‘Are you sure this bag of rusty nails can even get off the ground?’

Jeff stepped up to the Cessna and lovingly slapped its fuselage. Nothing actually dropped off. ‘Get your head out of your arse, mate. She’s a classic. Now quit whingeing and let’s rock and roll.’

Chapter 20

‘I thought we had an agreement about that,’ Wolf said. ‘The you not killing me part.’

Ben replied, ‘We do, but I’m not about to let Saunders, or Curnow, in on our secret. He’s expecting results. And he’s not going to take my word for it, either. He doesn’t want to hear that you’re dead. He wants to as good as see it for himself.’

Ben told Wolf about the number he’d been instructed to call when the job was done. Saunders would then most likely send out an agent to eyeball the evidence and report back to their boss with a verification.

‘So how do you plan on killing me but leaving me alive?’

Ben thought for a moment, then pointed at Wolf’s teeth. ‘I never asked you, but those must have been pricey.’

Wolf looked a little surprised by the question, but he answered, ‘All the money in the world, as far as I was concerned back then.’

‘Custom made, specially for you.’

‘There isn’t another guy in the world with gnashers the same.’

‘That’s what I thought. Now, I’m thinking that a cautious man who made a good living and could afford to have a spare made would carry it around with him as a backup.’

‘I do, as it happens.’ Wolf pointed at the holdall. ‘Gold and titanium, an exact duplicate of the one I’m wearing.’

‘What are you, five foot eleven?’

Again, Wolf looked taken aback by the question, but again he came back with his reply. ‘Five ten and a half. Half an inch shorter than you.’

‘Weight around one-eighty?’

‘One-eight-two.’

‘Then we know what to look for.’ Ben motioned at the dead man they’d dumped at the edge of the rocky hollow. ‘This guy’s out of the running, unless we can persuade Saunders’ people that the late, lamented Jaden Wolf sprouted a metal hook for a hand before his demise.’

Wolf understood what Ben was thinking. ‘You want to use one of them as a decoy.’

‘With any luck one of his friends will be a closer match. Give or take an inch and a few pounds here and there. Doesn’t really matter, because there won’t be a hell of a lot left to examine after we’re done with him.’

Wolf gave a nasty grin. ‘Oh, you sick puppy. That’s ugly. But will it be enough to fool them?’