Payback

The End (part 1)

The room looked the same as thousands of others in hundreds of other chain hotels dotted around the country. Not that he minded; he had a convenient base.

Especially as he wasn't in a hurry; he didn't need to be on the move until mid-morning. A cup of tea first (Why was the tea you made in your room so poor, he mused. Did they really need to skimp on the ingredients that much?). A leisurely shower followed by more tea while he dressed: black trousers, black shirt (no tie) and a black jumper. He smiled as he remembered that it was the one she had bought him. It seemed rather fitting...

He had done a recce yesterday after he had checked into the hotel. He knew how long it would take to drive there, the best place to park, the layout of the building, the entire routine. He glanced at his watch. There was time for breakfast in the cafe across the road first. This was not an event he wanted to get to too early..

Bacon butties (another one of their favourites) and decent tea. Served in a mug. He had never understood the attraction of Earl Grey served with a sliver of lemon in served in dainty china. It had to be industrial-strength Assam with rather more sugar than was good for you. The caff were more than happy to fill his flask for him too. He liked places like that, simple and unpretentious.

Although he didn't want to arrive too far in advance, he couldn't afford to be late either. And he knew from experience that the traffic on the roads across town could be unpredictable.

The timing was perfect. The car creaked slightly as the engine cooled in the chill of a spring morning. He was parked right where he wanted, where he could observe the growing crowd in the car's mirrors. Not that the little knot of people by the door could really be described as a crowd. He wiped the glass. The heat of his body and the steam rising from the mug of tea balanced atop the dashboard were starting to mist up the car, making him even less visible to the gathering.

He waited until the last straggler had drifted inside before he got out of the car and shrugged into his long black coat. He crunched across the gravel towards the door, thinking of those old westerns where the stranger (dressed in black, his coat flapping loose with an air of menace) would first appear, striding purposely down the main street. The time had come for him to make his last stand.