The Zombie Room Read online

  Yep,’ Decker confirmed, and picked up the toolkit and the disconnected electric meter.

  They walked through the now pitch black store, illuminated only by the circular beam of light from the torch that Mangle held, and the rectangular glass panel on the shop door. Decker walked back out to the car to start the engine as Mangle sorted through pages on the clipboard before picking the correct one to detach.

  A creak sounded behind the counter and a different Korean man limped through the doorway, aided by the first man they had spoken to, and headed towards Mangle.

  ‘I am Mr Kang. This my store,’ he said to Mangle by way of explanation. ‘That my brother,’ he added, throwing a disparaging glare at his nervous-looking companion.

  ‘Hello, Mr Kang,’ Mangle said in an efficiently polite tone. ‘I’m afraid we discovered evidence of tampering on your electric supply and have therefore been forced to disconnect you.’

  ‘All my food go bad. I must have power on.’

  Mangle slid the sheet across the counter and spun it around to face the owner.

  ‘Here is the contact number of my associate, Mr Lawrence, if you wish to speak with him. I will make sure a correct bill is sent out to you in the next day or two after the meter has been examined.’

  ‘Day or two – no. No good. Must have power back today.’

  Mangle paused as if in thought before speaking again. ‘I’ll tell you what, Mr Kang. If I move some appointments around I can have the meter inspected and a correct bill delivered by courier just after lunch. As long as you clear the balance before the close of business today, we can have your supply reinstated before this evening.’

  ‘Yes, yes. Thank you. Today, yes,’ Kang said to Mangle, before looking nervously towards the freezers.

  Mangle calmly walked out of the gloomy interior and climbed into the car.

  Twenty minutes later they pulled into the maze of small industrial units they’d collected the Volkswagen from earlier that morning, where Tazeem was waiting for their return.

  ‘Everything go OK?’ Tazeem asked pulling down the metal shutter on his unit, after they’d parked the car up inside.

  ‘He panicked a bit, but other than that it went fine. Barely even looked at the IDs,’ Decker said, dropping the car keys onto a scuffed, paint-spattered wooden desk, and putting the toolbox and meter onto wall-mounted shelves behind it.

  ‘You gave him the sheet explaining disconnection, with the phone number?’ Tazeem asked, sitting down in a black swivel chair behind the desk.

  ‘I did,’ Mangle said. ‘I still don’t see exactly how this is going to work though.’

  ‘Well, my contact, Mr Lawrence, who actually works at G&E Utilities, will be on the other end of the phone should Mr Kang decide to call. He removed the customer record for Kang’s address from their system this morning and added his supply code to that of an existing supply to the factory over the road, so the power is still connected – or it was till you two turned up – but they won’t receive any more bills from G&E.’

  ‘OK, I’ve got it so far,’ Mangle said, sitting in one of two plastic chairs opposite.

  ‘Right. Well now his supply is off and he has a shit-load of frozen food that is gonna go really smelly really quickly, unless he gets the juice switched back on.’

  ‘Which explains all the flapping about when I flipped the switch,’ Decker said, sitting in the chair beside Mangle.

  ‘So now I have him sweat for an hour or two, then courier out what looks like an authentic G &E Utilities bill, except it won’t be their bank details on it but an account I’ve set up.’

  ‘So he pays that bill this afternoon … and then what?’ Decker asked.

  ‘You two go back to the shop today. You know how to rein-stall the meter, right?’

  ‘Yeah, fully qualified for all kinds of electric stuff courtesy of a course I took in prison.’

  ‘Well, once you’ve reconnected him, Mr Kang is a happy camper ’cause his food isn’t spoiled. He continues paying the bills that I’ll send out to him each month. Meanwhile, the shop’s electric supply is being paid for by the factory over the road, who have such a high consumption they won’t notice the increase.’

  ‘So everyone’s happy and it doesn’t even look like a crime has been committed?’ Mangle asked.

  ‘Exactly,’ Tazeem said, gleefully rubbing his hands together. ‘My friend at G&E gets a healthy slice of the pie and we take the rest.’

