by Malhar Patel
“Are you here for the party?” came the gruff reply.
“Oh this is it. Excellent.” As he talked, Anisha snuck around behind him, Pete helping to block his view of anything.
The guard watched Pete carefully, and eying down the pair, began to get suspicious. His curiosity reaching its peak, he turned around just in time to see a huge length of metal pipe crash down onto his face.
Watching the man fall in amidst the blood spatter, Pete tasted a small sliver of vomit in the back of his mouth, but kept himself under control. Anisha grabbed a plastic bag from the duffel bag and put the pipe into it, sealing it up. At the same time Jack reached into the guard’s blood-spattered jacket and pulled out a communication device, taking it along with the guard's earpiece. So far everything was going as planned.
The men slid the body into the back of the small alleyway, and then Anisha pulled out a homemade rope ladder from the bag. Flinging it up, it caught the gutter and locked into place.
This was it, the part they hadn't been sure about. Would the gutter support this much weight? Anisha scrambled up the ladder as fast as she could and as soon as she got the chance, rested her foot on a small window ledge to take the weight off of the ropes.
She reached inside her considerable cleavage and pulled out two high strength binding clamps, sticking one on either side of the ladder to secure it to the wall. Getting back onto the ladder now, she climbed up until she reached another, larger window.
With a small heave and grunt she swung it open the whole way and messily stumbled into the upstairs bedroom. Jack followed behind her and finally Pete, who pulled up the ladder with him. If the computer virus Anisha had installed at the security office had worked, then as of ten minutes ago all of the cameras throughout the block were looping the same few frames. It would look as if the security guard was still pacing up and down the alley.
Inside the room they prepared for phase two; getting rid of the second guard. Jack began fiddling with the speaker and hit CHANNEL2. Suddenly a loud crackling sound came out of it, with the faint background sound of people schmoozing. A voice quickly asked if everything was all right and everybody in the bedroom stopped breathing. After a few seconds of tense silence, Jack dropped the device on the floor and stamped on it. With a loud crack the sound of static died.
In an instant Anisha was stood behind the door, with Jack and Pete stood next to each other in the bedroom. Everyone was deathly quiet and they could hear the thumping sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. A splintering came from the far wall and they could make out someone running into the room next door. Putting all doubt out of their minds, the trio prepared themselves.
A beat went by. Then another. The door was smacked open and a large brutish bald man thundered into the room. With a menacing gleam to his eyes he slowly walked up to the men, while reaching into his pocket. Realising what he was doing, Jack shouted out at Anisha and she jumped out from behind the door to try and shock him with her stun gun.
The guard whipped his body around, grabbed her, and spun back around while he flung her across the room. As she stumbled into Jack, Anisha let out a short yelp before hitting the floor. There was a burn on the man’s jacket pocket but if he felt any pain, he didn’t show it.
Not a single word was said as he stared into Jack's eyes, then Pete's. Reaching into his pocket he said softly “Come in. Come in.” There was no reply. Jack began to shuffle slightly from left to right and watching him, Pete did the same. The man trained his eyes on the both of them; then let out a roar as he ran straight ahead.
Chuck was bored already: he didn't care much for these parties. As usual, he didn't know most of the guests and he wasn't much for mingling. A middle-aged man with a thinning patch of hair sat on his crown came up to him and said hello, shaking his hand. With a smile he told him it had been too long since they last caught up and Chuck nodded along absently as he talked about what he'd been doing for the past few months.
Painting, studying Roman architecture, polishing up his vintage Ferrari and planning a cruise with his young blonde wife. All the cliché's of a mid-life crisis. As he got called away, Chuck wondered who on earth he was. The thought was quickly displaced as he spotted Dwight, Green's political advisor, with a tall woman.
“Come on babe, just show me it!”
“Dwight man, is that the best line you can up with these days?”
He smiled as he saw his friend approaching and they shook hands. Attempting to diffuse the resulting awkwardness, he introduced Chuck to Green's accountant. She was lively character, slightly short and portly but full of mirth.
As Dwight persisted, trying to persuade her to divulge how she could save him a thousand pounds by changing his books, Chuck thought he heard a dull scream. Looking around, nobody else seemed to notice. He was probably so bored his mind was playing tricks on him.
He grabbed a glass of wine from the table next to him and began gulping it down quickly. How long would he have to stay at this party and swig cheap wine before it was no longer considered impolite to leave?
The guard heaved his head off the floor and clawed his way across the carpet, his face still burning from the scratches across his right eye. His windpipe was crushed from Pete's sharp kick a few minutes ago and blood was dripping from his knuckles, scraped and raw from a punch to Anisha's skull. His body was battered and there was no doubt a rainbow of bruises lay beneath his shirt.
Pulling out his hand he reached for the communication device and just as his fingers neared it he felt the bones in his hand splinter as Jack stamped on them. His eyes blurry with pain, his body tired and short of breath, he turned in time to see the Taser ram into his neck.
Pete turned away as he began undulating violently, gargling in pain and unable to manage a scream. A paralysing pulse tore its way through his body, the shocks tearing apart his muscles from the inside. As he began coughing up blood he felt his head getting lighter before he finally blacked out.
