmitigated wanker."
Carly sighed. "We want his name, not his pastimes."
I looked around at their expectant faces and considered the best way to phrase my discovery. "That was Callum Norrington," I announced. "It's official. We're in hell."
By unspoken agreement, we retreated back to the motel to have our breakdown session somewhere a little more private. Well, the others did anyway. I was content to just sit back and watch the histrionics and continue to fume about earlier. The pause in generally wailing and panicking was my first clue that I was supposed to contribute to this session.
"I fail to see how this makes any difference at all to our situation," I commented. "We're still stuck here."
"It makes all the difference," Kate cried. "Don't you see what this means?"
Chapter 3
I raised an eyebrow. "We've ended up in a Dynasty spin-off?"
A sharp whack on the head was my answer. I yelped and cradled my poor, abused head reflecting on why I seemed to be everybody's punching bag today. Kate's expression softened, but the underlying earnestness was still there. "We're in a bad Dynasty spin-off where we know someone is going to be murdered," she explained. "We can't just sit here and do nothing."
I frowned. "But that's the plot of the book."
Keiran rolled his eyes. "Real life is completely different to some discount novel. Regardless of whether it happened in the book or not, we can't let it happen here."
"We have to stop the murder somehow," Carly added. "Even if all we end up doing is warning the police."
I began to agree then stopped as something occurred to me. "But we don't know anything about how the murder is going to happen. We never got that far in the book. How can we warn the police if all we don't know any details? They won't believe us."
Matt nodded. "That's our main problem. Unfortunately just knowing that the murder is going to take place isn't going to be enough to stop it. We're going to have to try to work out what's going to happen before it does and then take action."
"At least it can't be too hard," Kate offered. "It's a cheap novel, remember. It's obvious that Callum's going to kill his brother, we just have to work out when and where."
"I suppose our best course of action would be to get some idea of the main characters' movements," Keiran mused. "By that I mean Naomi, William and Callum."
"Good idea," Carly agreed.
I frowned. "Er, don't you think they're going to notice being stalked by a group of British teenagers? We don't exactly blend in."
Carly glared at me for being negative, but Matt was obviously thinking about what I'd said. "Blake has a point. We should probably take shifts or something. One person watching at a time. That'll leave two of us free to take care of clothes and food and things and also be available to show up in a hurry should something go wrong."
Kate smiled at her boyfriend, forgetting that I was the one who pointed out this flaw in the first place. "Great. Why don't Carly and I take Naomi? That'll take care of any problems that might arise from her going places that men normally don't. You and Keiran can do the same for William."
Keiran grinned. "Why don't Carly and I take first shift? Then the man with the credit card can go out and buy some mobile phones or something so we can keep in touch."
As everyone around me nodded my agreement, I raised my hand. "Er, aren't we forgetting somebody here?"
Carly turned to me with a smile that was positively sadistic. "Going by the touching scene from earlier, we figured there's no harm in Callum thinking you're stalking him."
I glowered. I'd had a feeling that would be the answer. "Fuck."
I slumped further down on the park bench and tried to tone down my glare a little. I appeared to be scaring small children. My friends were nowhere in sight, having all skipped off to their self-appointed tasks and leaving me to follow Mr 'I'm so evil'. Well that would be the plan if I could actually find the guy. Not being very well acquainted with the thought processes of future killers, I had no idea where Callum Norrington had hauled his worthless carcass off to. So I was sitting in the park, killing time and waiting for inspiration to hit me when it did. Right on the back of my now-very bruised skull.
Cradling my head, I tried to stand up and focus through the pain that was trying to convince me lying down and going to sleep would be a very good idea. I was dimly aware of running footsteps approaching and a young feminine voice. "Oh my God! Are you alright?"
I tried to nod, but the stabbing pain in my head persuaded me otherwise. Instead I think I groaned quietly. "I'll be fine," I managed with typical stoicism. "Just give me a minute." Silently I wondered just what it was about my head that made pummelling it with hard objects so appealing.
"You look like you're about to pass out," the female voice continued doubtfully, obviously not buying into my stiff-upper lip act. "You don't have a concussion or something, do you? How many fingers am I holding up?"
Grimacing at the girl's insistence on being kind to injured strangers instead of simply leaving us to suffer in peace, I squinted upwards. In truth the pain was actually receding a little and I was able to crane my head without the accompanying urge to throw up. When I focused on the girl that stood before me, I began to wonder whether I might have finally succumbed to some kind of brain damage. "You look really familiar."
The girl that stood before my oh-so-slightly wavering vision was a teenager of about fifteen or so. Short dark hair fell choppily around her face to about chin-level and she was looking at me with worried brown eyes. "You might have seen me around, I guess," she said slowly. "But I'm pretty sure we've never actually met. I'm sure I would remember."
I nodded my head slightly and tried to disguise the accompanying stab of pain with a smile. "Let me guess, the accent. You don't know too many guys from London."
"You're the first," she admitted with an easy laugh, before reaching out to take my arm. "Now let's get you some ice or something. My name's Ree by the way."