  ‘Wow,’ Decker said, shaking his head. ‘And what do we do after that?’

  ‘After that, my friends, we move on to the next one.’

  ‘But neither myself nor Decker have jobs yet. If we start earning money with nothing to show where it came from, then Probation will be on to us right away,’ Mangle said.

  ‘Just leave it with me,’ Tazeem reassured them.

  Over the next few months Mangle and Decker worked to Tazeem’s plan and together they established a network of businesses that supplied them with a substantial regular income. Convenience stores, back-street garages and even modest high street shops were targeted, relieved of their supply on the pretence of tampering or a faulty meter. Amended bills were immediately dispatched, followed by quick payment and reconnection within the hour. They also attended their day jobs at e-Bit, Latif ’s computer store. A probation officer visited twice to check up on them and was impressed with the positive reports he received from Latif.

  ‘What’s the name of the place, again?’ Decker asked, as he drove along the congested street looking for the shop Tazeem had assigned them that morning.

  ‘Eazywash Laundrette,’ Mangle said, reading from the paper in his hand. ‘There, park behind that van.’ He pointed to a vacant parking space just before the shop.

  The sign above the door looked hand-painted and quite old. Inside was similarly unkempt, with unpolished floors and machines that appeared to be as old as the building itself and perhaps as old as the attendant. She wore a blue gingham uniform and had her grey hair pulled back in a net so tightly that her forehead appeared botoxed. She peered suspiciously at them through a cloud of cigarette smoke as they walked into the deserted store.

  ‘What do you want?’ she snapped at Mangle, whose suit apparently identified him as trouble.

  ‘Nothing to worry about Mrs …’ he said, but she didn’t fill in the blank. ‘It’s simply a courtesy call from G&E Utilities to make sure your power supply is working within regulated guidelines.’

  This was the standard line he used in these situations, which partnered with a flash of his credentials and a flash of his smile would allow them access to the meter. She shook her head and stubbed out the cigarette into an overflowing ashtray perched on top of one of the machines. Mangle again reached for his ID and presented it to her for further examination. She gave it barely a glance before again saying no.

  ‘You don’t seem to understand, Mrs …’

  ‘Ethel.’

  ‘Ethel, you have to let us inspect the power supply or your electricity may be cut off.’

  ‘I don’t trust those photo things,’ she said, and Mangle obligingly put it away.

  She picked up a dog-eared copy of the Yellow Pages, licked a nicotine-stained index finger and began leafing through.

  ‘That’s perfectly understandable,’ Mangle said and removed a sheet from his clipboard. ‘Here is a letter explaining our visit and a phone number of my boss who will answer any questions you may have.’

  He hoped Lawrence was alone and able to take the call. Usually they didn’t take this much persuasion.

  ‘I don’t want that either. Those high-up idiots never know what’s going on. It’s the people on the floor that really run things,’ she said, jabbing her bony finger on top of the machine she leant against and issuing a rattling cough. ‘You think my boss has a clue what to do if a machine breaks down in the middle of a shift? No chance. I’ll talk to the girl who answers the phone. She’ll be able to tell me what’s going on.’

  Decker swap
ped his toolbox from one hand to the other, and looked anxiously at Mangle.

  ‘There’s no need for that Ethel …’ Mangle said, but she had found the number for G&E and begun to dial. ‘Look, this is obviously a bad time so we’ll call back when it’s more convenient.’

  ‘Hello?’ Ethel said into the receiver, and then to Mangle, ‘Don’t you go anywhere till I know what this is about.’

  Decker had already opened the door and he and Mangle were through it before the overhead door closer snapped it shut.

  ‘We must have done twenty places already and we almost get sprung off a little old woman?’ Decker said, hurriedly starting the car.

  ‘She had nothing to lose by double-checking, I suppose. We just didn’t expect it as no one else had done that.’

  ‘So that’s the end of our run, then?’ Decker asked, after Mangle had explained to Tazeem what had happened.

