Author: AW Rock

It was morning again. Another day for Harry to face.

It was cold and wet and the revelry and hubbub of Soho had dissipated with the arrival of dawn.

After the phone call Harry had not been able to get back to sleep; thirty-six hours without any sleep.

He lay back on the bed, soaked in perspiration, still dressed in the same clothes from the previous day. He watched the grey light creep up over the buildings. His brain was a quagmire of chaotic noise and buzzing. Nothing he could do would allow him any relief. His head was spinning and he wanted to vomit.

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A breeze rustled through the branches of the eucalyptus tree that had stood for two lifetimes beside the stone farmhouse.

As the sun rose over the hill the light danced through the leaves and bounced a thousand shadows through the open shutters and onto the roughly plastered wall behind the bed.

The flickering sunlight moved down onto his face.

August had delivered the coup-de-grace, a hail storm, the like of which the locals could not recall in living memory. The dark storm clouds came up over the mountains like a rolling fog of burning oil. The tempest tore the vines from their stands and hammered the trees into submission.

He watched as his wine and olive harvest disappeared in a torrent of hail-stones that melted into the soil along with his income.

It was as though this last season was an omen.

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It was Sunday evening and the Crisis Response Team was off duty.

Eventually the team leader located and deployed them. The team of two men and a woman, were in the bar of The Crown & Two Chairman within three hours of the Controller’s order. They were indistinguishable from the rest of the weekend punters in the pub. Sunday was the quietest night of the week in Soho and the evening crowd consisted mostly of early clubbers who wanted a few rippers before moving on when the pubs closed.

When they reached the flat their plan of action was determined. The woman went straight back down to the street door to inform the agent on guard, then brought him inside to seal the door. Meanwhile the other man rang the Controller to tell her what they had found, and while he was waiting for instructions drew the curtains and put on the light.

Photographs were taken and a forensic examination completed. Two hours later the flat had been cleaned.

In the early hours of the morning when the street was empty the body was brought down in a roll of carpet and loaded into the van.

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Carrie hadn’t slept well and she had not heard from Snowman since yesterday. This was not unusual, but she had a deep sense of foreboding since he’d crept in the previous night. He had taken a bundle of money and left without a word.

Carrie retrieved her mobile and the Controller came on the line. She was unusually friendly, “Hello Carrie, good to hear from you.” She was relieved to hear Carrie’s voice after the report from Whitey.

“I’ve got news.. he’s met somebody who…” Carrie was about to tell the story when she heard the creak of the apartment door behind her.

There was Snowman standing in the entrance staring at her.

Inside the street door, Harry pulled on the latex gloves. He took a phial of amyl nitrate from his pocket and took the hit. He sucked in air resting his spinning head against the door jam. All the nerves in his body were tingling with the euphoria generated by the popper. He began to float up the stairs towards his victim’s flat.

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It had been eighteen months since Special Branch had informed the Secret Service that Michelle de Lavigne was distributing large amounts of cocaine and heroin from Pakistan.

After watching Mikey for several weeks they observed her regular meetings with Snowman and decided to include him in their investigation. They discovered that Snowman was in the habit of using one particular cab driver on a regular basis and they suspected the man might be part of his distribution network.

Snowman split his time between Myrtle and Carrie. It was Carrie’s computer that was being used as the blackmailer’s contact point.

‘Perhaps the bitch had opened her mouth to someone in a bar.. or over a line in a lavatory.. or maybe she was involved?’, he thought.

He retrieved the toolbox from the sideboard and began to count out 10K in fifty-pound notes. He only had a thousand pounds left. Carrie watched him without comment. She realised he was going to pay up and she didn’t want to aggravate him.

Snowman told him to drive down into Chinatown. In the less policed world of the Cantonese they were unlikely to draw attention to themselves. He ordered him to park the car outside Mansonic Mansions.

“Gimme the keys to the boot and wait here..”, he said, waving the revolver around, “..and don’t even fucking dream about running away.”

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The doorbell rang at exactly three o’clock that afternoon.

Mikey checked the CCTV camera to the street door and there he stood arrogant and uncouth, characteristics she most disliked, but he had what she needed to complete her project.

She ejected the Sinatra CD and replaced it with classical music to create the right atmosphere.

Snowman sauntered in.

Mikey gestured to him to sit down. She poured two brandies then opened an ornate ivory box and took a bag of coke, a mirror and a solid silver blade from her Aladdin’s cave. She chopped out a couple of generous lines then leant forward in a conspiratorial manner, “I need to leave my mark in Soho.. people need to know who I am.. I am nothing without being known. I want to be seen as a benefactor to English society.. someone who helped us white folk survive the infestation of foreigners. That’s why I am standing for candidate and leader of the local BNP.”

Snowman shook his head in disbelief; she seemed to have totally ignored the fact that he was of mixed race.

“Okay” said Snowman “Where do I come in?”

“Well, first of all I need an untraceable rifle.. then I’ll need someone to fire it.”

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Soho Cars’ office in Old Compton Street used to be a tobacco kiosk.

The Black Brothers took it over in the eighties and still ran it from the pavement.

Harry White was the name on his licence and he had been given the nickname ‘Whitey’ by the Brothers as he was the only white man on the fleet. They knew Whitey didn’t like to go far from Soho but he would work the early-hour shift when demand was high, punters intoxicated, and cabs hard to find.

The odd-looking man waiting on the pavement by the kiosk was a regular. The man didn’t bother with the half-eaten sandwich and newspapers on the front seat; he got straight in the back.

Harry had been Snowman’s chosen driver for the last few months; three or four times a week he had run him a few hundred yards around Soho and Harry wondered who the man he called the mutant was trying to impress. He didn’t like him. In fact if he ever thought about it Harry didn’t really like anybody.

SNOWMAN : (EARLY HOURS, TUESDAY 3 NOVEMBER)

The Otis lift didn’t work. This wasn’t unusual. The old accordion gates often stuck in the floor groove which was filled with a lifetime’s grime.

Snowman had been on his feet for eight hours touring Soho’s clubs and bars checking his contacts and selling to his clients. It had been a good night; he had collected nearly three grand today.

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