“Trouble in Store” – Short Stories my way: Annalisa’s story

It’s time to look at what’s been written for the unfortunate Annalisa, who had been caught up in a situation that is rapidly getting out of her control, not that she had it under control in the first place. Perhaps it’s time to start reassessing her bad boy phase and think about a new lifestyle.

Drugs, for her, were fun to begin with, but she can now see the effect they have on long term users, and the question will be, can she learn from this and move on?

Annalisa looked at the two men facing her.

Simmo, the boy on the floor, had told her that the shopkeeper would be a pushover, he was an old man who’d just hand over the drugs, rather than cause trouble for himself.

Where Simmo had discovered what the shopkeeper’s true vocation, dispensing drugs to the neighborhood addicts, she didn’t know, but it was not the first place like this they had visited.

She had always known Simmo had a problem, but he had assured her he had it under control. Until a month ago, when he had tried something new.

It had changed him.

The breaking point came earlier that day when, seeing how sick he was, she threatened to leave. It brought out the monster within him, and he threatened to kill her. Not long after he had changed into a whimpering child pleading with her to stay, that he hadn’t meant anything he’d said before.

All he needed was one more ‘score’ to get his ‘shit’ together, and he would do as she asked, and find help.

She believed him.

He said he knew a place not far from the apartment, a small shop where what he needed was available, and said he had the money.

That should have been the first sign he was not telling the truth because she had been funding his habit until her parents cut off the money supply. She suspected her father had put a private detective on to find her, had, and reported back, and rather than make a scene, just cut her off so she would have to come home or starve. Her father was no better than Simmo.

And, as soon as they stepped into the shop, Simmo pulled out the gun,

Instead of the shopkeeper cowered like Simmo said he would, he had laughed at them and told them to get out. Simmo started ranting and waving the gun around, then all of a sudden collapsed.

There was a race for the gun which spilled out of Simmo’s hand, and she won.

That was just before the customer burst into the shop.

It had been shortly before closing time. Simmo had said there would be no one else around.

Wrong again.

Now she had another problem to deal with, a man who was clearly as scared shitless as she was.

This was worse than any bad hair day, or getting out of the wrong side of bed day, this was, she was convinced, the last day of her life.

She heard a strange sound come from beside her and looked down. There was a trickle of blood coming out of his mouth and Simmo was making strange sounds like he was choking.

Any other time she might have been concerned, but the hard reality of it was, Simmo was never going to change. She was only surprised at the fact it took so long for her to realize it.

As for the man standing in front of her, she was safe from the shopkeeper with him around, so he would have to stay.

“No. Stay.”

Another glance at the shopkeeper told her she had made the right decision, his expression said it all. Gun or no gun, the moment she was alone with him, he would kill her.

The cinema of my dreams – It’s a treasure hunt – Episode 84

Here’s the thing…

Every time I close my eyes, I see something different.

I’d like to think the cinema of my dreams is playing a double feature but it’s a bit like a comedy cartoon night on Fox.

But these dreams are nothing to laugh about.

Once again there’s a new installment of an old feature, and we’re back on the treasure hunt.

…

I’m leaving town and not looking back

…

Three days later, after Nadia had disappeared, I was cleared to leave the hospital, almost fully restored.

It had been a strange three days, time enough to consider what happened to Nadia, and in the end, I had to conclude that she needed to get away from everyone and everything.

I wanted to believe she was back in Italy; among people she could trust. That notion of living a simple life in the vineyard that she proposed was now more appealing than going back to my old life working for the Benderby’s. There was no doubt in my mind that I would never be going back to that warehouse, or anything else to do with the Benderby’s.

Three days to finally come to the painful conclusion that I had done nothing with my life, and staying in town, it would just be more of the same, only lonelier now that Boggs had gone. Not even the prospect of seeing Nadia made it any better, not that was going to stay longer than she had to.

Boggs’s mother finally came to visit me, and, when I saw her, I had the awful feeling she was going to blame me. Perhaps I had already blamed myself because it was me who took him there, and if I had not, he would still be alive.

