Chapter 15 – A close call
Four cars slid to a halt outside our house. Sixteen doors silently opened and sixteen lithe, muscular men and women slid out of those doors like well-oiled robots. All wearing identical dark suits with bulges under the armpits where their twin holsters sat. Their faced were fixed. They strode forward with intent.
Four took up station at the front of the house and seemed to melt into the background like chameleons. The other twelve glided up the drive to the back of the house. There were no words exchanged. They all seemed to know exactly what they were doing. They fanned out to cover the back, checking the outbuildings and then homing in on the house itself. They noted that it was dark and quiet. But that meant nothing. One rang the doorbell. There was no response. The locks presented no barrier to them. They opened both front and patio doors and walked in. Methodically they checked every room and then glided back out again.
The house was empty.
They silently moved back to the cars. The four at the front joined them. Sixteen doors silently opened and they slid back in. After a few seconds the four cars pulled out, separated and began to slowly cruise through the village.
Little did they know that if they had arrived ten minutes earlier they would have found Liz and the kids locking up to head off down main street. Even as they were searching the house Liz was saying goodbye to Mandy and she and the kids were turning to walk up the back lane.
One of the cars turned right at the post office and headed up the back street. It crawled slowly past Mandy’s house. Sam was standing at the gate and watched it crawl past. He saw the cold eyes peering out of the windows and almost let out a growl. He did not like what he was seeing. Those eyes did not feel nice.
The car cruised to the end of the road and stopped where the tarmac ended. The lane went off from there and was a rutted cow track. They did not even try to go down there. If they had they might have rounded the first bend just fifty yards down and seen Liz and the kids walking apprehensively towards the end of the lane in their bewildered haze.
Instead the car backed into the entrance of the chicken farm and turned round.
Science Fiction books:
Ebola in the Garden of Eden – paperback £6.95 Kindle £2.56 (or free on unlimited)
Green – paperback £9.98 Kindle £2.56 (or free on unlimited)
Rock Music books
In Search of Captain Beefheart – paperback £6.91 Kindle £1.99 (or free on unlimited)
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Other selected books and novels:
Anecdotes-Weird-Science-Writing-Ramblings – a book of anecdotes mainly from the sixties and other writing.
More Anecdotes – following the immense popularity of the first volume I produced a second
Goofin’ with the cosmic freaks – a kind of On the Road for the sixties
The book of Ginny – a novel
In Britain :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1461306850&sr=1-2-ent
In America:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=opher+goodwin
In all other countries around the world check out your regional Amazon site and Opher Goodwin books.
Ah, the chameleons! Builds up well.
Good. You never know how it reads with other people. Thanks for that Georgina.