The Flight of the Alchemist - The Prologue Read online

2. SHORT BEGINNINGS

  “I can’t believe it bro! We did it! You did it!”

  “Didn’t I tell you!? What did I say! You need to maintain a steady faith!”

  “Ha-ha, yes! We did it!”

  The orange Lamborghini growled predatorily as it feasted on the black tarmac, free at last. The city lights gleamed in the sheen of the new vehicle’s body, like fireflies skating across its surface in celebration. The traffic lights all seemed green with not a trace of red, the wind was calm and tasteful, and the night was dark and beautiful. Success was resplendent with all the senses.

  “We haven’t done anything wrong have we?” a voice perforated.

  Hamish sighed tenderly as he looked across at the man in the passenger’s seat. The man’s expression of worry and concern was all too familiar, but it gave him a sense of comfort. Some things never change.

  “So much enthusiasm dancing with so much concern, brother. Make up your mind!” Hamish exclaimed.

  “I... it’s so much to take in,” the passenger replied, giving a nervous chuckle followed by an energised one. He stroked his beard as he looked into the distance and suddenly shifted in his seat and ran his hand over the glove compartment.

  “Can this be real?”

  “Most certainly! Saul, tell me what you want. Anything, and it’s yours... what does your heart desire?”

  “Now that we’re here, I really don’t know. Expectation was never a part of this. Only hope.” He paused, and then ran his hands through his long russet hair, looking hesitant. “You sure there’s nothing... illegal in doing this?” The lines in his forehead wrinkled and settled like waves in the temperamental sea of doubt, coming and going between bursts of dismissing his own concern as foolish.

  “Come, brother, join me in unadulterated victory. Our spoils were earned lawfully. They didn’t expect such brilliance to come from such an unassuming package, it’s their loss!”

  Saul rolled down the window and leaned his head over, breathing in the refreshing cold night air. It rippled through his hair as he closed his eyes and drank in the moment. It was a fresh start... all the shackles of his past were to be undone. The past few hours were a whirlwind of colour and voices, hearts and aces, suits and watches. He could not recall any of the details – just snippets of emotions wrestling with each other, vying for presidency of his mind. But the details no longer mattered – it was now about the bigger picture. A new vision for his future. Their future. For where would he be without Hamish. Indeed, where would Hamish be without him. He could smell fresh opportunity as they raced away from their pasts, the engine roaring underneath them, the lights streaming by like a blur of fantasy, the velvet sky cloaking them in the enigma of freedom.

  “You’re a genius, bro, a genius.” Saul enthused, transfixed on the road ahead, his eyes sparkling with the hope of a new life that was engulfing him. “So much determination in your counting... your investment was second to none.”

  “Knowledge triumphs all, brother!” Hamish paused and glanced over at Saul with a serious and indebted expression. “Neither was your investment. It seems we are sitting in each other’s seats tonight.” He looked back at the road, hands on the wheel as his childhood played out in his head.

  The road pulsed with a calming deep blue tinge as the Lamborghini hounded down it, a beast stalking its prey by night. The blue pulse got brighter and more rapid, until suddenly Hamish looked over at Saul, eyes widening with alarm as he heard the sirens.

  Saul looked straight back into Hamish’s eyes as he saw the same strain of panic reflected back in them. The dam of dismissal burst and all of his fears and worries came crashing down, flooding his thoughts into oblivion. He strained with every inch of his will to focus. He needed to remain calm and composed if there was any chance of getting out of this chaos.

  “Calm down, we haven’t done anything wrong,” Saul reassured, trying to mask his own trepidation as his heart battered against his ribs as if to escape. “You said it yourself, right?” he said, less assertively this time. “The money in the trunk though... but we can explain... and the new car... I mean...,” muttered Saul as he became more and more anxious with every word. He sat up straight and stroked his beard nervously, eyes unfocused. “Yes, there’s nothing they can charge us for... defenceless but offense-less,” he mumbled, more to reassure himself than Hamish.

  Hamish shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his fingers were turning white. “Saul, I...I...” Hamish faltered, and paused hesitantly. “I’ve been drinking,” he blurted.

  Saul looked at him horrified, with both panic and disappointment.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have, I...” he continued.

  But before Saul could consider the implications of Hamish’s admission a brilliant light flooded the deserted road.

  “Pull over the car, sir. This is the police. I repeat, pull over the car now.”

  There was no way out. The future Saul had been visioning mere moments ago had shattered into non-existence. There was now only the present moment, standing singly in the dark, ravaged by fate and orphaned by the past. It was time to sink or drown.

  The Lamborghini lurched forward as Hamish put his foot down instinctively.

  “What are you doing Hamish!? Arête! Don’t destroy what might be left!”

