KILLER IN BLACK a gripping action-packed thriller (Johnny Silver Thriller Book 2)

by PAUL BENNETT

  He poured himself two fingers of bourbon, added some ice and took a sip.

  Red passed the map across the table and explained about the man in black and what we were looking for. Curly was now part of the team.

  ‘Start with a radius of twenty miles,’ I said. ‘If the man in black has done his homework, he’ll know that Sheriff Tucker won’t want to get involved, so he’ll choose a site within Tucker’s jurisdiction.’

  Curly looked at the map for what seemed like an age. Then he finally spoke.

  ‘There’s a few possibilities,’ he said. ‘The first is the silver mine—’

  ‘A silver mine?’ I interrupted.

  ‘Don’t get excited. You’re not about to become a millionaire. It was played out a hundred years ago. But the entrance and mine shafts are still there. Be hard to shoot him if he’s in the entrance.’

  ‘How does he get away?’ Bull asked. ‘Seems like he has backed himself into a corner.’

  ‘No one knows where the tunnels go,’ Curly said. ‘Could be another exit.’

  ‘I think we’re going about this in the wrong way,’ Stan said. ‘We’re trying to get inside the man in black’s mind. What would he be looking for?’

  ‘Somewhere quiet,’ Pieter said. ‘He won’t want to get caught by the police. It would need to be a deserted spot.’

  ‘But not too far away from a main road, so he could make a quick getaway,’ Bull said.

  ‘He will want to keep us at a distance,’ I said. ‘Make it as hard as possible for him to be a target.’

  ‘And as easy as possible for him to target us,’ Pieter said.

  ‘You know what he’s doing right now?’ I said. ‘Bending over a map of the area like we’re doing. He doesn’t know the land hereabouts. He’ll be going through the same selection process. Go on, Curly. I want every possible site that conforms to our criteria – reasonably close, easy to defend, just as easy to attack us, fast getaway.’

  Curly took a pencil and drew various circles on the map. There were five in total. Hell, I thought. This was going to take some time, which we probably didn’t have. Curly leaned back in his chair and admired his handiwork. ‘There you go,’ he said. ‘These are the only alternatives that fit what you’re looking for. It’s got to be one of these.’

  I topped up Curly’s bourbon. ‘Thanks, Curly,’ I said. ‘You’ve been a great help.’

  He finished his drink in one big swallow. ‘It’s been my pleasure,’ he said. ‘Mind you, anything that gets me out of the sun is a pleasure. Be seeing you, folks.’

  After Curly had left there was a deflated mood in the air, together with the clouds of smoke from Curly’s pipe.

  ‘One each,’ I said. ‘Let’s start at dawn.’

  ‘We’d need to borrow a couple of the ranch hands’ cars. I don’t have enough for one for each of us.’

  ‘I’ll talk to them tonight,’ Bull said.

  ‘And no one will say no to you.’

  ‘Exactly,’ he said.

  ‘Looks like we got the start of a plan,’ I said. ‘Can I have your letter, Red?’

  ‘What for?’ he asked, passing it across the table to me.

  ‘I’m working on a fall-back plan,’ I said.

  ‘Are you going to enlighten us?’ Pieter said.

  Bull grunted. ‘You should know him by now.’

  ‘I take that as a no then,’ Pieter said.

  I nodded. ‘Not formed enough yet. Still in the embryonic phase. I don’t want to have you laugh at me. Trust me,’ I said.

  ‘That one again,’ said Bull. ‘You usually only say that when someone’s gonna start shooting.’

  ‘Maybe it will be different this time,’ I said.

  ‘Maybe,’ Bull said, shaking his head. ‘Maybe.’

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  I headed down a winding country road which was the third side of a triangle bordered by Route 10 and Route 20 and ending at Fort Stockton. My destination was a flat valley in the hills halfway down the road – if you could call it a road. I was driving a beat-up flatbed truck that wouldn’t have looked out of place in an old black-and-white movie of the Great Depression, but beggars can’t be choosers. We’d only just managed to scrape together sufficient vehicles for the reconnaissance trips. The problem was that damned pit – most of the vehicles owned by the ranch hands couldn’t cope with going across country to avoid the pit.

