A lot has happened in the past few days. My foot is in a CAM boot for the next six weeks, Boss is in a secure hospital facility, and I’m still no closer to figuring out exactly what’s going on. To be honest, I’m not even sure who I’m working for here.
So… I found Boss under an oak tree opposite a pizza joint. She was wearing dark sunglasses, so I slipped mine on too, and a hat. It was way too hot to wear a hat, but it seemed we were incognito.
We walked in silence down the street to where her black RAV4 was parked, and we jumped right in.
Still silent, I figure we might be bugged. She put the radio on loudly and we took off, heading west.
“I’ve got a new job,” Boss said. “I need some more staff. You interested?”
I nodded. It’s hard to know what is real and what is not in this gig so I thought minimising talk would be best.
“Got a boss in Docklands now,” she said.
Now, she doesn’t have a boss. She is the boss. And I guess the docklands is where this energy fuel or whatever it is is arriving, is, well… arriving. And I guess we are receiving or intercepting, or something.
So we’re in this weird part of town that I’m not really familiar with. Docklands was redone a while back to entice people in with cafes and restaurants and stuff, but it’s just this unappealing concrete wasteland next to the city that seems to be only good for rave parties and rich-people boats.
We’re driving through this empty part of town, when – BAM – another black SUV rams into the side of us.
Boss is a great driver, and she does this 180° spin, ramming them back. Their windows are super dark, but I can see Billy from my local cop shop is behind the wheel. What the hell?? I don’t see anyone else in their vehicle, but now that Boss has rammed into Billy, and I’m all shaken up physically and mentally, I undo my seatbelt, thinking I may need to make a getaway, and I make myself invisible too.
Billy’s right behind us as we speed towards the docks.
Boss can’t see me, but obviously I’m still there. She tosses me a key with a tag on it with some numbers and it disappears into my invisibility.
“Coode Island,” she shouts out. “West side. Southern-most ship. Stop it.”
“How?” I shout back.
“Shipping container. South Coode. I’ll call your line tonight.”
And with that, she slowed down just enough for me to open my door and roll out.
That was also just enough for Billy to crash into her. And enough time for me to realise I couldn’t get up. My right foot was in immense pain. I rolled my ankle or broke it or something.
The cars are stationary. Neither Boss nor Billy are getting out. And I I’m not getting up in a hurry either.
I zipped the key safely in my pocket.
One good thing about being invisible, is that everything I handle is invisible too. I can still also see myself and my things. So I checked my watch, which appears super lo-fi, but is actually extremely high tech from HQ, and pulled up a map of the area. I was still a couple of kilometres from where I had to be.
Anyway, long story short, I hobbled the longest two kilometres of my life, causing further damage to my foot, and found the shipping container that matched the key. Inside was a black duffle bag full of explosives. Great. Just the thing I want to be responsible for.
I grab it. Take it to the ship. Set the fuse, and chuck it on board.
Bang. Bam. The works. Fireworks, that is.
I know I’m supposed to be dark, but I have to use my whizz-bang phone to contact HQ’s medical team, and before I know it, Boss and I are in HQ’s hospital, living the dream of jelly and ice-cream on demand.
I don’t know what’s happened to Billy yet, or why they were chasing us down, or how they even knew we’d be there. But that’s something I’m working on this week. That’s just one of many things I’m try to work out this week. And I don’t even want to think about my new career as an arsonist.