Nor did I believe he died in a fall, he was too good a climber for that to happen. Alex or Vince must have found him, and silenced him the only way they knew. He hadn’t deserved that, but, then, neither had we, but I guess when you try to keep a secret, it was the only way to ensure silence.

I knew the secret, and it was a question of how long I would survive before I was next on the list. Alex would never believe I could keep it to myself, and I had been safe in the hospital, but now I was leaving, it was only a matter of time before he made a move.

That gave me the impetus to make a decision that was in my best interests, to leave and never come back. That meant leaving my mother too, as hard as it would be, and for reasons she would never understand.

I told her that the day before.

She visited twice a day, and each time I tried to find the courage to tell her of my decision, and each time it was not possible. She was too happy that I was alive, and was making plans for the future, coming to the conclusion that life was too short, and putting things off until another day might mean they may never happen.

It was the same conclusion I’d come to, but with different ideas as to what it was I should not put off.

It took until the day before my discharge, and made easier with her news of a proposal from Benderby. Both had been cool to the idea of taking their relationship to the next level, but now it seemed he had a change of heart.

My devious mind found another reason, and it was not because he cared about her. It was more to do with silencing me, and her, putting us under his ‘protection’. It told me he knew about his son’s involvement, and it would be interesting to see what he did about Alex. My guess: nothing.

And was it wrong of me to hope Nadia would drive a stake into Alex’s heart?

She had just finished telling me about the second piece of news, my promotion, being in charge of the warehouse, rather than just being a clerk, a job I suspected normal people would have to wait years to attain. It cemented my suspicions of his motive.

“That’s Alex’s domain,” I said. “What’s he going to do? The last thing I need is him being resentful.”

“He’s going to be your stepbrother, Sam, and we’re hoping the two of you will play nice.”

“Did Alex get the memo?”

“It doesn’t sound to me like he will be the problem “

It was a recipe for disaster. And surprising that she should take Benderbys side. My mother seemed to have forgotten all those years of angst at school, and the fact Alex was little better than a bully. I guess, after the years of struggling after my father left us, she had to look out for herself.

It was my cue.

“You don’t have to worry about me anymore. I can look after myself.”

“I have no doubt you can. But you have to get along with others, Sam.”

“I will. But it won’t be here. When they finally let me go, I’m leaving town. There are just too many bad memories here now.”

I thought, while she was still wrapped up in the romance with Benderby, she’d just nod and move on.

Wrong.

She was genuinely upset with my decision. “Are you leaving with that dreadful girl?”

“She is not a dreadful girl. If that’s what Benderby is saying, he’s wrong. I got to know her, those days in the cave when hope was fading. That’s where you find the real person. But, no, I’m not. I don’t know where she is. I’m disappointed, but not surprised. By the way, Alex treated her very badly when she was his girlfriend, and back in school.”

“She would say that being a Cossatino.”

“And I’m sure the Benderby’s have nothing nice to say about them. Irrespective of the Benderby’s and the Cossatino’s hatred for each other, they are more the reason to leave rather than stay. But, more importantly, when time was running out in that cave, I realized all the things I hadn’t done, and why. I’ve wasted opportunities and years of my life and lost a very good friend, who, if I’m to be judged one day, let down terribly. That alone makes it impossible to stay here.”

“There’s a lot of good you can do here, Sam. And all of the Boggs’s spent too much of their time having after that non-existent pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You can’t feel sorry for them, father and son alike.”

Given what I knew, her admission was probably parroting the same sentiments as everyone else, and it was a fruitless search only in the fact that the treasure had been removed. I had no doubt it had been there once, and moved, or discovered many years before. Boggs’s father had found the resting place, and would have found the treasure. Ormiston had too. But would I tell anyone the truth, probably not?

But when I should have let it go, I didn’t. “There’s so much you don’t know, that no one knows and probably never will. You are entitled to your own opinion, I’m entitled to mine, and we’ll agree to disagree. All the more reason to leave, because all it’s going to do is upset me every time someone mentions Boggs or the treasure.”

She stood. I could see her ‘I don’t want to hear this’ face, and knew she’d long stopped listening to me. As far as she was concerned, I would come around in the end. There was no point arguing, I was just going to leave and worry about the consequences later.