Jack looked down at him and said, “He'll be okay if we get him to a hospital.” The two men scrambled over to Anisha, who lay by the closet and helped her up. Her lip was cut but other than that she was fine. Pete was limping badly but was okay. His hair was fine, and his clothes, though slightly creased, were still passable. Jack was a different story.
His knuckles were pink and torn and his suit was ripped and covered in patches of smeared, cherry red blood. They all collapsed onto the floor and took in some deep breaths. Already, things weren't going quite according to plan. After a second Jack lugged himself up. “We should move.”
“You can't go out looking like that,” said Pete.
He looked around and saw the closet. Jogging over he pulled it open and saw a whole range of suits. After a quick flick through, he found some trousers that were a passable match and told Jack to try them. As Jack changed in front of his friends, embarrassment didn’t even enter his head; he was far too focused on the task at hand. The trousers were slightly tight but it would be okay, as long as Green didn't recognise they was one of his.
Pete sorted out Jack's hair using some products on the bedside table, while Anisha straightened up her dress, and then the three of them slipped out.
As they turned to go down the stairs Jack saw a guard watching the bottom of the staircase and pulled the three of them back into the dark bedroom. “We have another problem. The security was wrong. There's one more guard. He's downstairs right now.” Shock crossed Pete's face
“Then how are we going to get down?”
“I don't know,” replied Anisha, “but we better think of something quickly. When he sees that the other guard hasn't come back down he's going to come up here. That last one was huge. I don’t think there's any more charge left in the stunner.”
Green said goodbye to the tall Chinese man he was speaking with and popped into the study, away from the writhing rabble of bodies competing for space. Closing the door, the loud rumble of men and women engaged in stimulating conversation died down
into a soft murmur.
He pulled out his palmtop from his jacket pocket and logged on to the messenger system.
>>>Is the contract verified yet?
There was a short pause, as there usually was with this service.
>>> Contract is yet to be verified.
Green frowned, and started typing again.
>>>What is the delay?
He tapped his foot impatiently while he waited for a reply. As the door to his study swung open, he felt his heart skip a beat and he nearly dropped the palmtop. He looked up and saw it was just two very drunk people looking for a place to be inappropriate.
Apologising, they left and Green closed the palmtop and placed it back in his pocket. If somebody had caught him he might've had some explaining to do. Content to wait for now he took a swig of the whisky he had brought in with him, and walked back out with a smile on his face, locking the door as he left.
The body lay in the corner of the room, tucked behind the bed. The man wasn't stirring or moving, but the small, rhythmic bobbing of his chest told them he was still alive. The third guard would be coming any minute and Pete was sweating a river. Jack paced up and down while staring at his feet, massaging his temples in the hope that a plan would emerge. He looked up and Anisha could see he had something.
He looked at his watch. Gina was only a few minutes away from their position. Without a moment to lose he turned on his phone and rang her. Speaking quietly, he explained the situation.
“I need your help?”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Get to the house. I want you to erm, oh I know. Get the balaclava from your handbag and pull it over your head. Walk up to the house and pretend you're expected at a fancy dress party. When they turn you away, start complaining and make Green come out to the front with you.”
“We're a few minutes away.”
“Try and hurry, we don't have much time.”
Jack hung up the phone and looked back at Anisha. In a few minutes Gina would be arriving and they had a small window of opportunity. Jack tried adjusting his hair again while Anisha sat in silence, gently rubbing her throbbing head.
Jack looked down and sighed guiltily for having brought her into this. Now wasn’t the time to lose focus though. He looked back to the time on his phone and watched the seconds count down. When he was convinced they would be arriving any moment, he snuck out of the room, motioning for Anisha and Pete to do the same. They crept across the landing and the trio waited on the edge of the stairs.
As the stood there, Jack checked his phone. Again. Time seemed to be moving slowly, and each second dragged on. He was starting to feel hot and his clothes were becoming itchy. Where were they?
Pete kept watching the seconds count down and took in a long, deep breath. Four minutes had gone by and still nothing. Watching the guard, Pete’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets: he was turning around to walk up the stairs. His body froze and he felt Jack's arm tugging him back and out of the way. They stood there on the landing, looking left and right. There was nothing they could do, nowhere they could go. Thud Thud. The footsteps were getting closer.
Pete's shirt was plastered to his clammy skin and he closed his eyes. At the same time he heard the doorbell ring. This time everybody froze, including the guard, and Jack strained his ears. After the longest second of his life, he heard the thudding again, gradually getting quieter this time.
Anisha was the first to regain her cool and she tiptoed over to the edge of the stairs, with the others following behind. From downstairs they heard Gina's voice and they smiled. She was pretending she was invited to a fancy dress party and had come dressed as a bank robber. As the hapless guard explained to her that she was in the wrong house, they saw Green walk over to the door.
This was their chance. Anisha lightly tiptoed down the stairs, Jack right behind her. Pete had to take one more deep breath, then followed behind. As they ducked behind the guard and Green, they flashed a smile at their masked friend before heading into the living room.
