The rest of the boys weren't back from the war, so it was very quiet. Philip decided to leave the camp and find some people to be around. He walked up to the guard room to sign out. Technically, he wasn't allowed out, but he didn't care much for some of the rules. The soldier on duty was from another unit, but Philip's reputation was well-known. He'd spent some time in the boxing team and had badly mauled the last victim who dared to step in the ring. Seeing who was on duty, he knew he was home free. The two lads exchanged a cheeky smile. The gate opened, and Philip was smelling freedom. He walked up the main road for a couple of miles and caught the tram into the city.

He had two favourite places he liked to visit. One sold spiced mulled wine, but it was not winter yet. In fact, it was a warm summer's day. The other was a trendy bar in the basement of a building. No prizes for guessing the name, 'Downstairs Bar'. Philip took up position on a bar stool and ordered a beer. After a couple of drinks, he wandered outside to soak up the sunshine and relax in the ambiance of cheerful people going about their day. That feel-good feeling was not going to last. The area was bustling with people just chilling out and chatting to each other. Philip's German vocabulary was limited to ordering drinks, food and swearing.

A fancy white Mercedes pulled up and the back door opened. A girl was launched out. Philip thought to himself, I bet that's put a ladder in her stockings. He figured immediately she was a prostitute. He believed people chose their destiny, so he didn't get up to offer any sympathy or help. A big guy, with a snake tattoo around his neck, got out the other side and walked to the girl with a look of business on his face. That was Philip's cue to move in. The man grabbed the girl's arm and shook her about, shouting in German. Philip gripped the man's wrist, looked him right in the eye and said, "Fuck off!" in his best German. The man looked disgruntled but did as he was told and walked away—no questions. But then, you wouldn't ask questions when Philip meant business. He was good at delivering a messing. The man got back in the car, and drove off.

Philip didn't even look at the girl to wait for any thanks. He just started to walk away. She said something to him in German. He turned around, looked at her, and said, "I'm British, I don't speak German." She replied in English, "I don't need your sympathy." Philip laughed and said, "Princess wasn't getting any!" But now his curiosity was raised—she spoke very good English. He decided to leave her alone and walk away. She shouted over, "Thanks!" He looked back over his shoulder and gave a half smile. There was something he liked about her, but then she was obviously good at her trade.

He heard the clip-clop of stilettos swiftly gaining on him. His instincts started working overtime—this was trouble! She caught up to him, grabbed his arm, gave him her best puppy looks, then smiled. Philip was now in deep shit. He stopped and stood still, looking

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right into her blue-green eyes, and said, "What?!" She loved that. This man was not your typical gooey mess over girls. Who was he? She pressed up against his body and said, "I want to buy you a drink!" Oh no, there was some movement brewing below his belt. This chick knew how to press buttons. Philip looked at her trying to gauge the amount of trouble. He then thought, what the hell—I'm bored anyhow! "Fine, but not the Downstairs Bar, I've just come out of there." She said, "No! I know somewhere quiet." Oh crap, he thought, she wants to talk. "Okay, I'll follow you. My name's Philip." She said, "Ah, Phil." "No," he replied, "it's Philip." "Okay," she said. "It's just down there. And my name's Kat." As they walked through the door of the bar, you felt the atmosphere. This was a private place for private conversations, with lots of booths made out of old giant beer vats. They sat down in one. The waitress was straight over to take their order. Philip thought it interesting that Kat paid right away. Didn't even suggest he pay. What did she want?

Kat started to interview Philip. "British soldier. One that can more than handle himself." She wasn't even trying to apply false flattery. She was a businesswoman who could handle herself too. Philip really liked that air of confidence. "I'll tell you straight, but you answer me straight with a yes or no." Philip just said, "Okay." Kat continued, "What if I told you there was this house, and in this house, there was a room with a table, and on the table was a huge pile of money. And the right person could just walk in there and take it.” Philip scoffed, "Really! I always ask myself, what are the consequences? What comes next?" Kat replied, "These people won't have a clue who you are." Philip thought, then said, "Okay, but you know who they are, and they know you." "No!” Kat responded quickly, “I've only been there once, a year ago. Somebody mentioned last night that these people still operate the same way." Philip gave her a mild stare and said, "Hmm, how much do you think is there?" "Over a million—possibly." Kat replied. "I get your point. And you know your way around this house?" Philip asked. "Somewhat. I can guide you to the back door and give you an idea of where the room is." Kat explained.

There was one catch though. Philip lifted up his shirt. Kat fell back, took a deep breath and held her hand to her mouth. She'd never seen somebody so badly bruised. Philip said, "I've just come back from the war. I'm not a hundred percent and still in pain. How many people are in the house?" Kat said with excitement, "So, you are thinking about it?" Philip took a deep breath, "Yeah."

