Good Intentions - Adrian Hell #6 (Adrian Hell Series) (16 page)

Well, Prince Sayed can wait—he’s not a threat and he’s not going anywhere. His two personal bodyguards aren’t a priority either. They’re armed, but they’re not holding their guns. It’ll take them two or three seconds to prepare themselves and take aim, by which time I’ll have shot them. So, my focus needs to be on the guy to my immediate left—who, luckily, is within reach—and the four douchebags behind me.

I raise an eyebrow and smile at the prince.

Showtime.

I step quickly to my left, grab the guy’s extended arm by the wrist and turn into him, putting my back against his chest. Grabbing his hand with mine, I squeeze, forcing him to fire four shots. Directing his arm by holding the wrist, I put a bullet in each of the four guys behind me. The lethally accurate gunshots are deafening in the silence of the large suite, and the sickening squelch of bullets penetrating skulls follows a moment later.

Before the lifeless bodies thud to the floor, I push back, using my weight to turn us both counterclockwise. As we do, I squeeze off a round at the guy standing farthest from me, next to the prince. It punches him in the chest, sending him flying backward, but I’m not stopping to celebrate. I continue the turn, shoving the guy away from me and easing his weapon from his hand as he goes flying into the remaining bodyguard, who himself is slowly starting to register what’s happening, and reaching for his own weapon.

As one guy collides with the other, I spin in a quick circle, stopping to face Prince Sayed. Using the gun I’ve just acquired, I aim under my left arm and fire three rounds. The first hits the guy I had a hold of squarely in his back, between the shoulder blades. He falls away to the side, sprawling to the floor as the other two bullets hit the remaining bodyguard in his chest. He flails backward, landing heavily and sending his own weapon skidding away to my left.

Silence falls once again. I’m breathing heavily, partly from the exertion, partly from the adrenaline rush. I grip the gun tightly in my hand and stare at the prince, as he stands slack-jawed before me. He looks around quickly, the panic evident, despite not being able to see his eyes.

He lunges to his left, presumably heading for the main door. Which is a really stupid move, because he’s nowhere near it, and unless this guy’s actually Clark Kent, he’s not going to run faster than—

BANG
!

—a speeding bullet.

I just shot him in the leg. Right above the knee. He buckled mid-stride and collapsed in a heap on the floor. He’s screaming with understandable agony, clutching at the wound as it gushes blood across the otherwise spotless, tiled floor.

Hmmm, thinking about it…

I walk over to him quickly, crouch beside him, and deliver a stiff jab to the side of his face, just below the cheekbone, on the bend of his mandible. His eyes flash wide for an instant, and then he stops screaming.

There we go. He could have woken the dead with all that noise. But, more likely, he will have alerted the rest of his, what I have to assume is significant, security detail. Which, in turn, means I need to get the hell out of Dodge.

I stand and walk a quick circuit of the room to make sure every door is locked. It won’t keep people out for long, I know, but it’ll buy me an extra minute or two, which is better than nothing.

I make my way back over to the prince, reach down, and drag him by his collar into the middle of the room, pulling him unceremoniously down the small flight of steps and over to one of the exquisite leather sofas. I sit him down and position him so that his recently-ventilated leg is resting up on a small tinted glass table in front of him.

I lean over and slap him. “Hey… wakey, wakey, your Highness.”

He snorts back to consciousness, snapping his eyes open, disoriented. He looks around for a moment, and then focuses on his injured leg. His eyes go wide and his mouth opens, preparing to scream once more as the pain begins to register. Before he can, I shove the barrel of the gun between his lips.

“Ah, ah, ah… Don’t be making all that noise like last time, or I’m gonna have to hit you again.”

He tries to speak, but his words are muffled by the gun. I take it out slowly and gesture to him to repeat himself. He spits blood on the soft, cream cushion beside him. “I said… just kill me and get it over with, you bastard!”

I nod. “Oh, I will—don’t you worry about that. But there are a couple of things I need to know first.”

He scoffs. “What makes you think I’ll tell you anything?”

