The door opened. Two men dressed in black mackintosh overcoats and black trilby hats carried in a black body bag and placed it on a stainless steel table. They left the room, closing the door behind them.

After a while, the door opened again and two different men entered the room - closing the door. The first man walked around the stainless steel table with the black body bag on top of it.

He paused, and stood looking at it. Both men were wearing the same black mackintosh overcoats, and both were wearing the same trilby hats - but they were different men. The man standing and observing the body bag was wearing cheap, plastic framed glasses, the type that were black at the top and clear at the bottom. He had a white shirt, a black thin tie, and a charcoal gray suit. He wore a silver tie bar with two silver diamond shapes on it.

The other man stood by the door. He was dressed the same as the first man, but he didn’t wear glasses.

The man standing by the door put his hand in the pocket of his black overcoat and pulled out a packet of Victory cigarettes and lit one.

‘So what do you think, guv?’ - The smoking man asked.

‘What do I think?’ - The man standing and looking at the body bag said - ‘I’ll tell you what I think, comrade. I think this is fucking messy.’

He leant forward and unzipped the black body bag halfway down the length of the zipper - and then pulled the seams of the opened zipper to show what was inside.

The dead face of a white man appeared from inside the black body bag. He hadn’t been dead long. His cheeks and face were pale, and a crimson splash of blood was streaked across his chin and nose. But he hadn’t been dead that long - maybe two hours.

‘So what happened comrade?’ - The man with the glasses inquired, moving his gaze from the dead man to the smoking man.

‘We were on patrol, just driving around and looking for anything that looked suspicious. Our shift was finishing at about 1. We stopped at the tea wagon on Victory Road. I’m having a smoke while Parker gets the tea, and I look over to the alley coming down from Hazelbrookes to Victory, and this prole comes round the corner. He stopped and he must have seen me, because he doubled back up the alley. So I’m thinking maybe someone who doesn’t want to be seen by state security has just walked right into us, and he’s shit himself and done a runner back up towards Hazelbrookes. So I give Parker a whistle and tell him to forget the tea. We jump in the car, and head up the end of Victory to catch him as he comes out at Hazelbrookes. So we pull up nice and slow with the lights off - and I have my firearm ready just in case there's any drama. We waited by Hazelbrookes for him to come out, but he didn’t show. It takes about 10 minutes to walk up that alley from Victory to Hazelbrookes, and Parker and me were up there in about 3 minutes after I saw him doing the runner. So we pulled the car up to the alley but there’s no sign of him. Now I’m thinking we have a definite suspect, and he must have seen me and doubled back up the alley. He probably saw our car peel off towards Hazelbrookes and turned around again to give us the slip. So I jump out the car and leg it down the alley while Parker roars off back down to Victory to try and spot him. I’m sprinting down the alley and my firearm is ready, just in-case the suspect is lurking waiting to get the drop on me. I make it down towards the end of the alley and I see him walking back down to Victory, getting ready to turn by the tea wagon. Parker’s pulled up and is coming up the alley - and I have slowed to a jog. I shout out “Police - put your fucking hands in the air and don’t fucking move” or something like that. And the suspect looks over his shoulder, and then starts looking around. So I shout again “Armed police - put your hands in the air and don’t fucking move!” - And the fucking cunt is just standing there looking around, looking everywhere, and looking at Parker. And now Parker’s in front of him in the alley and the cunt is just looking around. So I fucking shot him, and then Parker shot him. I think I put four rounds in him - I’m not sure - and I think Parker put three or four in him.”

The man with the glasses tightened his face and grimaced. He unzipped the black body bag a bit more, exposing the dead man’s chest. He was wearing blue overalls with the Victory docks longshoreman logo on the breast pocket. Four holes were visible in his chest - and the red blood looked black on the blue overalls.

‘Any witnesses?’ - The man with the glasses said.

The smoking man had lit another cigarette, and scratched his forehead with his thumb - ‘No witnesses to the shooting - nope.’

“Okay - no witnesses. That’s good. One less fucking dirty mess to clean up.” - the man with the glasses said - “This is how this is going down. You and Parker’s ducks are not going to be in a row on this one - they are going to be flying in glorious and perfect formation! You understand me comrade?”

The smoking man nodded.

“You were out on patrol and down by the river, and you met with a confidential informant. This confidential informant informed you and Parker that there was a messenger for the Unit heading to a meeting with a district commander. You were informed by the confidential informant that the meet would be happening at or around 11:45 PM at the tea wagon on Victory Road. You and Parker had parked up in an observing position with the intention of observing the rendezvous between the messenger - our dearly departed here - and the Unit area commander. The mission parameters were to observe the meet and then tail the Unit commander back to the viper's nest he resides in. Are you getting all of this, comrade?’

The smoking man had finished his cigarette, and had lit another one. ‘Yes guv.’

‘Good. At approximately 11:45 PM, the dearly departed arrived at the tea wagon on Victory Road. The dearly departed lingered for a short while, and then met with an unknown individual and papers were exchanged. For some unbeknownst reason, the dearly departed observed you and Parker and fled the scene. The unknown individual escaped. You and Parker chased the dearly departed up to Hazelbrookes, where he gave you the slip. You split up and doubled back; you in the alley and Parker in the car - and you intercepted the dearly departed near the exit of the alley to Victory Road. You identified yourselves as armed police officers, at which point the suspect attempted to disarm you. There was a struggle, and, regrettably, you and Parker were compelled to use lethal force.’

‘I got it guv - thanks.’ - the smoking man said.

‘Don’t fucking thank me comrade. Clean this shit up. Clean all this shit up so that it sparkles and looks fucking immaculate. So immaculate that the Chief Inspector - when he reads your report - signs it off and sends it somewhere far fucking away so that we - no, not we - so I never have to hear of this again.’

‘Yes guv - consider it done and immaculate’ - said the smoking man.

‘Mark the report as “Unit suspect / Internal-Security threat” - and there better not be a micron of daylight between your version of events and Parker’s, comrade. I want this body out of here and up to evidence collection ten minutes ago. I want your report and Parker’s report on my desk first thing in the morning comrade, for review before it goes to the Chief Inspector for sign-off and processing. Make sure you and Parker look the part tomorrow morning - clean white shirt. You know the Chief Inspector hates the squad to look anything but professional.’

‘Absolutely guv.’

‘And get waste management to head over to the flop house and make sure that the proles saw nothing and remember nothing.’

‘Yes guv.’

The man with glasses zipped up the black body bag and the dead man’s face disappeared under the zipper. The man with the glasses walked out of the room. The smoking man lit another cigarette and picked the phone receiver from the wall. He dialed zero.

‘Yes, evidence collection please comrade - priority.’ He waited… ‘Yes, evidence collection? Yes, I have a priority job...Internal security threat...Yes...Deceased...No…16th floor, room 1621...Yes...I will be here for the paperwork...Yes...Thanks comrade.’

He hung the phone up, and then lifted the receiver again and dialed zero - ‘Hello comrade...Waste Management please...Priority job.’