TURKISH DELIGHT by Barry Faulkner (learn to read activity book .txt) 📕

‘You are?’

‘Yes, a very simple job that will wipe the slate clean between us; and, if you accept it and complete it, you will never hear from me, or wife, again. That’s a promise, and I always keep my promises.’ He took a deep breath before continuing with a sad shake of his head. ‘Unfortunately, love is blind, Mr Nevis. You have met my wife – who wouldn’t fall in love with such a creature? But only in the harsh light of day after the honeymoon, one comes to realise that the inside of a person is not all they seem on the outside. With her two previous husbands in the ground I do not intend to become my wife’s next financial benefactor and little mourned third husband. I want you to kill my wife, and I will give you one million pounds when you do.’

I was stunned. I had two people both wanting me to kill each other, and both willing to pay big money for it. I hadn’t any choice with Nicholas Rambart’s offer, it wasn’t negotiable – I took the job or I was brown bread. No way would he let me out of this office if I refused; I’d probably go out as a stiff rolled up in my own rather threadbare carpet, be weighted down and dropped into the Thames under cover of darkness, or maybe taken somewhere else more convenient to be incinerated or dumped into a vat of acid. I only had the one option if I wanted to live.

‘I have no choice, do I?’ I said in a resigned manner.

‘No, you don’t. Giving people choices is not my stock in trade, Mr Nevis, and obviously you wish to continue living – so no, you are right, you have no choice.’ He stood and looked down at me. ‘There is no time limit on it, Mr Nevis, but I would hope you would have completed the task in a month. If not, I may get a little worried – and I can assure you, Mr Nevis, you don’t want that.’ And with a curt nod of the head, he and his goons were gone.

It took me several minutes of thought, weighing up my options to come to the conclusion that I didn’t have any – well, just one really, I had to kill Eve Rambart or I was as good as dead myself, and I had to kill Nicholas Rambart or lose a million quid, and maybe have her come after me. On top of that had to keep my word to Woodward, or I was bound for the Scrubs. Amazing how your life can change completely in a few days. I called Gold.

‘Yeah?’

‘What’s happening?’

‘I’m following your guests.’

I didn’t understand. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I’d pulled up down the road on my way in to your office and saw the three of them get out of a posh limo and go in the building. Pretty obvious they weren’t the sort of visitor you normally have, so I took a peep and saw the one standing guard outside your door, did an about turn and waited in my car. I guess you had a visit from Mr Rambart?’

‘Yes.’

‘Okay, don’t tell me about it now as I’m following their limo – we are going through Streatham. I’ll give you a call when we arrive at wherever it is we’re going.’

‘Okay, take care. My first impression is that he’s not a very nice man.’

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CHAPTER 7

Night was lowering its dark blanket as I pulled up behind Gold’s car on an unlit road on a large industrial estate in Purley. She had texted me the street name and my sat nav had done its job. I slipped out of my car and into hers.

‘I’m starving,’ was the greeting I got. ‘What did you bring?’

I gave her the egg mayonnaise sandwich and an orange drink carton I’d bought on the way; she’d asked me to bring food and drink as she hadn’t had either since the morning and now it was late. I could have got there earlier but I wanted to take a good look at this place, and I worked best in the dark.

‘See that big grey warehouse building at the end of the street?’ she mumbled through a mouth full of egg mayonnaise. ‘That’s where they went. There’s a security pod at the gate so if we want to take a good look around it’ll have to be from the side or back. This estate is pretty new so I would assume the buildings have good alarm systems.’

I agreed, ‘If Rambart is dealing arms I would bet he’s got a state of the art one installed. You stay here I’m going for a walk round.’

‘Not without these you’re not,’ she said, hauling her shoulder bag over from the back seat and giving me the earpiece, mic and battery belt pack. I set myself up as she did the same and we tested it. All systems go, we could hear each other and talk to each other.

I left the car and walked towards the building, I often thought I should get a dog – people wouldn’t take any notice of a bloke walking his dog, but a bloke walking on his own in an industrial estate at night could create some interest from security people.

The gatehouse, or security pod as Gold had called it, was very professional, sitting behind a pair of solid metal bar twelve foot-high gates that opened on runners set in the concrete ground. Floodlights from the roof of the warehouse twenty meters behind illuminated the whole area, and their glare blinded my view of it. What must be Rambart’s car was parked at the side of the gatehouse. I waited outside the scope of the floodlights, trying