The main road was bustling with life as both vehicles and people sped around to their destinations, all of them in a great hurry. There were hundreds of people making their way down the pavements, in both directions, at a quick pace, while cars, bicycles and buses all shot down the road, as if their drivers’ had their feet flat to the floor on top of the accelerator pedal. In amongst everything was Matt – a businessman, on his lunch hour, and with time to kill until he was due back in the office. He was dressed up, too, despite the weather; he was sweating underneath his thick shirt and suit jacket. He couldn’t move quickly if he tried.
The helicopter touched down in the snow. The pilot stopped the blades, turned to the two passengers in the back and nodded. They slid the side door open and stepped down.
They scanned the area, but could see no sign of the man they were supposed to meet. They had no description of what the man looked like, but they couldn’t have missed him in such a sheltered spot.
Wayne screamed as he looked down to the ground. It was about fifty feet below him and the only thing that was stopping him from plummeting towards it at great speed was the fact that his ankles were being held (not that securely) by two burly men. Behind them, standing with his hands in his coat pocket – though Wayne couldn’t see that at this time – was Jackson, the man who had been after him for a good few days.
“You should stay here tonight,” Carrie said, pulling her boyfriend away from the door. John, who she had been seeing for almost eight months. He only lived over the road and around the corner – it took no more than ninety seconds to get from her house to his – but she didn’t want him to go. It was nothing to do with their relationship (of course, she enjoyed him staying over and she enjoyed staying over at his house), but rather with the danger that faced him on the other side of the door. “It’s long since gone dark. And you know what that means.”
He did. Death was in the air.
Julianne awoke suddenly. She didn’t remember where she was. This wasn’t her bedroom. She was sprawled across the mattress in one of the most awkward positions she had ever regained consciousness in and she was only just about covered by the duvet. She pulled it up over her body; she was naked underneath and, after a quick scan of the room, she could see her clothes on the chair on the far side of the room.
