Terror in the Night

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The hunt was futile and as Faye had promised an old friend an early meeting, she returned home early to her apartment to get a few hours sleep before her breakfast date.

She unhooked her belt of guns and knives and dumped them in the back of her coat closet with her coat and scarf following after them.

The red light on her answering machine flickered for Faye’s attention which she half listened to while she sorted a hot drink before she go into bed. One message from her friend reminding her of the meeting, three had been cold calls and one from her business partner giving her a quick update of the club they ran but it was the last message that made her pause and listen properly.

“Faye it’s me,” her Dad’s voice murmured through the badly recording device. He paused for a while, they hadn’t spoken properly for a very long time, and he never phoned her. “I thought you would like to come with me to see your Mum, it would be nice to catch up. Could you give me a call if you...whatever you want,” click.

Faye hesitated with her hand hovering over the phone while she debated in what she should do.

With a sigh she withdrew her hand and headed for her bed arguing with her inner voice telling her that it was very late to be phoning anyone let alone her Dad who hadn’t cared about her like he should have done.

She slept through her alarm again and only the ringing of her phone woke her up. “Faye, you’ve slept through your alarm again,” Athena Black and old time school friend said through the old answering machine. She knew Faye too well to know when Faye was running late and had over slept and knew that a message would be ignored. “Faye Sparrow, get your backside out of your bed right this minute or so help me I will get my Andrew to drag you out of the house.”

Andrew was Athena’s twin brother who had a crush on Faye for as long as Faye could remember, not that that would bother her.

Staggering from her bed, Faye grabbed the phone and held it to her ear. “I’m awake I promise. I just...”

“Slept through your alarm again, I can guess,” Thea snapped and then sighed “We’ve been waiting over half an hour are you even going to turn up.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Faye chanted as she quickly grabbed a hair brush to rake through her hair and grabbed another shirt from her draws, she was lucky she fell asleep fully clothed still or she would be later than normal looking for clothes that matched.

The cafe they had agreed on was a very quick five minute run down the street for Faye but the grumpy faces of her two best friends didn’t seem so welcoming. “I am so sorry,” she pleaded and slumped in the third seat. “I think I’m going to need more than one alarm clock, did you two order?”

“Yes, half an hour ago,” Thea snapped and tapped a well-manicured finger nail on the side of small mug in front of her.

“I’m such a bad friend,” Faye muttered as she leant her head on the cold metal table.

Both her friends looked over her head at each other and smiled brightly. “She was kidding Faye,” Abby giggled and brushed out Faye’s long hair out, “We’ve been waiting for about five minutes; we told you an hour ago because we thought you would get here on time this time.”

Faye groaned again and shook her head that was no excuse, she was still a bad friend, she couldn’t keep a simple breakfast date with them and it was so close to her apartment.

They ordered coffee and cake with Thea ordered ginger biscuits because of her diet but they quickly caught up with each other while they waited.

Thea was dating a new guy, a guy named Simon who apparently was in a big time money job guy, who was showering Thea with gifts. She was debating whether or not to dump him for being so clingy. But both Abby and Faye told her to shut up and stick with her man because he must love her to be sharing his money.

Abby had a new job in a veterinary and was having a great time even if she was just the receptionist. She told them about the vet who was hot to look at but she was smart enough not to touch.

“Andrew’s been asking about you,” Thea teased when her biscuits and their coffee and cake arrived, “He keeps asking about new boyfriends on the scene,”

“What did you tell him?” Faye asked a little worried with her friends answer. She loved Andrew but he was like a big brother to her, yet when she started to grow curves that appealed to him and all men, he wanted to be a bit more than friends. No matter how many times he asked, she would always say no, but he always stayed close to try another shot and drive any guy who was giving her trouble away.

“I told him that if he was really serious about you, to fight for you no matter if you are seeing someone or not.”

Faye sighed and took a small sip of her coffee.

“Sh,” Abby hissed and slapped Faye’s arm with her eyes glued to the TV screen inside the cafe.

The couple from the night before were being interviewed on the news and a mug shot of the mugger was in the corner. The woman had her arm around her boyfriend but she had a huge smile on her face. A sketch of a woman with long hair obscuring most of her face, a scarf around her nose and mouth and her coat collar hugged her chin.

“I thought only men were vigilantes,” Abby muttered when the news returned to the anchor. “I wonder what the police are calling her.”

“They don’t really do that do they?” Faye asked trying to act cool about seeing an evil drawing of her on TV that was probably seen by millions of people.

Faye’s phone suddenly started beeping and she knew she had to leave. She sighed to double check just to be sure; it was still too early for Faye but seeing as she was up. “Yeah, that’s Elaine,” she sighed and pocketed her phone, “I have to go before she chews me up.”

“Tell her we said hi,” Thea said as Faye jumped to her feet and tossed some money on the table for her share before heading down the street.

“Oh Abby,” she shouted back and started walking backwards away from the table, “Forget about the creep on the TV, I know how much you obsess about those sorts of people.” Last thing she needed was for Abby to collect photo’s, news clipping and drawings and one day figuring out who the masked figure was.