State Property
Chapter 20: As above so below.
The dust is thick, powder-like at the back of Frank’s throat and the insides of his nostrils. It has him stifling one of those particularly irritating dry coughs that does nothing to relieve any of his discomfort. It reminds him too much of vast deserts and the rubble of a once-building with his men buried three feet underneath. It seems to get to Curtis too, who rinses his mouth with water from a canteen before he spits noisily onto the ground. He offers the canteen to Frank by shoving it directly under his nose and Frank shakes his head, pushing the offending item away so that he can see his own feet in the beam from the flashlight.
They’ve been walking for the best part of three hours and whilst both Frank and Curtis seem unfazed by the physical exertion, Daniel’s (which is what Foggy had introduced the man to Frank as) has started to trail a good ten yards behind them, feet scuffling against concrete. It’s the perfect opportunity for a Curtis Hoyle lecture, of which Frank has been severely lacking of late…
Read on A03.
