Waking Broken Read Online Free PDF Page A

but I don’t think I can help. Maybe you should go back to hospital if something’s not right.’ She turned again and started to stride away.
    Harper stayed in the same spot for a moment, too confused to know what to do. He was still standing when Rebecca began to run. Without thinking, he started to chase her. After only a few strides, though, he was forced to give up; the pain from his left leg and hip was too much and he could not limp fast enough to keep up.
    He stopped, swaying on his left leg and grabbed a lamppost for support. He stared in bewilderment at her receding form. ‘Becca,’ he groaned. ‘What are you doing?’
    Then she was gone, round a corner and out of sight. Harper clung to the lamppost, practically sobbing with frustration and worry. As he did so, he became aware of the stares, some subtle, some not, being directed his way.
    One man, with dyed hair and a purplish suit far too young for his actual age, looked at Harper sympathetically. ‘Women, mate,’ he said. ‘That’s the problem. No logic in any of them.’
    Harper stared for a moment. ‘Oh, piss off!’ he snapped.
    The purple suit shrugged and hurried on again, soon lost in the crowd that flowed around Harper and his lamppost. He stayed clinging to its support for several minutes, trying to collect his thoughts.

4. Sharks
    Monday, 7.30pm:
    Councillor John Harrison hopped out of the back of the black BMW. Leaving his assistant to park the car, he trotted up the steps of the civic centre. At the building’s entrance, he paused and took a deep breath, smiling to himself. It had been a good day. He had brokered a satisfying arrangement at the planning referrals committee. Good for the city, good for the developer and another endorsement to his reputation as the man who could fix things. Plus, there was a nice little donation that would arrive in due course.
    Inside, Harrison ignored the lift up to the council chamber and took the stairs at a brisk run. After four flights, his pulse was only ticking over a little above normal. He nodded, satisfied. Although now closer to fifty than forty, he prided himself on looking like a young man and a strict routine kept his fitness at an enviable level.
    The city councillor slowed down as he approached the doors to the chamber and ran a hand over his hair. From the muffled sound of the voices inside it seemed he was still in time. The police authority’s meeting had yet to begin.
    Harrison nodded to himself. He hated to be late. To be on top, you had to have control and being out of the loop was fatal.
     
    Outside, a light rain began. Just spits of cold to start with, it thickened into a dank drizzle: the kind of weather to dull the soul.
    In the car park, the BMW sat waiting, its windows disappearing behind a fog of moisture. Harrison’s young assistant, a suited boy with a penchant for gadgets and a knack for making numbers disappear, shrugged. He pulled a Game Boy out of the laptop bag on the car’s back seat, turned up the music on the BMW’s stereo and settled down for a couple of hours of virtual mayhem. The boss would call on his mobile when he wanted the car brought round to the front.
    Soon, with the view of the car park fading into a watery abstraction, a series of alien invaders began to die: picked off with a sniper rifle, blasted with a plasma carbine or blown to pieces with a rocket launcher.
    Inside, the meeting was called to order and the committee settled down to work through the agenda. This time, the members only had a relatively short list of reports to deal with and a few matters to approve under existing policies. For a change, there were no new government initiatives to take on board this month.
    The committee had been getting on with their work for nearly an hour when a white limo pulled into the civic centre car park. The over-long car moved slowly, ponderously, a white shark cruising for its prey.
     
    The hubbub rose again as the meeting finally came to a conclusion.