The guy gave him a full look, asked:
‘Do I look worried to you?’ Then he shot Terry three times in the stomach, said:
‘See, nothing wrong with it.’
Terry saw the blood seep out of his belly, ruining his good jeans, and he knew they’d be a bitch to clean, the guy said:
‘Gut shot, they say it’s agony, are they right?’
They were.
Then the guy leaned over, shoved Terry on the ground, and got out himself, he said:
‘Call this early retirement and here’s your bonus.’
Puttwo more in Terry’s skull. Stared at the body, said:
‘Golly gosh, that is messy.’
Hegot back in the car, eased into first gear, backed up, then drove carefully away. He was humming the theme from the Bridge over the River Kwai, always a favourite of his.
6
McDonald was freezing his nuts off. The cold weather had come with a goddamn vengeance and no matter where he stood, the cold seemed to seek him out, lash him. He was outside the Shopping Centre in Balham, wondering if he’d risk hopping off for a coffee when a group of hoodies passed, teenagers with the hoods pulled up to cover their faces. You couldn’t tell if they were male or female. As they moved by, one of them spat on his shoes.
He lost it, grabbed the figure, dashed him against the wall, said:
‘You want to play games, how’d you like this one, called headbanging.’
He let go and the hood had slipped, revealing a girl, in her late teens, her forehead pouring blood, one of the boys whined:
‘Why’d you do that?’
McDonald smiled, said:
‘Because I can, now get the hell out of here.’
They slumped off, muttering darkly. A pensioner had been watching and McDonald figured, here we go, the old geezer will report me. Did he care? Not a lot. The man said:
‘Let me shake your hand.’