Shit! I’m bloody freezing! Murdoch thought as he wrestled the sleek black Chevrolet van through the narrow alleyways.
He swore under his breath as he skilfully negotiated the strewn garbage cans and piles of discarded waste.
“What’s fucking eating you?”
Murdoch turned and looked with disgust at his partner.
He noted the paunch that threatened to tear apart the sweat and filth stained flannelette shirt. It was covered in uneaten, half chewed fries.
He noted the bloated pock marked face, the yellow nicotine stained teeth, and the bulging blood shot eyes.
No wonder ya Mother named you Judas, he thought as he gripped the wheel harder and hunched his shoulders.
“I’m not getting paid enough to do this shit!” he said begrudgingly as he stared fixedly through the bug streaked windscreen.
“I’d rather be getting tanked and pokin’ the whiskers of some piece of arse, then havin to drag your sorry arse on this gig.”
“It’s no picnic having to sit here and listen to your groaning and bitchin’ either, but you know the consequences if we fail to deliver. Let’s just find us a couple of losers and get the fuck out of here.”
“Have you seen any fucken homeless out here you moron?” asked Murdoch savagely.
He saw Judas slowly shake his head as he wound down the window and spat out a wad of phlegm.
“Nah, but it’s early. We’ll find ’em,” Judas said and flashed a yellow row of food encrusted teeth as he hurriedly wound the window back up.
He wiped the remaining crap off his flabby jowls with the back of his hand.
“It’s too fucken cold ya dickwad. They’ll all be parking their arses in some goddamn tree huggin shelter and sucking up free soup.” Murdoch said as he swung on the steering wheel violently and pointed the van up yet another alley darkened by the encroaching overhang of the dilapidated buildings.
Up until this point he had been driving with just the parking lights on, and was concentrating on the small periphery the dim light afforded, through the area of windscreen he had managed to clear of condensation.
He jumped when he felt Judas’ hand squeeze his arm.
“Yeah smartarse, well what about those two,” Judas said as he pointed towards the dark silhouettes of what looked like a man and a small boy.
They were further up the alley and were only thirty feet away from leaving the alley and entering the much larger side street. He noticed that they had stopped and the man had moved towards the wall of one of the buildings.
He’s probably taking a leak, Murdoch thought as he slammed on the brakes.
He turned the door handle and bailed quickly out of the driver’s seat.
“Hurry up Judas, grab the bags, we gotta get ’em before he finishes his piss and they get out in the open,” Murdoch said quietly as he rushed to the shadows and stealthily manoeuvred himself up the alley.
By taking advantage of the piles of debris he managed to get within twenty feet of the two without being detected.
Crouching down behind an industrial bin, Murdoch could plainly see the man. He looked to be about six foot tall and even though he was definitely a homeless guy he looked like he could take care of himself.
The boy was very young, probably only five or six.
Murdoch could see the boy holding a rusty shopping trolley which was stuffed full of cardboard and crap.
Bingo, he thought as he heard the rasping sound of Judas squat down next to him.
He silently gestured to him to take one of the bags as he doused a couple of rags with a white fluid which he poured from a bottle marked ‘Suprane’.
He took care not to breathe in too deeply.
He really wished that he could have used a taser; a device that Murdoch knew was a much more efficient immobiliser.
Unfortunately, his request to use one had been denied categorically by the Doc.
Some medical mumbo jumbo about there being too much risk that the electrical shock would damage the goods
Murdoch thrust one of the soaked rags at Judas.
“Here take this! You grab the boy and I’ll tackle the pisser,” he whispered harshly as he handed the soaked rag to Judas.
He put his rag in his pocket and then pulled a balaclava over his face and watched as Judas did the same.
He held up three fingers and lowered each one as a silent countdown to their attack.
As he lowered the last finger he sprung up from behind the industrial bin and launched himself at the startled homeless man who was fumbling with his pants as he hurriedly tried to secure his penis.
“What the fuck?” were the only words the homeless guy was able to utter before being rammed from the side by Murdoch’s bulk.
Both men were propelled forward and crashed headlong into several garbage cans. The vile stench of rotting garbage permeated the air as the cans spewed forth the contents over the alley as Murdoch clamped onto the homeless guys legs to prevent him from escaping.
Hindered by his reduced peripheral vision Murdoch screamed and then swore viciously as the homeless guy twisted under his grip and managed to impact his arm with a broken beer bottle. He felt the sickening feeling of the shattered glass tearing into his flesh.
Murdoch, being momentarily stunned by the assault released his grip slightly, allowing the homeless guy the opportunity to begin scrambling away from him.
Consumed by adrenaline and rage Murdoch dove at him and once again clamped his arms around the old man’s legs. He heaved on the legs and managed to drag the old man back on his stomach towards him.
“You’re not going anywhere fella!” he growled as he knelt down onto the small of victim’s back and heard him groan in pain.
He pulled the rag from out of his pocket and clamped his hand down over the guy’s face.
He could feel the muscles of the guy’s back spasm as he fought to throw Murdoch off him. The struggling subsided quickly as the anaesthetic did its work.
Murdoch reached around and felt the victim’s neck for a pulse. Once satisfied that the old man was only unconscious, he was about to scream out for Judas when he saw him appear at the mouth of the alleyway with a sack draped over his shoulder.
Even in the dimly lit alleyway he could tell that the man was smiling. The yellow teeth irked him.
“What the fuck happened to you? I could have done with a hand. This guy put up quite a fight,” he said as he gingerly ran a finger over his lacerated arm.
“This one’s a slippery little tyke. I had to run ’im down.
“He’s real healthy, the Doc’s gonna be real pleased,” Judas said as he dropped the sack next to Murdoch.
“Hey ya dickwad, take it easy, the Doc’s not gonna be pleased if you’ve damaged his specimen.
Now give me a hand to load this one in the van, he’s a big fucker.”
“Ya know, it was the weirdest thing, when I finally grabbed the tyke, all of the street lights blew out. It was some damn freaky shit,” Judas said as he grunted under the strain of lifting the body into the van.
Murdoch ignored the weird look on Judas’ face as he spat on his hands and rubbed them together.
“Yeah, whatever, just get your arse over here and grab the old man’s legs.
You know, for a homeless guy, he sure is a heavy Mother fucker.”
After finally securing their prizes in the back of the van, the two men climbed into the front.
As Murdoch started the van and sped away from the alley he scanned the vicinity to ensure that they had not been seen.
He knew the cost of indiscretion; their mission had to be performed flawlessly with no loose ends.
He smiled inwardly; he knew that Judas was right; the boy was quite a catch.
As he looked into the rear view mirror, he thought of the reward that he would be given. He thought of the bevy of high priced whores he could fuck.
As the van pulled out onto the freeway, he checked on his cargo. He could see the two body bags lying motionless in the back of the van and smiled.
More meat for the weirdos! The Doc will be pleased.