  ‘No, we just need to go further afield and be more selective with the businesses we choose,’ Tazeem answered, unperturbed.

  ‘More selective in what way?’ Mangle asked.

  ‘It’s something I had planned on doing anyway. We’ll just step up the time frame,’ Tazeem said, leaning back on his chair and crossing his right ankle over his left knee. ‘We only go for businesses that have something to hide. Places that don’t want anyone poking around.’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’ Mangle asked.

  ‘Yeah, let’s have some examples,’ Decker said, shaking his head.

  ‘Alright: clothing stores importing counterfeit goods, shops selling cigarettes smuggled into the country to avoid paying tax, frozen food outlets buying up cheap out-of-date stuff and changing the dates to resell. There’s any number of back-street businesses that don’t want anyone official looking too closely at what goes on. Removing their power will make them pay whatever bill we hold under their noses, to restore the status quo quickly.’

  Mangle frowned and scratched his chin. ‘It sounds a lot more workable, but how are we gonna find out where these businesses are? I doubt they simply advertise the fact.’

  ‘Just leave that to me.’

  Friday morning, and Decker and Mangle met Tazeem back at the lock-up at 07.30 a.m. as instructed. He’d arranged another job, but had remained tight-lipped about the details.

  ‘Good morning. Right on time – well done.’

  ‘Where we off to then, Taz?’ Decker asked, striding into the garage.

  ‘Here’s the paperwork,’ Tazeem said, handing the clipboard to Mangle. ‘It’s a wholesale food distributer.’

  ‘A cash and carry,’ Decker said.

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘So what’s the situation with them? You said only businesses that have something to hide,’ Mangle asked.

  ‘This particular place is taking a shipment of wine courtesy of a stolen eighteen-wheeler that’s been getting a makeover for the last few days.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yeah, the truck has been rebranded to look the same as one that delivers from one of their regular suppliers, same plates and everything. The wine will be stashed in the warehouse out back and collected by some of the manager’s more trusted customers, who will sell it on, and everyone makes a quick profit.’

  ‘So what’s our role, then?’

  ‘Same as usual: turn up and go through the whole electric company thing. The timing is crucial. If you arrive there and create a scene just before the delivery is about to land then the manager will pay anything to make the problem vanish.’

  The large car park in front of ValueNet was mostly empty, but Decker drove around and pulled up near the delivery entrance at the back. The building was vast and constructed of orange brickwork with corrugated sheet cladding. The majority of orders were received online and shipped out in a procession of ValueNet vans, half a dozen of which were parked in front of the warehouse entrance, being loaded up by staff. Decker and Mangle walked briskly past them, looking for either the electric supply or someone in authority.

  ‘Can I help you?’ a burly man with stooped shoulders and a patchy beard said as he hurried across to them. He introduced himself as the manager.

  ‘Yes, we’re from G&E Utilities,’ Mangle said, and went through their regular routine.

  ‘This really isn’t a good time.’ The manager shook his head and smiled through his distress.

  ‘We’ll be as quick as possible and then be right out of your hair,’ Mangle beamed at him.

  A quick glance at his watch, and the manager ushered them across the delivery dock to a corner of the warehouse.

  ‘We’ll be very busy here soon, could you hurry this along?’ the manager asked, switching his ample weight from one foot to the other in the manner of a child who needs to urinate.

  Mangle patted the nervous manager on the shoulder and regaled a reassuring platitude as Decker went about his business. A murmur of concern from Decker a moment later was all it took to accelerate the manager’s heart rate further, then Decker threw the switch that plunged the entire place into darkness.

  ‘I’m sorry, but I’ve had to remove your supply,’ Decker said, stepping back into the warehouse carrying the disconnected meter under his arm. ‘It looks like there’s been tampering.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous,’ the manager said, with a look of surprise.

  ‘We’ll have to call out a team right away to check on this. They’ll need to determine exactly how underpaid G&E has been and have the account reimbursed before power can be restored.’

  ‘No, we can’t shut down business. The place will lose a fortune,’ the manager stammered, realising the other ramifications. ‘You have a team coming here?’

