Chapter 6 - Success? - Phantom

The job was complete; the gun was neatly packed and secured in the back of the truck and not an ACME agent in sight. The night had been a success and even Phantom had to admit he was in good spirits. But elation bred mistakes and his was about to bite him. Only a few miles from the museum Phantom had already started to peel off his disguise and reapply his bandages, just at that moment the rear view mirror was suddenly strobed with the blue lights of a police car. If he was recognised now, it would be all over. A decision had to be made, should they pull over and try to talk their way out of any trouble or throw caution to the wind and try to lose the police. Harry turned a set of wide eyes to Phantom, waiting to be told what to do. "Pull over," Phantoms tone was in control and Harry could see why, by the time they pull over into the nearest lay-by, Phantom had already filled a syringe from a turquoise vial, he had secreted in the cuff of his jacket and was now hiding the needle in his gloved hand. What the plan was Harry was unsure but Phantom always had one forevery eventuality and had never let him down before. The figure got out of his car and walked purposely towards their truck, his features hidden from view by the glare from his headlight which was backlighting him. Phantom wound down his window and with his other hand fished around in the glove box for one of the many false ID's that littered it. "Do you know why I stopped you," the pompous way the man stoke told Phantom everything he needed to know, this man loved his job, he had probably recently lost out on a promotion and believed this sort of work was below him. Most of all Phantom knew this man could not be bribed, instinctively his hand tightened around the syringe. "We were only going 5mph over the speed limit officer," Phantoms plea one of complete innocence, harry merely nodded his head stupidly. The officer's face didn't change but his eyes kept flicking nervously to the bandaged face of Phantom and random radio chatter kept blaring out of the open door of the police car, the noise of the motorway drowning it out of Phantoms earshot, but it wasn't good. "That being said, that wasn't the reason I stopped you..." Phantom stopped listening to the man at that point as he suddenly heard something from the police radio that made a chill run down his spine. "Keep the target busy... ACME inbound." The officer didn't even raise his hands to defend himself, fast as lightning Phantom drove the syringe into the side of the man's neck, his pupils contracted and he slumped onto the tarmac. Phantom knew that Carmen disapproved of such methods but this halfwit was trying to interfere with the mission and in an hour or so the man would wake up with a splitting headache and acute amnesia but otherwise unharmed. The deadline was drawing nearer and they were still miles away from the rondevu site, so Harry was forced to put his foot down and made a violent right turn, leaving the well maintained, smooth tarmac of the motorway in favour of the twisting maze and uneven surface of the country lanes. Harrys face was only an inch or so from the glass of the windscreen, making him look even larger and more out of place then he usually did. He was driving mostly by feel and luck because even if he had his headlights on he could only see as far as the next bend, so why bother advertising there location. After a while the vehicle ground to a halt and as the engine slowly died away and deathly quiet surrounded them. They had arrived at the pre-arranged location but no one was here, no plane, no crooked pilots, no dodgy looking henchmen and most importantly no getaway car. Phantoms eyes darted to the clock mounted on the dashboard to see if they had missed the collection but they hadn't, in fact they were 5 minutes early. "Where is everybody and what is happening?" Phantom said this more to himself then to Harry but he felt it needed to be said out loud.