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
Romeo took a moment to look around. At the nine bodies now bleeding into the snow. He seemed unable to answer; if anything, his shock was increasing.
‘Focus, Meyer. You chose this life. Time to face the consequences.’
Romeo looked around one last time. Then he raised his eyes to meet Dempsey’s.
‘You need a witness,’ he said. ‘Same as they needed you. You need someone to tell you everything. To bring down my father and Cunningham.’
‘And you’d do that.’ It was not a question. Dempsey had doubted he could dislike Romeo more, but now, as he realised how willingly the coward would turn? It was possible, after all. ‘But you’re wrong. I don’t need a witness. I already have everything I need.’
Romeo didn’t answer. He seemed unsure of Dempsey’s meaning.
‘Why do you think I needed you to talk, you idiot?’ Dempsey asked.
Romeo’s eyes fell onto Dempsey’s sling.
‘You recorded me,’ he said, his voice flat.
‘Every damned word,’ Dempsey confirmed. He indicated to his incapacitated left arm. ‘Amazing how small they can make cameras these days, eh? A few bandages and they’re invisible.’
‘Then . . . then why . . .’
‘Why are you alive? Because you don’t get off that easy. Not after what you just did to Eden. You’re gonna find out what they do to pretty lads in prison.’
Romeo took a step back for the first time.
‘You can’t,’ he said, his voice dripping with fear. ‘I’m not . . .’
Romeo looked around him as Dempsey spoke. At the men and women now entering the clearing, coming from every direction. Salvatore Gallo. Dylan Wrixon. Kate Silver. Adama Jabari. And Elizabeth Kirk.
Five of them. Seven with Dempsey and Dai.
Dempsey could see the man’s mind working. Doing the maths. Romeo had no time to consider how he would flee Tootkai. Or how he would find his way out of Afghanistan. For now, his focus was on escaping the clearing.
Four directions. Four routes out.
Three of them towards armed ISB agents. The fourth towards Dempsey. A weaponless man with a useless arm.
There’s only one decision . . .
Romeo rushed forward. A slow, clumsy charge. The violence of a man who had hidden behind his size and his family name for his entire life. Dempsey remembered again his first impression:
Handsome. Flawless features. The face of a man who’d never had to fight.
Dempsey was no bully. Most of the time he detested violence, even when it was necessary. And against an amateur like Romeo? He would usually hold back. He might even have pitied him.
Not today. Today, Dempsey’s pity was with the young woman now bleeding into the Afghan snow.
He moved smoothly and with control, as if the oncoming size of Romeo meant nothing. Which, to Dempsey, it didn’t. He shifted his left leg backwards. The movement put his body at an angle, protecting his left shoulder and so his sling from any impact that might follow.