Fredrick arrives ten minutes earlier than expected, and I put my hands in my pockets to hide their nervous tremor. Tonight is probably the most important evening of my career. If anything goes amiss, I’ll be humiliated. Fredrick smiles warmly and hugs me. “Damian. It’s good to see you again.” “How was Algeria?” “Fantastic.” He
Month: January 2010
They lowered the corpse onto the dinner table with more care than Vermillion thought necessary, and he was regaled with a foreshortened view, feet first, of the shabbily clothed test subject. Its nostrils felt noxious to him. They seemed, in a vile way, to be pricking at his conscience. One of the men handed Vermillion
Tip-tap, tip-tap, goes leather sole on cobblestones. He must hurry, he has one last errand to run tonight, and a steamer to catch in the morning. Still, he is calm, and careful, he threads his path across this city with the precision of a dance. Every action is meticulous – years ago, he had planned
‘So… are we there yet?’ Pettirosso stretched and yawned as he got off the futon. Barbagianni barely raised his gaze from his reading. ‘Feels like my back’s killing me, can this dump go any faster?’ ‘You know it can, but you also know we can’t afford detection, not when we’re approaching Casino space. We went
The girl in the garden has just lost a child and has realised, for the first time, how red blood is on a clean white dress. The bundle lies face down in deep grass with limbs splayed like a swastika. The girl has a long face and long eyelashes and she is crying. She closes