I shrug. “Because if you do, I’ll end it quick and painless.”

He smiles, challengingly. “And if I don’t?”

I shrug again. “Then you’ll die in a manner that’s neither of those things, and that would suck for you.”

He sighs, spits out some more blood and stares at his leg, snarling through a fresh wave of pain.

I rest my foot next to his on the table and lean forward. “First question—who do you think would want you dead?”

He genuinely thinks about it for a minute. “I don’t know… I’m not an idiot. I know I have made many enemies recently. It could be anyone.”

“Huh… fair point, I guess. But why you, specifically? I’m guessing Fuelex has an entire board of rich investors and shareholders. I admit, I admire what you’re doing, but you wouldn’t have made the decision to do it alone. Why go after you and no one else?”

He shrugs, but says nothing. He looks away to grimace at what I imagine is quite an excruciating pain in his leg.

“Is there something you’re not telling me? Something personal? Something unrelated to Fuelex? There must be
something
… What have
you
done to warrant having me sent after you? Are you a thief? A liar? A murderer? A pedophile? What?”

He frowns, apparently offended. “I’m none of those things, you… you disrespectful
prick
! I don’t know why anyone would want me dead. Anyway, why do you care? You’re just a hired gun, here to pull the trigger, right?”

“Honestly? No, I’m not.” I use the gun to scratch my forehead, rubbing the tip of the barrel up and down my temple for a moment. “Truth be told, I’m doing someone a favor. A colleague of mine was sent to kill you. She’s gorgeous. Unbelievably so. That previous security risk everyone is so bothered about… That was her.”

He frowns again. “Who? That stupid Chinese bitch?”

“Well… I don’t think she’s Chinese. Or stupid. And if you feel brave enough to call her a bitch, you go right ahead. But yeah, I think we’re talking about the same woman. Anyway, she obviously failed, but she told our employer that you were dead anyway. She then got into a bit of a state because our employer happens to be quite powerful and resourceful, and she figured they would find out you were still alive and then go after her for lying to them. So, she came to me for help.”

“And here you are… such a good friend!”

His disdain isn’t hard to miss.

“Actually, I was against killing you, at first. My employer isn’t big on telling me
why
they want people dead, as I’ve mentioned. Personally, I like to know such things before I put a bullet in someone, so I figured I’d come here, bullshit you a little, and see if I could find out for myself why someone would want you gone.”

“And?”

“And… I’ve still no fucking idea, beyond the obvious. I was hoping to get an idea of the kind of people my employer is involved with, but no such luck. Anyway, along the way I decided for myself you’re worth killing, because you threatened me.”

He shakes his head. “Wait… so in the last fifteen minutes, you just
decided
to kill me? What the fuck? Do you have any idea who I am? I mean, really, who I am. How much money I have? How powerful I am?” He shifts in his seat as best he can with his injury. He hunches over a little, too. Almost as if he’s shrinking, losing his confidence. “Listen… I can give you anything you want if you let me live. Please! I don’t want to die… I’ve done nothing to deserve this. I’m begging you, I—”

BANG
!

I put a bullet between his eyes, shattering his expensive sunglasses in the process. His head snaps back violently before sagging forward. Blood trickles from the hole in his head, runs down the front of his suit, and onto the cushion he’s sitting on.

He was starting to get on my goddamn nerves.
Do you know who I am
? Really? Who says that?

Wait… I’ve said that before, haven’t I?

Yeah, pretty sure I have. But that was different. I obviously would have meant it ironically, to entertain myself in what I’m sure would have been an otherwise humor-free situation.

Ah, fuck it.

Now… how do I get out of here?

14

12:03
AST

Shit. I should really start thinking about this kind of thing in advance… I’m sixty-five floors up, trapped in a room with seven dead GlobaTech operatives and a dead Saudi prince. I’m likely to be all over the hotel’s security feeds, and if there’s less than thirty armed men coming for me right now, I’m a lucky man.

I take out my cell and call Lily.

“Where the hell are you?” she asks, as she answers.

I glance around. “Yeah… funny story. Now, don’t shout at me, but things got a little out of hand…”

She sighs. “What have you done?”

