Sudden Death (40 page)
Authors: Phil Kurthausen
‘Remember what I said?’
‘How could I forget?’ said Anthony.
The Mayor didn’t pick up, or chose to ignore, Anthony’s tone.
‘I talked about Churchill uniting the country in adversity, of this city’s proud past fighting the fascists and how we would stand together, shoulder to shoulder, to face this new challenge, to build a modern, tech-based city, modern but with values, to come together in a noble purpose.’
There might have been tears welling in the Mayor’s eyes. Anthony’s were dry and unblinking.
‘And how the best party for the job was the Liberals and I the best man. We made it a matter of principal, party politics goes in the dustbin when the barbarians are at the gates. And the city came together in a common purpose, to save Liverpool.’
‘Great days indeed, Mr Mayor.’
The Mayor looked up as though only just realising that Anthony was present. The Mayor scratched behind his right ear, a trait that Anthony had come to treat as a warning.
‘And now we know why the Labour fuckers didn’t put up a fight! They knew it was a poisoned chalice didn’t they, Anthony, eh! We, you, should have seen this coming. The fucking city is bankrupt. We are the fucking hangover after the party. Crash, bang fucking wallop, eh! 2013 we haven’t got fifty pence for the meter, 2014 we are going to end up a Third-World city.’
‘It’s developing nation, Mr Mayor.’
The Mayor looked confused. ‘Eh?’
‘It’s not ‘Third World’ any more, that is considered an insensitive Western expression. We say ‘developing nation’ now.’
The Mayor waved his hand in the air and looked at Anthony in disgust. He ignored the interruption.
‘I’ve got Craig, the snivelling little cockney twat, demanding that I don’t screw up the first real chance to show that we can govern on our own but he hasn’t got any cash to give me, has he? No, just wise fucking words!’
The Mayor swept his arm across a pile of blue folders that covered his desk, the folders and the paperweight went flying onto the parquet floor. He slumped back into his chair.
‘We are well and truly fucked. The city is bankrupt. Unless your Oxbridge educated arse can pluck a rabbit out of a fucking hat!’
Anthony got up from his chair and slowly picked up the folders and placed them back on the Mayor’s desk. He picked up the paperweight weighing its heft in his hand before gently placing it on the desk. He took out a Mulberry wallet from his inside jacket pocket and removed a white business card embossed with grey lettering from its folds. He handed it to the Mayor.
‘May I present to you, Bugs Bunny.’
The Mayor looked at the card.
‘Have we really come to this?’ he asked.
‘It’s this or the city goes under.’
The Mayor felt something twist in his stomach. Maybe it was the pill lodging in his bowel, causing an internal bleed, a contraction that would be the first step on an organic breakdown that would lead to a total system failure.
He sighed.
‘Call him.’
CARINA™
ISBN: 978 1 472 09999 0
Sudden Death
Copyright © 2014 Phil Kurthausen
Published in Great Britain (2014)
by Carina, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
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