Chapters (46)
- COVER PAGE
- PRAISE
- DEDICATION
- 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
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- SNEAK PEEK: EXIT .45
Vincent said, ‘I thought if you were caught with no money and no phone you wouldn’t have many options. And then maybe after all the excitement, you wouldn’t want the stress of jacking a car.’
Now he smiled. ‘I just really like travelling this way. Smooth, quiet, see a bit of countryside. You know what I mean? Airports, man. Too much hassle.’
Vincent said, ‘They found Colton Locke. I assume that was you.’
Andre licked his lips, held the smile. His head bobbed subtly with the transverse rocking of the train. He said, ‘What do you want out of this?’
Vincent had to think about that for a few seconds, looking for his honest view. He said, ‘I want a nice, quiet end where we both get off this train.’
‘Quiet. Mmm.’ He seemed amused. ‘Gurneys are quiet. And they put you under a sheet, too. Real private.’
Vincent said, ‘There’s nothing in this for you anymore. The police have the truck. Delroy’s dead.’
‘Huh.’ Grinning again, lips pulled back to show that big line-up of yellow teeth. Gums the colour of liver. ‘Man had drive, that’s for sure: screwing Sly’s wife, going behind his back at the same time, using his contacts on a drug import. Certain amount of style in that, I think.’
‘If you say so.’
‘She’s dying of cancer. Mrs Sly, I mean. Delroy figured he’d get rich off heroin, put the wife up in comfort. Think that’s the idea, anyway. I was just in it for the money, rather than the Good Samaritan part.’
Vincent said, ‘How long can you stay a fugitive?’
Andre’s head tilted slightly, like he was giving that genuine thought. He said, ‘I don’t know. But I need to find out.’ Studying him quietly. ‘Don’t I?’
‘I wouldn’t have thought so.’
Andre said, ‘This is what I do. I take people on.’ He shrugged, as if captive to his own vocation. ‘And then I disappear, come back and make a bad day for someone else. Good, huh?’
Vincent didn’t answer.
‘Don’t sit there thinking I got beamed down from somewhere. Some other planet. World’s full of aspiration. Isn’t it? People wanting to do things, trying to make it in their own domain, whatever it is. Well, this is mine.’ Nodding, looking at him. ‘This is my domain.’
‘Sure.’