Contents ( 84)
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- Acknowledgements
He locked the apartment door as he left. Whatever happened in the next few minutes, he knew that he would not be coming back any time soon.
FORTY-FIVE
Dempsey breathed deeply as the elevator doors closed and its mechanism came to life. Long, slow inhales. Exhales even longer. Flooding his system with the adrenaline he was sure he was about to need.
He was the elevator’s only occupant, and the only floor illuminated on the console was the lobby. But that did not mean it wouldn’t visit anywhere elsewhere en route, down from the thirty-fifth. It could stop at any floor without warning and the doors would open.
All it would take was for someone on that floor to press ‘down’.
Someone. Anyone.
Including the men from the Lincolns.
Dempsey pushed his back tight against the left wall of the elevator. It provided little cover, but little was better than nothing. At least he would not be instantly visible if the doors opened. A sitting target.
He was sure that they would not attempt to ambush him at the lobby’s elevator bank. Not where they could be overseen by not only The Stratford’s staff and its residents, but also by one of its security cameras.
No. It would not happen there. But it could happen on any other floor.
The thought concerned Dempsey as the elevator continued down. It had been a mistake to step inside, he now realised. A rare error. And one on which they could capitalise. Because as good as he was, a shoot-out while he was trapped inside a box was only going to end one way.
The elevator began to slow. Dempsey focused on the information terminal above the doors.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
The lift continued to decelerate.
Five.
Dempsey braced himself against the wall, doing his best to make his large, powerful physique inconspicuous. An impossible task.
Four.
He wracked his brain. Did the elevator usually slow here if it was heading for the lobby? He couldn’t remember. It was one of the few details of his life to which he had paid little attention. Why would he?
Three.
Would they even risk an ambush this low? This close to the lobby?
Two.
The elevator came to a halt.
This is it.
Dempsey reached into his jacket and gripped his pistol, waiting for the doors to begin their slide open. Before they did, the display changed again. One last time.
Lobby.
Dempsey exhaled long and hard as a feeling of relief swept over him. He had made what could have been a fatal mistake and he had come through it.
He would not make another.
The elevator bank in The Stratford stood like a structural obstruction in the centre of the building’s main reception area, with its doors facing the long, panoramic mirror that covered the lobby’s back wall. Dempsey had often wondered about the design. Who wants to stare at themselves at the end of a long day, before they are slowly lifted up to bed?