Angels & Shadows

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It was eight o’clock in the evening when Rob clipped Tini to his runner in the Robinson’s garden. He went through his usual settling routine with the dog and then made a wide search of the area, including checking all the parked cars. One of them was a black Range Rover with tinted windows.

Rob looked into the car and sensed that something wasn’t right but he couldn’t quite work out what. He was confused and the more that he looked, the less concerned he became. He felt the engine hood and it seemed cold to him although he could hear the exhaust manifold crackling but never questioned the contradiction of it. Finally, satisfied that there was no threat, he moved on to the next car. Rob had no idea that he had been staring Dada directly in the face and that his mind was being controlled to see only what Dada wanted him to see.

All seemed as it should be. Rob returned to his car and left for an early night to catch up on some lost sleep.

Dada was pleased with his deception. It saved him having to take the risk of killing the young man. He reclined his seat and settled himself for the long wait until the early hours of the morning when he would have some killing to do.

Later that evening Elizabeth and Ben set up their bedrooms to look occupied as was now their routine. They drew the curtains, switched off the lights and retired to the guest room next to Elizabeth’s bedroom. They checked that the cutlasses were still under the bed where they had left them, then took their sleeping positions on the floor. The curtains were left open to let some light in but the moon was new and it only made the faintest difference. They would have to rely almost totally on their other senses if an attack came. Elizabeth and Ben ran through their plans and ‘what if’ scenarios until they were as happy with them as they could be, then drifted off into dreamless sleep.

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It was three o’clock in the morning when the door of the Range Rover opened and Dada stepped out into the cold, unlit street. Dada had chosen this hour as it is the time when humans are at their lowest ebb and least able to respond to a situation. He noted that even the moon was in his favour and was invigorated by the near total darkness that it afforded him. Dada’s good fortune was short lived. A police squad car entered the road and the two officers spotted his enormous frame at the side of the Range Rover and pulled over behind it. They exited the squad car donning their hats and approached Dada from opposite sides of his car.

“Your vehicle is it sir?” offered the senior of the two officers. He was a tall, thick-set man with broad shoulders, the sort that looked like he worked out a lot. His tone was derisive.

“Is that yours?” Dada replied through his teeth slanting his head towards the squad car. His eyes never left the officer’s.

“We’ve got us a wise guy Joe, thinks he’s somebody.”

The officer withdrew his police issue X26 Taser from his belt.

“Not really your kind of neighbourhood is it sir?” The officer was goading Dada to make him retaliate.

“It was until you just downgraded it,” Dada countered as he decided how he was going to kill him.

“Easy Dave. Back off mate,” Joe, the junior officer, was trying to defuse the situation. He turned to Dada. “Can I see your driving licence please sir?

Dada decided that this polite one would die a little less painfully than the other. He opened the Range Rover door and reached in taking the Zulu broad-bladed stabbing spear in his right-hand and his silenced pistol in his left. As Dada turned to face the officers he squeezed the trigger. A bullet hole appeared in the front of Joe’s head, just a split second before his brains left the back of it.