Hummingbird (26 page)

‘Thanks honey,’ she breathed, ‘this way.’

They moved quickly across the roof to the fire escape that Chloe knew to be there and Dan grinned at her, ‘This time you go first.’

Chloe climbed down on to the ladder; before starting her descent she smiled at him and said, ‘I love you.’

‘Ah fuck it; I love you too, now go!’

Crazy!

Chloe laughed and Dan couldn’t believe it when he found himself laughing too; this really wasn’t the place to be laughing but he was just glad to still be alive.

‘Go!’ Dan said again and Chloe started down the ladder and Dan followed her as fast as he could. As Dan’s head disappeared below the level of the roof he saw the psycho again; fate had to be smiling down at them as it looked to Dan like the psycho was limping across the rooftop.

‘As fast as you can Chloe; we may just get out of this yet.’

They climbed down the ladder as fast as they could. Five minutes later; and with no more incidents Chloe said, ‘
We’re at the bottom, there’s a six foot drop to the ground so be careful.’

She dropped to the tarmac; bending her knees as she landed. Dan dropped after her and landed safely beside her.

‘What a rush,’ Chloe said with a huge grin on her face, her eyes were alight and Dan laughed.

‘That’s one way of putting it,’ Dan replied; resting his hands on his knees, bent over he took several deep breaths.

‘Aren’t you out of breath?’ Dan had noticed that Chloe didn’t appear to be suffering like him after their rooftop sprint.

‘I run eight miles every morning; that was a breeze.’

‘Where are we?’ Dan asked as he straightened up, ‘which way to the car, we don’t have much of a head start.’

‘We’re at the car,’ Chloe pointed over his shoulder. Dan turned to see the
Astin Martin parked at the curb ten feet away.

‘Brilliant, you’re a genius.’

‘I know.’

They walked over to the car and Chloe said, ‘Ah shit, look.’

Dan followed her lead and saw that the front right tyre had been blown out. He crouched by the wheel and then noticed the same thing had been done to the right rear tyre, ‘Ah fuck it,’ he said….

Second Chance excerpt:

Sheriff McClellen looked through the one way observation window at the man sat in the interview room. McClellen opened the manila file in his hands and quickly flicked through the first reports that had been compiled.

He rubbed one large calloused hand over the bridge of his nose and read the report right through; it wasn’t the first time he had read the contents of the file and once again he cast a glance at the unimposing white man sat calmly on a red plastic chair; the man was relaxed and to look at him you wouldn’t for one minute think that he was capable of doing the things in the report that
McClellen held in his trembling hands.

The door opened and one of his deputies stepped in to the room.

‘Have you read this Buster?’ McClellen asked.

The deputy nodded his head and peered in at the man in the interview room.

‘Hard to imagine the man in there is the same one as in the report,’ Buster said.

The Sheriff only nodded. ‘Gee-
Zus-Christ-on-a-stubborn-mule; thirty two dead!’

‘They’re still combing the site, there may be more,’ Buster responded, he watched the unimposing figure of the man through the one way mirror and then turned back to
McClellen, ‘I can’t imagine how he must be feeling, all that death, he doesn’t look like much of a killer does he?’

McClellen
closed the folder and tapped it against the meat of his left thigh.

‘Buster; I want the media black-out on this thing maintained until I have a better understanding of just what the fuck went on up there, anyone talks to the press and they’re fired; no review board hearings; they’re out on their ear.’

‘Yes sir,’ Buster said, ‘I’ll tell everyone to keep it all under wraps.’

‘I can’t believe something like this was going on right under our noses and we never picked up on it; never suspected a goddamn thing; those poor women.’
McClellen opened the file again, he looked at the report but he wasn’t seeing it; he was seeing the clearing with the first of the bodies; all that blood, it was like something out of a war film. ‘Fuck me,’ he said softly before clearing his throat.

‘Well, I best get this moving along, come get me if anything else breaks.’

‘Okay sheriff,’ Buster said.

McClellen
opened the door to the interview room and the man looked up from the table.

‘Hi George,’ the man said and
McClellen pulled out the chair on his side of the table and sat down. He adjusted his gun-belt and placed the folder down on the table.

‘Okay Mike, what the fuck happened?’

             
                                                        *****

Hertfordshire, ENGLAND.

Michael Simms awoke like he always did: before the alarm clock went off. The sunlight streaming through the bedroom window and on to his face felt nice; the warmth of the sun on his closed eyelids making him smile.

He stretched his legs and his foot touched the leg of another person, he sucked in a breath and held it deep in his lungs as his toes slid up the calf muscle of his unknown bed companion. The skin
felt smooth beneath his exploring digits and a murmur came from his companion followed by a muttered: ‘Just a couple more minutes.’

Michael’s eyes flew open and he saw who was next to him in the double bed and the breath that he had been holding exploded from his lungs and he let out a yelp; the sound of someone who has just been bitten or startled and he felt like both. He jumped involuntarily and his ass came down off the side of the bed and momentum took over and he was spilled on to the floor. His left elbow cracked against the bedside cabinet and he cursed. The summer duvet was tangled around his feet and he pulled that from the bed too which received a groan from his companion and then he was looking up in to beautiful green eyes as her face appeared over the side of the bed.

‘Morning sexy-pants, what startled you so bad?’ She was smiling at him and he couldn’t swallow, let alone answer, his mouth was dry and his tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth and his eyes were wide in shock and his bed-mate picked up on this and a concerned expression crossed her delicate features, a look he remembered all too well but hadn’t seen in many years. His heart was thundering away so fast that he could physically hear it beating against his ribcage.

