Helix: Episode 6 (Exclave) by Nathan M Farrugia

Author:Nathan M Farrugia [Farrugia, Nathan M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Anomaly Press
Published: 2018-01-13T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Jay stopped the car.

He’d lost Crispy Assassin a while ago, but he didn’t want to turn around and head back just yet. Not empty-handed. Everyone would think he’d lost his edge.

He drove past forests and grassy fields until he reached another town. His phone sat in the cradle, a nice little hole drilled through it, courtesy of stray gunfire. He reached for it and the cradle collapsed, dropping the destroyed phone into the footwell.

Great, he thought. I can’t even surveil someone properly.

He pocketed his monocular and smashed phone, leaving the baseball cap, then headed for the old town on foot. Following the pavement between crooked apartment buildings, he reached the main square, only to find it deserted. It was almost midnight heading into Saturday, and while the town was clean and the fresh snow had been swept, there wasn’t a soul to be seen.

Somewhere in the distance there was music, car horns, laughter.

His stomach grumbled, and he started in that direction, pausing to drop his shattered phone into a bin.

He came to a cobblestoned avenue thick with greasy food and cackling students not much younger than himself. Moving through a group of five young men, he noticed one with glazed eyes and a thick, gold watch. Jay bumped into him, pressing against his hip.

As Jay continued through the avenue, he inspected the man’s wallet. It was lined with enough euro to pay for a meal with extra pickles from the Hesburger he’d just walked past. Changing course, he placed his order and waited just a few minutes for his meal on a white plastic tray. He discarded all three buns from his burger and ate just the patties with his hands. Crispy Assassin was probably in the same town, eating her own meal at another fucking Hesburger.

Screw you, Crispy Assassin.

Jay ate the sliced pickles, then sucked his fingers. People glared at him, but it was too late to use a plastic knife and fork. He hit the restroom and emptied his bladder, then left Hesburger, doing a final check on everyone to memorize new faces. No one gave him a second glance, instead tucking into their burgers and sodas. His next stop was a liquor store for something to warm him on the return journey. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find one, but after he walked past no less than twenty bars on his search, he figured he’d try one of those instead.

He picked one that wasn’t too crowded and had table service, choosing to sit under a boar’s head mounted on the wall. It had good coverage of the doors and windows, with no blind spots. The menu was in Lithuanian, which was unsurprising since he was in Lithuania. He ran his finger over the healthy lining of bills in his new wallet and ordered a little bit of everything. No rush, he thought.

While he waited, he listened to the final hours of a clumsy first date nearby. Opposite them, a trio of bar staff finished their shift and broke out college textbooks and cherry vodka.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.