Brewin' in the Boroughs

Chapter 23

Spot watched from the other side of the room as Dimples gave Will a 'good luck hug'. Dimples hadn't left his brother's side all day, in fact he'd insisted on sitting on his brother's lap for most of the morning.

Now the two were talking quietly, saying their final goodbyes before Will headed to the fight with the rest of the older boys.

Spot checked the time and whistled, drawing the attention of the boys. "It's time to head out!" He announced loudly.

The boys scrambled to their feet and headed out the door.

When they got to the arranged meeting place, no one was there.

"Where's Kelly?" Cards asked, looking down an alleyway.

"I don't know. Probably late, like usual."

Cards accepted this, and turned to one of he other boys to complain about Jack's lack of responsibility. Spot just rolled his eyes, watching and listening carefully for Hook and his boys.

Nearly ten minutes had passed and all of the boys were growing restless. No one had shown up.

"I think we might've been a little early, Spot," Bones suggested.

"Really?" Lip asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Yeah, otherwise they'd be here," Bones explained patiently.

"I don't think he caught the sarcasm," Grit informed softly.

"He wouldn't have caught it if he was Deacon McGuire!" Lip said, rolling his eyes.

"What's that s'posed to mean?" Bones asked dumbly.

"Youse right!" Trip laughed. "He didn't even catch your joke!"

"Yeah, he's too dumb! He couldn't catch it if it was stealing a base and his name was Duke Farrell!" Cards added, joining the conversation.

The boys chuckled, but were quickly silenced by Spot.

"Shh! I'm tryin' to listen for 'em! Quiet down."

The boys did as they were told and lapsed into another boring silence, broken by the occasional cough.

"Where is everyone? This doesn't make sense!" Spot growled as he began pacing back and forth.

Somewhere in the crowd, Match watched worriedly. He agreed with Spot. Where was everyone? Were they even coming? Had the whole thing been called off?

Match's hand felt for the cool knife that was hidden in his pocket. What if Hook was hiding, and they were waiting for him to kill Spot first? Match didn't want to kill Spot, he really didn't want to kill anyone, except maybe Hook, but he didn't have a choice. He knew the consequences if he failed his mission.

Match slowly made his way over to Spot, who'd crossed over to the other side of the open courtyard. It was considerably darker, you could barely see him from where the rest of the boys stood.

"You're doin' my job for me," Match muttered, drawing closer.

Spot's back was turned and he hadn't noticed Match yet. If Match kept quiet, held his breath, he'd be there in a few steps. Just another foot and he could finish the job...

As he realized what he was about to do, Match quickly took a silent step back, then another, and then another.

Soon he was running back over to the boys. He couldn't kill Spot now! No, the boys would know who'd done it and he'd get killed by them.