Assassin: Part 3
Belfast was cold, but then again it was roughly aligned with Scotland, so what could I expect. Q put on a hat and we quickly hailed a cab, eager to meet Q's cousin, who was expecting us.
A red cab pulled over, a badger looking out at us.
"Where do ya wanna go?" He asked, Q told him the address and the badger nodded as we loaded our luggage and hopped in. The seats of the cab were stained with some sort of dark unidentifiable fluid, but I ignored it, trying to also ignore the feeling of anxiety that was rapidly rising within me. The cab driver drove quickly and somewhat recklessly, nearly sideswiping several other cars as we sped along the streets, the engine rattling noisily.
Q looked over at me, a faint expression of terror on his face and I looked back with a facial expression I'm sure was identical.
"You see that spot over there." The cab driver said, and I looked over, alarmed at how quickly we were going. There was a vacant lot, but before I could get a good look at it, we had passed it and were several blocks away, paying no heed to the needs of other motorists.
"Some thugs torched that building a few months ago, a few furs got roasted while trying to get out, but only a few of them died." I nodded, tempted to ask the cab driver to drop us off, we couldn't be far from Q's cousin's place, but then the cab started, mercifully, to slow and I knew that we had arrived.
We stepped out of the cab, Q handing the cab driver exact change, and me unloading our luggage, two duffels, mine white, Q's silver. I handed Q's duffel to him and he sighed.
"What a crazy old bastard, we almost crashed at least twice!" Q said, and I nodded, the ride had been unpleasant and I prayed that all of the cab drivers in Belfast weren't like ours.
"Well, this is the place." Q said cheerfully and started towards the house, which was painted green and had a small knocker shaped like a cross. Q walked briskly up the porch steps and knocked the door twice.
There was no answer and instead a sudden silence that made me feel uneasy.
"Maybe he's not here, he could have gone out to get something." I said, but Q shook his head slowly, looking nervous.
"Its Sunday, everything is closed on Sunday, and unless he suddenly fancied a walk and left, he's in there, probably snoozing." Q knocked again, then started feeling along the top of the door frame.
"What are you doing?" I asked as Q took something from the door frame.
"He keeps his key up there, we're letting ourselves in if we just sit here we'll look like a bunch of robbers." I nodded, I was already feeling cold, and didn't want to linger outside for much longer. Q unlocked the house and we stepped inside, but the moment I stepped over the thresh-hold, I knew something was wrong.
The house was much too dark for one thing, someone had turned off all of the lights, that in itself wasn't too suspicious, but the shades were drawn too and I felt the anxiety surge through me again.
"Q, somethings wrong." I said, then unzipped my duffel, I always carried a small flashlight with me when I travelled, and it came in handy when the power was out or when I was too frightened to cross the room to get at the light switches on the opposite wall.
"The house is too quiet, he usually leaves his telly on." Said Q as I switched on the light and advanced over to the light switches, taking one step at a time. I flipped the first light switch but nothing happened, same with the others. Feeling distinctly frightened, I flicked my beam up at the bulb in the ceiling, but only an empty hole stared down at me.
"We need to call the police." I said, my heart was beating very quickly, and it didn't help when the door suddenly closed.
"You've seen too much." A rough voice said from right behind me, then a weight slammed into my ear and I went out like a light.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART FOUR...