Send in the Clowns, a Detective Mike Bridger novel by Mark Bredenbeck Read Free Book Online

weapons, Bridger could almost imagine he was
in a war zone. Apart from the silent protesters, who refused to
move, the streets around the Circus were deserted and eerily quiet.
Everybody they could reach, in the short time they had too cordon
the area, was instructed to stay indoors and report any strange
animals directly to the Police. The petrol station attendant across
the road had shut his doors and stood behind the glass, staring out
at the oval, eyes searching for the excitement.
    Bridger tried to do a
mental calculation of where the animals were and how many were
still outstanding. The Elephant had not gone very far, the Clowns
rounding it up while it was helping itself too a few delicacies off
the surrounding trees. A couple of the monkeys had stayed within
the confines of the tented area, content to swing in the rigging.
It was the more exotic ones that had them worried; the tigers were
roaming somewhere, searching out a free meal no doubt. A cold chill
ran down his spine at the thought. Thank god for people with guns,
he just hoped that his colleagues aim was true.
    Steve had been happy
enough to forego his training day for the chance of some
excitement; he was standing beside him and shuffling from side to
side. The rest of the Armed Offender Squad had dispersed themselves
around the surrounding streets, along with just about every person
they could round up from the Police Station.
    “ I’ve shot a
couple of sheep before, and a horse once too, but never a wild
animal.” Steve’s voice was sombre but with a trace of excitement,
he found himself wondering just how much pleasure Steve actually
got from his role as a firearms officer.
    “ Well you
might get your chance today Steve, I don’t think you can reason
with them, so talking them down is not really going to help
us.”
    “ Those
pretend animals over there should be shot and all.” Steve indicated
the small huddle of masked protesters standing across the road.
“Either that, or leave them for the Tigers.”
    Bridger could see a
couple of tiger masks and at least one horses head. “I would say
that it is a pretty good bet that it was one of our friends over
there that released the animals in the first place.”
    A male approached them
from out of the huddle of caravans before Steve could
reply.
    “ Excuse me
officer,” The male addressing Steve instead of Bridger “I hope you
won’t shoot any of the animals…” he paused at the stony look he
received from Steve “I see…, well if you find any, let me know
immediately and I can deal with it. They really are very tame. We
have lost too much already too lose the animals as well.” The male
looked like he was fighting back tears.
    “ I am
Detective Sergeant Mike Bridger, I’m not sure that we meet this
morning.” Bridger held out his hand in greeting, and the male
looked at it as if he was inspecting it for germs before offering
his own weak grip in return.
    “ Anthony
Gonzales… I am part owner… I’m…” A single tear leaked down his
cheek. “I’m the owner of this Circus.”
    Bridger felt slightly
uncomfortable with the show of emotion. “We are doing everything we
can to find out what happened Mr Gonzales, and we will try not to
shoot any of the animals… if we don’t have too.”
    A single shot rang out,
followed by two more in quick succession, and the colour drained
from Anthony’s face. He looked back at Bridger with obvious
distress but underneath Bridger could not help notice a slight
hardness that he did not see in him earlier.
    “ Heads up…,
the Tigers heading this way…” Steve was listening too something
through his earpiece. “The lads took a shot at it, but missed. It’s
running back towards the cages…”
    Despite Steve standing
there with a firearm, a chill ran up Bridger’s spine and he scanned
around in an effort to find the approaching threat. Mauled to death
by a tiger was not the way he wanted to go. The small group of
silent protestors standing across