The Collector Book One: Mana Leak Read Online Free PDF Page A

warning from the meteorological centre that electrical storms are on the way, so batten down the hatches tonight, folks! That was your weather, here’s the latest one from—”
    Joe reached down and switched off the car stereo. The DJs’ voices really grated on his nerves, and the choice in music was appalling. It seemed the same on every station. The same song had been played five times while Joe had made the three hour journey from London. Some stupid pop song called Oh Baby Baby I Love You . He chuckled the first couple of times. The lyrics were as deep as a puddle in a heat wave, and the music consisted of one note over and over again. Thump thump thump. He only listened for the regular traffic reports, and he found it marginally better than silence.
    He checked his side mirror and manoeuvred the car around a bus.
    Joe loved the way the car moved and how it powered out of turns. The wind buffeted his hair and chilled his teeth as he smiled.
    I should have bought this a lot sooner. I never knew that driving could be so much fun!
    Joe had never been one for big, extravagant purchases, but when he saw the Porsche convertible in the showroom window, he had to have it. Destiny. You don’t make thousands of pounds near enough overnight, see this car and not buy it. Joe had lived the modest life for long enough.
    Even if it was all from a fluke…
    He slowed the car and hung a right, finally turning onto Penny Crescent. His grandmother lived in the last house, the third on the street, at the dead end.
    Joe hoped this time, she’d see sense. On every visit, he’d ask her, pretty much beg her, to return to London with him. An elderly woman shouldn’t live here alone.
    She just hasn’t been the same, not since Granddad died…
    And after the events of the past few months, he was determined to bring her back this time.
    …and that’s why. Bastards…
    He turned his head as he drove past the two youths sitting on a low wall on the right. The Dean twins. He knew all about them, ever since the Magistrate’s Court case. Jake Dean was dressed in black. His greasy, dark hair hung down past his ears. Like a negative image of his brother, Adam Dean sat beside him in a white tracksuit. A matching baseball cap sat atop his shaven head. Both held a can of lager and smoked.
    Joe stared at the pair of them with burning intensity.
    How dare you get away with what you did. One of these days…
    He studied Adam’s tracksuit closer and growled. The damned thing was Carter Sportswear, baseball cap too. The Carter logo dotted the whole outfit. The emblem burned in Joe’s mind: a collection of interlocking circles. Known in the Carter executive offices as the New World Design , to Joe, it was his design.
    How dare that thieving sack of shit wear my design. He can only afford it through stealing from old women…
    Adam Dean, as if hearing Joe’s angry thoughts, smirked and took another drag of his cigarette.
    “Bastards…” Joe said, not caring if the scumbags could lip-read.
    He broke his stare as a car shot past, heading in the opposite direction. Joe caught a brief glimpse of the driver, a balding man in his forties, hunched over the steering wheel, teeth clenched.
    “Betsy!” came a woman’s cry from the left.
    Joe turned back, and a black and white dog ran into the road ahead.
    “Oh shit…”
    He slammed his foot down hard on the brake. The car lurched forward, and his seatbelt pulled tightly across his chest. Tyres whining, the car ground to a sudden halt.
    The dog cowered a few feet away from the front bumper.
    Joe pursed his lips and released a long blow. His pulse throbbed in his neck.
    “Betsy! Betsy, you stupid dog!”
    A slim, petite woman with long dark hair ran down the driveway of the house on the left. She dashed into the road and swept the dog up in her arms. Whispering comforts to the mutt, she rubbed its chest with shaking hands.
    Joe glanced down. His own hands shook too. He unclipped his seat belt and pulled