He looks down at the tablets screen, then up at the number on the side of the house, and back down to the tablet.

“This is the right address, Thirty-Six West Bentley. Code violator is a Michael Right, twenty-four years old. Kid has a sheet as long as I’ve been wiping my own arse, so it seems he’s hard of hearing,” he says as he turns to the other officer who stands beside him.

“I’m fairly sure I’ve been here a few times in the past, and if it’s the kid I’m thinking of, he’s a shifty little fucker Jezza. Bum jumped out the back window and it took half a day to catch the little fuck.”

“How do you want to play this one then. Should one of us go around the back just to be sure?”

“Old second-hand grab bag style, although it has been known to backfire from time to time. If you go in the front door under-manned you could get jumped, and if that happens Templeton will have our badges for not following procedure.”

He looks back down at the tablet and brings up Michael’s Information. “Every time he’s been picked up, he’s been charged with resisting arrest, there’s even two charges of assaulting an officer in here as well. I think it would be fucking stupid of us to follow procedure with this one. If we come at if from both sides, we might have a better result, or at least a quicker one.”

“Agreed, I’ll take the back,” he says as he jumps up and down, and cracks his neck. “Give me ten to get into position and then go for it. Don’t forget that the kid has four dogs registered at this address, and his mum has two. So there’s a good chance that there’s at least six dogs inside with the perp,” he says as he runs down the street awkwardly. Jezza looks back down at the tablet, then up at the house, looks down either side of the street and opens the gate. Instantly a dog starts barking from somewhere inside the house, and he swallows a dry mouthful of air.

“Why do I suddenly feel like I’ve been given the rough end of the stick,” he mutters to himself as he steps on to the front porch and knocks on the door. He wipes his brow as he waits while several dogs now bark wildly on the other side.

“What the fuck do you want?” a woman’s voice yells from inside the house.

“I’m here to speak to a Mister Michael Right,” Jezza calls out.

“Sorry mate, ain’t no Michael Right here, so you’ve obviously got the wrong address. Now piss off or I’ll set the dogs on you,” she replies gruffly.

“I-I-I, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to insist you open the door and keep your dogs at bay. Failure to follow these directions will result in a warrant being placed in the system for you, and possible termination of you and your son’s dogs Mrs Right. So I recommend you adhere to my request and open the door.”

For the next few moments, the only thing that can be heard is the dogs barking, “SHUT UP!” she bellows, and the dogs fall silent. “Why do you want Michael? What’s he done?”

“I am here because Michael is guilty of a code six bravo. We have samples taken from two locations in the last twenty-four hours that have been traced back to two of your son’s dogs, one of which he has been already ticketed for two similar charges in the last month. I’m sure you’re well aware that it is a three thousand dollar fine, and either termination of the pet or relocation,” Jezza replies.

“Fuck,” she hisses, as the door opens. She stands there looking at Jezza coldly, while the dogs quietly sit beside her. “Which pup is it?”

He looks down at the tablet and quickly reads through the processing notes, “The dog in question is named Theodore,” he says. As he looks up, he catches sight of a brick coming towards him, leaving little to no time for him to outmanoeuvre it, and it hits him in the face.

“Ain’t no one taking my boys away from me because my idiot of a kid didn’t pick up some shit.” she says as he crashes to the ground. The world spins violently around as he desperately scrambles to his knees, turning just in time to see the dogs surge forward towards him in an explosion of teeth and saliva.

***

Follow the below link to purchase 2020 Book Two to read all 20 five minute short stories.

Before you lies a piece of a puzzle far grander than you could ever know or imagine. For scrawled in blood upon the pages hidden within the above tome is stories twisted twenty in all, soaked in the embers of my insanity. Five minutes to glimpse inside the eyes of someone new, five minutes to answer, five minutes to sin, five minutes to do almost anything. A god, a demon, a harlot, a whore. A fascist, a killer, a sinner, a door. Death and division, humanity askew. A belfry of bats, a sea of black cats, so many moments out there to see, so many things you could see with me. So take a seat beside me and call it voodoo, because now you ride with me too…

press above to go and follow me over in Facebookland

press above to go and follow my Amazon Author Page

press above to go and keep up to date on book releases