  Even with both windows wound down, the inside of the truck was like an oven The black colour of the truck absorbed heat and the wound-down windows merely circulated that heat without cooling it to any degree. I reached across to the passenger seat and picked up a bottle of water, drank a large gulp to help combat the dehydration. I was en route to what had once been a private airstrip used by its owners for flying lessons, but the recession had killed off that market. It stood desolate with a shimmering haze rising up from the weed-ridden runway.

  As soon as I saw the place I knew it would be ideal for the man in black’s purposes. There was a disused hangar and a small control tower; the rest was open space. Impossible to approach without being seen from a few hundred yards away. Whoever controlled the hangar controlled the airstrip. A rag of a windsock hung limply in the still air as if it had given up hope.

  I drove round the perimeter – frustratingly there was only one way in and out – brought the truck to a halt and went across to the hangar. I pulled open the tall corrugated-iron doors and stepped inside. There was the smell of diesel in the still air. There were three oil drums, big enough for a man to hide behind, but the man in black had the advantage of knowing the rendezvous ahead of us and would surely search the area thoroughly. No way could we get one of us inside without being spotted by even the most cursory examination.

  There was an inspection pit which vehicles could be driven over for a mechanic to work underneath. But the same applied to it as to the oil drums: anyone in the pit would be easily spotted and neutralized. Dejected, I walked back outside and looked up at the roof. It had a shallow slope where a man could lie in wait and fire down, but you would have to get there well in advance and the man in black wouldn’t be giving us any time for preparation. All in all a hopeless situation.

  I thought for a moment about splitting our forces – never a good idea – and placing one of us at each of the five probable sites so that we had these covered before we knew the precise rendezvous. But the man in black was a professional. He’d scour each trap for a possible ambush. We might as well stay as a group and hope to outgun him with our firepower, if we could get close enough to get a clear shot at him without putting Lucy at risk. If, pilgrim, if.

  I checked out the control tower; there was a good view through the Plexiglas windows. There was a round table in the middle of the control room, maps still on its top. Various routes – flight paths, I supposed – were marked out on the maps. A plastic mug which probably once contained coffee stood on a filing cabinet. It was green and furry. Long time since it had been touched. The big disadvantage of the control tower was that, though you could see for miles, the windows didn’t open, so there was no point considering it as an ambush position. As it was Plexiglas you wouldn’t be able to smash it to provide a hole to shoot through.

  Reconnaissance over, I got in the truck and sweated my way back to town. I hoped the others were having better luck.

  The town was quiet, it still being early, and the majority of shops were not open yet. I approached the hotel and saw Jerome on the porch as usual, except there was no dog lying at his feet. I went inside, spoke to the receptionist, sweet-talked her for a favour and came back out with two strong black coffees. I handed one to Jerome.

  ‘Too early for a beer,’ I said.

  ‘Don’t seem to have the thirst on me any more.’

  He took a sip of the coffee and looked up at me with half-closed eyes and a smile.

  ‘Bourbon,’ I said. ‘Just enough to get the blood circulating.’

  ‘Purely medicinal,’ he said. ‘In that case
– how do you Limeys say it? – cheers.’

  ‘How do you feel about meeting the man in black again?’

  ‘If I was thirty years younger I would jump at the chance to settle the score. Ain’t got the fight in me any more either.’

  ‘Sounds good,’ I said. ‘Exactly what I’m looking for. You’re to be the man in black’s go-between. You won’t pose any threat to him. Get him to use you in the exchange: the letters for the girl. He won’t want any of us getting close, so you’d be the ideal candidate.’

  ‘What do I have to do?’

  ‘I haven’t figured that out yet.’

  ‘Just let me know,’ he said. ‘I’ll do whatever I can for the girl, and to get even if we can.’

  We finished our coffees in silence, neither of us needing to speak. We knew that each of us could rely on the other. I thought of the coming exchange. Hoped it wouldn’t be long now for Lucy’s sake. I went inside with the empty mugs and collected the copies of the letter that the receptionist had made for me. I stopped off at the gunsmith to buy six more handguns – you can never have too many guns – and headed back for the ranch, hoping the others had had a more fruitful time.