Kat leant forward and lowered her voice, "If you are in, we do it tonight." Philip sat back a little surprised, "Why the urgency?" "Because I actually don't do things like this," Kat said. Philip asked again, "How many people are in the house?" Kat thought briefly, "I don't really know, maybe about eight to ten with a few girls." Philip replied, "I'll agree to do a reconnaissance, and if it's a go, I'll get in. Just don't hold your breath." Kat said, "That's fine. That works for me. Should we order something to eat? We have some time to kill. I got you into this, so I’ll pay. And by the way, it's a fifty-fifty split." Philip said, "That's a fair deal. Do you by any chance have any tools?" Kat was waiving to attract the waitress' attention as she replied, "I have a short baseball bat. I think English people call it Rounders." Philip smiled, "We sure do, and that will do nicely." Kat continued, "I've also

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got a ski mask, hat, gloves, and jacket. All those sort of things. Oh, and a car." Philip’s face lit up, "Great, especially the jacket. It looks like it could rain later tonight." Kat turned back to Philip suddenly, "Would you call it off if it rained?" Philip looked insulted, "Excuse me, I was trained by Her Majesty's Armed Forces. We don't melt in the rain. In fact, jokes apart, that's possibly the best weather condition.” Philip paused, “This gang, what nationality are they?" Kat’s eyes turned downward and quietly replied "Romanian." Philip frowned, "Sweet!" To which Kat replied,"Yes, they are violent, very violent."

The waitress came over and asked them if they wanted anything else. Kat said that they would like to eat. Philip indicated to Kat that she must order first. He had some English gent about him. She ordered the cod and salad. Healthy choice, Philip thought. Philip went for the chicken and chips with ketchup. Philip said, "Is there anything else I need to know?" Kat looked at him straight in the eye and said, "Nothing that comes to mind. Anyhow, you do what you are good at. Checking these things over, moving around in the dark, and all that, and you can form your own opinion. Are you going to take anybody with you?" Philip said, "No, I don’t need anyone." Truth was, there was nobody—all his buddies were still on foreign soil fighting it out. He wasn't going to give any cards away for free to Kat. She was in a profession that can't be trusted. Philip would never take something from good, hard-working people. He saw himself as a servant to the good, a protector from the degraded, psycho-deranged bully boys of this planet.

Philip was seven when his mother remarried a psychotic alcoholic. Their first family Sunday lunch went south rapidly after Ron, the stepfather, looked at Philip's plate and said, "You saving the best till last?" Philip had a good think about that and said, "No, not really." And that was the truth. Philip hadn't really thought about it. Well, fuck me sideways—Ron picked up the jar of cranberry sauce and threw it at the wall in anger. The jar smashed and the wall got a new red paint job. This was the first time Philip had ever seen real confrontation and was not sure how to handle it. His mother asked him to go to his room.

Another time, his psycho stepfather was using his mother as a punching bag. Philip picked up one of his solid metal toys, lifted it above his head to launch it at the psycho when his mother shouted out, "Don't do that Philip! Just go to your room!" Philip did as his mother told him, but that marked the turning point of Philip thinking for himself, acting on his decisions and dealing with the consequences.

When the alcohol eventually killed his stepfather and the funeral day came around, Philip looked into the grave where the casket had been lowered, only to double-check this was reality. He turned around and started skipping back down the path when he suddenly realised others might be watching. He then calmed his joy down. It was actually a happy day, and he learnt that death wasn’t such a bad thing after all. The world was not created for the psychotically deranged. It was meant for things like happiness, excitement, love, romance, achievements and lots of adventure.

Philip knew there was a law of the land and respected it. However, he could also put it to

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one side and be his own judge, and jury. He couldn’t understand how the world had so many psychos in it when so much money was supposed to be spent on putting them away. Something was wrong. He just hadn't figured it all out.

Kat had opened a door to learning more, and Philip was super keen to run right through it. After all, doors like this didn't open every day. Philip looked at Kat and half-smiled at her, then said, "Tell me something about what you do that's easy to talk about." Kat responded angrily "I hate it now. I know these people lie. At first, I thought they were so cool. What a fucking joke that was. It's like a rabbit hole that just gets worse the more you go down it. Did you know, they make these little acid pills out of drain cleaner?! Do you know why they are pink? Because the kids like pink! And that's why you hear of one dropping dead every now and then at a rave party. Too much drain cleaner. Do they give a fuck? No! Do they lose a night's sleep over it? No! They fucking don't. Don't get me started. They just don't give a fucking shit. They don't even give a shit about themselves and their own welfare. It's the most fucked-up game on the planet. There are no boundaries. You never hear, ‘you can't sell that stuff to under-eighteens.’ They sell it to everyone that has money. In fact, you don't even need to have money. Pay them on a credit basis." Kat put her face into her hands and screamed.

