Wild Fiction

Conrad and James crept forward until they were within twenty yards of the door and peered out from behind a bush. Corp was standing facing the door in the bank. Slung over his right shoulder was a double-barrelled shotgun. He was wearing a sleeveless hunting jacket sporting two rows of cartridge holders. The holders were full of red and gold cartridges. He was peering into the doorway and saying something inaudible into the dark void beyond.
‘I guess Hog’s inside,’ James whispered to Conrad.
‘Einstein,’ Conrad replied and James scowled.
The two fictionals waited a few minutes before Hog appeared carrying one of the paintings still covered in bubble wrap. The sun splashed down through the trees and magnified itself in each bubble revealing the work of Dali in the painting under the bubble wrap.
James caught his breath. ‘That’s the Metamorphoses of Narcissus, that’s the one I was telling you about. It’s worth a fortune. Why do you think they’re removing it?’
‘My guess is that they’ve found a buyer for it,’ Conrad answered.
‘Quiet, they’re coming this way.’
They crouched down and crawled under the bush without making any noise. Corp and Hog trudged along the path within yards of where they were lying. Hog was breathing heavily under the weight of the painting and not moving very fast. Corp held the shotgun in front of him with both hands and looked from side to side, his eyes searching the trees and bushes.
‘They’re heading straight towards the Rebecca and Genevieve,’ James said in barely a whisper. ‘They’ll think that it’s us coming back. They’ll be caught or killed or both.’
Conrad put his finger over James’s trembling lips. ‘I know exactly where they are. I’m going to loop around and move them before these two oafs get there. I want you to follow them but stay at a safe distance. See if you can find out where they’re going. We’ll meet back where we left Rebecca and Genevieve,’ Conrad whispered the instructions to James in a steady calm voice.
James nodded back at him. Conrad crawled out of the bush and disappeared, doubled over, at an angle to the path.