The Rome Prophecy

99

It’s not the first time Tom Shaman has looked down the barrel of a gun.

A gangbanger once pulled an Uzi in his church in LA and robbed the entire congregation. The kid was high on crystal meth and ended up getting shot on the church steps by a gang senior who’d come to pick his mother up from the service and found her screaming and terrified.

Tom learned two basic things from all those badasses back in Compton. Firstly, there are frequent shooters, guys who only draw guns when they’re going to fire them. Secondly, there are bluffers, posers who pull a weapon but have never let off a shot in their sorry little lives.

Tom figures the man behind the metal being pointed at him is not a frequent shooter. He’s a bluffer.

But of course, that’s only a guess.

A dangerous guess.

‘Whoa, mister!’ He throws up his hands. ‘I don’t want any trouble. I just needed some help.’ The big American backs away, hands high in the air. ‘Man, no one told me Rome was like this.’ He doesn’t leave the way he came, but heads down the vehicle towards the back.

He knows the guy’s watching in his wing mirror but figures that doesn’t matter. He’d have to be a contortionist to shoot over his left shoulder with the gun in his right hand.

Tom’s about to make his move and he knows he has to be fast.

He is.

He jerks the door open with his left hand, steps forward half a pace and cracks his elbow into the driver’s face. He reaches across him, grabs his gun hand and crashes it repeatedly into the steering wheel.

The screams tell him he’s broken the guy’s wrist.

The man in the back of the car makes his move.

He lurches forward and tries to swing a punch.

Tom grabs the fallen pistol off the driver’s lap and fires a shot into the roof of the car.

Gunfire has a special way of spooking people. Especially in closed spaces.

Louisa flings open a rear door and bolts for freedom.

Her minder slips out of the car and levels a pistol at Tom.

The two men stare down their guns at each other.

Off in the distance, Tom sees Louisa running for her life.