Chain Reaction. Don Pendleton

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ

      Anger.

      Then there came the muffled sound of a shot from behind the doors.

      She hit the closed double doors with her left shoulder. They flew open.

      Julius was down on one knee, right hand clasped to his right side. The bright color of blood seeped through his fingers.

      One of Julius’s bodyguards was sprawled unconscious on the floor, a deep gash in the side of his head streaming blood.

      Ten feet away was a man she recognized as Peter Karpov, a business rival of her uncle’s. He held a large pistol in his left hand, a Desert Eagle, already bringing it back on target.

      Karpov half turned as Lise crashed into the room, made to twist the pistol in her direction. She didn’t break stride, just kept moving, and Karpov had no chance to avoid her. She slammed into him bodily, the force of her forward motion knocking him off balance. As she struck him, she clamped both hands around his left wrist, twisting against the bone until it snapped. Karpov squealed at the burst of pain, And he felt himself going down. He slammed to the floor, the impact knocking the breath from his body, leaving him momentarily stunned. The pistol was jarred from his grip. It struck the floor, bouncing end over end, and Lise took a long stride toward it. She snatched it up.

      The weapon settled on Karpov as he rose to his knees, gripping his broken wrist. He saw the black ring of the muzzle pointing at him. It was the last thing he ever saw.

      Lise’s finger squeezed back on the trigger.

      The pistol bucked in her grasp as it fired. Before the shell case hit the floor she fired a second time.

      The slugs slammed into Karpov’s head, entering just above his left eye. They cored in, shattering bone and cleaving through his brain, before erupting in a bloody shower from the back of his skull. The impact threw Karpov off his knees and dropped him to the floor. He landed hard, the looseness of sudden death having removed any physical control. He sprawled on his back, half of his head missing.

      Lise stood upright, the heavy pistol sagging toward the floor. Breathing deeply, she turned, her first impulse to check on Julius. She felt only concern for him. The fact she had just killed someone had no impact on her. There was no revulsion.

      No regret.

      Nor was there any kind of vicarious thrill. It had simply been something that had to be done.

      “Are you all right?” she asked. Then gave an embarrassed smile. “Of course you are not all right. You have just been shot.”

      She moved to be closer to him. It was then she became aware of the pistol in her hand. The Israeli Desert Eagle was a .357 Magnum. It would become her personal weapon of choice from that day on. She stared at the pistol for a moment. Then she moved to place the weapon on Hegre’s desk before she turned her full attention to him.

      “Let’s get you into a chair,” she said.

      Lise helped him into one of the leather armchairs. She stripped off her riding jacket, took off her white shirt, folded it and wadded it over Hegre’s wound, pressing it tight. She slipped the jacket back on and buttoned it as she heard footsteps approaching along the corridor. Moments later Dominic Melchior, her uncle’s lawyer and friend, stepped into the room. He was closely followed by a couple more of Julius’s men. Melchior was unarmed, while the others carried handguns.

      Melchior took in the scene quickly. He raised a hand to the men.

      “Get on the phone. I want the doctor here ASAP to attend to Julius, a cleanup team to get rid of that mess on the floor and attention for Hendly. Do it now.”

      One of the bodyguards turned and quickly left the room, closing the doors behind him. The other man took up a position close to the door.

      “He shot you, but you still got the drop on him?” Melchior said to Hegre.

      Hegre shook his head slowly.

      “No. Not me. It was Lise.”

      Melchior looked across at her. She returned his stare with unflinching steadiness.

      “She tackled him. He dropped the gun and she picked it up and shot him,” Hegre said.

      Melchior looked from Lise to the bloody corpse on the floor. A spreading pool of blood had fanned out from beneath Karpov’s shattered skull.

      “It looks as if all those martial arts and shooting lessons are paying off,” he stated.

      “They will from now on,” Lise replied. “I intend to be his personal bodyguard. Where he goes, I go. Argue with me, Dom, and I’ll pick that gun back up and shoot you, too.”

      Hegre raised his head and looked at Melchior.

      “I wouldn’t argue with her, Dom.”

      Melchior nodded. “I believe you. And I believe her.”

      “Where were you all? Lise demanded, her voice taking on a hard tone.

      “Karpov’s people came in from the garden, taking us by surprise,” Melchior said. “They had us under their guns before we could react. No excuses, Julius, they caught us off guard. Two of our people are dead. They shot them in front of us.”

      Lise glanced at Hegre. He had a pale sheen on his face.

      “My fault,” he said. “I should have read the signs earlier. Karpov has been threatening to move on us for months. I didn’t believe he would do it in such a crude way.”

      “They shouldn’t have been able to get so close,” Lise snapped. “Things have become slack around here. Everyone has become complacent and let security slide. That won’t happen again.”

      “I have to admit she is right, Julius,” Melchior said.

      Dominic Melchior had been with Hegre from day one. He was, apart from being the organization’s lawyer, Hegre’s consigliere, and the man who often acted as Hegre’s conscience. Slim, gray-haired and always dressed impeccably, Melchior offered counsel to his friend, uttered the words that could calm Hegre and make him see the right path to choose. He had an uncanny insight into what went on in the minds of others. Hegre had an unshakable trust in Melchior’s words of wisdom.

      “Where are Karpov’s men now?” Lise asked.

      “Our backup team caught their man watching the approach to the estate,” Melchior said. “They caught him, and he admitted our people were being held in the garage. They got the drop on Karpov’s men. We dealt with them and headed back to the house. We heard the shots as we came inside.”

      “How many Karpov men are there?” Lise asked.

      “Four,” Melchior said.

      Watching Lise, he saw the cold gleam in her eyes. Her expression was without a trace of emotion. She reached for the Desert Eagle and picked it up. She stared at Hegre for a time, then turned to where the bodyguard stood.

      “All four of them,” she said. “I want them buried with Karpov. See to it our people are taken care of properly.”

      The СКАЧАТЬ