…

The cinema of my dreams – I always wanted to go on a treasure hunt – Episode 61

Here’s the thing…

Every time I close my eyes, I see something different.

I’d like to think the cinema of my dreams is playing a double feature but it’s a bit like a comedy cartoon night on Fox.

But these dreams are nothing to laugh about.

Once again there’s a new installment of an old feature, and we’re back on the treasure hunt.

…

A late picnic

…

We spoke no more of bloodlines, and instead spread out the surprises she had brought. Cheeses, cured meats, her mother’s creation learned long ago in the mother country, and wine from their Italian winery.

As a quirk of fate, she had lined the basket with old copies of treasure maps, and after indulging in the food and wine, looked them over.

There were six different maps, each with a different detail as to where the treasure might be buried. One had it on the edge of the lake, a lake by the way that had now disappeared, another at the foot of the hills, identified by a cutting high above the spot.

Another was on the mountainside, after following a track alongside the non-existent lake and past several buildings, one appearing to be a church.

I knew where that church was, not almost a ruin, but it was not alongside a lake or anything that might have been a lake in the past. Or it could have been another church, definitely a ruin and gone, in a different place.

This was the problem interpreting maps that were drawn, purportedly, in the late eighteenth century when the land would be pristine and roamed over by native Americans. It was why some of the maps had the word Seminole on them, to identify the land, perhaps, or the people.

While I should have been listening to the history, I didn’t, and therefore missed the fact that a lot of the Indians had died out before the pirate captain arrived with his treasure, or whatever he might have buried, if in fact, he came at all.

I was beginning to have doubts.

Of course, the Spaniards were lurking around those parts too, and they were all about treasure, especially that stolen from South America but that was centuries before. Was the pirate captain Spanish or part Spanish perhaps?

Questions, nothing but questions.

“Those coins that were found of the coast. Were they Spanish?”

“Good question.”

“It seems the Spaniards were here, once upon a time. Anything is possible.”

The joke, or irony, would be that if there was a treasure, it was off a Spanish ship that ran aground in a storm off the coast, and all of the maps and rumors were true, but for a very different reason.

That brought to mind a recent discovery of coins elsewhere in Florida, and I couldn’t help thinking that Boggs had also heard about the discovery and had conjured up in his mind that the treasure his father had been seeking existed and had embarked on this odyssey.

“I’ve got a couple of metal detectors,” Nadia said. “Maybe we should go wandering along the shoreline and see what there might be.”

“I’m sure it’s been done to death already.”

She smiled. “I’ve got nothing better to do, have you?”

“Sleeping in.”

“You can do that when you’re dead. Until then, there’s a treasure to be found. I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning, about 10ish.”

Treasure! I was beginning to hate it.

She tossed the leftovers into the basket and dragged herself off the floor when we finished up. “I’ll let you get back to work.”

…

Searching for locations: Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown is as much about skiing in Winter as it is hiking in Summer or any other time. It is, in fact, the ideal place for a holiday any time of the year.

We have stayed there simply to relax, though with all that scenery, and stuff to do, it’s nearly impossible to stay indoors all the time.

Usually, we stay in a place called Queenstown Mews, not far from the lake, and it gives us the perfect opportunity to walk down to the lake and follow the shoreline around to the town, and have coffee and cake as a fitting reward for the exercise.

Along the way, there is the view of the Remarkables:

And, further around, behind the park and gardens, a spectacular view across the lake towards Walter Peak farm:

To get to the farm you can either drive a very, very long way or take the T.S.S. Earnslaw, otherwise known as the ‘Lady of the Lake’.

This vessel plies Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown to mostly Walter Peak Farm but has been known, on occasions, to go to Kingston or Glenorchy.

Here it’s sitting at the pier at Queenstown, ready to depart for Walter Peak Farm.

earnslaw1

And this is it returning to Walter Peak Farm to take the visitors back to Queenstown.

earnslaw2

We have been to Walter Peak Farm for Afternoon Tea and Dinner, and both occasions were an amazing experience. You can also get up close and to the animals

There are other experiences to be had in Glenorchy. and the views whilst driving there are every bit as spectacular, especially as late afternoon settles in:

And in visiting the Lord Of the Rings filming locations.

