The Immortality Plot

The Immortality Plot - chapter 11

They were watching for him.

As Delaney climbed into his rental and placed his bag on the passenger seat, two pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly at him with naked hostility. In the background they noticed Lena Maclean waving goodbye and closing her front door. She was unimportant now. She was harmless. The bitch could whine and whinge all she liked and she could make as much noise as she liked, she was no threat.

Mike Delaney, on the other hand, posed a clear and present danger. Maybe the athletic guy leaving the house and getting into the mid sized coupé had screwed the woman senseless? Well, lucky her. It was certainly going to be the last time that Delaney got laid. As he pulled away from the drive, a dark blue Pontiac waited before moving off smoothly in pursuit.

Delaney headed for the airport where he found the rental return area. He cleared his paperwork and was told to take the car to a remote area of the car park. He pointed the coupé in that direction and found a bay. There was no one else around. The park was bordered beyond its high wire fence by rough scrubby land with construction hoardings announcing a future development of mid-priced homes.

Delaney had to walk back to the reception to catch the bus to the airport. He was thinking deeply about Lena Maclean and how he was going to approach Ruth Velasquez as he pulled in close to a bleak brick wall. He half noticed a blue car arriving behind him. It was just another traveller en route somewhere.

He got out, put his bag on ground and locked the car. He needed to check his emailed tickets were in his inside pocket. He noticed something in the wing mirror of the coupé. It was just a shape materializing. He heard something then, someone trying to breath as quietly as they could and the faintest of footfalls approaching from behind. As he stepped out to his right a pair of powerful arms grabbed him. He could smell sweat and bad breath. He was pinned in a bear hug just as another man came round the front of him holding a black plastic bag. Delaney knew what was coming. The two muscle bound guys were paying a return visit.

“Thought we could let you go without saying goodbye?” The one holding him grunted close to Delaney’s ear. Two fingers of one hand were bandaged with a splint. “That would be a shame, asshole. You need to be taught not to poke your nose where it’s not wanted.”

The other one took a step forward intending to ram the bag over Delaney’s head. Delaney lifted his feet off the ground letting his weight drop. He twisted sideways and rammed his feet against the door of the coupé and pushed backwards. At the same time he dropped his head and shot it back into his attacker’s face. The man yelped and Delaney felt the back of his hair dampen with blood as the grip loosened enough for him to raise his arms high. The one with the bag went for him bringing the bag down on the spot where Delaney’s head had been. It was a split second manoeuvre as the bag was rammed over Delaney’s arms and just over his head. It all went black for a moment. The stench of old garbage filled Delaney’s nostrils. He squatted quickly, pulling his arms out of the loosened bear hug while kicking upwards into the big man’s groin.

He screamed in pain.

Delaney rolled out of the embrace, twisting as he did so. The other attacker let fly a vicious short range hook that just missed Delaney’s midriff but caught him on the shoulder spinning him back and knocking him into a nearby car. Delaney ripped the bag from his head, his shoulder throbbing. He stepped back and faced the two of them. The one on the left took a long truncheon out of his inside jacket while the other slipped his right hand into his pocket, withdrawing it with the dull metal of a knuckle-duster encasing his fist.

No words were exchanged. There were no threats.

The one on the left made his move, swinging in with the polished black hardwood truncheon with the steel tip. Delaney saw it coming, feinted to block then spun on his heel until he was out of range. He caught the man’s wrist, pulled him off balance, stepped in and hit him hard in the kidneys and then in the sciatic nerve. The assailant fell as though electrocuted. The second man was now upon Delaney. The iron fist was coming at him with considerable weight behind it. If it connected he would have been pole axed. Delaney blocked the punch with a sweeping movement and with blistering speed reached in and grabbed his opponent’s Adam’s Apple. He squeezed then slammed the heel of his other hand under the nose of the big guy. His attacker staggered back, blinking with pain and frustration. But he was as strong as an ox. His partner was struggling to get to his feet. Delaney stepped out once and swept his foot around in a short arc, catching the guy in the temple. He collapsed in a dead weight unconscious.