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
Using his one good hand, he carefully placed the G36C assault rifle inside Shah’s bloody jacket. Satisfied, he removed next one of Shah’s secreted knives and moved his own body as close as he could to the back door while still remaining hidden.
Once in place, he turned to Grace.
She was no more than a step behind him.
‘You ready for this?’
‘As I’ll ever be.’
‘OK. On three.’
‘One.’
The bullets behind them were getting lower. Closer to the floor. It could only mean one thing: at least some of the five gunmen were moving towards to the building, which gave them a better downward trajectory. It also meant that they would soon have access to the front windows.
And once that happened, neither Dempsey nor Grace would have cover.
‘Two.’
Dempsey exposed the trigger on the G36C and placed the blade of Shah’s knife alongside it. The trick was to stab the blade across the trigger and through to the other side of the jacket. The resistance from the other side would set the blade in place and provide the necessary downward pressure needed on the weapon’s automatic setting.
‘One.’
In one smooth, swift motion, Dempsey rose to his feet, stabbed the end of the knife through the jacket and, as the rifle began to fire, he threw the full, white bundle into the rocky clearing that sat at the rear of Aryo’s home.
The jacket had been in the air much less than a second when the sound of one automatic weapon firing became the sound of four. Dempsey knew what that meant: three hidden gunmen – Blackspear operatives, he assumed – opening fire as one upon Shah’s fast-moving jacket.
An instant later and only one was still shooting; the other two had already deduced that their fire had been drawn.
The realisation would have hit them hard, Dempsey knew. As would the moment of confusion that must have followed. But neither would hit so hard as a nine-millimetre bullet.
Dempsey had seen the central shooter first. Inevitable, really, as the man was straight ahead. He was also the only one of the three whose sightline was obscured by the still airborne jacket, which had been thrown directly between him and the building’s rear door.
It meant that the central shooter would realise the truth of the situation later than his teammates. By less than a second, probably. But in a combat situation, even the smaller unit of time can make all the difference.
With that single second advantage, Dempsey ignored the central shooter and instead turned right, just in time to catch sight of the last muzzle-fire from the gun of the right-hand shooter.
And so it was the right-hand shooter who died first, with two pistol slugs bursting into and then out of his skull in quick succession.
A heartbeat later and Dempsey was back with the central shooter, ready to unload two more shots before the man had even registered the ruse with Shah’s jacket.