Angel and the Assassin

standing cage?”
    A sweet, dreamy look came over Angel‟s face. Kael had observed him looking
    longingly at the cages. “The dog crate, Sir.”
    “Excellent choice.” He pointed at the toilet. “Go and take a piss.”
    “I don‟t need to go, Sir.”
    Impatient now, needing to get on the road, Kael took him forcefully by the arm
    and drew him across the room to the toilet, forcing him to sit. “Take a piss.”
    “Yes, Sir,” Angel said quietly.
    Kael strode quickly across the room, gathering the blanket and several bottles
    of water. He carried them to the dog crate and put them inside while Angel watched
    him. When Angel stood up, Kael walked toward him and checked the toilet to make
    sure he had gone. “All right, good boy.”
    “How long are you going out for, Sir?”
    “Don‟t question me, boy.”

    144
    Fyn Alexander

    “Sorry, Sir.” Angel walked ahead of him to the heavy steel crate and dropped
    to his knees to crawl in. He squashed the crate pad with his hands to feel its
    thickness.
    “You should find it comfortable. I‟ve had boys spend the night in there before.
    They‟ve always thoroughly enjoyed it.”
    The smile on the boy‟s face as he looked around him, grabbing the bars and
    pulling on them, showed his excitement. Kael closed the crate and padlocked the
    gate. It was a combination lock. That should keep Angel safe until he returned.
    He stood upright and looked down at Angel. The crate was too small to lie
    down full length and impossible to stand up in. He hoped he would not be more than
    twelve hours. Perhaps he should move him to the standing cage. No, he‟d be fine.
    “Be a good boy,” he said.
    Kael had reached the door when Angel called out, “Sir, can I have my blankie
    and some food?”
    Kael released a long sigh and went quickly to the bedroom. The bed had been
    made neatly by Angel as he had done every day. The blanket was under his pillow.
    Kael grabbed it and went to the kitchen. He‟d never had so much food in the flat
    before. He took a packet of HobNobs and a bunch of bananas and carried them to
    the dungeon. He had to open the combination lock again because the food would not
    pass through the bars. “There, bananas and biscuits, now be a good boy. I‟ll be back
    soon.”
    “Sir, what if I have to go to the loo again?”
    “You‟ve been. You‟re fine.” He closed the dungeon door.
    From the box on the top shelf of the hall cupboard, he took the leather tool roll.
    He selected a scalpel and put it in his pocket, and a gun with a silencer, which he
    slid into the shoulder holster and fastened it on. He pulled on a leather jacket and
    locked the flat carefully behind him. Outside he hailed a taxi to take him to King‟s
    Cross Station.

    * * *
    The train to Edinburgh was almost empty. Kael liked the Virgin trains best.

    They were cleaner and almost always on time. He sat down in a seat with a table in
    front and took out his diary.

    If the summer I spent with Shawn was my summer of love, my 16th year was
    my summer of sex. Lots of sex with lots of different blokes.
    I always went home for the holidays, but after that summer with Shawn I
    couldn’t stand the thought of going home to my mum’s flat in Liverpool with her out
    working all day and me roaming the streets or working at some part-time job I
    would hate. Every holiday Freddie invited me to go to his house and I never went.
    My mum missed me and I missed her, but that summer I took Freddie’s offer and
    spent a month with his wealthy family in Devon.

    Angel and the Assassin
    145

    Freddie was always available for sex as long as I flogged him with my belt first.
    But there was a boy working in the gardens who I couldn’t take my eyes off. He was
    older than me, at least 19, and gorgeous, with golden brown eyes. I hung around him
    for half a day, chatting him up, before I offered to fuck him. He looked at me with a
    nasty scowl and smacked me across the head and called me a poofter. That was all it
    took to make me want to kill him. I was 6’1” by then, and while I was still thin and
    undeveloped, I was already very strong. I went after him like a mad dog and threw
    him to the ground. I got him pinned on the grass, sitting on his chest, with his wrists
    in my hands.
    Then I didn’t know what to do.
    I didn’t want to rape him, though I probably could have. That was when he
    arched his back and threw me off and we started wrestling which got me really
    excited. After we exhausted each other