  Suddenly the car jerked to the left as Hamish swerved the car to pull up, slamming the brakes as the vehicle hit the curb and stumbled to a halt. He sat stunned, hands still on the wheel, as his head rocked back and forth in an ugly confusion as to what he should do.

  “What the hell Hamish! Do you know how this looks!?” Saul shouted. He squeezed his temples with his fingertips as if to grasp some sense from them. “FUCK!” He took a deep breath, eyes sealed shut by the pungency of his reality, and then uttered, “Keep calm and do as the officer says.”

  There were two of them. As Saul tried desperately through the wing mirror to gauge their collective temperament in order to better prepare himself for what was to pass, he let out a cry of anguish as he saw one of them grinning from ear to ear. Saul saw him salivate as he bared his canines, but shook his head as he felt the unreality of his predicament almost hallucinogenic. One thing was for sure – this officer was hungry to brandish his authority over them.

  The officer strode over to the driver’s side as his partner leaned against the police car.

  “Well, well, well, what do we have here? Isn’t she a goddamn beauty!” exclaimed the officer, his eyes boring down into Hamish’s as he caressed the smooth metal of the Lamborghini door with his fingertips. “I hope you fine gentlemen realise how lucky you are to be riding her. If she were the last thing I laid my eyes upon, I would die in peace. What you guys do for a living anyway? Must be something fine, no doubt, to afford her. Ain’t no poor man could have one of these, unless it was won. How lucky you are to be riding... feel free to take a seat in my car instead, I’d be happy to trade!” The officer sniggered as he nodded over to the police car, all the while running his fingers obstinately over the car’s body.

  Both Saul and Hamish sat in a deafening silence that screamed out with tense fury, Hamish staring at his white knuckles, hands still on the wheel, while Saul stared mindlessly at the empty road ahead, painstakingly resisting the overwhelming compulsion to take a gulp and swallow the deluge of saliva that was collecting in his mouth.

  “Say, you guys are awful quiet, I don’t mean to be interrupting you. Perhaps I should stop wasting your time.” He paused for several seconds. “Apologies for this intrusion. Have a lovely evening fellas!” he exclaimed, and with that he turned and gaited back to the police car.

  Saul stared at Hamish in bewilderment. They were free to go. But the police officer’s overly-jovial tone was more sinister than if he had been blunt and menacing. And it frightened Saul more than he could fathom. The calm before the storm.

  “Oh! Shit my goddamn bollocks!” came the voice once again. “Sorry gentlemen, one last t
hing,” he called as he headed back to the Lamborghini. “Rules and regulations, all bullshit to me you know? I just wanna do my job, I know what’s what,” he said, exasperated. “But for the paper work and all, you know? Breath testing, random checks. They’re breathing down my neck to do it! I can look a man in his eye and tell how many units he’s drunk. But they, no, they want me to do it prim and proper.” He pulled out a breathalyser as he reached Hamish’s door and leered in, Hamish staring, terrified, into the officer’s face.

  His hair, a silvery blonde, was combed back to stretch over his balding head. His features were thick and heavy. Upon his big square jaw sat heavy pink lips that he licked between his words, like a frog swatting a juicy fly. His forehead housed rolls of wrinkles, deep set, with canyons of nothingness in-between. His skin was somewhat greasy, and his nose bulbous and protruding. He was grinning at them, baring his grim, coffee-stained teeth.

  “Well, well, we haven’t got all night. I’m sure you’re dying to get back to your mansions and what-not. Would you be so kind as to step out of the car, sir? All I need is one breath, if that’s all you can give.”

  Saul was sitting, staring at the predator and prey, absolutely clueless as to what to do now. He was just a mindless spectator, mouth ajar, brain numb. He watched as Hamish slowly got out the car, leaning on the car door for support. And then his jaw dropped further as he witnessed the events that followed.

  Hamish burst into a sprint, running as fast as he could into the blackness of the night. Saul watched, paralysed, at his attempt to flee. This was crazy! What the hell was he thinking!? All he could do in his mental paralysis was stare in bewilderment.

  And then a stifled gunshot pierced his thoughts. Hamish’s body crumpled to the ground. The officer’s arm was extended, a handgun pointed right at Hamish. Saul looked on confused, unsure of what he had just witnessed. It was beyond belief. There was a scurry from behind the car, he was being grabbed, and the next moment he was handcuffed and in the back of a police car. It had all happened so fast he had barely registered what had just happened. He stared through the rear window of the police car as his vision blurred up and it started to rain. His breathing was becoming so restricted he felt like he was about to pass out. And then, in a single moment, as his delayed brain started to process it all, his entire world, everything he had ever seen, felt and touched, came crashing down. There, lying motionless in the middle of the road, was the unmistakable body of his best friend Hamish.