Mark Bateman

Lunchtime. It was supposed to be quiet. Still. Too late now. I was committed. At least there was no one I recognised.

‘Can you tell me which room Mrs Smith is staying in please?” Relief. My …

A trickle of sweat formed in the middle of my back, and my heart pounded as if attached to a jack hammer. Friday afternoons. They were always the same. Being Chief Negotiator at the nation’s to…

He walked into my workshop with a confidence I’ve learnt to associate with the rich.

‘Hello. You in charge?’

The question hung in the air like a hot air balloon.

When I nodded he ext…

Part of his mind was shouting at him, telling him off, commanding his tongue to reboot. Make your excuses. Leave. This is a waste of time.

‘Roy from Oklahoma? You are the last caller on Radio TRT Late Night Phone In. Do you have a question?’. The host leant back in his chair and nodded at Nick.

‘Yeah. Nick.. I been listening to…

The hush took hold once again, as if it had been brooding – abiding it’s time to strike. It blew in through the windows and painted the walls. The floors rose in unison until it broke in a cres…

‘Three million pounds, each.’

The sharp intake from the other side of the world was as clear as if the prince was leaning into his ear. Truth is, they were that good, and they both knew it. …

Out of all the things Steve remembered, the one that stood out the most, was a spring.

He laughed at himself as he thought back. Yes he’d been nervous. He’d never been more than five miles f…

A hush took hold once again, as if it had been brooding – abiding it’s time to strike. It blew in through the windows and painted the walls. The floors rose in unison until it broke in a cresce…

…

Larry Adders had always known he’d go far..

Born in a nondescript damp post war house on the edge of a coal mining village he’d had plenty of time to plan his escape. He’d taken the first op…

I walk in a stupor, darkness pulling at my mind, disconnected from real life. I look but don’t see. What’s the point? I go where I am pulled. Chained like a dog to a kennel, the world indiffere…

As the baby moved and gurgled the mother was overcome with joy. She stroked his skin whilst taking in his colour and radiance. She smelled his skin and dissolved into a heap of tears. Watching …

Groups of adolescents hung back watching the mass moving in syncopated unison. Girls portraying an air of processed sophistication, lorry tyres for eyes and stretched glass for hair. Boys fille…

His eyes danced over the words and he couldn’t help shaking. He cried for his wife to come quickly. Shocked she sat in the nearest chair. Would this mean they were safe?

The letter containe…

There’d been a few mishaps. Well, that was an understatement. Major traumas the size of Australia sinking into the sea was how The Doll had described it. The Prince had expressed much the same …

As I watched him he was barely moving. Much in the same way as some poor person who has been in a horrific accident conserves every ounce of energy just to stay alive. So it was with this littl…

‘You know,’ whispered the older man with his German accent, ‘I enjoyed our latest challenge.’

They were sat in a coffee shop just off the high street. Anyone who had seen them would presume…

The couple pulled up in their shiny Mercedes feeling like they’d found their dream home. Stretched out before them were fifteen acres of the most delightful English countryside money could buy.…

It had been an awful eights months.

Ken was dead. She still felt very emotional just using the word. Dead. She held her five year daughter close to her as her possessions were being carried…