Blackout (37 page)

Two down, one to go.

Thick clouds of heavy black smoke were now rising. The third bike was turning in a tight circle, its driver calculating that his best chance lay in riding back the way he'd come. Josh aimed his pistol. Forty yards now separated him from the biker. He fired one bullet, aiming at the biker's spine -- an accurate shot there would paralyse the man instantly. It missed, the bullet hitting the dust harmlessly. Christ, thought Josh. I need practice with this bloody gun. I'm not going to survive many missed shots.

The driver swerved to the left, anxious to avoid the gunfire. Mistake, pal, decided Josh with a grim smile. You're back on hostile ground.

As the third mine blew, the bike skidded. The Honda's front wheel was blown clean off, spinning up into the air. The rider fell from his machine, his hands still gripping the handlebars. Petrol spilled out over his body, and a shower of sparks cascaded across him as the broken and twisted bike rolled over onto him. Flames leaped up all around him, engulfing his legs and torso before flicking across the skin of his face.

'Help me,' shouted the man desperately. 'Please, somebody -- I'm rucking dying here.'

Before today, Josh had only witnessed it once on the battlefield, but there were few worse sights, sounds -- and smells - than those of a man burning to death. You can

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smell the charred flesh, like meat roasting on a spit.You can feel the heat, as the flames curl around the body. And you can hear the terrifying screams, like those of a strangled cat, getting thinner and thinner as the vocal cords slowly get burned away.

'Help me,' the man shrieked desperately, his burning hands trying to push away the bike that was lying across his body.

No way, pal.

Josh started running back towards the town. Let's see what else you can throw at us he exulted inwardly.

Another noise. Racing down the main street, Josh cast his gaze up at the ramshackle roofs of the buildings. A scratching, like that of an animal. Or a man.

'Luke,'Josh hissed towards the sheriff's office.'You there?'

A silence. Josh could feel his heart thumping. 'Luke?' he said, louder this time.

'He's gone.'

Josh spun around. Kate was still standing at the window of The old hotel. He could hear her, but only just see her: she was in the shadow of a pair of shutters hanging loose on their hinges.

'Why didn't you bloody stop him?' shouted Josh.

'With what?' Kate yelled back.

Her voice was raw and desperate. Nothing is going as I'd planned, Josh told himself. Porter-Bell have obviously decided to kill us all. At this rate, they'll succeed.

Josh heard a scratching noise. Then the sound of \ slate being broken as someone steppe^l on it.

There was just a split second in which to react. A man was descending from the sky. Josh threw himself sideways onto the ground and narrowly managed to avoid being crushed by the man: a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound monster, clad in denim and leather. Josh realised that his spine would have snapped the instant the creature landed on top of him.

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1

Both of them were lying flat in the dirt. The gun had fallen out of Josh's hand, leaving it out of reach. The man grabbed out, catching hold of Josh's wounded leg. He started pulling, wrenching the bones around Josh's feet. Josh could feel pain searing up through him as the wound reopened. Blood started to leak out into the cloth of his jeans. Now a fist started to pummel Josh's side. The blows were heavy and strong, delivered with pile driving force.

Reaching into his pocket, Josh grasped one of the heavy nails that he'd taken from the hardware store. The steel was rotten and rusty with age, but still sharp at the tip. Holding it in his right hand, Josh gripped hard and sat up sharply. Concentrating his strength into his fist, his slammed the nail hard into his attacker's hand. He could feel the point piercing the skin, then grating against the bone of the knuckle. Josh pushed harder, ignoring the way that the nail was digging into the skin of his own palm. The nail forced itself through the bone, its tip emerging on the other side of the man's hand.

The man screamed in pain, letting go of Josh's foot.

Josh kicked himself free. He ran inside the abandoned hotel. 'The bombs,' shouted Josh, looking up at Kate. 'Throw the bloody bombs at him.'

He could see the fear in her eyes. She started to move but her hands were shaking.

She's frozen. The fear has got to her.

'Throw the fucking bombs,' he shouted, his lungs straining to put as much force as he could into the words.

A tear was smudging her face. He could see that her hand was shaking. She can't do it, Josh told himself. She can't bloody do it.

