shit, shit! I’m not going back inside. Not for no one!” Rages Gazza.
He steps outside the door and points the gun at the lone unarmed policeman exiting the patrol car who raises his hands. Gazza laughs maniacally and makes off down the east end of the High Street.
Just then, Liz’s car lurches around the corner from the east end of the High Street and screeches to a halt outside the bank.
“Suspect IS armed!” Mick confirms as he spots Arnold Schwarzenegger running towards them with a bag in one hand and a rifle in the other.
Liz reacts immediately, pulling the lever to release the trunk as Mick leaps out of the car and sprints around the back to get the Heckler and Koch’s.
Gazza sees he’s outnumbered, turns and heads back up the west end of the High Street towards the unarmed policeman, who, having lowered his hands, now raises them again.
Liz steps out of the car and has a line of fire from behind the driver’s door. She raises her Glock pistol and shouts a warning.
“ARMED POLICE, DROP YOUR WEAPON!”
Gazza spins around on his heels and brings up his gun towards Liz. Liz hesitates. Gazza lets rip of the full magazine. A deafening clattering roar fills the air as the bullets fly into the ARV shattering glass and peppering the car with bullet holes as Liz dives headlong into the car.
“Hasta la vista, BABY!” Gazza shouts excitedly.
A second later Mick pops up from behind the back of the ARV with a Heckler and Koch and fires a three-round burst into Gazza’s chest.
17. Only a very small minority of specially trained police officers routinely carry firearms in the UK.
18. British army parachute regiment.
You Have Been Murdered!
Inverness, Scotland
David is sitting in the front window of a café in Inverness High Street with two large coffees in elegant mugs placed on the table in front of him. The Eden café was a comfortable coffee bar decorated with black and white framed photos on the walls of famous people drinking coffee. The aroma of fresh ground coffee filled the café and filtered out onto the street and was particularly effective at attracting passers-by. After calling Roy on the telephone at the number on the leaflet, Roy had suggested to meet at this café at 11:00 am. David had arrived early. He was jotting down some thoughts on a piece of A4 paper as he sipped his coffee and waited for Roy. Outside the window, it is a fine autumn day and the sun is shining brightly making it a little warmer than usual for this time of year. Across the street, David could see a bagpiper playing, dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt, tartan kilt, and long white socks. The tune he was playing sounded familiar to David. He remembered he had heard it before on the radio in his van.
Rod Stewart was the artist he remembered, that famous Scottish musician from the 1980s, but what was the name of the song?
“Amazing Grace!” Said Roy suddenly appearing at the table and smiling as he offered his hand to David.
“What . . . ?” Said David, a little surprised to see Roy standing next to him. He had not noticed him enter the café.
“The song!” said Roy as he nodded his head towards the bagpiper.
David was even more surprised that Roy had seemed to know what he had been thinking. He stuffed the paper he was writing on into his left jacket pocket and stood to shake Roy’s hand.
“Yes, yes, I knew it was a Rod Stewart song,” David replied as motioned his hand for Roy to sit. “Please, take a seat.”
“Aye,19 you’ve a good memory, but actually it’s a lot older than Rod Stewart. In fact, about two hundred years older.” Replied Roy as he took a seat at the table.
“But I expect you didn’t call me to talk about old pop songs.” He smiled.
“No,” agreed David pushing the second mug towards Roy. “I got you a coffee.”
“Cheers!” Said Roy placing the mug in front of him.
David pulled the leaflet from his right jacket pocket and placed it on the table in front of him.
“Actually, I wanted to talk about this leaflet,” said David.
“OK.” Nodded Roy.
“There’s some pretty controversial statements here,” said David with his index finger on the leaflet. “I mean . . . ” He started reading from the leaflet. “You have been murdered!” “You must be born again.” “Only in Jesus Christ can we find life.” and . . . “Understanding the Bible answers the meaning of life.”
“It’s all true.” Said Roy.
“But what does it all mean?” David asked waving his hand across the leaflet.
“In a nutshell, it means that we are all dead, David, and the cause of all of our deaths is MURDER!” Roy stated emphatically.
“We are all dead? So, are you saying that none of this is real?” David replied incredulously motioning his hand around the bar and the street outside the window.
“Oh, it’s real alright.” Replied Roy. “We’ve all been REALLY murdered,” Roy emphasized.
“OK, so explain it to me!” David demanded folding his arms.
“Take this coffee for example.” Roy picked up the mug in front of him. “You bought this coffee for me and gave me it to drink, aye?” asked Roy.
“Of course.” Replied David, a little disappointed by the simplicity of the statement. He was hoping for something a bit more profound, more meaningful. Something to give meaning to his own life.
“Now, supposing you knew that it had something in it that was poisonous to me and deceived me by telling me it was good to drink, and I believed you and drank it and it killed me. Would you say that that was murder?” Asked Roy putting the mug of coffee to his lips and drinking.
“That would technically be murder, I guess. I mean, if you didn’t know what was in it and I knew that what was in it was poisonous to you and gave it to you to drink and you drank it and it killed you. Yep, that sounds like murder. But I still don’t get it.” David replied with more interest.
“There is a true God, David, just as there is a real devil. This devil was a murderer from the beginning, and he has deceived you just as he has deceived all of us and indeed all mankind. You have been robbed and deceived. Robbed of life and deceived into death. By deceiving us into death the devil is committing genocide or rather as I call it ‘Anthropocide’, that is the systematic destruction of mankind and over the years and he’s become quite adept at it.” Roy informed very seriously.
“You’re saying that I have been deceived by the devil? Is that what you are saying?” Asked David incredulously.
“Aye, they say that it’s easier to deceive people than to convince them that they have been deceived.” Replied Roy.
“Now that may be true.” Agreed David.
“It is true,” Roy assured him. “We don’t want to believe we could be so gullible. But the devil has robbed us of the greatest gift that mankind could ever have: Eternal life.”
“But a real devil? Replied David incredulously. I’m not sure I believe in a real God let alone a real devil!”
“Oh, he’s real alright.” Answered Roy.
David thought for a moment.
“OK, I have some questions,” said David pulling out of his left jacket pocket the A4 paper with his notes. “Do you mind?”
“Not at