The Raven Conspiracy

Chapter 31 - On the Back of a Truck

Chapter 31 – On the Back of a Truck

Kairo parked outside a 24-hour convenience store. I climbed off and returned the helmet to him. My hair tickled the back of my neck and shoulders; I shook it out and ran my fingers through it. It needed to be cut soon.

“We’re not stopping in there, are we?” I pointed to the store.

“Don’t be stupid – we’re only here because I don’t want to leave my bike on the streets. We’ll walk from here – it’s less conspicuous.”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

Dark alleys leered at us as we walked through the area and past seemingly uniform council houses. I knew that the details –the paint colours, porch decorations and little gardens – that made them different were hidden by the darkness. It made me wonder who were the people behind each curtained window, what their lives were like and if they would be affected by my actions. If my life had gone a different route, I wouldn’t have been walking through this neighbourhood in the middle of the night with a man who was – despite what I knew – a relative stranger to me. It filled me with an effervescent sense of satisfaction knowing that I wasn’t just wasting away. I was doing something worth doing.

We walked slowly, keeping an eye on the road and staying in the shadows. So far, nothing looked suspicious. There were no figures jumping from roof to roof, no unmarked black vans parked in driveways. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“How do you know that they’ll hit a house tonight?” I whispered to Kairo, walking next to him.

“I don’t. We might see nothing tonight, or we could get lucky.”

“What if the police are wrong?”

“Then we would have wasted tonight and we’ll have to start over wherever they’re right.”

The next two hours were spent walking around, almost aimlessly. Kairo didn’t talk at all, his eyes glazed over with deep thought. I was too wound up to relax into a reverie. I took in every detail, every small disturbance but nothing was significant. When we eventually circled back to the convenience store, I couldn’t help feel that we wasted our time and the guilt I suppressed at sneaking out was magnified. It had all been for nothing.

My legs ached from the walking, which had been tiring not in its intensity but in its length. I was hungry, tired and thirsty. I hadn’t thought to bring any food, and the lack of sleep was catching up to me. We reached a dark patch of grass and I stopped. After a few paces, Kairo realised that I was not next to him and turned around.

“Why are you sitting there?” he asked.

I’d dropped onto the grass and sat with my legs crossed and my head lowered in exasperation.

“I’m tired. Nothing’s happening. Can’t I go home? My parents might have noticed me missing by now.”

“Check your phone,” he told me.

I did as instructed. There were no messages or missed calls. It was just after 3am and I knew that the sun would be coming up soon.

“Any calls?”

I shook my head and sighed.

“We’ll keep going for another hour or so. Then I’ll take you home and you can – “

His words were interrupted by a sudden bang. I jumped, startled. It sounded like a gunshot. An answering flock of birds took to the sky a few blocks away. Without another word, we ran in that direction.