by R T Green
I walked up to him. And seeing me close up, he seemed to agree. ‘Ok, maybe not. But them’s ain’t the cheeks that matter, hey baby?’
Quite how he could tell through sunglasses I wasn’t sure. But he was already starting to piss me off. ‘I’m not your baby, ok?’
He leapt out of the car, still grinning, stood next to me. He was an inch or so shorter than me, including the four-inch Cuban heels he was wearing. Being told I wasn’t his baby seemed to make his grin wider and whiter. ‘Damn girl, am I seeing right here? Those legs of your really go right up to your chin?’
I could feel my foot start to itch, tapping away impatiently on the ground. ‘Did you want something, boy?’
For a millisecond the grin faded, but then came back with a vengeance. ‘Aw girl, I likes you, despite your dismissive hostility.’ He held out a black-gloved hand. ‘I’m Elroy… so pleased to meet you.’
I didn’t take the hand. ‘Elroy?’
‘Yeah well, it’s Leroy by rights, but it sounded too common so I switched it up, ok?
‘Go away, Leroy.’
‘It’s Elroy. Hey… I ain’t used to being disrejected, right? I come all the way out here to see you on a night like this, and that’s what I get?’
I sighed out the words. ‘What do you want, Elroy?’
‘Now that’s more the style, girl. So now you gonna get in the car, let me take you away from all this?’
‘Can you afford me?’
‘Aw, no no no no no… you got it all wrong, sweet-ch… honeypot. I’s askin’ you to join my club… get your ass in the warm and do your thing in comfort, see?’
‘You a pimp, Leroy?’
‘It’s Elroy. Geez, you is one ballsy chic. Ain’t no pimp… got me an agency, take care of gals like you, make sure you’s get the best of everything.’
I tried to match the grin, even though there wasn’t a hope in hell of that. ‘So are you a hands-on kind of boss, Leroy?’
‘It’s fucking Elroy. But yeah, I get to know my product.’ I could see him drooling – metaphorically anyway – thinking he was getting somewhere. But he hadn’t finished explaining what a considerate boss he was. ‘You gotta understand sugarplum, when you’s in business you’s gotta test out the merchandise from time to time, make sure it’s on point.’
Now he was really pissing me off. Standing there grinning and nodding in anticipation at the same time, for a second I wished I was the old me, with the cheese-cutter in her hands. But I resigned myself to being the new me.
I put my hand across my chin. ‘Let me think, Leroy…’
‘It’s Elr…’
I cut him short. Maybe literally. My foot slamming hard between his legs hopefully did some permanent damage.
He crumpled to his knees, screaming in agony. ‘Fuck… fuck… not again…’
I stood over him, almost wishing I had kept the Supergirl look. ‘Now are you gonna go away?’
He staggered back to the car, slumped into the driver’s seat. The grin was gone, the black eyes evil. ‘This ain’t over, sweet-cheeks…’ he gasped, as he somehow managed to drive away.
Oh I think it is, Leroy.
I could almost see Coop’s grin, even though I could only hear his voice in my earpiece. ‘Go Maddie.’
Shirl was grinning like a Cheshire cat as I walked back to her. For more than one reason. ‘Well Red, you just made standing here freezing my boobs off worth every second! And now I ain’t feeling so worried about you… god help any guy who crosses you.’
Chapter 164
We shared another couple of cigarettes, and then Shirl left me speechless.
‘You aren’t no hooker, are you?’
‘I… I told you, this is only my second night…’
‘Nah… that’s not what I meant.’
Oh boy… this streetwise gal was taking the word to a new level. Had I messed up somehow, given her a clue? I got the answer a second later.
‘I think you’re one of them DUAL agents.’
‘It’s DIAL, Shirl.’
‘Maddie…’ Coop’s don’t-say-anything-stupid tone in my ear.
‘Yes I am, Shirl.’
‘Maddie!’
‘I knew it!’ My new friend was grinning at me.
