The International Assassin A Sexy Times Crime Thriller (32 page)

Roy realising I was now in pursuit dragged Charlotte into a narrow back alley blocked to traffic by bollards. I kept going and swung down the next left to try and cut him off, arriving at the alley exit just as Roy ran out I knocked him over as the G came to a halt. Roy sprang to his feet and I ducked under the dashboard just in time as he sprayed the windscreen with bullets. 

By the time I came back out from cover Roy had made his way to the opposite side of the street and cover of the alley before I could get a single shot off.  I backed the G out and continued on taking the next right to run parallel to the alley for two further blocks then swung right and headed to the alley. Roy was nowhere to be seen. I drove forward a block to the next intersection and spotted him walking casually in a crowd with Charlotte. I quickly cut right and headed up to the pedestrian street they had walked down. With no other option I abandoned the G and gave chase on foot through the pedestrian underpass into the busy concourse of Nice railway station in the direction Roy had disappeared in.

The concourse was packed with evening commuters. I scanned the crowds looking for signs of Roy or Charlotte. 

“Shit,” I said cursing to myself that I had lost them. 

I checked my watch. It was 4:38pm. I didn’t have time for this. I needed to get the money back desperately but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get Nick back. I was conflicted, either stay and waste precious time searching the busy station for Roy who could have doubled back or cut my losses and get back to Monaco and do what I could from there. 

I had no real choice. Not only did Roy have the money he had most of my offensive arsenal. I only had two spare mags left. I walked over to the large departure board display trying to second-guess what Roy’s intentions were. 

With no motorised transport he was sure to want to depart as quickly as possible…but where to?

Dejected I walked back to the entrance to the station. Looking down on the floor I noticed the telltale bright pools of deep crimson red fresh blood. Given how profusely Roy must have been bleeding it could only have been him. I followed the interspersed blood trail to the toilets on the side of the station where they tailed off. I looked at the three options. Men, Women or disabled. I figured he must have been trying to do something to stem the bleeding and needed to keep Charlotte in check so he was probably using the privacy of the disabled toilet. I cautiously tried the handle but it was locked. I gave it a knock but there was no response. I waited a few minutes then gave it a knock again. Finally the door opened.

It was Roy.

I smashed the butt of my Sig into his face exploding his nose instantly and pushed him back inside. Roy fell backwards in shock dropping the bags. I followed up the swift blow with a karate kick to his midriff and a double elbow punch to his face. Roy lost his balance and fell to the floor, he grabbed for his pistol and I kicked it out of his hand sending it sliding across the floor. I pointed my pistol at him. He gave me a disdainful but resigned look as he tended his nose.

“Take the bags, wait outside Charlotte. Roy and I have some unfinished business,” I said. Charlotte picked up the bags and went outside. “You nearly got away with it Roy. You nearly fucked it all up again.”

“Just do what you have to do and be on your way,” said Roy seemingly resigned to his fate.

“After what you did to my face, it will be with great pleasure.”

I fired the Sig at him. Forgetting to adjust for the vicious kickback the round went high landing in the wall just above his head. Roy yelped as shattered tile splinters struck him. I squeezed the trigger again.

To my horror something that had plagued my nightmares happened. Something I just never expected from the usually robust Sig.

It had jammed.

A single cartridge stuck in the breach stopped it cleanly reloading. Seizing his chance Roy kicked the gun out of my hand and lunged at me knocking me off my feet. I punched out at him as he dived to pin me down.

“Right you bitch, you wanted it so you’ll fucking well get it!” he said spitting at me with rage.

I pushed him off me with all my might and dodged his punch. He screamed as his fist landed in the concrete floor where my head should have been. As he recoiled from the pain I delivered him a hard knee shot in the groin and head-butted him. Roy fell backwards enough to allow me to slide my slender frame from under him. I tore my coat off and threw it on the ground before karate kicking him in the face. He dropped to the floor and I dropped a knee onto his throat to pin him down. Full of anger and fury and hell-bent on revenge for the roadside beating he had inflicted on me I started laying into him with a combination of punches until he eventually stopped moving. 

