This is an excerpt from the upcoming sci fi noir novel The Night Detective
End Of Shift
12:02AM
It was only by some sheer luck or miracle that he got away with his life tonight. Either way, John Kovacs got paid, double time. He dropped off his cruiser at the station for repairs and tune up and stopped at his usual burger joint near the subway station two blocks down. He grabbed his dirty cheeseburger and made his way down the street towards the train station. He had a week off from the blood, violence, and tears. He took a big bite, it was good. He should’ve gotten two. The fact that it rained this much every single night was a mystery to Kovacs. He felt two figures following him when he left the burger place. Who ever they were, he wished they would leave him alone until he finished his late dinner. They were in a rush. He could hear them pick up the pace only some ten metres behind him. They really needed to talk to me Kovacs thought.
Then, around the corner in front of him, from the dark, another man appeared. Kovacs kept on eating. He figured they were just street goons desperate for any quick buck. Nothing but street rats.
“Hey! Asshole, you took our gig tonight! You owe us big.” One of the rats blurted out from behind.
Kovacs kept on eating his warm burger, the only thing that gave him comfort in a long while. He didn’t humour the loser with an answer. The scrawny dickhead in front of him slapped the burger out of Kovacs’ hand and lunged at him with a knife. Maybe it was muscle memory, maybe it was instinct, but Kovacs didn’t handle act of violence well. He always carried a fully loaded weapon. The poor bastard took three shots, two to the head, one to the chest, no one ever came out of that alive, no human anyway. The two behind him came at him. They were met with the same fate.
Kovacs picked up his burger off the cold pavement, brushed it off and continued eating as he made his way to the subway.
Dante City is a dangerous place if you don’t know what you’re doing.