"Blake," I offered. She smiled back at me and I noticed for the first time the baseball bat she held in her other hand. "Are you planning on dragging me somewhere out of the way to beat me up? Because I should warn you now, I have no money."
"Huh?" she blinked at me in bafflement for a moment before realising what I meant. "Oh! No, I just came here to teach my little brother how to play baseball. He normally never even hits one shot." Turning briefly to look over my shoulder, the girl waved frantically in the air. "Come on Alex! We're heading home now!"
I realised that I was probably intended to accompany this girl and her brother in apology for braining me earlier. However nice it might be to finally receive some sympathy, I was painfully aware that I was none the less supposed to be hunting down a future killer. It was a close call, but finding Callum before he went psycho was possibly marginally more important than being fussed over. Especially as my head wasn't even hurting that badly. I tried to gently work my arm free. "Look, you don't have to do this. I'm fine, really. My head can withstand a lot worse than a baseball to the back of it."
Ree was having none of it. "Don't be silly. This is all my fault and you have to let me help you out."
"No, it was an accident. There's no need to blame yourself." I managed to work
my way free of the girl's grip and quickly took a step back. "I'm just going to sit out here in the sun a little longer. I'm supposed to be meeting someone here anyway, so if I start to feel worse it's not like there won't be anyone to help."
Ree pursed her lips and looked about to complain, when a kid of about eight or so came running over. "Ree, did you see that? I hit the ball!"
He looked so pleased with himself, making Ree even more mortified about the whole situation, but I saw an out. "Yeah kid, you were pretty good."
The kid turned to me, looking slightly puzzled. "Who are you?"
I grinned and waved a hand. "Just a random spectator. I'm on my way to meet somebody now so I have to go. It was nice meeting you."
Ree still looked far from happy about the whole situation, but her brother was tugging on her hand and I could see she didn't want to tell the kid the real reason she'd been talking to me. Though, if I'd been the kid, it would have made my day. Seizing the opportunity, I turned back to the park and headed towards the opposite end. If nothing else, at least the whole incident persuaded me not to waste the day sitting in just one spot. There were bound to be some ducks I could torment or something.
I sighed and pushed my hands deep into my pockets. If I were a delinquent future-killer of my own brother, how would I spend my days? I pondered. Most likely hanging out in some dive, getting drunk with a fake I.D. The next question was of course, how was someone like myself supposed to find these places without losing use of some parts of my body? I guess the alternative was staking out the Norrington house in the hope Callum would return at some point. And with any luck one of the others would be there and I could bitch at them for being given the worst part of this whole plan.
I looked at my watch. We'd agreed that until Matt got us some phones or another method of keeping in touch, the easiest thing to do would be to meet back at the motel at around three. That left me with another couple of hours or so to fill and having nothing to show for myself except a lump on the back of my head, there was no way I wasn't at least going to get something to eat before admitting my failure to the others. Here in the centre of town there appeared to be a wide variety of places dealing in everything from burgers to balti. I decided on a small noodle bar that looked pretty good and not too busy.
I wondered in and took a seat by the counter, being asked almost immediately what I wanted to drink. I opted for a coke which was promptly given to me with the information that I could get free refills anytime I wanted. I was just going to order a simple bowl of soba noodles, but thanks to a very helpful and persuasive waiter, ending up ordering something involving several types of meat that arrived in a bowl so big I was amazed the waiter could carry it. But the challenge had been set, so I snapped apart my wooden chopsticks and began to dig in.
Hunger was proving more pressing than appearing capable of eating my food in a dignified manner and so after my first few attempts at snagging a piece of the meat resulted in it slopping back into the bowl, I mentally shrugged and stabbed a single chopstick through the centre. Raising it out of the bowl I crammed it in my mouth and nearly fainted at how good it was. I continued to eat with renewed vigour and more than a slight increase in speed. Sooner than I would have thought, my chopsticks clattered in the empty bowl as I leaned back to drink some coke and ponder the general situation.
THE END
(FREE BOOK)
THRILLER
KILL OR BE KILLED
The Erotic Flashback.
He was certainly a mercenary, he had this particular swagger, this incredible poise, even when crossing the river banks or hacking through jungles sweating out his guts.
Captain ‘Killer’ Kelly had followed him for six miles through the night. Across the river bank, through a section of the Singha Raja Forest; now he was resting, getting his breath in short, gasping snorts preparatory to traverse the home stretch.
Home of Praba, the Satan of war, the vicious terrorist whose religion was taking lives, the shedding of blood, the stirring of maniacal passion in men who would be far better off home screwing their wives, tilling their fields drinking their Palmyra palm toddy, loving their children.
The mercenaries were the left hand of this fanatic who loved war above everything and who lived in ultimate comfort and protection and seclusion among his fellow fanatics deep in the jungle.
It was captain ‘killer’ Kelly’s job to bring the man out from his jungle lair. To topple the mad men. To eliminate the rebel group, to educate the mad-man’s followers or kill them, to bring peace once again to Elephant pass and peace to the northern province.
Captain Kelly’s job for the moment was to topple Selva a petty chief and the eastern province war lord.
