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

the road scattered, giving away
the path the Tiger had chosen in his bid to escape. They all dived
into the relative safety of nearby cars, all except one. This sole
figure remained motionless, face hidden behind the mask of a Zebra,
staring in silence back towards them. He raised his arm and pointed
directly at Anthony Gonzales, keeping his arm straight. The image
was slightly unnerving, only broken by the flash of orange brown
that ambled into Bridger’s peripheral vision.
    He had not seen a Tiger
up close before, but this one lived up to all his frightening
boyhood images. It was a huge breathing mass of muscle, with a deep
angry rumble coming from its throat. It was standing between them
and the fake Zebra, its massive head switching between them both,
specks of animal saliva misting from its mouth as it breathed
heavily. He could not take his eyes off the massive beast. It gave
out a quick snort, making Bridger jump; he could feel Steve tense
up beside him and caught the barrel of his gun rising up out of the
corner of his eye. Anthony Gonzales saw it too.
    “ Don’t do it,
he’s just scared that’s all, just give him room…” There was no
trace of fear in Anthony’s voice. The Tiger just stood there,
looking back and forth, snorting and growling at everything around
him.
    “ If that
thing moves, shoot the bloody thing…” Bridger was talking out of
the corner of his mouth, trying not to make any sudden movements.
It was one moment in his life that he felt completely helpless. If
the Tiger took a liking to any of them, it would be all over
quicker than he cared to contemplate. He felt like a seven year old
faced with an angry dog, only ten times worse, a guttural fear that
he could not articulate, but it chilled him to the core. He just
hoped that the tiger could not tell the zebra mask across the road
was a fake.
    Steve had raised his
Bushmaster rifle up too his shoulder and was pointing it directly
at the dirty orange beast. Bridger could sense that he wanted to
shoot, but something was stopping him from pulling the trigger. It
was then he heard it.
    A strange clucking sound
came from behind them, he heard different noises on either side of
him, and then four partially dressed Clowns came into view. The
noises coming from the Clowns throats were alien too him but the
Tiger reacted instantly. Its regal head cocked too one side like a
curious cat and its breathing slowed. Friends were near. The Clowns
moved in from either side, one of them carrying a large leather
collar and leash, one of them held a bullwhip in his gloved hand.
The other two were making calming gestures with their
arms.
    Bridger was sure that one
of them had said ‘Move back behind us’ as he passed, or that might
be what he wanted to hear, he couldn’t be sure. He moved backwards
anyway, Steve stuck close to his side and retreated along with him.
The Clowns moved forward as one, all speaking the strange
animalistic dialect. The Tiger crouched on its hind legs and then
lay down, submissive in its posture as the Clowns placed the lead
over his massive head.
    “ See… there
was no need to worry at all, he’s not dangerous. They are just
misunderstood creatures really.” Anthony’s voice spoke up from
behind them. Bridger noticed he was using him and Steve as a
partial human shield, so much for being misunderstood
animals.
    “ Is that all
the dangerous animals accounted for then Mr Gonzales? We do have
other business we could be getting on with.” The horses and
chimpanzees did not worry him too much; someone else could take
care of those.
    “ All the
animals are domesticated, Sergeant, not dangerous at all, but yes
we have the elephant, lion and now both tigers back. But they would
not have been in danger in the first place if it wasn’t for those
bloody silent protesters.” Anthony was glaring in the direction of
the sole protestor still standing silently over the road. “They
will be the ones responsible for this; I hope you will