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nothing we could do but follow.
    The traffic stopped and started before the left indicator flashed up ahead and the Lite Ace headed into a world of rusty corrugated iron. I slowed at the junction and followed, just as he hung another left and disappeared.
    We were on a narrow, rough concrete road, flanked by shacks. I took the bike down into the darkness, stopping just short of the turning. There was a glow of static light hanging above a group of tin roofs. Suzy jumped off and I just managed to grab her arm before she ran towards it. ‘Not here, OK? Not here.’
    Her helmet came off and she faded into the darkness.
    I carried on past, turned to face the junction in shadow, and killed the engine. The ghostly glow of TV sets flickered inside most of the shacks, and I could hear kids playing and dogs barking. There was a strong smell of drains.
    Vehicle lights soon sparked up along the track out to the junction, and I could hear an engine heading my way. I couldn’t see inside the Lite Ace as it turned right, towards the main; I hit the ignition but kept my lights off as it stopped at the junction then tried to fight its way back out and head right.
    Suzy reappeared, running as fast as she could. I rode up to meet her as she waited and shoved her helmet back on. Jumping on the back, she sucked in air as she held on to me. ‘He was picking up – it’s two-up. Of all fucking nights.’ I could feel her warm breath against my neck as we watched the vehicle disappear. I turned the lights on and we started to move.
    ‘Did you see who it was?’
    ‘No. What now?’
    I shrugged. I never really knew what to do until I was doing it when these fuck-ups happened. We got out on to the main and this time I gave it some throttle and joined the rest of the mosquitoes weaving in and out. Her arm tightened round my waist and her legs squeezed tight against mine.
    She saw the brake light at the same time as I did, pulling at my stomach with her right hand and pointing over my shoulder with her left. I exaggerated my nod as the glare of neon and traffic lights merged in my badly scratched visor.
    The Lite Ace was nearing the crossroads, in the left-hand filter. I passed another car and was now just one vehicle behind, trying to get a better view inside. I pushed up the visor and a rush of cooler air hit the sweat.
    Neon bathed the two bodies in the front seats. The passenger was a man, younger than the target, and Malaysian. The good news was that he also wore a white shirt, and was obviously a model employee. When he turned his head to talk to the target I could see he’d already put on his bow-tie.
    The vehicle’s indicators flashed for the left turn and they left the coast road. The route inland was busy but not as chaotic as the one we’d just quit, and I could feel the contours almost immediately as we started to make height. After less than a kilometre the breeze-block shacks petered out, and with them the clatter of petrol generators and the yelps of their scabby dogs. As we climbed even higher there was nothing at the roadside but vegetation. Lights twinkled occasionally behind the greenery, suggesting habitation, but even those soon disappeared. The road narrowed; two vehicles could just have squeezed past each other.
    I let us fall back as we became the only vehicles in sight. I was anticipating a sharp left-hand bend before long, and sure enough his rear lights flared in the darkness, one flickering, as he hit the brakes to negotiate it, then disappeared.
    Suzy’s head came over my shoulder, her .45 digging deeper into my back. ‘We sticking to the plan?’
    There was nothing for me to do but nod as she sank back behind me. The job must go on. I felt Suzy’s right arm delve into her bag as her legs squeezed round mine to support her. She was putting on her rubber gloves.
    The red lights in front of me came and went as the target followed the bends uphill, but I didn’t need to be right on top of him for about another