As a highly trained commando his mission was to penetrate deep into the jungle where the terrorist were taking refuge and also terrorizing the innocent indigenous people living there. His job as a sniper was to bring the leader of a small group of terrorists from his jungle lair.
To eliminate this despot. His superiors threw the challenge on their faces and as none was prepared to volunteer, captain Kelly, like the ass hole he was volunteered least expecting that the mission would be a one man show. If he had known what he learned, he probably wouldn’t have spoken too soon, but now it was too late. He knew he had a great deal more to learn, all of it bad, he was to live off the land alone and confront a small group of terrorists armed to the teeth. What he didn’t know was how many were there in this particular group. He was dropped off at the edge of the jungle and from there he was on my own.
In his camouflage kit he increased his pace, sweating like a eunuch with an erection trying to find cover quick. He checked his weaponry. He had his AK47 hanging lose by its strap around his neck along with a long barreled sniping rifle with a silencer fixed, there were a couple of grenades, there was a Rambo knife strapped on the inner side of his left thigh almost touching his testicles a long machete on his hip and a somewhat primitive weapon, a small but sophisticated cross bow and arrows. In short he was a walking arsenal.
With stealth he penetrated the jungle and stood near a trail, behind some low grown trees, keeping an eye out for his unseen foes. He saw a shadow of a moment and stood dead still and saw a terrorist, he was so sure of himself he did not bother about stealth, he acted as if it was his domain. Kelly let him pass him and trailed him about one hundred yards behind. He was making his way towards a small mud thatched house of one of the indigenous people.
There was a feminine scream that rent the quite jungle night, it told him one thing, and only one, and the indigenous old man had a daughter. The terrorist knew about her. He had stopped for fun and frolic, and she was not interested. The terrorists advances had failed to charm the lass.
Kelly gripped the crossbow tight and dashed noiselessly towards the house; He armed the crossbow with an arrow. Time was important, but silence was vital. There was a whole group of terrorist lurking in the area. One shot and the sound would bring the whole damned lot on his trail. Screams, especially feminine ones, did not send them crashing out of their jungle hideout. Feminine screams had been rather commonplace in this vicinity.
They would never become commonplace with him. His batman had told him once, “Sir, you will never fall prey to the real enemy. You will get yours, sir, on the trail of a woman’s skirt.” The women he played around with, he visualized one woman with whom he had spent a week back. Kelly had met her at the officers mess, after a few rounds of drinks the lady had invited him to her home, which he accepted gladly. She was the wife of another officer who was engaged in the combat area. Since the reason for the invitation was quite obvious no sooner than Kelly reached the lady’s home, her name being Judy. Kelly pulled Judy to him and undid the band at her waist slipped her dress over her shoulders and let it slip to the floor. She gasped and bent down. Kelly thought she was going to retrieve her dress instead; she was fumbling with his pant.
She was in some kind of urgency to get it off. Kelly felt that she was
really starved for sex. As a matter of fact, she really was. For almost two long months she has had no sex with a man, she had been masturbating throughout.
Kelly let her drop his pant to the floor and take his organ in her mouth. She sent her mouth in and out and got his prick erect. Slowly he raised her, placed his mouth on her breasts and sucked her boobs. Because of her haste, he slowly lifted her face and placed a long kiss on her lips, taking time to slide his hands to her pulsing clit and rubbing it.
Her sexual hunger was so profuse that she was already wet in her pussy. Kelly was getting a hard on himself; he pressed his stiff penis against Judy’s crotch and let her fondle it with her hands. Judy took his tool in her hands and tenderly pushed the foreskin back and felt his knob he too was emitting a minute amount of seminal fluid, which was wetting Judy’s hands.
She was moving her hands forward and back, enjoying the feel of a hard cock after so long. She had his cock pressed against her belly button hard. Kelly was giving attention to her clit. He, after giving her clit a good rub spread her labia wide and entered her vagina with his fingers. He sent his fingers in steadily and slowly and felt his hands getting wet with her clitoral juices. He kept his fingers turning and twisting inside and felt Judy convulse in ecstasy. As she was getting her initial orgasm, she moaned and pressed her body hard against Kelly.
“Ooooh, its been such a long time,” she whispered in his ears. Kelly continued his probing with one hand while his other caressed Judy’s firm breasts. He kept pinching her cherry like nipples and massaged them alternately. He extracted his mouth from Judy’s and took her boobs in his mouth; he licked and sucked them making Judy gain orgasm again.
Kelly was reaching Judy’s G-spot repeatedly and making Judy squirt her juices in his hands and her own thighs. Kelly withdrew his hand from her clit and took it in his mouth; he licked her juices first and then sent his tongue in probing. Judy lost count of the number of orgasms she had. She grasped his head and pulled him up slowly, and went down on his dick, she licked all round it and then gave it a good suck, Kelly, too, was getting his orgasms and ready to give Judy her initial thrust. He grabbed Judy by her ass with both hands and entered her clitoris with his erect rod. Judy sent her arms around his neck and clung on, she gripped his butt with her legs and started rocking her own butt while Kelly kept thrusting his cock in.