Exhausted I got up and turned round to get my coat, unjam my pistol and finish him off. Roy suddenly sprang to life and swiped my legs from under me. I fell to the floor knocking my head on the sink as I passed it. I grappled for the discarded gun on the floor next to me. Roy got up and delivered me a hefty kick to the ribs before grabbing the door and running out. I clutched my ribs in pain and pulled myself to my feet and grabbed the gun and my coat and ran out after him.

Roy was not going to get away again. Not this time.

Chapter 26

RUNNING OUT
onto the busy forecourt I spotted Roy instantly. He had caused a commotion with a group of elderly French pensioners having knocked one of them over. He saw me, shoved the protestors off him then grabbed Charlotte and ran limping towards the platform. I gave chase after him as fast as I could with the air in my lungs burning with the sharp pain caused by my bruised ribs from Roy’s violent assault.

I took out my pistol and lined up a shot at Roy as he made his way down the platform. I pulled the trigger firing three times with the final bullet hitting Roy in the leg. He fell clutching his leg in agony as the entire concourse erupted in screams and chaos as the Sig’s gunshots echoed around the station. People ran in all directions. I quickly put my pistol away before anyone realised I was the perpetrator and ran in the direction of the platform. 

Roy now desperate got to his feet and as I rounded onto the platform he took out the M4 and fired a full automatic burst of shots at me, the cacophony of the brutal carbine rifle sending further shockwaves of terror through the commuters. I dived into the safety of the tracks alongside the platform behind the cover of the large TGV train engine. The hail of bullets whistled past over my head striking an innocent bystander who was thrown to the ground by the force of the impact in a shower of blood. By the time I ducked out from cover Roy was gone again. I climbed onto the platform and ran alongside the train carriages trying to see where Roy was hiding inside the train.

I reached the very end of the train but there was no sign of Roy or Charlotte. Seemingly oblivious to the violent chaos that had taken place on the concourse at the other end of the long platform the conductor blew a whistle and the door sirens started to sound. Taking a calculated gamble that Roy must have got on the train I dived into the first carriage and waited by the door to check Roy wouldn’t try and jump off just before the doors closed.

The train pulled out of the station. As the guard made the announcement in French I realised what a disaster this was. I was on board the express TGV to Paris and the next stop would be Lyon. There was simply no way I would get back from Lyon in time to make the trade with Anatoly. Time was running out. I started cautiously working down the train in search of Roy. Being just past five p.m the train was crowded full of peak-time travellers. I walked down the carriage cautiously checking the face of every passenger - to walk past Roy by mistake would be fatal. The train sped up to nearly one hundred and seventy miles per hour. I knew Roy had nowhere to go. I was right at the end of the train and he was somewhere in front of me.

I continued down the carriages checking the toilet cubicles en-route. I neared the end of the train when finally I spotted him sat looking agitated next to Charlotte in a coach full of passengers. An angry French couple were busy remonstrating with Roy as he was clearly sat in their reserved seats and was refusing to move.  

I decided I couldn’t deal with Roy in such a confined space full of witnesses with no way to get off the train so I found an empty aisle seat with a clear vantage point and sat down and hid behind a newspaper watching Roy’s argument with the passengers escalate. Eventually the man stormed off to fetch the guard who returned a few minutes later. Reluctantly and with much protestation Roy got up and relinquished the seat dragging the bags and Charlotte with him he headed in my direction. 

Behind the newspaper I took out my Sig and waited. As he passed I sprang to my feet behind him and dug the pistol into the back of his kidney.

“Don’t make any sudden moves Roy or I promise you regardless of all these people I will shoot you,” I said quietly. Roy stopped. “Keep walking,” I told him and pushed him forward with the pistol barrel to the empty vestibule at the end of the carriage. 

I pushed him into the space opposite and retreated out of his range.

“Drop the bags,” I told him “Carefully.”

Roy complied and lowered the bags.

“I just can’t seem to get rid of you can I?” Roy said with annoyance.

“That’s because you just won’t be a good boy and fucking die will you Roy?”