  ‘Yes, some engineers will come and diagnose what has happened. They may be here for several days,’ Mangle confirmed, as he scribbled notes onto his clipboard.

  The manager took a step back and struggled to come to terms with what had been said. His brain was freewheeling as he searched for any way out of the mess, like a mouse in the grasp of a cat.

  ‘There must be some other solution we can come to here,’ he said with a pleading smile.

  ‘Well, we could have the meter analysed back at the department, but the data may not be as accurate as an investigation conducted on site.’

  ‘That’s OK, do that,’ the manager stammered as he grasped the lifeline.

  ‘You do realise that this will lead to an updated bill that could be in excess of the actual power consumption?’

  ‘That’s fine, I’m sure you’ll do the best you can,’ the manager said, a vague hope beginning to take root within him. ‘So there will be no team called out now? And how long until power is restored?’

  ‘It shouldn’t take long at all, provided the account is cleared right away. I’ll courier the bill to you as soon as possible.’

  *****

  ‘And that was it?’ Tazeem asked when they arrived at the lockup. ‘No phone calls to check on you or anything?’

  ‘Nope, the guy was so horrified that he would probably have stripped naked and run around the car park singing Abba songs if we’d told him it would get the supply reconnected.’

  Tazeem laughed and sat back in his chair. He pushed a piece of paper and a pen across the desk towards Mangle. ‘How much do you think we should charge him?’

  Mangle looked at Tazeem and then at Decker.

  ‘It’s a big place,’ Decker said with a shrug.

  ‘It is,’ Mangle nodded, and wrote down a figure on the sheet and pushed it back over to Tazeem.

  ‘I like the way you think,’ Tazeem nodded at the number Mangle had written. ‘But let’s think a little bigger,’ he said, and added a zero.

  8

  Tatiana could no longer feel the pain in her bruised face as the boat chugged calmly into the docks. She had seen the other women yelling at her to be quiet as she wailed for help at the sight of her dead friend. Finally the men came and beat her unconscious, but no one was released from the hold. When she awoke, she was still cha
ined and pressed up against Natalia’s cold, vacant-eyed corpse.

  Once the boat had been moored, the shipmates opened up the hold, unlocked their chains and filed them out. Natalia’s body was left soaking in the pool of filth as the other girls were led up the stairs, across the gangway and onto the dock. It was dark outside but the moon provided enough light that Tatiana could see the white-haired man, now wearing a bright blue cravat and a Panama hat, standing watching from a short distance away. Beside him were two Asian men with their hands in their pockets, and another who looked oriental. The captain had already gone ashore and stood nearby, but looked uneasy.

  The oriental man came across to the girls and gave them a quick once-over, pausing for a second at the sight of bruising on Tatiana’s face, then signalled for them to be loaded into a waiting van. After a headcount the white-haired man grabbed the captain’s arm. Tatiana was the last to take her seat and looked back at the scene outside. The captain looked concerned, yet defiant, as the white-haired man talked sternly to him. She caught only snatches of what they said as the exchange was animated, and both men were moving as they spoke. ‘This is the last time,’ said the white-haired man. The captain was protesting his innocence, but it appeared to fall on deaf ears.

  One of the Asians seemed amused by the exchange. He walked up to the captain and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder, his fingers glittering from a flamboyant adornment of diamonds. The white-haired man looked anything but amused, and asked the oriental man something about a clinic. He shook his head, and all three men walked out of her line of sight.

  Tatiana faced forward. None of the other girls were talking. They seemed acceptant of whatever fate awaited them. Whatever it was to be, Tatiana thought, surely the worst must now be behind them.

  Mangle walked into the Bear and Crown and ordered a beer. As the barmaid proudly began to recite the available list, Mangle waved a hand indicating that any would do. She returned somewhat sullenly a moment later with his glass, and he gave her a handful of coins. After a brief glance around the bar he saw Decker occupying the same spot they’d sat in previously, and he carried his dripping glass over.