Читать книгу Welcome to Ord City - Adrian Deans - Страница 6

Welcome to Ord City

It felt wrong.

The two men glanced at each other and the smaller checked the card in his top pocket. There was no need to check the card – he knew by heart the address scribbled there. It was something to delay for a few more seconds what he knew must be done.

The house in front of them was blackened from an old fire but didn’t seem to be occupied – which was unusual in Ord City where every available inch was given over to find homes for the flotsam of Asia. An empty house, even burnt out, was a wasteful indulgence.

The larger of the two looked over his shoulder and licked his lips.

‘I think we should go.’

‘We can’t go,’ replied the smaller man, irritably. ‘He told us to come here … it must be alright.’

But he made no move to venture inside.

They were aware of how still it was – as though they had entered a sound-proof bubble when they entered the laneway behind the large apartment buildings. They could make out traffic din in the distance, but here the lane was quiet and smelled of cooking oil, cabbage and cat piss.

‘We should’ve kept our mouths shut,’ hissed the larger man. ‘Or spoken to … ’

‘We tell no one,’ insisted the smaller man, as he took a step towards the blackened house, then froze as a sound came from the alley to their right – a plastic bottle had been kicked along the ground.

‘A dog or cat?’ suggested the larger man, a note of panic in his voice.

Then their heads snapped around as the same noise came from the left, and an empty drink bottle lay in a pool of light under a streetlamp, slowly spinning to a halt.

The smaller man glanced desperately about the alley but there was no escape. He pulled the card from his top pocket and slipped it inside his shoe.

Then, ignoring his whimpering companion, he walked into the burnt out house.