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...
eight inches.
Well used…
Left-handed…
gives him an
right-handers. I've done
Hard. Fast. Teeth bared.
but I grab him by the arm. We grapple. His blade to my throat. My
I smell
Sweat. Sour.
sour scent of
Not excitement.
Fear.
suddenly I'm overreaching… off-balance… and I pull back
but as he swings away, my fist lands
bully forward, reaching for his blade, slashing
slash at his chest with my right hand and he twists away, still
The other knife...
Ambidextrous?
I’m not. Just well-practised. As he swerves away from my right hand, my left hand
the rib cage and
Got you, you bastard…
her. The Indian
and Baxter,
back, my
Drinks slops?
Blood?
In slow motion...
arms wind-milling
I go down...
on top of
…
gasp as his blade slices
rasp
The metallic
Whose?
Mine…
his moment, the knife poised at my
he reaches into his
My Glock?
my forehead, he backs
use the
got the
I swing round wildly,
There are none.
I’m staring straight up the barrel of my own fucking gun and to Baxter’s
Is this it?
time… this is
the ways I could have died over the
for something I
Live by the sword…
these moments. The brain does odd things under extreme
don’t think
looms close and huge. The
My throat tightens…
man.” The voice is sultry, smooth, and drips honey and contempt in equal measure… “A hero with a gun and a knife against an unarmed
I know that
to its
matching skirt just clears the crotch and the zip-front leather vest hugs a narrow
gloriously over smooth white shoulders and frames a face made up with emerald eyes painted Goth-dark and
“Mitch?”
admit it.
So does Baxter.
full of women offering their
never seen her dressed like this, not even in
to strike a pose.
She hooks a finger into
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
The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!