Then there is Kingston, where the road follows the lake and you are literally between the mountains and the lake:

Kingston used to have a train running, which then became a tourist attraction, but for the moment does not seem to be running currently.

But for me, the real experiences is travelling on the vessel.

Not bad for 103 years old.

The cinema of my dreams – It’s a treasure hunt – Episode 83

Here’s the thing…

Every time I close my eyes, I see something different.

I’d like to think the cinema of my dreams is playing a double feature but it’s a bit like a comedy cartoon night on Fox.

But these dreams are nothing to laugh about.

Once again there’s a new installment of an old feature, and we’re back on the treasure hunt.

…

Alex is a problem

…

My mother didn’t return after the sheriff and Charlene left, and it didn’t bother me as much as it should.

What did bother me was the extent Alex, and no doubt his new best friend Vince, had muddied the water, but they did have a week to get their stories straight.

A point taken out of the interview with Charlene: any evidence of Boggs father or Ormiston had been removed, along with the pirate skeletons and anything also that could be identified.

No one would believe us if we said we saw them, we would be classed as delusional, and probably not without reason.

Another point, we had not been tied up when we were recovered, and there were no noticeable marks, or at least couldn’t be explained away. It was obvious they had come back, not only to cleanse the site but to make our deaths look more natural.

The last, for that moment, was the fact no one went looking for us after Alex said we had run away together.

The question that had to be asked, was what eventually prompted the police to start looking for us, and why was it in the cave system? I had not exactly alluded to where it was.

I heard the door to my room open and shut and rolled over, expecting a nurse.

It was Charlene, alone this time, leaning against the door.

“What are you not telling me?”

“What else is there to say? Apparently, Alex knows more about my situation than I do, so you have to ask yourself, how that’s possible.”

“You tell me.”

“So you can take anything I say to the Benderby’s so they can use it against me? I’m not surprised the Benderby’s have got you doing their dirty work for then. After all, your father is up for re-election, and needs their support to stay in office.”

A furrowed brow and dark look told me I was on dangerous ground. Implying the sheriff was in Benderby’s pocket wasn’t the best idea, even if it was rumored to be true.

“What exactly are you implying?”

Brittle tone, time to back down. “Nothing. You managed to get a good result from a bad situation, except for poor Boggs. What happened to him?”

“Slipped and fell, the medical examiner believes. No signs of foul play if that’s what you’re asking?”

“Where?”

“On the rocks at the foot of the cliff leading up to the ledge and cave entrance, in full climbing gear. Had we not found him there, we would not have found you. We assumed since he didn’t find the treasure, he left, leaving you two behind.”

It fitted the story, no doubt seeded by Alex. And reasonably true, to a certain extent. He had left us, but not out of pique.

“You could say he was disappointed.”

“What happened, because I don’t understand why you didn’t leave at the same time.”

“Boggs was there for the treasure. We wanted to do more exploring, ended up getting lost.”

It was a logical explanation and would fit her narrative. I didn’t see the point of throwing any curve balls.

I could see her processing.

“You mustn’t think very much of me Sam.”

“Whatever gives you that idea?”

“I don’t think I’ve heard one word of truth from you so far. I know something happened in that cave, and you were not the only people involved. Alex can’t lie to save himself, and Vince Cossatino, well, stark staring bonkers doesn’t begin to describe him. They’re mixed up in this somehow, and I can’t do anything about it unless you tell me the truth.”

“An old newspaper adage I once heard sums up what I think appropriately describes this situation you find yourself in. Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story. You can draw any picture you want, but we both know the person with the best lawyers will win the day, irrespective of what you think happened or what actually happened. It might be a different story if you found us dead, but you didn’t.”

“There’s Boggs. He didn’t make it, and I’m not convinced he fell to his death. I found a climbing expert to review the gear, the site, and the body. Boggs was left-handed wasn’t he?”

Perhaps I might have misjudged her, and her tenacity for investigating. But, there was a problem. “Ambidextrous when climbing, right-handed when playing most sports. The guy was an enigma at times, and a bit of a daredevil.”

“Still…”

“You’re going to need more than that before casting aspersions that will destroy his mother if she’s not already there.”

