Chapter 48

‘Drop the gun, Huffman.’

It’s the power a beautiful face has over a man. For the last few days I could have been accused of being led by my heart instead of by my brain. Pretty much everything I’d done had been driven by the rage I felt at Huffman because he’d threatened a woman that I was attracted to. But now I’d hit melting point. Considering everything, my actions weren’t the most rational. I’d tried to validate them by telling myself that to defeat Huffman he had to believe that I was a rabid lone wolf who was unmindful of the consequences. My plan seemed to have worked.

But now the madness had to stop.

Here on in I had to get a grip on what I was doing.

‘Son of a bitch,’ Huffman said under his breath. Then a smile crept on to his lips. It looked too forced to be genuine. ‘So you made it by everyone and now it’s down to just you and me?’

‘Drop the gun, Huffman,’ I repeated. ‘Or I swear to God I’ll kill you now.’

‘Then what happens? You shoot me anyway?’

‘Maybe you’d prefer to burn to death.’ Without taking my gun from his skull, I nodded backwards at the flames behind us. The heat was stinging the exposed flesh on the back of my neck.

‘I’d prefer to talk.’ Huffman gave me a patronising smile that made me wish I could kill in cold blood.

‘We’ve gone way past talking. Now drop the goddamn gun.’

Huffman allowed the gun to fall from his fingers. I dragged it away from him with my foot and then back-heeled it into the flames.

‘I’m worth millions of dollars, Hunter. Name your price.’

‘No, Huffman, this wasn’t ever about money.’

He twisted his smile. ‘You’re pissed at me because of the women. OK, I get that. But it wasn’t personal. I’m a businessman; I was simply looking after my interests.’

‘That’s not the way I see it.’

‘People have died, yes! But they were all greedy men with their own agendas.’

‘You played them as much as you tried to play me, Huffman. It was all a game to you. One you wanted to win. I bet you’re the one that’s pissed now.’

He gave a shrug as though the destruction of his empire meant nothing. ‘You win some, you lose some. That’s business.’

Just then I heard the roar of an engine. Larry Bolan drove past us in his Cadillac, firing his gun at Rink. I knew by the way that Rink spun to the ground, then bounced back up again, that he was unhurt. We shared a brief glance before I had to return my attention to a more pressing task.

‘Your business partner has the right idea,’ I pointed out. ‘Looks like Larry’s making a run for it.’

‘Bolan wasn’t my partner,’ Huffman sneered, as if such a thing was beneath him. ‘Even he has his own agenda.’

‘Yeah, I know that. But you were playing him too.’

‘You seem to have got my number.’ Huffman laughed. ‘Yeah, and you’ve got me. So what now?’

I indicated that he stand, transferring the gun to a point under his jaw.

‘We’re going to get it on. That was always the idea of your little game.’

‘And when I kill you, what’s to stop your friends shooting me?’

‘Who says you’re going to kill me?’ I pressed the SIG tightly enough to put pressure on the nerves. He stoically took the pain, but it was all a bluff. I could see it in the way his smile faltered.

Sometimes men are at their most dangerous when they see no way out.

He spun quickly, and I caught the glint of steel flashing from under his sleeve. He pulled away from the gun even as he turned to slash at my exposed throat. He was a second away from opening it right up.

He should have waited, because, unlike the others he’d murdered by this sneak attack, I’d anticipated his move. It’s the way to win any game: not by cheating, but by always being one step ahead of your opponent.

I knew that he’d try to cut me. I let him think he was going to. I even let him pull away from my gun because an instantaneous death courtesy of a bullet through his brain was too good for him. Instead I rammed my KA-BAR through the meat of his upper right arm.

Huffman’s mouth went wide in a shout of incredulity. His fingers opened reflexively and I saw four inches of gleaming steel hanging useless from a leather strip attached to his wrist. I ripped the KA-BAR out of his bicep, angled it towards his gut.

Then the world tilted.

There was an incredibly loud bang from below us, coupled with the screech of tortured metal; the balcony lurched upwards, and dropped from beneath my feet. In reaction I grabbed at the door frame, dropping my knife, and held on tightly. Out in the open, Huffman skidded away from me across the planks, hit the rail and toppled over. My first thought was that the fire had eaten away at the foundations of the building much sooner than I’d anticipated, but then I recognised the sound as the impact of a vehicle and knew that Larry had never been running away. Whether or not he’d intended to, Larry had just saved Huffman’s life.

Not for long, though.

Sparks danced around me as my feet scrabbled for purchase on the sloping balcony. My SIG was still tight in my left hand and I shoved it into my waistband. My knife was gone, probably down on the ground where Huffman had fallen. I couldn’t see the bastard, but I did see Rink stalk into the smoke at the front of the house. Rink was going after Larry Bolan, and I wanted to follow him, but first I wanted to make sure that Huffman didn’t sneak away.

The heat from within the building stung the flesh of my fingers. I let go of the door frame, sliding on my heels and backside to the edge of the balcony. Striking the base of the wooden rail, I wedged myself there, then started looking out for Huffman. Rink had gone to the right: I quickly scanned left and caught a flash of Huffman lurching out of sight round the corner of the adjacent building.

I went over the railing and dropped to the ground, tucking and rolling the way I’d learned during parachute training, and came back to my feet. Then I went after Huffman. A figure materialised out of the smoke haze to my left. Harvey, an M16 gripped in his hands.

‘I’m going to kill Huffman,’ I told him. No ifs or buts, just the surety that the bastard would die. ‘Rink’s gone after Larry. He might need your help.’

There was no need for spoken affirmation; Harvey nodded and we passed each other at a run.

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