She looked up at Philip and said, "They say they live by a code—they can’t even spell the fucking word ‘code’. I've seen drugs being sold to a five-year-old. I've seen teenage girls sold into sex because they don't have the pocket money to pay. Once, this fucking creep was going to rent out a nine-year-old because she didn't have the money. I stepped in and paid. I don't know which one is sicker—that or the piece of shit that pays them for the sex with kids. And believe me, it's all supply and demand. The demand—the people that give them money—are just as guilty. Now you know why I fucking hate myself right now." That was the point where she came up a little in Philip's expectations. She was looking for the exit sign in her game. She still had some dignity in there fighting back. But Philip still didn't feel sorry for her and wasn't going to.

Philip took a good hard look at the task ahead. He then smiled. This, for him, was a way to piss off the psychos big time. Really fuck up their operation. He was now in a happy place. He just learnt something about life directly from the horse's mouth, even though it was ugly. He was sitting there quietly, super excited. Kat wiped the tears from her face and carried on eating in silence.

The waitress came over and asked if they wanted anything else. Philip was getting ready to go to war, so it was just a glass of water and some more ketchup for his chips. He dipped his chip into the ketchup, looking at Kat, and said, "So, this car you have, tell me it's not fluorescent pink with orange love hearts all over it!" Kat laughed, "No, it's black all over, no love hearts." "Is it inconspicuous?" Philip asked. "It's an older Mercedes." Kat replied. "That's good," said Philip, "fits right in, this being Germany and all. Okay, the plan is for you to park somewhere out of the way but easy for me to run back to; show me the house; go back to the car and wait no matter how long—right?" Kat nodded, "Yeah, that's

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a simple plan." Philip replied, "No, it's not. What are you going to do if you need the toilet, get hungry, run out of cigarettes? These are stupid little details you need to think about. Then there's the dog walker that sees you just sitting there. Where you park is critical. Keys need to be in the ignition all the time. You need to be ready to floor that pedal at a moment's notice, so the car needs to be pointed in the right direction."

Kat knew this was going to actually happen and she really was with someone who's some sort of Special Ops, Military person. Maybe she could live another life after tonight. Philip said, "Once this is done, what are you going to do?" Kat knew exactly what she was going to do, "I'm going to be an Accountant, top Corporate Company and all that. But first, I'm going to lay low in the Black Forest until the epic thunder and lightning storm blows over a bit. You can come with me if you want." Philip said, "I'll be very safe in the military camp. But having said that, I'm on leave and I like the idea of the Black Forest. I always wanted to learn paragliding and..." Kat interjected and said excitedly, "You can learn that down there. I even know where there's a school where they teach people." Philip's eyes grew wide with excitement and said, "You're on, that's the plan."

Philip was excited. He knew from experience the importance of creating a future in ones imagination. And you should always work towards it and never lose sight of it, ever! Life was this game of easy distractions, and one could easily forget their goals.

It was time to head out. Neither one knew what the real outcome of events was going to be that evening. They went to Kat's apartment. Philip put an extra packet of cigarettes in her handbag along with a spare lighter. Kat handed him the bat. "I love this bat. It's short without being too short and it has a leather strap so you can't lose it or have it taken off you and used against you.” “Nice!" Philip smiled. Kat held up a jacket, "Try this jacket on for size. It belonged to my ex, so I don't give a crap if it gets torn." Philip tried it on. It fitted well. "I don't remind you of him, do I?" Philip asked as he inspected the jacket. Kat said, "No, he had dark hair. You're a rich copper colour." Philip was happy to hear that. They were all set to go.

Philip had mentally gone through a thorough checklist, except... the car! Kat put the key in the ignition, the car turned over slowly but didn't start. She looked at Philip and said, "Chill, I've not used it for three months." At the second attempt the car struggled but started. They drove to a garage and filled up, checked oil, water, and the tyres. Kat started the car again and the engine roared into life on the first turn of the key. Off they went to the house. It was getting dark. Kat pulled up in a quiet area that had just a few houses. No street lights, no dog walkers. They waited an hour before Philip said, "Let's go."

It was now getting tense. They walked down this path for nearly a mile. Philip looked back and thought it was a long way. But the advantage was, it was an easy run. Just one path and it was very dark. The path opened out and there stood a very big terraced house. There was a dark muddy back yard getting even wetter with the rain that had now moved in. That's going to be slippery, Philip thought to himself.

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"Which room's the money in?" Kat pointed to the second floor window just off the middle. No drainpipe. No obvious way of climbing up. Both next doors had dogs barking. That was good. It meant they were used to the sound of barking dogs which shouldn't alert anyone. Philip gestured for Kat to go back to the car and wait. She slipped into the darkness and within a moment was gone. He was all alone on this now. The rain was coming down even heavier.

