Chasing Cockroaches - Novella Series Book 1: Hail to the Thief by Michael Reuel

Author:Michael Reuel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: z, crime action, vigilante justice, gritty crime, contemp fiction, gritty noir, urban action

4

Mostly Vince was disappointed that the trail had run cold. The task had been accepted for moral reasons, but he was also coming to understand that creating one’s own purpose in life has its advantages. By pursuing our own goals we can only fail ourselves, as well as being able to choose how ambitious we should be. There were many bigger fish out there if he really wanted to hurt the criminal underworld, but Ashton had been right in front of him. Pursuing something obtainable was an activity that had been missing from his existence and he feared being torn away from it as soon as life demanded a new and mundane objective.

Over the weekend he made a couple of casual attempts to ask people in the street if they had seen Ashton, but no one had for days although they all knew who he was. A man so dislikeable tends to get noticed and so Vince had to assume he was no longer in the vicinity and had no way of predicting when he would turn up again.

That was until Wednesday evening, because even if it knows it is being outwitted a bad joke does not have the sense to stay away for long.

Vince had been across the city that evening, for the first time since moving out having been called back to Laura’s in order to help Mr Lover Lover secure the back fence. Bad weather had brought it down and his ex tried to claim that he could still be held liable for the damage or any burglaries. This he had refuted, but had acquiesced to an implied threat regarding some of his possessions that were kept in the garage. Helping out was a way of saying thank you for the storage and convincing her to keep the stuff there while he figured out what could be done. Hypocritical this may have felt, but mostly Vince was looking to avoid anything more complicated happening in the future. Levelling himself with the favour didn’t prevent him leaving with a bad taste in the mouth, however. Having wanted a clean start, he began to wonder how difficult the dregs of an old life would be to wash away. It was only on the way back to his flat that he realised he was bristling for Round Two with the Hamble Bearer louts and had to resist wandering on over there.

A firm moment of reflection was needed in order to make sure the decisions of the next few days and week were not self-destructive. Running into an old irritant had brought forth a desire to not sit idly by when innocent people were being preyed upon, but he feared that lack of direction was threatening to escalate into some ill-conceived attempt at making an impact. He needed a means of staying on course without ending up before a judge and so forced himself to think on whether being one of those community support officers could in fact prove a rewarding life choice – even though they were often the subject of ridicule.

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