“I don’t get it, Sam. Why won’t you help me?”

“No point. We both know who runs this town, always has. You were at school the same as I was, and Alex was always untouchable. You don’t want to make an enemy of him. I did and look where it got me.”

“I have a job…”

“The wrong job, or maybe the wrong place. There’s a reason why your father is not pushing this. Alex will get what he deserves, perhaps sooner rather than later.”

“You think the Cossatino’s will exact their own justice? That’s not going to happen. At the moment the Cossatino’s and the Benderby’s are like peas in a pod.”

That was disconcerting news, and I wondered how Nadia had taken that.

“How is Nadia, by the way?”

“She’s apparently taken a vow of silence. I suspect the first visit from her father was to warn her against making any accusations. She hasn’t told us anything, except how you convinced her that she would be rescued. It must have been terrible.”

Worse. Not knowing if anyone would come, and as time passed, that feeling this was your time to die. I had gotten to the point where I regretted wasting all those years after leaving school and doing nothing. The fact my mother needed me had made that decision all too easy, but now I realized, she hadn’t needed me, that she was contented with her two suitors and remaining just out of reach, playing them against each other.

A commotion outside the door took my mind away from those thoughts, and seconds later Alex came into the room.

“You shouldn’t be here, Alex,” Charlene said, standing between him and me.

“You don’t know your place, Charlene, and that’s not here. Go play detective somewhere else.”

“You want to be careful Alex.”

“Or what? You’ll get your father to sort me out?” He laughed. “So naive and stupid. We own him, and he’ll do what he’s told. As will you. Now, get out before I throw you out.”

I watched her consider how she was going to respond, even to the point of telling him off, but there was that hesitation, confirmation of what I’d just told her, which was far worse than I suspected. Then, a shake of the head, and, “I’ll be just outside, you do anything, I’ll be a witness “

Brave, but pointless. He shoved her out, and closed the blind, and the door.

“So Smidge, you’ve been spreading lies.”

“Have I ? What lies, specifically?”

“Your mother came around and told my father Vince and I tied you up and left you for dead “

“Rather accurate, don’t you think?”

“Lies, Smidge. The result of our differences perhaps, but whatever the reason, don’t repeat them again. Not if you want a ton of bricks to rain down on you, literally.”

So my mother had gone straight to Benderby. No surprise there, but was it because she cared, or was she reporting my comments?

“I wouldn’t be worried about me, Alex. You have bigger problems to deal with.”

“Oh? I don’t think so, if you’re referring to Nadia. We have a deal with the Cossatinos. If she says anything, they’ll deal with her.”

“In all the time you dated her, Alex, did she show you her true colors?”

“She’s just a stupid girl like all the rest. What are you talking about?”

There was no hint of concern, and that might just be his Achilles heel. If I could just sow a few seeds of doubt in his mind…

“I’d run Alex. As far and as fast as you can.”

The door crashed open and the Sheriff came in, red-faced and very angry.

“Get out Alex.”

“Do you need to be reminded who you are talking to?”

The sheriff apparently didn’t, and with one punch propelled Alex across the room and into the wall, before he crashed to the ground. He wisely stayed on the floor, as the sheriff was standing over him, ready for round two.

“My father will hear about this,” he said, pulling out his phone.

“He will. I have two witnesses who will testify you threw the first punch and were resisting a direct order to leave. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay put and shut your mouth.”

Alex did.

He turned to me. “Where’s Nadia?”

“Last I heard she was in a hospital bed.”

“She left “

“You talk to her parents?” Alex joined the conversation. Perhaps he was hoping that was the case. I didn’t think it was.

“They’re surprised. We have CCTV footage of her leaving, alone. I ask again, Sam, where is she?”

“What makes you think I would know where she is.”

“You were alone with her in that cave, in a near-death situation. People tend to confide their deepest innermost secrets at such a time.”

“Not with me. The girl is as much an enigma to me as she is to everyone else. But one thing she did say, she’s nothing like her parents, so much so, she reckoned they adopted her.”

“Not helping Sam.”

I looked over at Alex. “You should ask the sheriff to put you in protective custody, Alex.”

