Breaking Cover
written by: Tim Law
I sat across from Gavin McTavi, our right arms locked in an arm wrestle. We might as well have been down the station, for he knew who I was, and I’d seen his true colours. We were playing out this final test upon the stage aptly named Shakespeare’s Hovel, for the crowd that watched on, continuing to tell our lies, play our parts, wearing the masks of local boy and newcomer.
“You’ve got this, Gav…” murmured Gavin’s dad, Tom.
The old man sipped something syrupy from his whiskey glass. He sounded like he’d had a few. I wondered if old man McTavi knew what his boy did as a side hustle. Big name in the local farming community, I’m sure Tom didn’t know, and what he suspected he’d turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to a long time ago.
“No way, Tom,” suggested Tony Dred. “Look at those biceps… Mick, you’ve got this in the bag…”
And I had to have it. The bag that Gavin had tried to sell me before things went so wrong. What was that white powder? Meth? Speed? Or was it something new that was going to ruin this town? I had to get that evidence, get to the truth. It was the final piece of the puzzle. With it, I could take down this rich boys’ club Gavin and his mates had going for them.
I’d arrived in Summertown on a whim, backed by my boss.
“I’ll be a week there, max,” I swore to Steph, my wife, knowing fully well I had no real clue how long this case would go.
“Be safe,” she begged.
I kissed her lightly upon those delicious lips.
That was at least a month ago. Now I wondered if I’d ever get to taste those kisses again. It seemed doubtful, and that scared me more than anything had ever scared me in my life.
The memory of what waited back home spurred me on, and soon Gavin’s hand touched the table.
“Bloody copper must have cheated,” slurred Tom McTavi.
“Right… Mr. McTavi… I think you’ve had enough…” I said, hoping that the mention that I was a cop had gone over the heads of most of the crowd.
Sadly, it hadn’t.
“Leave my old man alone,” Gavin growled.
Tom threw his glass at me, which thankfully just bounced off my chest and landed on the carpeted floor.
“A deal is a deal, Gav…” I said, looking Gavin McTavi dead in the eye.
“Fine…” sighed the youngster who sat opposite me, still rubbing his hand.
Out of his jacket pocket came the baggy. In one swift movement, he opened the lining and flicked the powder into my face. I tried not to breathe in too deeply, but the body’s natural instincts were to gasp in surprise.
“Gav… What the hell…?” asked the boy’s father, then Tom collapsed as he grabbed at his chest.
When I looked back to where Gavin had been sitting, the boy was gone.
- Breaking Cover - May 30, 2026
- The Eleventh Tome – Chapter X - February 16, 2026
- NJ’s Surprise - December 19, 2025