Josh ran forward. His attacker had struggled to his feet. The man was holding on to his hand. The nail was still sticking through it, and his blood streaked the rust on the spike. His face was covered by a biking helmet and a scarf

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was wrapped around his neck, but Josh could see enough of his skin to tell that he was white, not Arab.

Where the hell is Azim? If these are Flatner's men, where the hell is Azirri?

Josh was standing two yards from the man in the dusty street. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear shouting, more motorbikes. They were now coming into town from other the side. Christ, he told himself. They just keep coming. I need to get rid of this one before his mates arrive.

The man was edging towards him, growling like a bear. Then he lunged forward, putting his full weight behind the blow.

Mistake, pal, thought Josh. You're overcommitted.

The punch narrowly missed Josh's jaw. He danced forwards so that now he was positioned behind the man. Reaching up, he snapped both his arms into a tight coil around the monster's neck. Josh pulled with all his strength. The muscles in his arms were screaming with pain as the man struggled to free himself. At two hundred and fifty pounds, he had the strength of a wild bull. A violent belch escaped from the man's gut as Josh pulled tighter, then tighter again. His hands were scrabbling at Josh's arms and his legs were kicking backwards as he tried to loosen Josh's grip. But Josh's lock on his neck was firm, slowly cutting the supply of oxygen to his brain.

It's a McDeath for you, you bastard. Quick, nasty and cheap. ^

Josh had only strangled a man, once before -- during a mission in Afghanistan -- but he knew from his training that the most dangerous moment was just before an opponent died. The oxygen switched off in the brain, yet as the victim lost consciousness they knew that there was just one last chance of saving themselves, and they would throw all their remaining strength into it.

The man gave a horrific choked-off yell, then reared

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back, trying to use the muscles in his massive shoulders to throw Josh off.

Josh was ready for him. He tightened his arms as hard as he could, squeezing the life out of the man. He could feel a last spasm of strength surge through his adversary, then start to ebb. The man's breathing slowed, then stopped. Finally his body slumped to the ground.

Josh started looking around desperately. There was still no sign of Luke. And the remaining bikes were only three hundred yards away.

He picked up his gun from the ground and ran towards the hotel. Kate was still standing mute behind the shutters like a statue, her face pale and drawn. 'I'm sorry,' she stuttered. 'I couldn't ... I couldn't . . .'

'You bottled it,'Josh snapped.

Immediately, he regretted having spoken roughly to her. In the heat of battle, men spoke harshly: he'd been called a million different names in a firefight and shrugged them all off in the mess later. Kate wasn't to know that: this was his territory, not hers. 'It's not your fault,' he said, quickly. 'You're not a soldier. Just take cover and try not to cause any trouble.'

He started moving up the back staircase. The wooden slats were rotten and half the banister had crumbled away. Josh ignored the danger, flinging himself upwards. He could feel the boards flaking into pieces as he trod on them.

He climbed out and crawled across the flat roof. Ten home-made firebombs were laid out in a row. Glancing up, Josh could see the bikers advancing to the main street. The same big black Hondas, the same burly men clad in leather and helmets. The same pistols being brandished.

Serve them up a diet of death and mayhem, and they just keep coming back for more.

Josh waited, counting down the seconds. The bombs would work once and once only.

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The bikes were advancing steadily, their engines roaring. The front biker was moving carefully, scrutinising the ground for stretched wires or freshly dug earth. They're checking for mines, realised Josh.

But this time the death will come down like rain from the sky.

After checking that the ground was undisturbed, the lead bike started to advance towards the corpse that was lying directly below Josh.

'Kate, take cover,' shouted Josh, aware that she was still down below.

He could see the bikers twenty feet below turning their heads up to look at him but before they could shoot Josh hurled down the first of the petrol bombs. It ignited as it hit the ground, sending a huge of ball of flame shooting out. He threw down more. The bottles splintered, at first sending tiny shards of glass spraying up into the air. Then the nails packed inside the bottle spun upwards, gathering velocity as they moved outwards, forming a lethal sphere of shrapnel.

One biker was already in flames, his arms flailing desperately as he tried to extinguish the fire enveloping his body. Another was lying face down on the ground. A pair of nails had shot straight through his head, piercing his skull and sending chunks of his brain splattering across the dusty ground.

