Kings of the Night

  Chapter 11.

  It’s dark outside and I can’t see anyone else around. Just parked cars on a street full of big houses, with drives and front lawns and walls onto the street. Posh cars parked in the drive. Maybe we’re car thieves. Maybe Mark Forth is secretly part of a clandestine car theft organization, just using the hospital doctor thing as a cover. My heart leaps, yes, that must be it, I knew he couldn’t be quite as dull as that. Right, what do I know about stealing cars. I don’t think you can hot wire them anymore, which is kind of lucky, as I don’t know how to do that. I think it’s all about electronics. Maybe I’m an electronics genius or something, ready to take on the world. Right now I’m stealing cars, yes, but why not banks, why not make myself seriously rich, have a yacht or something and loads of glamorous girls just like…

  “Mr. Green!”

  I turn round. Where did that come from.

  “Mr. Green! Over here, you idiot!” it’s a shouted whisper, if you can do that. There’s a crack in the back of a blacked out van – that’s quite cool – and I make my way over. Walk slowly, cool, don’t look hassled. The back door opens fully and someone grabs my coat and yanks me in.

  “Jesus, I thought you said you were wearing black. Fuck’s sake.” There’s a guy in front of me, kind of tall and well built, he hasn’t shaved and he’s wearing the works, skin tight black trousers (not really my thing), black top, black gloves, even his hair’s black.

  “Oh yeah, hello Mr. Black” I give him a big smile.

  “Jesus. What is the matter with you. I’m Mr. Yellow. We’re supposed to be wearing black. Lucky I brought some spares. Get changed and get it sorted, we’re running late already.”

  He hands me a bag and I’m guessing there are some black clothes inside. The inside of the van’s quite cool really, its been kitted out a fair bit. There’s a few lights and a couple of seats and what looks like some surveillance equipment in the corner, a camera showing the road and focused on one particular house.

  “Cool van” I say, getting changed. These trousers are seriously tight, I hope to God I don’t want to have kids cos it’s looking less likely.

  “You’ve seen this van a thousand times, Mr. Green. God’s sake.” He lights up a cigarette and offers me one. “You haven’t been drinking have you? Cold, sober, ready to go right? Operation Wolfskin.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, course” I say quickly, hoping the smell of the curry masks all the booze. “So what’s the plan?”

  He sighs. “Okay, I thought you were part of this cos you were supposed to be the intelligent one. Never mind. Remember, this is target number 5 out of 5. The other four are already acquired. This is our one, Mark, I mean Mr. Green, we’ve got to get this right, yeah.”

  “Yeah, course, I’m ready”

  “Good.” He reaches into a box and takes out what looks like a gun. Maybe I have screwed up? My life ends here, in the back of a black van? Could be worse I guess. But he hands it to me. Whoa. I take it gingerly, holding it away from me between my fingertips.

  “Mark, get a grip on yourself mate. It’s just for protection, remember, just a last resort. Put it away, like this. Safety’s on, I checked.” He lifts up his top, turns and I see he’s got a gun tucked into the back of his trousers. I do the same, the barrel’s pointing right at my arse. Not sure I’m too happy about that.

  “Right” he’s talking in fast whispers. “Remember, we’re the diversion. We go up to the house, ring the doorbell, say we’ve lost our way. Just need to keep them talking for a few minutes and then it happens. Yeah. You got that. Right. When the green light goes on we go.”

  “What, like that green light?” I ask.

  “We go” he says. He smacks me hard, on the back, opens the door and jumps out. What the hell. I follow.