Rob the Casbah by Steve K Peacock

Author:Steve K Peacock [Peacock, Steve K]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Magister Books
Published: 2022-02-14T05:00:00+00:00

Eleven

There were any number of ways that the Rider could have gotten himself a way into the inner workings of Whitehall, but the only one on my radar was Charlie. Maybe they cut her off when she went AWOL, maybe they didn’t, but even if she turned out to be a bust when it came to getting in, I needed to get her out.

It’s a bad friend who leaves someone they know brainwashed by a cult.

I had Ania drop me off in the centre of town, next to a small coffee shop that moonlights as a bookshop. I’d name them, but they refuse to stock these perfectly authored memoirs of mine so they can get stuffed. They are otherwise nice, however – just busy enough to make you feel safe, but not so packed that the body count would be harrowing if things kicked off.

I’m not happy that this is how I judge a place’s worth either, incidentally. Unfortunate side effect of a lifetime of being the one getting the kicking.

I bought a pot of tea to keep the cold at bay and sat in the window, casually tapping the redial button on my phone. Thirty seconds of trilling followed by a crackly voice informing me the owner had declined to take my call, hit the button, repeat the procedure. There wasn’t a chance Charlie was going to answer, but if she still had that phone then I figured I could annoy her enough to make an appearance.

After a pot and a half of tea, I spotted her staring at me from across the road. She looked worse in the daylight – her sallow and jaundiced skin, stretched so tight across her skull made her look more like an expressionist’s impression of a person, as if she would feel like rough canvas if I touched her. I angled the teapot in her direction and beckoned her to come in. She was hesitant, but after a moment’s thought she crossed the road, entered the café, and took a seat next to me.

‘I wasn’t sure you’d come,’ I said. ‘I figured I had a fifty-fifty shot of you showing up or hurling your phone into the river.’

Charlie didn’t look at me. ‘He doesn’t want me here, says it will muddy things and make it harder for you to understand.’

‘You still came though.’

‘I owe you a chance. He knows a lot of things, but I don’t think he fully understands how to talk to someone like you.’

‘Someone annoying, you mean?’

‘Someone so annoying,’ she said, and for a moment a glimmer of the woman I knew shone through. Then it was gone, and the wraith was back in her skin. ‘I know you think he’s brainwashed me or something, but I need you to accept that this isn’t the case.’

‘Now, be fair, Chaz. That’s exactly what a brainwashing victim would say.’

‘I’ll give you that.’

‘And you’ve got to admit you’ve looked better.’

An emaciated hand crept up into her hair, scratching at her scalp. It came away with a few brittle hairs tangled between the fingers.

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