‘My boss is giving me a bollocking in my ear because I told you.’
‘No one’s indispensible, kid.’
‘You wearing an earpiece too? Wow.’ She saw me grinning. ‘What’s he saying now?’
‘Says he’s going to sack me.’
She reached out, lifted the red hood away from my ear. ‘Well you listen to me, boss man… this girl here is doing a facking incredibly brave thing, and if you don’t realize that, just get your ass out here and find out for yourself!’
‘Ouch. That told me.’
‘What’s he have to say to that?’
‘He says he’s glad you made him aware, and that I’m the best agent he’s ever had.’
‘I did?’
‘Good. Some of us ain’t got a cosy warm office to sit in, telling others what to do.’
‘Actually, he’s in a van round the corner.’
‘Maddie!’
‘Glad about that. At least someone’s got your back when I’m not here.’
‘Geez…’
The conversation died. We lit up again, watching our friend Mother Nature playing out her sick joke. The tiny frozen flakes were tiny no more, expanding into great big chunks of white, turning our little part of the world well and truly wintry.
I could feel the cogs churning in Shirl’s far-from-stupid head. I knew it was going to come, the big question. It did.
‘So if I’ve put all this together right, these girls going missing and that streak of black doing somersaults over the city are connected, right?’
‘Yeah, they are. That’s why I’m here.’
‘For fuck’s sake, Maddie.’
Shirl saw my eyes flicker. ‘Is he having a go at you again?’
‘He’s swearing at me now.’
My hood was lifted again. ‘Hey, boss. One thing you need to know. Us street gals, we got a code of practice, ok? Nothing gets gossiped, unless it’s to save someone’s life… you hearing me?’
‘Geez… now she’s stealing my lines?’
‘He says he understands.’
‘So he facking well should.’ Her faced changed, clouding over as a not-so-nice thought filled her mind. ‘I guess… guess you know something about Lily?’
She saw my face change too, and my eyes lower. She knew straightaway. ‘She’s dead, isn’t she?’
‘Finding a cardboard box for you to clear out your desk, Maddie.’
Coop, I love you to bits, but please just shut up. And stop calling me Maddie. ‘They found her body yesterday, Shirl.’
Her hands went to her face. ‘Oh fack…’ she whispered. I pulled her into me, held her tight. She looked up, her eyes filled with tears. ‘This is bad shit, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah it is. That’s why I’m trying to do something about it.’
‘What, by getting yourself killed?’
‘Hopefully it won’t come to that.’
‘Hopefully? Jesus Christ, Del. You got any of them fags left?’
She lit up with shaking hands, leant back against the wall. ‘What’s your real name?’
‘Madeline.’
‘That’s a nice name. You got anyone?’
‘Yes. And I love her very much.’
That made her smile. ‘Well you tell her she’s a very lucky girl to have you, from someone who knows.’
‘Think you just told her, Shirl.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘She in the van too? Fack!’
The conversation died again. We leant side by side against the cold wall, getting slightly mesmerized by the falling snow, drifting down like hypnotic feathers in the dead still air, adding more depth to the white carpet all around us. When Shirl spoke, it sounded like a clap of thunder in the silence.
‘Madeline,
I’m calling it a night. Really don’t feel like getting facked right now, not after… well, you know.’ She turned to me, put hands on my arms. ‘Please go home too… I worry about you, especially now.’
She was pleading with me, scared to death for what might happen. But I had to see the night through. ‘I can’t, Shirl. Got to stick it out a while longer. But it’s ok; the guys are just around the corner, watching my back.’
She shook her head. ‘They’d better, or they’ll have me to answer to!’
‘Quaking in my boots,’ said Coop’s voice in my ear. You’d better believe it, boss.
She gave me a long, slightly-trembly hug, and then found a smile. ‘You take care, agent. Aunty Shirl has spoken! I’ll be here waiting for you tomorrow.’