“You can’t shoot me here. You will never get away with it. Even you know that.”

“I’m having a very bad day so don’t tempt me to act on impulse.”

I looked Roy up and down. Bleeding profusely from his shoulder wound and leg, brow covered in sweat he looked like a piece of human wreckage. I hated him and pitied him in equal measures.

I raised my pistol to finish him off when the door to the carriage opened. I quickly hid my pistol as the guard entered. He looked at us.

“You have tickets?” he asked looking at us all in turn.

“Yes I have it right here…” said Roy reaching into his pocket. 

The guard turned to him and Roy took out his gun and shot him twice. I went to grab my pistol, using the guard as a human shield Roy pushed him in my direction causing me to lose balance on the fast moving train. Roy fired at me. I quickly grabbed the body of the guard and shielded behind it feeling his body shake as the bullets thudded into him. Grabbing my pistol I fired it over the guards shoulder in Roy’s direction. The bullet missed and fired straight through the window shattering it and letting a massive rush of air into the carriage buffeting Roy off balance. Roy grabbed the bags and pushed Charlotte through into the next carriage. I shoved the guard’s body off me and checked his pulse but he was already dead.

I got to my feet and headed for the next carriage in pursuit of Roy. As I opened the door there were more shots and the glass carriage door splintered. I ducked to avoid the fire before firing back in Roy’s direction. After the momentary shock subsided the carriage erupted into screams of terror. Roy made his way down the carriage dragging Charlotte screaming behind him as a shield. Unable to get a clear shot without shooting Charlotte I pursued him down the next carriage. As he reached the end vestibule Roy used the luggage space as cover and opened fire on me again forcing me to dive behind a seat. I fired back a couple of suppressing shots before pursuing him into the next carriage. I checked the gangway but couldn’t see him. The screams and sobbing however told me he was there, probably hiding behind a seat ready to ambush me.

I walked slowly with my pistol drawn into the carriage ready to dive into cover when he eventually reappeared. Moments later he did so brandishing the M4 from my bag of lethal tricks. I dropped into the safety of the luggage rack as Roy directed his full automatic fire in my direction.

“Have some of this you dumb bitch!” he shouted as he sprayed the carriage with bullets. I covered my head with my hands and tried to find as much cover as possible as the lethal stream of projectiles ricocheted around me. Luckily the large suitcases on the racks above shielded me from the worst of the fire. Roy reached the end of the clip and it went silent before the carriage erupted into screams of terror and sobbing.

Quickly I jumped to my feet. With Roy pre-occupied on changing his magazine out I aimed a shot at him. I fired just as the train hit a bump knocking my aim off enough to send the bullet flying past him missing his head by fractions. I tried to steady myself and take aim again. I pulled the trigger and the pistol clicked as I reached the end of the mag, throwing the pistol away I scrambled to find the back up Glock. It was a race against time as to who could rearm but his unfamiliarity with the complexities of a military grade M4 rifle meant Roy was struggling to get the mag to release. I lined up for a shot again and pulled back the hammer. Realising he was trapped Roy dropped the M4 and magazine and grabbed Charlotte who was stood next to him. As I squeezed the trigger he pulled her body in front of him for cover and my two shots landed squarely into her chest narrowly avoiding her heart. I lowered my pistol momentarily. Roy shoved Charlotte forwards grabbing the bag of money he made his retreat backwards. Once he was clear of the carriage I ran forward to Charlotte dropped down and rolled her over. She coughed up a mouthful of blood suggesting the bullet had punctured her lungs and she was now drowning in her own blood.

I did my best to make her comfortable as her eyes started to glaze over.

“I’m sorry Charlotte. I was aiming for Roy.”

“Not your fault,” she croaked.

“You do tend to get in the way a lot.”

Charlotte started crying and moaned with the pain.

“Try not to breath too hard,” I said.

I checked her back and felt for an exit wound.

“I’m going to die aren’t I?” she said with a scared look of fear as she realised the event which we spend our entire lives avoiding - our own death, was finally upon her. 

“Yes…I’m afraid you are,” I told her as softly as I could.