Page 10 of The Thief
“And you’re sorry for ever disrespecting our town and us, aren’t you? You won’t be hurting little boys from Parkers Academy again, will you?” Devon added.
Struggling to answer, he spluttered, “Yes. I mean no. No, I won’t.” The guy shook his head, but it wasn’t good enough for Adam.
“Say it,” he demanded. “Say that you’re sorry.”
The guy was sobbing now, holding his cheek as the blood soaked through his fingers and the collar of his shirt.
“I’m... s... sorry,” he managed to say, and Adam smiled.
“See. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Adam stepped back, then commanded him to, “Get up. You’ve left enough of your filth on our streets. It’s time for you to fuck off.”
The lad managed to lift himself to stand, grunting as he did and clutching his face.
“You’ve been lucky today,” Colton announced, and then gesturing to Adam, he said, “Even the devil on his shoulder has started covering his eyes so he doesn’t see the fucked-up shit Adam does to people like you. People who think it’s okay to pick on those that can’t fight back.”
The guy’s eyes grew a little wider, and when Adam went to take another step forward, he staggered away, darting looks over his shoulder as he did. Looks of pure terror as he ran away.
“I think our job here is done,” Devon stated proudly.
And I took a deep breath, trying to get my head around what had just happened. Because in all the madness, all I could think was how fucking awesome it had been.
Adam turned to me, saying, “So, there you have it. That’s who we are. We like to fuck shit up, but we’ve taken the decision to be more selective about who we fuck with. We’re all fighters. We like to get our knuckles bloody, but unlike those lads, we don’t go after people who’ve already been shit on by life. We preferto take a more moral road. We have a code.”
Colton chuckled. “What he means to say is, the world is fucked. Someone forgot to pay the bills, and as a result, that light at the end of the tunnel got switched off a long time ago. So we make our own light. We make a fucking fire. It’s way more fun.”
Devon was next to chime in. “We’ve all got our problems. Life has shit on us from a very high height, but this is our way of fighting back. Taking back control.”
“And when you’re having one of those days when you want to set someone’s face on fire, and put it out with a fucking fork,” Will added, smiling. “Which let’s face it, is most days for us. There’s plenty of cunts like those three to feed our frenzy.”
“There’s no cure for being a spineless cunt.” Colton laughed.
“You’d know,” Devon muttered.
“The cure is that knife in your hand.” Will chuckled.
Adam cleared his throat, not a hint of the humour that Colton and Will had as he said to me, “So, are you in or out?”
I took a moment, and Adam must’ve taken it as hesitation, as he added impatiently, “Are you joining us or not?”
“Of course I’m fucking joining you,” I replied, smiling. “Where are we going next?”
Will laughed and Colton stepped forward, holding his hand out to me to finally give me the handshake he’d been holding back on. “Welcome to the craziness.”
I shook his hand, marvelling at the fact that everything I thought about these lads when I met them at the park was completely wrong. They were closer than I’d thought. Theywerelike soldiers. They had each other’s backs. They supported Adam, and he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them. What theysaid about making the right choices, choosing the right targets, it resonated with me. And I felt a flicker of shame that I’d stolen from the school that had a shitty budget and probably couldn’t afford to replace those computers I’d taken.
And Mr. Porter.
He was the last person I should’ve targeted.
No wonder Adam called me out on it. But I was glad he gave me the opportunity to make it right. I liked to think he’d seen something in me that he recognised. A kindred spirit. I could’ve ended up like the mangled hand guy, but I hadn’t.
Whatever these guys had planned, I wanted to be a part of it.
Wherever they went, I wanted to go too.
Facing off with those lads had been a fucking ride.
