Chain of Vengeance: Chapter Five - Part Four & Five

 

Sam ran to his car, stubbed his fingers on the catch in his haste, threw the door open and jumped straight in. He was already lifting the clutch as he turned the key in the ignition.

The car shot forward, swerving out into the street. It smashed against a blue Audi parked on the other side, slicing paint right down its flank. There was a firework flicker of sparks before his car scraped clear with a thunk that shook the whole chassis.

He dropped to second, pressed his foot to the floor and jerked back in his seat when the turbo shot in. He didn’t change up again until the engine was roaring then he hit the accelerator down as far as it could go.

A corner came up to the right. Sam swung round it with as much momentum as he could, cursing that it slowed him, then changed down gear and punched it again.

 

 

5

 

 

Jack’s paintings were still intact, propped up against the brick wall beside the wheelie bin in the covered alley at the side of the house.

He lifted the first one, inspecting it for damage. It was the image of a woman standing on the side of a rain-drenched road, her children around her, staring upwards as the water soaked into her clothes. There was desperation in her eyes but a peace as well. It was clear that her predicament was hopeless from the way she was dressed, but the serenity in her expression was like that of an angel. He loved it. And it wasn’t damaged at all; none of them were really apart from a slight smudge or two of blur where water droplets had landed on the surface of the paint. That didn’t matter too much. He could touch them up when he had time.

He picked up the first three and took them inside, set them on the kitchen table and got the parcel tape and brown paper from the cupboard under the stairs. It wasn’t worth risking them being damaged further but he had to be quick. It was pure dumn luck he’d managed to get a cancellation ticket to San Francisco at such short notice and he had less than an hour to get there.