Old Porters

Chapter Thirty Three

Thirty Three

The afternoon sun was a welcome change from the rain that had been falling over the city for the past week or so, but it did mean that the teenage vigilante had to squint when looking around. He shielded his eyes, the left one still slightly swollen and both of which felt naked without either his glasses, or the goggles of his mask, covering them, as he looked at the back of the card Parker had given him again.

The time, date and place were all right, but the Detective Inspector was not here. Roger had scanned the park intensely but could not see any obvious signs that he was about to be jumped by a horde of N.C.U officers. Still the point of a trap was to catch the prey unsuspecting so he guessed there would be no obvious signs.

The vigilante sat on the bench as instructed. It stood on one of the winding paths through RoyalPark. The grass around the bench had been worn away leaving a patch of slippy brown mud, but for the most part, dark green grass covered the park. The trees lining the path were bare and skeletal. The teenager shuddered. He felt cold despite the sun.

Parker appeared, walking briskly along the pathway towards the bench were Roger sat. The teenager took a deep breath. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. Hopefully whatever was going to happen was not too bad though. Compared to last night whatever happened, even if he was arrested, would be a cake walk.

“I’m glad you showed,” Parker said, sitting on the bench but not looking at the student and wishing the kid would not look at him. This was supposed to be a covert meeting.

“You know where I live, not like I had much choice,” Roger said, looking away from Parker. The teenager had the hood of his grey coat up, partly to hide the swollen left side of his face and party to hide the rest of his face in case anyone saw him talking to the police officer.

“You have more choices then most people,” the DI said. “And whilst I might not agree with the choices you’ve made in the past, I’m sure we can find some use for you.”

“What’s the catch?” the vigilante asked. “Why not come out and say what you know about me?”

“Not what I think I know about you?” Parker asked. He had picked the wrong place to meet. The sun was shining right in his eyes. He looked down at his creased brown shoes. They were not as old as they looked and did not really go with his suit.

“I’m way too stressed to deal with that kind of talk,” Roger replied.

“The facts are,” Parker said slowly, “You have skills and I need to borrow them.”

“Borrow them?”

“A while back, one of my officer’s was killed by a gang of thieves who dress like Vikings. Because of it and frankly the rather disastrous investigation I conduced into your secret identity involving Megan Jones, I was relieved of my command.” Parker shook his head. He could not believe he was going to go through with this. It was insane.