Sweet Revenge thriller

Chapter Eight

I REMEMBER LEAVING HIS APARTMENT that morning and all I really wanted to do was punch someone's Goddsammed lights out. And then it occurred to me. I could punch the fuck out of those boxing bags at a gym.

That very afternoon, all hyped up, I join the gym under my new I.D. Patrick had suggested that I try to get my old job back, to fill the void and have a purpose. But, there is no way I will work for the drug company again. I search the vacancies. I find several jobs I could turn my hand to, all administrators, but if I apply they will find out about my past and then someone will talk and the fucking journalists will be following me again. I have to create a new work history.

So, once again I need The Fixer. I'm extremely pleased that this time when I contact him he arranges for my fake references to be delivered to my home. I don't have to go to his warehouse or meet up with him. When The Hulk bangs on my door we exchange envelopes, mine with another £5,000 enclosed.

I expect The Hulk to turn away from my doorway but instead he walks past me and into my dining room. Floppy fair leaps off the couch and tears into my bedroom and I know she will be cowering under my bed. I am in two minds to follow her. The Hulk appears to take up half of my dining room!

He sits down exactly where Floppy had vacated. Nervously, I sit in my easy chair across from him. No one speaks. I can't anyway, not with my mouth so dry my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth! The silence is deafening.

After the longest moment, The Hulk clears his throat and says, 'Look. Stop pissing your panties. I come in peace!' and then he cracks into a huge smile followed by a throaty chuckle.

I nod. Because although my tongue may be returning to normal I cannot tell it what to say when the elephant in the room is not a figment of my imagination!

He manoeuvres his butt and reaches into his back pocket. He's getting a gun?

OMG! I'm gonna be whacked.

I close my eyes. For fucks sake Red, open them. Start negotiating!

And when I do open them, The Hulk has a strange small plastic and metal contraption in his hand. 'Now, see this?' and he beckons me to come to where he is sitting.

Extremely wobbly, I obey. My legs don't want to be any closer to this man than in the next county!

'See this?' he says as I stand a foot away from him and crane my neck. 'It's a voice changer. New on the market...well, not for the public, you understand. Now, I don't know what yer getting yourself mixed up in. But this here, will change your voice, if you need to. Compliments from a father with a daughter about your age.' I can hardly contain my surprise. This man has fathered a human being? A daughter? He doesn't appear to notice my shock and proceeds to show me how it works.

'And keep this if yer need it,' he says and hands me a card, a professional business card! It has the same plumbing image that is on The Fixer's website but I note there is no name, instead it has a cell phone number. Then he slips his hand in the inside of his jacket and pulls out a cell phone and gestures for me to take it. 'It's a burner. I'm the only one who knows the number. And my number is the only one in the contacts. Just use it to contact me. Nothin else. Understand?'

I nod. Why the fuck would I ever want to call him? He sees my puzzlement then adds, 'Call me, if yer get yerself into serious trouble.'

Freaking Hell! What does he think I'm going to get myself into? I've just asked them to give me a new work history, not a machine gun and an address of the mafia!

'Look. I don't wanna worry you or anything, but I reckon you need to be careful. So, if you give me your cell phone, I'll install a software programme on it so you cannot be tracked.'