Philip stood in the dark. He moved a little closer to a wall for some protection. He couldn't see any outside security lights. These psychopaths were obviously confident that they're the alphas. Philip stood there for six hours, observing the activities in and around the house. The rain had stopped. He made a move to enter the house as the activity had slowed down but still knew little of what to expect. He quietly opened the back door and stepped inside. He stood there a moment taking it all in. Nobody was moving around, but there was activity in the house. He made a move up the stairs to the second floor and picked the door he thought was it. The door was locked. The house was so rundown that when Philip applied some pressure on the door it cracked open. The noise was a little too loud for his liking. He slipped inside and waited behind the door for a moment. Nobody came.

The room was too dark for Philip's eyes to adjust to. He felt his way to the window, opened the curtains and turned around. Philip lost a heart beat! There was the table with a stack of money on it. Kat was telling the truth. This was all too easy. But the amount didn't look like a million. Philip paid attention to the value of the notes and started filling the rucksack with the bigger numbers first. The rucksack was full to the top. No more was going to fit. He looked around the room and spotted a large sports bag. That was rapidly filled up too. Maybe there was more here than he first thought. Now it was crunch time. How to get out alive, unseen and with the cash.

Philip opened the door just enough to look out. But he could only see one way. He waited until he felt that his radar had picked up all the movement in the house. He opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. And here came the first big curveball. Another door opened at the same time and out staggered a naked girl. She looked straight at Philip and said, "Help me, please help me." Philip put one arm around her and another to her lips to shut her up. Great! Baggage! He thought.

He turned to head towards the stairs and guess what, the second curveball was standing right in front of him. A burley Romanian with a soiled vest. Instantly, he cracked the top of his nose with the bat. But, oh, fuuuck. He drops the girl at the same time as he sees another coming up the stairs. He side kicks the guy in front of him who then falls on the guy coming up the stairs. All Philip could think about was the noise – it's bound to attract attention. Philip leapt onto the first guy and gave him a bone-shattering crack on the head with his bat and swept an uppercut under the chin of the other guy. They both lay motionless. He swiftly grabbed the girl with one hand and grabbed the bag he had dropped in the other and flew down the stairs to run straight into the biggest giant on

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planet Earth. That was the moment Philip realised why everyone thought the house was safe. He swung the bat solidly between his legs and as the giant bent over in agony, without any thought or mercy, he cracked him over the back of the head. The giant was on his knees grimacing in pain. Philip barged straight past him, crashing through the back door then slipped with the girl.

The bag broke Philip's fall, but the girl landed straight in the mud. She was just sitting there. As Philip picked her up he couldn't help notice that she was covered in mud from the waist down. She now had this half-European half-African look about her. Without even taking a breath, he grabbed her hand, dragged her across the back garden into the dark. He stopped to look behind. There was nobody.

He was not home free yet, as they still had time to figure out his escape route and cut him off. He had to move fast and only hope Kat was ready. Whoever this girl was, she was tough. She wasn't going to let this situation get her down. Even though she was staggering around she moved her ass.

The bags were heavy and Philip had just seriously exerted himself. His war bruises were killing him. He could hardly breathe. It's in these moments that true soldiers shone, because despite all odds, they never give up. It's never over till it's over. If you can move just one muscle in your entire body, then you at least have something to fight with. The path just seemed to go on forever and Philip had no idea what was waiting for him ahead.

Suddenly, he runs straight into somebody. It was Kat. She grabbed the girl. He could now see the car just a few feet away. He stopped to listen for any movement. It was silent. They moved out to the car. Philip said, "She's going in the boot with the bags!" Kat looked at the girl and said, "Don't worry about a thing, just trust me." The girl willingly got in the boot. Kat started the car and looked at Philip. Philip gave her the nod and the car slickly moved out.

There was nobody around in the early hours of the morning. She lived in the west side of the city. They were in the north. She drove east, then south, then west so she could come back in from a different angle. She parked up in the garage. Now they were home free, just with more baggage than they intended.

They got the girl in the house. Kat showered her and put her to bed. They wasted no time counting the money, smiling to each other and laughing. The money was split as agreed, fifty-fifty. It was daybreak and the morning sun was starting to shine through the window. Philip took off to the tram station and headed back to camp. He never went back to see Kat.

It was breakfast time back at the camp for the skeleton crew left behind. Philip tucked into his fried breakfast, looking at the rucksack, wondering what the hell he was going to do with this new life of his. One thing he knew, he needed to rest his body and get his fitness back up. One of the boys came over and started asking him questions about where he was staying and was he getting rest. Philip thought it was an odd conversation and gave

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him a bit of a brush off. He was unaware that somebody was watching him.

Philip Jonathan Lloyd