‘Bullshit! That guy is a complete moron. All he’s interested in is making my life hell. He has been nothing but condescending to me since this whole escapade has started.’

Frank goes silent as he clicks some thoughts around in his head.

‘I know why you’re asking me to come back. That dirt bag Connor is threatening to blow some hostages to high heaven, isn’t he?’

Eddie nods his head; taking one last drag on his cigarette he discards it. He stands up and squares off to Frank, looking at him as he cracks a stern shake of his head.

‘Look Frank, enough of this bullshit. You know you’re just swinging a game here. I know you like I know my right hand on a cold and lonely night. You’re going to play this game for as long as I’m willing, truth is I can’t be asked to go through these hoops of yours. If you’re going to come back then I suggest you hurry up and make up your damn mind.’

Frank smiles at Eddie, relieving some of the tension in the room.

‘Yeah you know me, Super Detective Frank McKenzie. “There for the public when I’m not high or contemplating blowing my own head off”’.

‘That’s pretty dark Frank, seeing how you’re an emotional wreck whose addicted to pain pills and horse tranquilisers, its better coming from you then me’.

‘Speaking off how well you know me, how did you know I’d be here?’

Eddie stops still and faces Frank with his hands out.

‘I had your shoes bugged.’ Says Eddie calmly

Frank laughs as he strips his weapon’s belt off and places it down on the ground. Both men walk out of the warehouse towards Eddies Mercedes. Frank gets in the passenger’s side.

Sixty Five

Crystal is sitting down at her seat that’s vibrating along to the friction of the trains every turn. Across the small cabin sits Jason who is dozing off. Next to him Jenifer is cuddled up, holding onto his arm tightly as the train moves violently along the tracks. Crystal’s thoughts have been drifting from Jason to Jenifer. She still feels bad about succumbing to Jason. Jenifer and her have not spoken for a good three hours and its grating on Crystal. She leans forward and shakes Jenifer awake. Jenifer’s eyes blink a few times as she blankly stares at Crystal wide eyed, finally she focuses and manages to frown at her while she lets go of Jason and moves in closer to Crystal who by now is a hairs length away from her face.

‘Look Jen we can’t be fighting for the whole trip.’ She whispers

‘Fighting? We haven’t even started Crystal, what you did was desperate and selfish. I wouldn’t ever do anything like that to you. You can’t surely think that I’m going to let this go, I like Jason and you go and blow him off in the toilets!’

‘What do you mean you wouldn’t do anything like that to me? What about Ryan at high school. Don’t you think I don’t know about you and him screwing in the school toilets? Why do you think I broke up with him?’

Jenifer’s face drops in shock of what she is hearing.

‘Two wrongs don’t make a right Crystal’

‘That’s what I’m trying to say here Jen. We need to just forget about this crap and move on. He’s just a boy and one that we just met at that. You’re not going to throw away years of friendship for an idiot like him. He played us both.’

Both girls look at Jason simultaneously. He is motionlessly slumped on the arm rest of his chair fast asleep. Both girls smile at each other.

‘You’re right hun’. Fuck him; we’ve had too many good times to spoil it over some hot piece of ass!’ Says Jenifer

Both girls giggle, their hands over their mouths to muffle the sound. They both look over at Jason who twitches restlessly but then remains still.

‘Let’s move to the front of the train, get away from him for the rest of the journey’ Suggests Crystal.

Jenifer nods in agreement as both girls grab their hand luggage from underneath their seats. Crystal opens the cabin door, cautiously stepping over Jason’s sprawled out legs. Jenifer follows, brushing her leg against his. Both girls make their way out of the cabin, the train jolts violently as they brace themselves against the door.

‘You two aren’t going anywhere’

Both girls turn around to see Jason holding a 9MM square in their direction. They both freeze in fear as Jason slowly gets up. Crystal looks at Jenifer and shakes her head in disapproval. Jenifer shrugs as she slowly braces herself. Another violent jolt by the train sends Crystal flying forward, landing on Jason. Jenifer takes the opportunity and bolts out of the cabin and flees up the narrowing hallway. Jason punches Crystal in the face knocking her unconscious as her head thumps on the support leg of the chair Jason was sitting on. He shoves her off him and gets up, pulling back the hammer on the gun as he exits the cabin. He sees Jenifer approach the trailer door to the economy seating, as she puts her hands on the door handle, he fires a shot. The bullet pierces clean through her shoulder, exiting her body and hitting the doors glass. Blood spatters up the door as she lands head first, her skull hitting the broken glass, penetrating the window, going straight through. Her hair is caught in the sharp glass surrounding her head; Jason reaches the door and pulls her out by her hair, freeing her from the glasses heavy grip, ripping her flesh off  her face and forehead. He throws her to the ground and takes aim over her. She lies on her back looking at him with pleading eyes, blood escaping into the ridges of her mouth and corners of her eyes. He fires another shot straight into her head, a dust ball of blood scatters around her head, imploding on the hard metal floor of the train. The shot rings loud invoking a chorus of screams on the other side of the bloodied door. He gets up and cocks the hammer once more, ejecting the spent shell to the floor, still smoking from the heat of the gun. He looks through the broken glass on the cabin door as he sees passengers escaping their seats and running up the aisle of the train. He opens the door, gripping the bloodied handle, his hand sliding off as he enters the fray of the economy class. He takes aim at two marshals who have their guns drawn and shoots both of them consecutively in the blink of an eye. Both officers go down fast. The shots get the attention of the passengers as they look on in horror, hiding and ducking out of sight behind their chairs. Jason takes a steady aim at them.

‘My name is Jason and I’ll be your entertainment for the evening’

Jason pulls out a small radio like device.

‘You see this? This is a triggering system. When I hit this red button, the train goes boom, any questions?’

The passengers are quiet; Jason grabs one of the nearby teenage boys. He forces him down on his knees, pushing his heavy boot into the back of his knees.

‘In case you doubt my seriousness I will demonstrate it right now’

Jason places the gun to the temple of the boy, who is squirming in fear. He pulls the trigger, the shot rings loud in the tin like cabin. A puff of red mist appears where the boy was kneeling; it clears to reveal him lying on his front, blood pouring out of his head.

‘That’s how serious I am. I don’t want any shit from anybody. There will be no second chances. The journey will continue as usual and you will arrive at your destination. Play your cards right and you will leave unharmed. Play them wrong, your head will spin on this trains decking, I shit you not. I hope we have an understanding people. All cell phones will be put in the receptacle bins near you. Make sure you remember where you put them so when we arrive you can retrieve them in an orderly fashion. Oh I almost forgot, if you have any complaints please send them to my suggestion box, it’s marked with the words CW at the back.’

Sixty Six

Eddie and Frank pull into the down town incident room’s car park. Eddie parks the car effortlessly as Frank stares at the car parks mortar wall. The head lights beam onto the cracks and sends a shiver down Franks back. Frank opens the stiff door to the car; he starches his legs out and shifts his body, gracefully getting out of the car. Eddie follows suit and both men make their way through the dark parking structure. They walk silently, both staring at the floor as their feet tap on the tarmac in unison. They walk up to the lift on the far side of the car park. Frank hits the button, sending the lift down. Eddie looks at Frank momentarily. Both men say nothing as the door clangs open and both walk in. The doors shut in front of them. Eddie looks at Frank once more.