He snorted in disbelief, obviously remembering what I’d said earlier.

The sheriff picked up on it. “Why would you say that?”

“Sometimes it’s what is not said that is most telling.”

“Then you’re saying that Alex and Vince had something to do with you being left in that cave because for the life of me, I can’t understand why you didn’t just walk out of there. I don’t believe for one minute you got lost, Sam. Not you. I know you.”

He might, but Alex was still in the room and it was still unfounded allegations. But there was a slight look of panic on his face.

“Well, believe it or not, that’s what happened. I would appreciate it if you took Alex away, and stopped him from harassing me. As for Nadia, if she has any sense, she should go back to Italy. For what it’s worth, she won’t go back to the Grove, that isn’t home to her, but she might go back to her hotel room.”

I told him which hotel and the room number, and told him to leave and take Alex with him. I suggested protective custody, just in case, but neither seemed to think he would need it, which left me with a curious notion, did the sheriff want Nadia to take care of a problem he couldn’t.

…

The cinema of my dreams – Was it just another surveillance job – Episode 5

I’m back home and this story has been sitting on a back burner for a few months, waiting for some more to be written.

The trouble is, there are also other stories to write, and I’m not very good at prioritising.

But, here we are, a few minutes opened up and it didn’t take long to get back into the groove.

Is it going to be revenge or just plain bewilderment?

There were protocols to handle every situation. It’s why I was stuck in a room with a dozen others for nearly six months, learning the ropes.

That’s what Alex called it. He’d also said it was a waste of time because by the time we made it out into the field all the bad guys would be locked up. Patience wasn’t one of his virtues.

That’s why Alex didn’t make it through the first cut.

It had been a long six months but it had been worth it when ten of us out of the original intake of 24 made it. I considered myself lucky.

Now three of those men were missing, and I believed they were dead, or if not dead, incapacitated. This was our first live mission. We had been excited but held that in check. We could celebrate our first mission together, and then if it was a success.

At this moment, in my mind, it was anything but a success.

And my anger was building. I kept the target in sight, and once or twice he nearly slipped away, but I knew the area having studied the maps the day before. I liked to know what it was like on the ground, and if it was the target’s home turf, then I didn’t want him to have the advantage.

It was those little things, our instructor said, that could make a difference.

It did.

I knew or thought I knew where he was going.

At some point, I was going to have to take a chance, and head him off. It also meant I might lose him, but I had a point on the map where I believed if he didn’t go where I was anticipating, he’d still be within range to find him again.

Time.

He went right, I went straight ahead.

His most likely destination, the train station. His training wasn’t much different from mine. After a calamity, look to make an unexpected exit. There were buses, but they led basically to the same place.

Five minutes, and I’d know.

I came out on the main street that ran alongside the train tracks, the station was behind me, and he would have to pass me to get there.

There was also a dead end lane between him and me, and that was where I would corral him.

Almost a minute passed, and it was too long. Two. The thought of possibly being wrong leapt into my mind, along with the sickening feeling in my stomach of failure.

Two and a half. I took several steps in his possible direction, then I saw him turn the corner. I stepped back and out of sight. I needed him to get to the lane entrance before I made a move.

He was wary and looking around. He knew I was on his tail.

As he approached the laneway, I stepped out and started walking slowly towards him. It took a few steps before he realised it was me, and stopped. Was he surprised at my enterprise, or shocked.

Predictably he turned into the lane.

I ran.

At the entrance to the lane, I stopped and saw him reach the dead end. There was no climbing over the fence at the end,. Nor were there any ladders or climbable points either side.

He would have to get past me.

I had him, and he knew it.

I always wanted to see the planets – Episode 10

Now, that was unexpected…

…

Like everyone who was in that artificially silent environment that was the flight deck of a shuttle, unexpected sounds caused unexpected results.

The Engineer cursed.

The Pilot, Myrtle, hesitated for a moment, as if not quite sure what to do, highlighting the fact she had not been in such a situation before, but quickly recovered, and brought up the incoming object on screen.

Note to self: amend the training program to allow for random objects to come out of nowhere.

We all looked at the object. Myrtle should have been taking us into the freighter, but had got overawed by the not easily identifiable ship approaching.