Alone again. Really alone this time. The white carpet all around me had grown to a couple of inches, the heavy snow blotting out even the lights from the shops and the pub at the other end of the street.
My winter wonderland was mine, and mine alone. Not a soul was about, not a sound disturbed the stillness of the night. But then a soft voice broke the surreal silence.
‘I love you, Madeline. Thank you for telling Shirl what you did.’
‘It’s the truth. About you, and other things. She deserved to know.’
‘She is a kind lady. I hope she will be safe.’
‘Me too, for sure.’
‘Coop says one more hour, if you can stick it that long.’
‘Oh, I do still have a job then?’
‘I told him if you go then I walk too.’
‘Girl power. He wouldn’t have a clue without the women in his life.’
I heard his words in the background. ‘Still looking for that cardboard box, Maddie.’
The minutes ticked by. And with each passing one, my feet were growing colder and wetter. It began to look like MN’s little spanner in the works was having its effect. Who the hell would be out and about in this?
Except me, and a certain black van full of friends and technology.
But that was about to change. I heard the crunch of tyres flattening snow before I saw the headlights. A car was crawling along the street, hugging the kerb, coming towards me at walking pace like a menacing, creeping evil.
My heart began to thump against my ribs, and a wave of terror wafted through me. Maybe it was the insidiously slow motion of the car, maybe the fact my subconscious knew something I didn’t. But I found myself whispering something profound into my earpiece.
‘I think we might be on, guys.’
‘Be careful, kid.’
The car rolled to a stop in front of me. And although most of it was covered in snow, I could see exactly what it was.
A blue Mazda.
Chapter 165
The window dropped, a dark-haired face looked me up and down, didn’t speak for a moment. When he did, it stabbed a lightning bolt of reality through me.
‘How much do you charge?’
He had an unusual accent. But I knew exactly where he was from. It was the same accent I’d heard two months ago at the bar in Soho, when Zana spoke to me for the first time.
I walked up to him, and even though I didn’t need to, I wrapped my left arm around his shoulders.
I hardly glanced at the two tiny lights on the watch, flashing a bright and clear red warning to me.
‘Fifty?’ I said, not really knowing how much hookers charged.
‘Ok,’ he said straightaway.
‘I’ve got a place just round the corner. You can drive me there. You’ve got an hour.’
He nodded, and I walked around the car. Coop’s voice sounded urgent, nervous. ‘This is it, Maddie. Lose the earpiece now. We’ll be out of communication, so I’ll say good luck. Right behind you.’
I reached the passenger door, pulled out the earpiece. As it disappeared into the snow, my heart seemed to go with it.
Alone? Suddenly I knew exactly what alone was.
I dropped into the seat, the man smiled to me. ‘You must be freezing, in this terrible weather. You like coffee?’
I was freezing, and coffee sounded wonderful. He lifted a McDonald’s cup from the holder between the seats. ‘I brought you one, just in case. Drink, it will warm you.’
He handed me the hot cup. I sank a few gulps, knowing it would likely put me to sleep, but also knowing if I didn’t drink he would knock me out some other way. He needed his prey unconscious for the drive to hell.
The car moved forward. And the snowflakes in the headlights grew blurry, my world began to spin, and I felt my eyes roll up into blackness.
Thirty seconds after I’d taken my first sip, I was dead to the world.
Shirl closed the door of her apartment behind her, walked into the tiny kitchen with a heavy heart. Lily was dead. The poor girl was hardly old enough to vote, and now she’d been taken away.
It was crippling her. She’d tried to get her off the game, more than once, but the desperation for a better life had kept her on the streets, forced her to take risks she really shouldn’t.
And now it had killed her.
That was bad enough, but a few hundred yards away Madeline was out there, deliberately being the bait on the hook, risking everything to stop the terror. It just wasn’t right.
She shook her head sadly, opened a cupboard door and pulled out a bottle of brandy. It was a present from a regular, and she’d decided to save it for New Year’s Eve, celebrate seeing the new year in with Lily.