Quick as a flash Jack began dropping orders. Telling Pete to wipe himself off and getting Anisha to find someone from the Mexican restaurant, he waited for Green to walk into the room then weaved past him and back into the corridor.
Yelling at the guard he said, “Hey mate, what was all that about? What did you need two men in black for?”
“Someone thought this was another party, was trying to get in. What do you mean two men?”
“Well you were there and then another one came downstairs as well, and he was standing there for a bit.”
“I didn't see him,” replied the puzzled man.
“He was dressed like you, white, kind of bald. He saw the scene then he went off somewhere? What is he a guest?”
“No. It's a member of my security team. But I didn't see him come down, that's all.”
“Oh okay. Well I was just wondering what happened at the door. Anyway, I'm going back inside now to try and find my wife. Enjoy the party.” With that he left, small beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead too.
As he entered into the living room he saw a glass of nineteen eighty-five Chateaux Fife and downed it as if it were water. Looking up from his empty glass he saw Anisha approaching with the red head they had seen before. He coughed and stretched his shoulder, ready to begin his act again.
As Anisha introduced Juleen, she smiled and immediately began asking him questions about his absence from politics. Jack stuttered, as all of his knowledge from the past couple of days suddenly became lost in the dark recesses of his brain. Anisha saw the confused look and swooped in to help him out.
“You'll have to forgive my husband. He doesn't like talking about politics anymore.”
“Oh I'm sorry,” said Juleen, in her most apologetic tone of voice. It was just as well; she didn't want to have to explain her embarrassingly trivial role in Green's campaign.
As Anisha began talking about her career in fashion design, Pete came over from the kitchen and Juleen recognised him straight away.
“Tony Dunn! Wow, it's such an honour to meet you. You single-handedly saved our whole campaign and made Michael the chancellor he is now.” Pete smiled, happier to be back in the world of role-play and away from the violence of a few minutes ago.
“Well you had a great MP and I had a great deal of money.” Juleen laughed at his pathetic half-joke and Pete could see the flirtatious look in her eyes. Pete was in his field of expertise now.
After trading a few more pleasantries he finally said, “I'm sorry but I need to borrow these two if it's okay with you”
“Oh by all means. It was nice meeting all of you”
“You too Juleen.”
The group left and made their way to the centre of the room, looking for the bald black man that Pete had spotted a few minutes ago. Combing the room, Jack found him. He was with a small group from the restaurant. The trio casually wandered over and Anisha started to make conversation with the man standing by the table of wine glasses. Chuck looked up to see Mrs Lazardou approaching and whispered to Dwight. They turned around to greet them and Chuck began chatting with Anisha.
The mood of the party was beginning to sink in and Jack felt more relaxed: even slipping in a few things about why he had left politics. Sustaining this role, with all this scrutiny, was hard work, and it was quite clear from early on that he was talking to the political advisor.
As he ducked, weaved, avoided and joked around the large man's barrage of questions, he saw Pete flirting with the accountant. A few more minutes passed and seeing Green approach they once again they excused themselves.
Gathering in the kitchen, Anisha found some batteries for the taser and gave them to Pete. Jack looked at the time again. “Okay we've done some mingling, now we have to stay low key, wait for the word to spread. If we get through the next half an hour without being found out, we can move to the next phase. I just hope that guard doesn’t go upstairs.”
Green list
ened patiently to the woefully boring story, and when he was sure it was over, let out a politicians laugh. The wine was still plentiful, although his guests seemed to have the lion's share running through their veins.
Everybody was behaving louder and brasher than earlier and the conversation had grown more and more colourful. Nobody was completely drunk and the atmosphere was how Green liked it: alive with tipsy merriment.
He enjoyed having gatherings at his house. He was the focal point and anywhere he went there were always people eager to chat with their host. He went over to a table to try a few more chocolates and looked up to see one of his public relations workers. Waving at her, she replied by yelling out, “Hi. Great party, glad to see Jason Lazardou.”
Somebody else moved in front of her and the line of sight was blocked. It was so loud in the room that he wasn't sure he'd heard her properly? Had she just said Jason-Patrick Lazardou was here? Still confused, he went over to another group of friends and began talking, deciding to bring it up in conversation at some point.
This was it. Anisha went over to distract Green. He was much shorter than he seemed in all his photographs. Flashing her trademark smile, she got his attention. All she had to do was keep it for a few seconds.
“Hi Michael, it's nice to meet you at long last.”
“I'm sorry, I can't quite remember your name…”
“I'm Maria. Maria Lazardou.” She went to shake his hand and saw the sudden change in his demeanour.
“Your Jason’s wife?”
“Yes that's right.” There was a small pause and Green rubbed his jaw carefully.
“That's interesting because I've met Jason-Patrick Lazardou’s wife and she's white.” Anisha began to feel hot and flustered. Sweat was starting to break out onto her neck but she tried staying calm.
“I'm sorry what? I'm Jason’s wife.” Her voice had a slight quiver to it now and Green could see she was breaking down.