  They hadn’t. Couldn’t eliminate any of the five most probable sites. Might have to be the shot from the sniper’s rifle after all.

  ‘Sign this,’ I said to Red, handing him the letter.

  He took it, found a pen and scrawled his name. One for the man in black. All I needed now was Rafael’s signature and we would be in a position to give the man in black what he wanted.

  ‘How’s your fall-back plan going?’ Stan asked.

  ‘Still developing.’

  ‘Will it be ready in time?’

  ‘I hope so. We’ve not got a good plan A. We need a different approach. All I can do is try to buy us some time so that we can take out the man in black.’

  ‘What preparations should we be making?’

  ‘We’ll take two vehicles – the jeep and the flatbed truck. There’s a chance that we could put one of us in the back screened out of view by the tailgate. Each of us needs to be fully armed – assault rifles, handguns, one each on show, one each hidden and, for me, the sniper rifle.’

  ‘Still intent on making that shot?’ Bull asked.

  ‘Last resort only.’

  ‘Feels like we’re at that stage already,’ he said.

  ‘Jerome said to me we needed an edge. That’s what my fall-back plan is trying to utilize. If it wasn’t for Lucy we could simply surround him and wait till he runs out of ammunition, but it’s the girl who’s the problem. He’ll use her as a shield and keep us at bay. Take the girl out of the equation and the odds favour us and not him.’

  ‘And how are you going to do that?’ Red asked.

  ‘I’m going to use Jerome.’

  ‘Jerome!’ Bull said. ‘You’re going to pit an old man against the man in black? Hell, Johnny, I’ve heard some half-baked schemes in the past, but this one takes the gold prize.’

  ‘Got a better idea?’

  Silence.

  ‘That settles it then,’ I said. ‘I’m off to the Retreat to get Rafael’s signature. I’ll call you if I hear anything. Be prepared to move quickly.’

  Bull was still shaking his head and saying, ‘Jerome!’ as I left.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  He chose the aerodrome. The call from Jerome came through late afternoon. We were to be at the exchange point just before dusk, giving the man in black another advantage: fading light. He stipulated that all five of us and Jerome should come; that way he could see where we all were and eliminate any chance of an ambush on his way out. If anyone else came, especially the police, then the deal was off and he would kill Lucy. I knew he wasn’t bluffing.

  I told Jerome we’d pick him up in an hour. We spent the time on displacement activity – cleaning already pristine rifles and handguns, poring over the map that we knew by heart. At six o’clock we set off. I hoped that each of us, including Lucy, would be coming back in one piece.

  We picked up Jerome and I ran him through the fall-back plan a second time. I gave him the two letters and a handgun, more for reasons of instilling confidence than anything else. He tucked the letters in a pocket inside his coat and, from the same pocket produced a small bottle of bourbon. He took a swig to steady his nerves; I would have done the same in his position. No matter how many times you are in these sorts of circumstances, the nerves still jangle. Wouldn’t be human otherwise. I speculated as to whether the man in black was feeling the same way now. Doubted it.

  The Mercedes was parked just outside the hangar. The engine was running. The man in black got out and stood with the car shielding his lower half. He rested a rifle on the roof.

  ‘Move away from the vehicles,’ he shouted. ‘Don’t stop until I say so.’

  We moved to our left. I judged that the distance between us was only a hundred yards. I’d need to adjust for that, if I got the chance. Worse, though, was the fact that we were sitting targets, no cover anywhere.

  ‘We need to split up,’ Stan said. ‘Cover him from different angles.’

  We carried on moving, but at different speeds, so that we were stringing ourselves out.

  ‘Lay your guns down,’ he shouted.

  ‘Let’s see the girl first,’ I shouted back.

  He opened the back passenger door of the car and dragged Lucy out. She seemed to stumble, but caught her balance and stood up so we could see her.

  ‘Now lay down your guns,’ he said.

  We made great play in laying down the assault rifles and then, from shoulder holsters purposely worn for the occasion, our handguns. He didn’t know that each of us had a gun in the backs of our waistbands. To find that out he would have to search us and he couldn’t risk being that close.