That wasn’t going to happen now. And sometimes, needs must. A stiff one would help, for a while at least. She cracked open the top, poured a tot and sank it in one.
Madeline wouldn’t leave her thoughts. The poor kid was out there, freezing to death, while she was in the warm drinking brandy.
That wasn’t right either.
For a moment she turned the bottle in her hands, and then had a thought. She found a plastic Coke bottle, emptied the last of the contents down the sink, and filled it with the brandy. The least she could do was play the St. Bernard, give her new friend something to warm her inside.
She headed back down the iron steps, walked through the block of garages towards the street. The incessant snow was still hammering down, everywhere a thickening blanket of white. She decided to not take no for an answer, force a little brandy down Madeline’s throat and then march her back to the van, no questions asked!
But as she left the alley and turned onto the street twenty yards down from their lamp post, her heart missed a beat. Madeline was just getting into a car. The car she’d seen lurking around a few times before.
She opened her mouth to cry out, but then realized she might ruin everything. This could just be the fish she wanted, on the hook.
What should she do? There was one thing… a little habit she’d got into after the first year on the game. Quickly she fumbled in her coat pocket, pulled out the tiny notebook and pen she kept there.
She often made a note of the car registration numbers of anyone who drove up she didn’t like the look of. Just in case anything happened to her, or one of the other girls.
The Mazda began to pull away. She couldn’t quite see the plate, the car too far away in the snow. But as she ran a few steps closer, she caught a break. The wheels began to skid in the snow built up next to the kerb, slowing the car’s progress.
It was just enough. As the car disappeared into the falling snow, she jotted down the all-important letters and numbers.
Now what? Should she call the police? But DIAL weren’t the police. For a full minute she stood there, turned a full circle trying to decide what best to do. Madeline had said her friends were in a van, just around the corner. Which corner?
But then it didn’t matter. Moments before she saw it, she heard the engine. And then a black van loomed out of the fog of snow. She didn’t think, ran into the road to stop it.
Coop jammed on the brakes, but in the treacherous conditions it didn’t make much difference. On an ice rink, the van hit the crazy woman wavin
g her arms in the road.
She disappeared from view as the van came to a stop. He thumped the wheel. ‘Fuck! This we could do without!’
He reached for the handle to open the door, but then a breathless face appeared at the window, waving a notebook. ‘I’ve got the registration number!’ she shouted through the glass. He wound down the window.
‘Are you Shirl?’
‘Course I am.’
‘Are you ok?’
‘Course I am. Do you want this or not?’
‘Get in the back, quick!’
Chapter 166
Maybe I didn’t drink enough of the coffee with added ingredients. Maybe I just have the constitution of an ox. It didn’t seem long until the muffled sound of the engine and the movement of the car forced their way back into my consciousness.
Fortunately the harsh reality of my situation kicked back in quickly too, before I moved or groaned to let my abductor know I was awake.
My head was flopped to the side, away from him. Slowly I opened my eyes, tried to work out where I was. An endless chain of small shops were flashing across my vision, at least half of them fast-food outlets, offering the city’s population delicacies from every corner of the world.
Just like any other part of London.
My vision was blurry, I couldn’t read much of the signage. But I could see enough to know the busy street was anything but busy. It had to be gone eleven, but in normal times it would still be heaving with people.
The only human life around were a couple of souls huddling in shop doorways, who didn’t have a home to go to.
I swiveled my eyes as much as I could without moving my head, managed to focus on the road ahead. Not that I could see the road… the incessant snow smacked patterns of white across the windshield, flicked away by wipers on full-speed, and the world in front of me was a thick blanket of whiteness. There was hardly a vehicle on the move.
The scary alien threat, and weather that was quickly turning the city into something resembling Doctor Zhivago’s winter, had sent everyone scurrying back to the warmth of a fire and the security of a locked front door.
