AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Lots of flowers,” he said in kneejerk fashion, reacting to the colorful window boxes.
“Perhaps that’s why it’s called Floral Street,” he said dryly.
The SUV stopped halfway down the block. The street was just wide enough for one car to pass and one row of parking. A Thai restaurant was so close that Theo could have practically reached out and touched the plate-glass window. Several stories above street level, a covered walkway stretched from one side of the street to the other, like a twisted ribbon tied between buildings. It reminded him of the modern version of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, pictures of which he’d come across in his macabre research on capital punishment while on death row.
“What is that?” he asked, pointing.
“The Bridge of Aspirations,” Benjamin said.
“Aspirations of what?”
“The building on the left is the Royal Ballet School. Across the street is the Royal Opera House. All student dancers who pass through that tunnel in the sky aspire to greatness with the Royal Ballet.”
That sounded a whole lot better than the Bridge of Sighs and a prisoner’s last view of the Venice canals before execution.
“Why are we at a ballet school?”
Benjamin chuckled. “Aballet school? You meantheballet school.”
“Okay, why are we attheballet school?”
“This is where Amongus Sicario wants us to meet him.”
Theo would have expected a guy like Amongus to pick an East End strip club, but he could go with the flow.
A motor scooter passed. A pigeon landed on the hood of the SUV. The driver cursed and shooed it away with the honk of his horn, and then he fixed his gaze on the entrance to the ballet school, which was four stories below the Bridge of Aspirations. After several more minutes, the glass door swung open. A man dressed in a business suit walked out. He was holding the hand of a preteen girl whose hair was in the classic ballet bun. They acted like father and daughter, and there was enough physical resemble to lead Theo to believe that they were. Behind them was another man dressed in a suit. He rivaled Theo in stature. Clearly a bodyguard.
“There they are,” said Benjamin.
“Who?”
“We’re sharing a ride.”
“With them?”
Benjamin glanced over his shoulder at Theo, his voice taking on an edge. “Don’t ask questions.”
Benjamin climbed out and closed his door. As Theo watched him walk around the front of the SUV, the locks clicked inside. Benjamin had locked all doors with the keyless remote. Theo tried his door, but the child-lock system had him trapped.
Don’t ask questions.It wasn’t just a change in Benjamin’s tone. Theo thought he’d detected a slight change in the accent, too.
Theo watched through the windshield as Benjamin stepped onto the sidewalk to meet the man and the girl. They clearly knew each other. Benjamin led them to the passenger side of the SUV, tapped on Theo’s window, and said, “Scoot over.”
Definitely a change in the accent. Less British. A hint of Russian.
“Moveover,” he said again, more firmly.
Theo had been in bad situations before, and his antennae were on high alert. But his options were limited. He was locked inside the vehicle and unarmed. He glanced through the window at the girl’s face. She was smiling, which seemed to weigh against his suspicions of funny business. He slid across the bench seat until he was directly behind the driver’s seat. Benjamin manually unlocked the rear door on the passenger side only, but not Theo’s door. The passenger-side door swung open, and Theo’s fears became reality.
Benjamin pivoted with the precision of Baryshnikov and thrust a metal probe of some sort into the bodyguard’s arm. The huge man shrieked like a wounded animal and collapsed to the sidewalk, writhing like a Taser-gun victim. As the girl screamed, another man launched from behind a parked vehicle, broadsided the girl’s father, and pushed him into the backseat. He kept pushing until the man was nearly in Theo’s lap. Then he jumped in the car and pulled the door closed, sandwiching the girl’s father between him and Theo and leaving the girl alone with the writhing bodyguard on the sidewalk. Benjamin jumpedinto the front passenger seat, never unlocking the doors on the driver’s side, and climbed over the console to get behind the wheel.
“Go!” his accomplice shouted. He was wearing a black ski mask and pressing a gun to the hostage’s head and, at that moment, Theo realized who it was.
FungusAmongus.
The tires squealed as the SUV launched from the parking space and barreled down Floral Street, passing several restaurants and a pub at the corner. They entered a large, multilane roundabout, and Benjamin steered his way through traffic like a Formula 1 driver, the SUV weaving between vehicles at ever-increasing speed. A siren blasted behind them.
“Police!” said Benjamin.