Michael scanned the bedroom, a room he had loved but again hadn’t seen for years and then he was looking at her again as she sat up and he saw her naked breasts; her perfect breasts, and it was all too much for him. He screamed and half crawled, half scuttled across the bedroom floor and through the open doorway and into the en-suite bathroom. He kicked the door shut with the heel of his foot and engaged the lock. Michael leant back against the door, his breathing heavy. He could see his reflection in the floor to ceiling-wall to wall mirror on the wall opposite him. He looked back at himself and could see how pale he looked. He was also stark naked and he noticed that he had an erection.

He rubbed at his eyes with the heels of hands and took a couple of deep breaths.

A knock on the door made him cry out once more and then she was asking him if he was alright, to open up, that she was worried about him.

He yelped again and worked his tongue around his mouth and finally croaked, ‘I’m okay, I-I-I had a bad dream, that’s all.’

Instinctively he knew this answer would suffice as she was well aware that he suffered with nightmares.

She seemed to accept this explanation but caused him even more worry when she said: ‘Well open up, I need to pee chicken.’

Chicken, he hadn’t heard that term of affection for a long time and it brought a tear to his eye.

‘S-sure, just give me a sec.’

Michael padded across to the sink and twisted the cold water tap on and cupped his hands beneath the ice cold water and splashed it over his face. He repeated this three more times and then reached for a towel and dried his face.

‘I’m gonna wet myself out here.’

‘Right, sorry.’

Michael looked at his reflection and shook his head. He took a deep breath and then opened the door and his wife Beth came in, she was as naked as he was. She crossed to the toilet, lifted the lid and squatted down to pee. Michael was transfixed by her beauty and she looked up at him through the twisted strands of her black hair and smiled at him as she let go a stream of urine.

‘Baby you scared the shit out of me in there; you looked like you’d seen a ghost or something.’

Michael nodded his head and whispered, ‘Something.’

‘What was that?’

‘Nothing,’ he replied. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was even more beautiful than he had remembered and he was embarrassed by the fact that his erection was now even firmer than before and she noticed it and smiled mischievously and said: ‘Never knew me peeing turned you on so much.’

Michael laughed, it sounded manic and Beth must have heard something similar in his voice because she cocked her head to one side and said, ‘Michael, are you sure it was just a dream, you look scared out of your mind.’

‘No, no, it’s nothing, I’m fine, I’ll leave you to finish up.’

‘Okay, get back in the bed mister, I’m not in work ‘til ten and it’s only now coming up for seven.’ Beth watched as Michael stumbled from the bathroom and she said to his back. ‘I had a dream last night too and it’s made me horny.’

Michael let out a strangled laugh and staggered to the bed. He sat down and rested his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands and tried to think about what this all meant.

‘It means I’m fucking nuts; that’s what it means, I’m in a padded cell somewhere. Jesus this can’t be real.’

Michael sat up straight and looked around the bedroom, at all the familiar furniture, some of Beth’s clothes piled high on an old armchair. Her nurses uniform hanging on plastic hangers from the top of the curtain rail. The pictures on the walls and he began to think the impossible.

‘What’s the date today Beth?’ he called to her. He heard the toilet flush and then the faucets running. A half minute later his wife came in to the bedroom and again her nakedness made his breath catch in his throat.

‘What did you say?’ she asked as she bent forward to pick up the duvet. Michael’s eyes were transfixed by her large breasts swinging as she bent even further over and long forgotten memories came back to him. He had forgotten how she would tease him with her body, striking various poses, how she would take longer to get something from a bottom shelf if she knew he was watching her. The way she would cock her hips on occasion, putting one foot out to the side as she stood preparing dinner. How she would forget to wear knickers beneath her skirt when she was working in the garden. All the memories came flooding back, crashing over him like a giant tidal wave, enveloping him, he could feel himself drowning, and he was up and crossing the room, he reached her in two giant steps pulling her up straight and she yelped playfully knowing what was coming next but she didn’t know, she couldn’t know and Michael wrapped his arms around her back pulling her close in to him. He could feel her full breasts pressing against his chest. Her very large, hardened nipples poking at his flesh and he squeezed her tight and then he was kissing her neck and he was crying, warm tears spilling down his cheeks and he kept telling her over and over that he loved her, he loved her, he loved her.

Beth finally managed to get him to the bed and she snaked herself on to him and looked down at Michael as he looked up at her. She watched as her husband’s eyes roamed across her face and down her throat to her large breasts and she smiled down at him.

‘Look at you.’

‘What?’ he managed to reply.

‘You have this look on your face like you haven’t seen me naked before.’ Beth ran her fingers across his chest. She could feel his stiffness prodding against her swollen sex but so far he hadn’t tried to enter her. This was not at all like Michael, usually when she gave him even the slightest hint of interest he was all over her; it had gotten to the point recently where she was almost afraid to be naked around him as he seemed to want sex more than ever. She’d always known that her husband was very highly sexed but lately; the last few months, well, if she was going to be totally honest the last couple of years, she had found herself beginning to resent her husband’s pawing. All she had to do was give him the slightest green light and Michael was on her but here he was this morning and it was as if he was in no rush to get inside her and she actually found that this aroused her.

Beth leant forward so that the ends of her hair tickled his face and she licked her lips suggestively. Michael smiled at her.

‘Michael; are you sure that you’re okay, normally you can’t wait to fuck me.’ She said it playfully but there was a hint of disappointment and maybe accusation in her voice.