As emotionless as driftwood, Baron watched Petoskey plummet from the sky.
The Arkansas mobster screamed all the way down then went deathly silent as he struck the roof of the house. He smashed through tiles, made it through the support beams and ended up in the attic space. The blood pouring down the steepled roof was an indication of what would be found when Petoskey was retrieved from the wreckage.
Setting his mouth in a tight line, Baron reached into his pocket and took out his cellphone. He pressed a speed dial number. The phone rang three times before it was picked up.
‘Bad news, I’m afraid, sir,’ he said into the phone. ‘Hunter and Rington have escaped.’
He tolerated the shouting in his ear, knowing that this was nothing compared to what was coming.
Then he said, ‘It’s worse than that, Mr Hendrickson. During their escape, your business partner was killed.’
Hundreds of miles away, Kurt Hendrickson screamed blasphemous threats down the phone.
‘Yes,’ Baron acknowledged. ‘I will do everything in my power to stop them.’
He quickly disconnected to avoid a further berating, slipped the phone back in his pocket then turned to the men standing next to him. He indicated the shattered roof. ‘Come on. We’d best go and see what’s up there.’
‘It’s not going be pretty,’ one man said.
No, Baron thought, and neither is our future if we don’t stop Hunter.
The phone chimed again. Sighing at the intrusion, Baron pulled his cellphone out. The screen was blank. He heard the tone once more and slapped at his other pocket in confusion. He dug out a second phone. This one’s screen glowed with a cold blue colour. As it rang it vibrated softly in his hand. Baron nodded to himself. It was the phone taken from Hunter when they’d snatched him off the street in Little Rock. On the screen the caller’s name was displayed.
IMOGEN BALLARD
Baron pressed the green button. ‘Hello?’ he asked, deliberately muffling his voice with his free hand.
‘Is that you, Joe? I… uh… I’ve been thinking. Things shouldn’t end like this between us. We need to talk, Joe… I was just wondering if you’d come back to Maine when you’re finished there.’
Baron breathed into the mouthpiece.
‘Joe? Are you there? Can you hear me?’
Baron switched off the phone and dropped it back into his pocket. Maybe his future wouldn’t be so grim after all, not now he’d found a new way to control Hunter.