reporter turned to the viewers and signed off.
Rhodes turned off the TV with a click on the remote.
As if on cue, Bradley, his right hand man, entered the large office. The former boxer, with bulging muscles squeezed into a six-foot-three frame, was all controlled rage and confidence. His suit was tight with a daily gym routine and a balanced diet. His hair was clipped short, his face chiseled in all the wrong places, giving him an air of menace. He stood silently at Rhodes' desk, awaiting instruction.
Rhodes tossed the remote across the room and it hit the wall with a thud. He glanced up at Bradley, who didn’t move. Rhodes laughed. "You know, Bradley, I saw this day coming. I should have gone with my gut and done it myself."
"How shall I proceed, sir?" Bradley asked, his grizzly voice belying a degree in sports science and an IQ of one hundred and forty six. His chiseled arms crossed against his barreled chest.
"Kill the chef. I'll teach him to cut me out of any protection. Cunt. He'll be in hospital somewhere, probably St Barts. Get Sanchez on it, he can blend in and become a doctor for a few hours. In and out, keep it quiet."
Bradley blinked, as if capturing the instruction for later. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, kill the shooter. I don’t accept liabilities."
"Dennis?"
"Yeah, he couldn’t even kill a fucking chef. What sort of reputation does that give my organisation? Kill him, him and his fucking family."
*****
The southern rectory provided Dani with a relaxing shortcut, a quicker way to make it home. In bad weather, or if she wanted to avoid someone in particular, she preferred the isolated trip it guaranteed her. The path was nothing more than a dirt track covered in mulch, shrouded by elegant, whispering trees, and flanked by manicured lawns and expertly shaped foliage. However, it provided more peace and quiet than the winding roads that cut between multiple businesses, abrupt concrete behemoths and noisy homes.
More importantly, it kept her away from other people.
Despite her class potential as a nerd, Dani didn’t fit into any cliques at school. Bullies didn’t gravitate towards her, but nerds didn’t see her as one of their own either. In reality, people didn’t bother her. This continued into college and she was thankful for it. Blending in made life simpler and less of a distraction. She liked her alone time.
Teddy was staying behind for football tonight and would be an hour or two behind her. She knew her mother was collecting him anyway, so it gave her the chance to walk out of college, fast, and head straight home. Alone.
Avoiding people wasn’t an issue. Until today.
Right now, she was avoiding one person.
Ben.
Avoiding might be a strong word. You're pissed at him is all.
Dani sighed, head down. Her footsteps gathered pace.
She hadn't received a text or call from him in three days. Whether his phone was charged or not, three days was no excuse. She couldn’t remember the last time someone her age hadn't worshipped a mobile phone.
Nowadays, a mobile phone was a teenager's sole method of existence in the palm of their work-shy hands. They did everything through it. It irked Dani a little; herself brought up differently, to respect people somewhat, she preferred an actual conversation, human interaction. Most of her friends – the few she could actually class as such – lived by the mobile. Conversations took place via shortened, grammar offending text messages or visual telephone calls. Once, she'd seen two girls 'face timing' one another from across the room, when it would have been simpler, and cheaper, to stand up, walk three feet and say hello. Conversation of the most basic kind seemed lost on youth today. Technology really was eroding the cerebral potential to evolve.
She was looking forward to finishing her book when she got in. The mobile phone would be the least of her concerns this evening. Dani gazed up, looking through the trees, and realised dark clouds had