“Well, Sayed bin Mawal is dead.”

“What? How?”

“I shot him. And his seven bodyguards.”

“Oh my God, are you fucking insane?”

“You’d be surprised how many people ask me that…”

“Would I? Really?”

“Okay, no, probably not. Look, I’m in his suite on the sixty-fifth floor and I have no way out. I need your help, Lily.”

She’s silent for a moment. “And I thought
I
was in deep shit… Okay, you can’t go down, right? So, you go up. I’ll arrange an extraction team to come get you. There’s a helipad on the roof.”

I stare out the window. I hate heights. I close my eyes for a moment. “Up… got it.”

“You need to buy yourself ten minutes.”

“Okay. Ah… Lily, there’s one more thing.”

She sighs again. “What?”

“I may have been captured on their security feeds. A lot.”

She gasps with disbelief. “Fucking
seriously
? Remind me never to ask for your help again!”

“Yeah, well…” I pause for a moment to think of a suitable retort. “…okay, I’ve got nothing. Just sort it, will you? You know how The Order deals with this shit.”

“Fine, whatever.”

The line clicks off. I look around at the bodies of the GlobaTech security team. I feel really, really bad about that, for many reasons. First, they’re the good guys. They were just doing their job, and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Second, they’re ultimately Josh’s boys, and this is a slap in the face for him. But third, and arguably the most important… The Order doesn’t like it when you kill people they’ve not asked you to kill. It’s in their rules. And they only made three of the damn things, so they must take them seriously. I reckon I might get sent to my room or something after this…

Screw it, I’ll deal with that later. For now, I need to focus on getting out of here.

I walk over to the main door and place my ear carefully against it, listening for any hint of movement outside.

…

…

…

I can’t hear anything. I didn’t give any of these guys a chance to call for back-up before I took them out, so I might be lucky enough to make it up one final floor without being spotted.

I grip the gun tightly in one hand and ease the door open with the other, creating a gap maybe an inch wide. I peek out. There’s no one in the hall that I can see.

I open it fully, trying to stay as quiet as I can. Cautiously, I peek out again, this time looking both ways. Still clear. Good. Now all I have to do is reach the elevator at the far end and ride it up a floor, and—

Shit!

I duck back inside as a guy appears at the end of the corridor. I wait a second or two, holding my breath…

I don’t think he saw me. I roll my eyes with relief. He must be patrolling the floor. Annoying, but not too much of an issue.

I chance another look out.

Double shit!

He’s not alone. There are three of them. They’re just pacing idly around in front of the elevators. I need to get past them, preferably without…

Wait a minute…

I look over my shoulder at the interior of the suite. Specifically, the layout and positioning of the rooms and other doors.

Lightbulb!

I gently close the door and walk quickly across the room, all the way to the opposite end. There’s another door here, which, if I’m right, opens up almost directly in front of the men, and, more importantly, the elevator. I forgot how big this suite actually is…

I crouch in front of it and peer through the keyhole.

Yeah, I was right. I can see the three guys standing in a loose triangle.

I tense my jaw as I play out in my head every possible way this could go down. I could do this several ways, but I don’t particularly want to kill them, which immediately reduces the number of options. Plus, non-lethal takedowns aren’t exactly my specialty…

I keep watching for a few minutes, until the guy closest to me is where I need him to be—namely, next to this door with his back to me. I stand and glance down at the gun in my hand, mostly for reassurance.

Don’t hesitate, don’t think… just do.

My
rules.

I yank the door open and push the man in front of me forward, hard. He flies into his colleague, who’s standing side-on a few feet away, talking with the third guy. As the first two collide and fall to the floor, I rush out and bury my shoulder in the third guy’s sternum, forcing him backward into the small strip of wall next to the elevator. I feel the wind leave him and he sinks to the floor, out for the count. I spin around to face the other two, who are just starting to gather themselves and realize something’s not right. The guy I pushed initially had dropped his weapon, so I kick it away from them and aim mine at the second guy, before he has chance to think.