Livewire

Chapter 43

Kyle stopped the bike outside the boat shed. He was exhausted. After everything he had endured that night he needed to rest. But the night was not over yet. There was one last job to do - get everything in place to fake their deaths and then escape to Fiji.

There was still a few hours of darkness left until sunrise, so he allowed himself twenty minutes of rest. He sat on the floor in the shed and leaned back against the wall, letting his eyes shut. Sleep did not come but he was grateful for the brief respite.

He checked his watch. Twenty minutes was up.

"Last push Trudie. Let's do this."

He stood up and offered his hand to pull her onto her feet. She looked into his eyes with a tired smile, then nodded. They both climbed up onto Emilio's boat and Kyle opened the hatch. The smell erupted from within. It was foul and he clapped his hand over his nose and mouth. His eyes watered. It was the stench of decay after death.

He shook his head and braced himself, then pulled up the first of the dead bodies stored in the boat.

Trudie wafted the air away from her nose and pulled a face. "How long have they been in there?"

"Only a day. But it's hot."

"Where did you get them?"

"César procured them. The fingerprints have been removed and he made sure they have no dental records either."

"I won't lie, they're a good likeness to us."

He coughed. "Yeah, he's a resourceful man. But it won't matter in the end. I don't expect there to be much left of them when we're done."

"Why? What have you got planned?"

"I'll explain in due time. Come on."

He climbed down from the boat and together they pulled the trailer out onto the launch ramp. It was still pitch dark outside and no one was about. Being as quiet as possible, they launched the boat and put the trailer back into the shed. Trudie jumped aboard with a waterproof bag and Kyle grabbed a jerry can of petrol, then jumped aboard too.

He let the boat drift out away from the shore before firing up the engines. No one lived close to the edge of the lake, but he didn't want to take any chances. He kept the speed low to keep engine noise down, and took them out into the middle of the lake.

The moon was full and bright, casting a gentle, rippling reflection on the glassy surface of the lake. It was calm and serene out on the water, with the wind rushing past his face. Back away at the shore a few lights twinkled but there were no signs of life. Everyone would be tucked up in their beds, wholly unaware of what they would wake up to come dawn.

The boat continued to drift a little after the engines were cut. They got to work straight away. It was time to complete the final phase and convince everyone they were dead. Fishing rods were set up at the back of the boat and a few beers opened and drained as if they had been drunk. To anyone discovering the boat it would appear they'd simply gone out for some night fishing.

Next they both began to undress, so they could dress their dead counterparts in their clothes. It was highly unlikely the clothes would survive, but Kyle was taking no chances at all. The underwear, socks and clothes were all put on in such a way that it looked like the corpses had dressed themselves and had not been shoved into someone else's clothes.

They positioned the cadavers in lifelike poses at the rods. It was all quite pointless but they were being as thorough as possible. The scene was set.

Trudie stepped back from her corpse and put her hands on her hips. "Ok so what now?"

"Now I'm gonna rig an explosion and douse this whole boat in petrol. There will be nothing left to identify the real people. So we need to plant some of our stuff."

His eyes moved to her ears.

Her face dropped "My mom's earrings?"

He nodded "Sorry. It has to be something metal so it would survive the heat of fire. I'm leaving my Harley keys."

Her lips pouted, but she obeyed and removed the earrings and put them onto the corpse. "You know how sentimental these are to me?"

"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

Kyle pulled out a St Christopher medallion and Trudie looked confused.

"I've never seen that before."

He nodded. "It was Emilio's. Elvira gave it to me before the funeral."

The medallion was placed around the dead man's neck and the final pieces were in place. He stood up and grabbed a jerry can then passed it to Trudie.

"Dowse your body double, then start spreading round the boat."

He took the other jerrycan and did the same. Petrol gushed out of the spout over his dead counterpart, then he emptied the rest around the boat, pouring it into every nook and cranny. Once the can was emptied he pulled out a small electronic device.

Trudie cocked her head. "What's that?"

"It's basically a detonator. It will ignite the explosion."

"It won't survive and leave any evidence?"

"No. It's designed to destroy itself." He pushed a button on the side and it began beeping. "We've got twenty minutes. Bring the jerrycan with you."

He tossed his can overboard then climbed into the water. Trudie followed close behind. Using the can as a float, they paddled themselves to the shore opposite the boat shed. It was scrubland with no buildings or population.

Trudie pulled out the bag of spare clothes and they got themselves dressed. Twilight was building on the horizon.

Twenty minutes was more than enough time from when he planted the device to get ashore. He needed to get rid of the petrol cans too, so he dug a large pit in the sand and buried them deep. It would take years of erosion for them to resurface. Once the sand had covered them back over, they found a bush to crouch down in and wait for the countdown to end.

It felt like an eternity. He sat twitching and fidgeting while he waited, anxious for it to happen. It was utterly silent. No bird song, no cricket chirps. Not even wind rustling the leaves.

BOOM.

The sky turned bright orange and a column of fire erupted upwards. He felt the heat on his face, followed by the rush of wind from the shockwave. They turned to each other with wide eyes and their eyebrows raised. Their mouths dropped open.

The boat was now engulfed in a blazing fire, with the flames licking up far above it into the sky. Pops and crackles shot off while it burned away.

It was time to leave. The explosion would draw the attention of anyone in earshot. Soon enough it would be swarming with onlookers and eventually the police.

They were now in the final phase. By tomorrow they would be out of the country. But first they needed to get to the airport and that meant a long journey on foot