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
Both men stopped moving as Devlin turned to face him.
It was time to make a decision.
‘OK.’
Hart had his orders.
It was time to act.
*
Michael stood with his back to the platform’s end, facing the man in black. His shouts had caught the attention of the crowd. Everyone had backed away from them. Exactly as he had expected.
The train was pulling into the platform now, slowing down.
The two men stood motionless. Each one’s eyes fixed upon the other. Michael had no idea if his plan had worked. With everyone’s attention on them, was he safe?
He did not have to wait long for his answer. And as the man in black moved, Michael did the same.
Fear and desperation were all that drove him as he instinctively turned to his only escape route. Running ahead of the train as it slowly came to a halt, he leapt into the darkness at the mouth of the tunnel.
SIXTY-FOUR
Michael felt his left ankle give way as he hit the ground hard. It brought him stumbling down to his knees, with his hands hitting the small, sharp stones that filled the tunnel as they broke his fall.
He tried to ignore the pain. To concentrate only on the rails that were either side of him, illuminated by the train’s headlights.
Two of the tracks were designed to carry the vehicle on its directed route. The third to power it. That one must be avoided at all costs.
As he clambered to his feet he couldn’t ignore the damage his landing had done. He would be running no further.
The thought was immediately banished by the sound of footsteps on the loose stones. He looked up, in no doubt of what he was about to see.
The man in black had been careful. He had climbed down from the platform slowly. Deliberately. It had cost him a few seconds, but had spared him the kind of injury that now hampered his prey.
Michael noted this with dread in his gut. It hardly mattered. Not now. He had staked everything on the hope that the agent wouldn’t follow him at all. That with all the attention and the commotion, he would take the easy way out.
His gamble had lost. And now, injured and alone in the dark, so would he.
A grim smile grew on the man in black’s face. Half-hidden in shadow, it made him look all the more sinister.
‘Got to tell you, counsellor. That leap of yours? I did not expect that.’
Michael raised his hands. A boxer’s guard, for all the good it would do him. His injured ankle made any kind of footing impossible.
‘Are you here to talk, or are we gonna do this?’
Michael heard the confidence in his own voice. It was a confidence he didn’t have. In his mind he had just one thought.
I can’t beat this man.
Michael was going to die. He had no doubt about that. The thought terrified him. But it also freed him. If the outcome was inevitable, there was no holding back. He would lose, but he would not lose easy. He would fight with everything he had.