  ‘Send the black guy over here with the letters,’ he called out.

  ‘Let the girl start walking,’ I called back.

  ‘No dice. She stays here until I have the letters.’

  ‘No can do,’ I said. ‘Why should I trust you? No, she walks to the middle and stays there. When Jerome verifies that she’s OK, then he’ll bring the letters to you.’

  He thought for a while. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘But no tricks or the girl gets it. Send the old man.’

  Jerome started walking. He didn’t walk fast at the best of times, but these fifty yards or so seemed to be taking an age. Still, that was good. It meant that Lucy was actually nearer to us than had been intended. Jerome held her at arm’s length while he inspected her to make sure nothing bad had happened. He spoke to her, but didn’t get an answer.

  ‘She’s drugged up,’ Jerome called. ‘Apart from that, she seems OK.’

  ‘Take him the letters,’ I called.

  Jerome left Lucy and walked to the man in black. He handed him the two letters. The man in black saw the signatures and was happy. Jerome, as per the plan, immediately started walking back. When he was level with Lucy, he quickly shoved her to the ground so that she was lying flat, face down. He covered her with his body. That was our signal.

  We drew our spare guns and threw ourselves to the ground. All except me; I raced to the pick-up truck and jumped on to the flatbed back. I threw the tailgate down and lay flat with the sniper rifle tucked into my armpit. By this time the man in black was under heavy fire, albeit that the handguns were less effective at this distance. I saw Pieter running towards the nearest of the Kalashnikovs.

  The man in black quickly covered the short distance to his car, firing all the while. Bullets were going everywhere and ricocheting off the car’s bodywork. I had him in my sights as he was opening the driver’s door. I fired and through the telescopic sight saw him jerk back, hit in the shoulder – damned distance had made all the difference. He was inside his Mercedes before I could fire off a second shot. The car sped forwards, smoke from burning rubber coming in a thick black cloud behind him.

  Pieter had the Kalashnikov raised and aimed at the car. A burst or two would bring t
he car to a halt and then the man in black was ours for the taking. Pieter pressed the trigger as the rest of us were racing for our assault rifles. I saw him frown and press the trigger again. Nothing happened, The damned Kalashnikov, true to form, had jammed. Pieter threw it to the ground and kicked it away in temper. By the time the rest of us had our rifles the man in black had raced past us and was gone.

  I walked to where Jerome and Lucy were lying on the floor. Helped them up. Looked at them both. Lucy seemed like she was in some sort of trance, her eyes staring, no words coming from her mouth. I held her in my arms and hugged her tightly. A thin smile appeared on her lips. She would be all right.

  Jerome was shaking. He handed me the gun, holding it by his fingertips as if it was a dead rat he had found. I took it from him and tucked it into my trousers.

  ‘You did well, old man,’ I said.

  ‘I couldn’t fire the gun, Johnny,’ he said. ‘It’s not in me, in spite of what he’d done. Seems like I have to leave the shooting to men like you.’

  ‘Time for another shot of bourbon,’ I said.

  He nodded, took out the bottle and took a large gulp. He wiped the top of the bottle with his hand and passed it to me. I raised it in salute to him and took a drink. Maybe time for a celebration later – Lucy was safe and that was the main thing. I’d winged the man in black and maybe that would either put him off for good or take him out of the action for a while.

  I led Lucy to the jeep and helped her inside. She wouldn’t let go of me. I squashed into the front beside her. Kept her body close to mine. She put her head on my shoulder and I felt her relax.

  Everyone else climbed into one or other of our two vehicles and we set off to take Lucy back to the Retreat. Mission accomplished. Well, partly.

  Rafael rushed to meet us, beaming all the while. ‘You did it!’ he said. ‘You did it!’

  ‘We did it,’ I corrected. ‘Team effort. Jerome deserves the most credit for facing the man in black and then making Lucy safe while the bullets were flying. The only problem is that the man in black got away, although not unscathed. We’ve put three bullets in him so far and he still keeps getting away. He’s a hard man to stop.’