“Our ship will take care of the problem,” I said. “Take us into the freighter.”

As if surprised that she should be asked to do so, she realised it was not her job to be staring at the screen, and muttered, “Oh, yes,” before resuming our passage.

Another note to self: Proper command structures and language should be used at all times.

A minute or so later we were in the cargo bay and the cargo doors were closing. Once closed and the atmosphere adjusted, the deck would become a hive of activity.

There was still a static picture of the craft on the screen, and it was one I’d seen before, an old vessel that dated back over a hundred years. I’d seen it in a space museum on the moon.

I was tempted to ask the Captain what was happening, but knew that to interrupt would not be worth the reprimand.

The engineer had seen one before too. “You don’t see those craft very often, if at all. Or this far out in space. They only had a limited trave distance, didn’t they?”

“Unless someone had been tinkering.” Several had been built as exploration ships, but the majority were freighters, used to build the outer colonies on the nearest planets.

A new drive would enable it to travel to the outer rim of our galaxy, but not much further if there were no readily available fuel supplies. Those that were available were tightly regulated by space command.

Cargo doors closed, deck pressurised, suddenly the whole deck was alive with people and machinery, our people meeting with the freighter crew and arranging for the cargo for Venus to be loaded. Myrtle was to stay with the shuttle, monitoring the loading.

I went down the ramp and was greeted by the first officer of the freighter, a chap I’d once served with, Jacko Miles. Jacko loved being in space, but no longer interested in the machinations of Space Command. The simple life of a freighter first officer was all he desired.

Except his face, right now, had the visual lines of worry.

“What happened?” We were past the usual introductions, and general bonhomie.

“Stopped, boarded, and a crate removed.”

“What was in the crate?”

“No one is saying, but whatever it was, it must have been important to attack us for it.”

My private communicator vibrated in my pocket. The captain was calling, and didn’t want anyone else listening in.

“Just give me a moment,” I said taking the communicator out of my pocket and answering the call. “Yes sir?”

“We have a problem.”

And in that moment, I had to agree with him. Jacko now had his hands in the air, and behind him were two people with handheld weapons trained on him, and me.

…

The cinema of my dreams – Was it just another surveillance job – Episode 5

I’m back home and this story has been sitting on a back burner for a few months, waiting for some more to be written.

The trouble is, there are also other stories to write, and I’m not very good at prioritising.

But, here we are, a few minutes opened up and it didn’t take long to get back into the groove.

Is it going to be revenge or just plain bewilderment?

There were protocols to handle every situation. It’s why I was stuck in a room with a dozen others for nearly six months, learning the ropes.

That’s what Alex called it. He’d also said it was a waste of time because by the time we made it out into the field all the bad guys would be locked up. Patience wasn’t one of his virtues.

That’s why Alex didn’t make it through the first cut.

It had been a long six months but it had been worth it when ten of us out of the original intake of 24 made it. I considered myself lucky.

At this moment, in my mind, it was anything but a success.

It was those little things, our instructor said, that could make a difference.

It did.

I knew or thought I knew where he was going.

Time.

He went right, I went straight ahead.

Five minutes, and I’d know.

I came out on the main street that ran alongside the train tracks, the station was behind me, and he would have to pass me to get there.

There was also a dead end lane between him and me, and that was where I would corral him.

Almost a minute passed, and it was too long. Two. The thought of possibly being wrong leapt into my mind, along with the sickening feeling in my stomach of failure.

Two and a half. I took several steps in his possible direction, then I saw him turn the corner. I stepped back and out of sight. I needed him to get to the lane entrance before I made a move.

He was wary and looking around. He knew I was on his tail.

As he approached the laneway, I stepped out and started walking slowly towards him. It took a few steps before he realised it was me, and stopped. Was he surprised at my enterprise, or shocked.

Predictably he turned into the lane.

I ran.

At the entrance to the lane, I stopped and saw him reach the dead end. There was no climbing over the fence at the end,. Nor were there any ladders or climbable points either side.

He would have to get past me.

I had him, and he knew it.

I always wanted to see the planets – Episode 10

Now, that was unexpected…

…