My book @ bedtime © ‘The Silencer’ 1/8

The van’s front window had a knot of cracks in it like a spider’s web, and more cracks striding out to the edges like the creature’s legs.

My book @ bedtime © ‘The Silencer’ 2/8

You are crazy, i çmendur!” the youth shouted at him. “My uncle is in the police… he’s going to burn your licence! Do you understand me?”

My book @ bedtime © ‘The Silencer’ 3/8

The road straightened out and they passed a yellow mosque with a minaret topped with a metal cone, and huts built from wood scraps where villagers were selling olive oil in old Sprite bottles and holding out bowls of blackberries.

My book @ bedtime ©‘The Silencer’ 4/8

Over a thousand feet below by the city of Elbasan a great industrial complex lay flat on the blackened ground, wheezing out brown smoke.

My book @ bedtime ©‘The Silencer’ 5/8

He walked over to help the young woman briefly with her visa application.
“It’s not the Promised Land, you know?” said Jude.
“It’s better than here!” she said.
“Things can be better wherever you are.”

My book @ bedtime © ‘The Silencer’ 6/8

Before it on a patch of dusty ground was an old gun bunker like the helmet of some massive stone soldier sunk deep below it into the earth.

My book @ bedtime © ‘The Silencer’ 7/8

“Are you strong today?” said Mehmed.
“Po, po,” Marko grinned and sat forward eagerly. He wanted to be, thought Jude. On the right side of Marko’s T-shirt Jude noticed ‘Phil. 4:13’ had been printed in small golden letters. The words ran through his mind: I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.

My book @ bedtime © ‘The Silencer’ 8/8

Vine groves in tidy stone-walled enclosures passed by, and a huge, rusty tank on the forecourt of a petrol station with the word ‘Lavazh’ sprayed roughly on it in red.

Good night.