Dead Man's Grip

86

The traffic jam along the seafront was irritating Tooth. This had not been part of his plan. On his schedule he’d allowed a maximum of ten minutes for this section of the journey, but it had already taken twenty-two. And they were still barely moving in stop-start traffic that was being coned into a single lane by roadworks ahead.

The noise behind him was irritating him too, but it was keeping the kid distracted while he drove, so that was a good thing. He watched him in the mirror. The boy, in his red school blazer and wire-framed glasses, was concentrating hard on some electronic game.

Click. Beeehhh… gleeep… uhuhuhurrr… gleep… grawwwwwp… biff, heh, heh, heh-warrrup, haha…

Suddenly the kid looked up. ‘Where are we going? I thought we were going to the Drive? This isn’t the right way.’

Tooth spoke in his English accent. ‘I had a message that the address got changed. Your dentist is working at his other clinic today in a different part of the city, over in Regency Square.’

‘OK.’

Click. Beeehhh… gleeep… uhuhuhurrr… gleep… grawwwwwp… biff, heh, heh, heh-warrrup, haha…

The taxi’s radio crackled, then a voice said, ‘Pick up for Withdean Crescent. Anyone close to Withdean Crescent?’

From behind Tooth came, Twang… heh, heh, heh, grawwwwpppp…

They were getting closer now. In a few moments he would make a left turn.

Twang… eeeeeekkkk… greeeep… heh, heh, heh…

‘What game are you playing?’ Tooth asked, wanting the kid to feel OK, relaxed, normal, at least for the next couple of minutes.

‘It’s called Angry Birds. It’s ace. Have you played it?’

Concentrating now, Tooth did not reply. The Skoda taxi made a sharp left turn off the seafront into Regency Square. As it did so, Tooth sneezed, loudly, then sneezed again.

‘Bless you,’ Tyler said politely.

Tooth grunted. He drove up the square of terraced Regency houses, all painted white and in different stages of dilapidation, some divided into apartments and some converted into hotels. At the top he made a right, following the road around the grassy park in the middle of the square and then back down towards the seafront. He swung right into the entrance to the underground car park and partway down the ramp, had another fit of sneezing. He halted the car, sneezing again and pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket. He sneezed once more into it.

‘Bless you,’ Tyler said again.

The driver turned. Tyler thought the man was going to thank him, but instead he saw something black in the man’s hand that looked like the trigger of a gun, but without the rest of the weapon. Then he felt a hard jet of air on his face, accompanied by a sharp hiss. Suddenly he found it hard to breathe, and he took a deep gulp, while the air still jetted at him from the capsule.

Tooth watched the boy’s eyes closing, then turned and continued down the ramp, lowering his window, then removing the handkerchief from his face. He carried on winding down to the car park’s lowest level, which was deserted apart from one vehicle. His rental Toyota, with new licence plates.

He reversed into the bay alongside it.