Josh ran along the length of the roof, hurling down the bombs one by one. Suddenly the street was a bedlam of explosions. Burning petrol, steel najls and glass splinters were flying everywhere. Two of the bikes exploded, sending hot oil spewing out onto the burning ground. Swirling clouds of smoke were spiralling into the sky. The noise was deafening. Josh threw himself down and gripped the side of the roof, shutting his eyes and closing his mouth to stop the fumes from choking him. I just hope Kate has the sense to do the same, he thought.

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When he opened his eyes again, the street was a chaos of burning rubber and petrol. The bikes were mangled heaps of metal. Corpses lay strewn across the ground, but the closer Josh looked the harder it became to count the dead. Too many severed limbs were scattered around.

One man was lying on the ground. His leg had been ripped off, and blood was pulsing from the open wound. His lips were trembling as he tried to cry out in pain, but his tongue had been burnt out and no sound could escape from his mouth.

Josh dropped down from the roof and landed on the ground. He approached the wounded biker and knelt down, putting the barrel of the Wildey to the man's head. I'm saving my ammunition, but I'm still going to put you out of your misery, pal. One warrior should always be willing to spend a bullet on another.

He squeezed the trigger. The bullet shattered the man's skull and pulverised his brain, killing him instantly.

'Hold it right there,' shouted a voice. Josh looked up. Twenty yards ahead, walking towards him, he could see Flatner who was holding Luke with his arm twisted behind his back. A pistol was pressed against the side of the boy's head. Luke's head was lowered and some blood was trickling down the side of his mouth where he had taken a blow to the face.

Flatner was walking along the main street with Edward Porter at his side. He was looking at Josh, a grin playing on his face.

'Stay where you are, Josh,' said Flatner. 'This time you're mine.'

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TWENTYSEVEN

Thursday, June 18th Morning

Josh stood perfectly still. The fires were still burning behind him and the flames continued to lick at the corpses of the fallen bikers. He could feel the heat on his back, but despite that the blood in his veins was starting to freeze.

Flatner was still walking towards him, a cruel smile on his lips. He was holding a Glock 18 in his hand, one of the simplest, most reliable and most accurate handguns in the world, and he was pushing Luke forwards roughly.

At his side, Edward Porter was standing with his own Glock 18 held almost casually in his right hand, as if he was not used to carrying a gun. Close up, he looked much older than he had looked in any of the pictures that Josh had seen. His hair was starting to thin, and his skin was greying and blotchy. The face of a man who is rapidly ageing, decided Josh. And of a man who doesn't waste time on negotiations or compromises but cuts straight to the deal. Or the kill.

'Where's the woman?' said Flatner.

Josh said nothing. ^

Flatner glanced left and right, his stare scouring both sides of the street. Whether he felt anything about the death of six of his men a few minutes ago, Josh couldn't tell.

'Come out now, or I shoot both of them.'

There was a pause. Behind him Josh could hear the continuing sounds of burning. Then he saw Kate. She stepped from the porch of the old hotel, walking carefully

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through the blazing wreckage. Her face was blackened and there was sweat running down her skin. Her eyes looked tired and frightened. 'Don't hurt the boy,' she said, glancing up at Flatner. She was choking back the tears in her voice. 'We'll do whatever you say. Just don't hurt him.'

'So,' said Porter. 'Are we ready to do some business?'

'You're a bloody idiot,' said Josh angrily, looking up at the man.

Porter nodded thoughtfully. 'According to the Forbes list, I'm the ninth richest man in the world,' he replied. 'That doesn't sound like an idiot to me.'

'We'd have given you the software all along,' said Josh. 'Luke wanted his money, that's all. If you'd just given him the five million we could have done this simply and without any bloodshed.'

Porter laughed. 'You don't get to be as rich as I am by going around giving five million dollars to every two-nickel hustler who wants to blackmail the company. I'm a straightforward man. You treat me with respect, I'll treat you with respect. You try to fuck me, then I'll fuck you so hard back that you'll wish you were dead.' He glanced first at Luke, then at Josh. 'You've both tried to hustle me. Now it's payback time.'