The Mercenary: The Savage Seven. Katherine Garbera

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ she said into the phone.

      “That’s odd. Is there anyone else around?” Anna asked.

      Olivia looked out in the distance to the mountains and thought she saw the figures of two people, though at this distance she couldn’t be sure.

      “I don’t know.”

      A shot rang out and one of the figures fell to the ground.

      “Was that a gunshot?” Anna asked.

      “Yes. Someone was shot. What should I do?” Olivia asked.

      “Get out of there. Get back in your car,” Anna said.

      Olivia ran back across the street and climbed the barrier with little care for her pantsuit this time. She got behind the wheel of her vehicle and locked the doors. She just sat there shaking. What if Ray had been shot? Oh my God. What was she going to do?

      “Olivia?”

      “Sorry, yes?”

      “Are you okay?”

      “No. I’m worried about Ray…I don’t know what to do.”

      “You need to get out of there and call the Cullinan authorities.”

      “Okay, I’ll call you back.”

      “No, don’t do that. I will call the authorities. You just stay on the other line.”

      Olivia put the car in drive and continued up the road to the turnabout and then sat there watching from a distance. The shooter was moving.

      “I think the shooter is coming back toward Ray’s car. Should I get closer and try to identify him?”

      “Yes,” Anna said. “Jack is on the line with the authorities. Are you on the property of Onyx Diamonds?”

      “Yes,” Olivia said.

      “She is,” Anna said to Jack. “Try and get closer to the shooter. Does your cell phone have a camera in it?”

      “Yes, of course. Should I take a photo of him?”

      “Definitely, and then send it to me. We have an extensive network and I will be able to tell you who it is.”

      “Thanks, Anna.”

      “No problem. Be careful.”

      “I’m in my car. What could happen?” Olivia said.

      “He has a gun. Is your car bulletproof?”

      “Yes, of course. Most cars here are because of the violence. Oh my God, can you believe I live in a place like this?”

      “It’s okay, you are safe. Just take the photo and then get out of there.”

      She drove slowly toward Ray’s car. She was fairly certain the shooter had seen her. It would be impossible for him not to, with the lack of traffic out here. But she was determined to get a photo of the man. This man might have killed Ray.

      She saw the man get to the car and sped up. She slowed as she approached. The man raised his gun and she raised her phone, not really thinking about anything except pushing the shutter button so that she’d have a picture of the man.

      Her foot slid off the gas as she realized she was looking into the eyes of a cold-blooded killer. And then her heart stopped as she recognized her fiancé as the man holding the gun.

      “Oh my God!”

      She heard Anna’s voice coming loudly over the phone, which she had dropped, but she couldn’t pick up the phone. All she could do was stare at Ray until he lifted the gun toward her and she snapped out of her fog. She found the gas and stomped on the pedal, speeding away.

      Oh. My. God.

      Ray Lambert, her darling fiancé and the man everyone said was a total catch, was a murderer and he was going to kill her, she thought.

      She’d seen it in his eyes. She couldn’t think of anything but getting as far away from him as possible, but then panic set in and she started to worry.

      What was she going to do?

      Where would she go?

      She had given up her life in London and her parents were currently on a world cruise. Finding them and getting back her old life would be nearly impossible.

      She felt shattered and lost. She was shaking so hard she couldn’t keep on driving, so she pulled off the road once she reached the busy highway that would lead her back to her home.

      She sat there for a minute, breathing deeply and trying to figure out what she could do next.

      Chapter Three

      AUGUST 1, NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA

      Kirk Mann wasn’t a people person. So that made him perfectly suited to his job as part of the Savage Seven. He was actually second in command and his specialty without fail was as a sniper.

      He didn’t work with a scout because they didn’t have enough extra manpower to have someone designated that way on their team. There were only six of them. When he’d been in the U.S. Marines he had relied heavily on his sniper scout, Joe Gibbs, but that was a lifetime ago. And Joe was dead now. Kirk sometimes thought that Joe’s ghost was with him on his missions.

      Today he was in another unstable republic in Africa—this time he was killing the deposed president of a corrupt “republic.” This part of the world changed leadership the way models changed their clothes at a fashion show. Kirk had spent a lot of time here.

      They were working for the new government run by a man in a large African country most people in the States had never heard of. The Savage Seven had no political alliance and worked for the highest bidder. Kind of like Blackwater, except smaller and choosier about who they worked for. Jack Savage, their leader, took jobs in places that paid well.

      “Are you taking the shot or what?” Jack asked in Kirk’s ear.

      Jack was halfway around the world in London at their headquarters, watching the setup through the camera mounted to Kirk’s helmet. The reminder that he wasn’t alone was the one reassurance that Kirk liked.

      “Give me a second.”

      “What are you waiting for?” Jack asked. “Wind?”

      “Yes. There was a slight gust a minute ago. I want one shot.”

      “That’s what you are known for,” Jack said.

      “True that,” Kirk said. He pulled out an anemometer—a handheld weather station, and waited for his reading to come back. There wasn’t much difference between where he was and where the target was, but Kirk had always been a careful shooter. He had his shot lined up. He glanced down at the anemometer and made the adjustments to his trajectory to account for the wind.

      He СКАЧАТЬ