August 2013
Jacob was furious with the woman. He snatched the bundle from her hands, and strode away, every step picturing his annoyance. He kicked a mangy dog out of his way. He disappeared into a dimly-lit, run-down pub, and Joe could see him drinking inside, sitting on the high stool, mumbling to himself. Joe sped to alert Bull. He knew that Jacob would most likely spend hours there drinking. Bull had just heard that there had been a riot at the prison, and that some prisoners had escaped by taking the guards as hostages. The cops had launched a massive man-hunt. They would probably search door-to-door. He suddenly remembered the police-car in his garage! That would give him away. He had to get rid of it before they found it. Joe crashed into Bull as he was hurrying round a corner. The impact knocked him to the ground. Bull hauled him up, and pulled him along, whispering:“Out with it! Found him?” Bull got the story, gave more coins to the boy, and sent him away. The lad took flight as fast as his spidery legs would take him. Bull was left with the hard choice of getting rid of the cop-car, or catching up with Jacob. He decided that the car had to come first. He made sure that the coast was clear before he backed it out of his garage in the dead of night. The neighbours were fast asleep. He drove confidently, knowing that no one would stop him. He headed out of town, along by-roads. He would take it deep into the forest on dirt-tracks and then either burn it or push it into the river. He braked and got out. He opened the gas-tank and was about to drop a live match into it, when a sharp voice rang out:- “Stop!” Shadows surrounded him, and held him captive. “A cop-car! It’s a cop-car, man! This here fella’s not a cop”. “What you doing with a cop-car, man?” “Hey, man, if you stole a cop-car, you must be cool”. They dragged him out of the shadows, and into the fringes of the forest. There were four of them, dressed in prison uniform. Bull recognised Lawrence. “You look different, man”, said Lawrence. Lawrence then explained to the others that he knew Bull, and that they could trust him. Lawrence was obviously the leader. They had a prolonged pow-pow, and it was unanimously decided that the first priority was to get rid of the police car. It went up in flames when the match caught the petrol. It also set the forest alight!
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