Hot Revenge Box Set 2

Chapter 15

Klempner

Although I can hear chaos from down the stairs, up here now, it’s quiet. There’s no-one in the dance room.

In the pool room, the only sound is the crunching of glass under my boots. I carry on to Finchby’s office.

All empty?

It seems so.

The time?

Time to go.

Except… as I’m about to turn and leave a girl, I see her; barely a teenager, some variety of Asian, Indian perhaps. Streaming tears, she skitters out from behind the desk, making for the kitchen.

I follow her and she cringes back into the corner. I offer my hand. “I’m not going to hurt you. You have to leave.”

She babbles at me in I’ve-no-idea-what language, then abruptly, her face swings up to mine and fingers outstretched, leaps up at me, clawing at my face. Reflexively, I jerk back, and she bolts past me and out, back the way I came.

Fuck!

I dash after her, but in the few seconds, she’s gone, vanished.

Where did she go?

Out?

Or somewhere deeper inside?

I check my watch… Three minutes…

Christ!

I have to find her… If she’s on the stairwell, perhaps I’ll hear her. I turn for the bar, heading for the stairs up and down, and there…

Fuck.

Baxter.

I reach for my Glock… And it’s not there.

Damn… When did I put it down?

Baxter flashes brows. And the knife in his hand. “Going somewhere?”

“I was planning on leaving.” I slip the knife from my belt. “Your friend Finchby has already left the building. I believe the money may be with him.”

“I’m not going to weep over Finchby. And I didn't do it for the cash. Well… mainly not for the cash. And I have my half anyway.”

We circle, eyeball to eyeball.

Make the first move?

Wait for him?

I move slowly, watching for the twitch of the hand. The nudge of the shoulder. The tell that he's going to stop talking and...

He slashes out… moves fast…

But it’s a feint and we both know it, calculated to draw a reaction from me.

Testing me…

My speed…

My reactions…

Younger than me...

How much by?

Ten years?

His knife...

maybe eight inches. Well cared

Well used…

Left-handed…

Thinks that gives him

practice against right-handers. I've

Hard. Fast. Teeth

I grab him by the arm. We grapple. His blade

close, I smell

Sweat. Sour.

sour scent

Not excitement.

Fear.

and suddenly I'm overreaching… off-balance… and

for his neck but as he

following up on my advantage, I bully forward, reaching for his blade, slashing out with my

chest with my right hand and he twists away, still grinning manically, but he

The other knife...

Ambidextrous?

well-practised. As he swerves away from my right hand, my

the rib cage

Got you, you bastard…

it’s her. The

blind to me and Baxter, she charges between us and I twist

back, my foot skids on

Drinks slops?

Blood?

In slow motion...

my arms wind-milling

I go down...

on

…

as his

rasp of shredding

metallic tang

Whose?

Mine…

maniacally, he hovers, enjoying his moment, the knife poised at

the vein, he reaches into his

My Glock?

and aiming for my forehead, he backs

use

the balls

elbows I swing round wildly, one way or the other, searching for

There are none.

of my own fucking gun and to Baxter’s crocodile

Is this it?

this is how I

could have died

something I

Live by the sword…

the mind works at these moments. The

think

the muzzle of the gun looms close and huge. The rest of the world vanishes around me. My

My throat tightens…

smooth, and drips honey and contempt in equal measure… “A hero with a gun and a knife

know that

eyes swing to its owner. So

in the spiked heels. The matching skirt just clears the crotch and the zip-front leather vest

and frames a face made up

“Mitch?”

it. I

So does Baxter.

might have been full of women offering their all. But nothing compares to Mitch in all her

like this, not even

curved to strike a pose. And with an eye on Baxter that dares

a finger into the loop and tooth by tooth, slides

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255