by C L Walker
“Five seconds,” Mouse said.
“Are you sure you don’t want to let me keep it?” I said. “Think of it as a going away present. Or coming home present, or whatever.”
“You are trying what little patience—”
The door behind him burst open and one of the guards who’d been patrolling the corridors burst in. He had the standard issue submachine gun raised and ready to fire. I stepped out of the room and let the case close with a bang.
Zubin turned and struck in one move, smoothly taking the weapon with one hand and driving a short knife into the guard’s eye with the other. The guard collapsed to the floor, screaming. Zubin completed the move, turning back to face me.
“Did you do this?”
I held my tongue, more because I didn’t have anything particularly useful to say. Mouse would have had a great line to spout before the rest of the guards arrived, but I couldn’t get the image of how casually he’d dispatched the guard from playing on a loop in my head.
Morgan appeared at the door, an enormous revolver in his hand. When he saw the guard rocking in a fetal position on the floor, he stepped back and waved the gun in our direction.
A half dozen men had accompanied their boss and they began stepping into the room one at a time. And one at a time, Zubin took them out.
The first seemed not to realize the danger he was in and got the same treatment as his colleague, and went down screaming as easily. The second fired a shot, but Zubin was already moving and it hit the wall of books nearest me.
The assassin master took hold of the man’s weapon and twisted it out of his hands, then drove the stock into his throat, crushing it. He turned the gun around and destroyed the face of the next man, emptying the magazine before tossing the gun at guard number four. It hit him in the stomach and distracted him long enough for Zubin to appear in front of him and drive a blade into his heart.
I missed the following two; Zubin had taken the fight to them and they were out in the hall. But he was back in a couple of seconds, ready to deal with me.
“I need an exit,” I said.
“The window?” Mouse replied.
I could break it with the expensive chair if Zubin turned around again, or dive through it if he came at me. Either way I was going to fall a long way to the ground, at which point the assassin master would be on me.
I heard the click – the sound of the hammer pulling back – as Neal Morgan pulled the trigger on his revolver. I would have been dead if he’d been aiming at me, but Zubin moved supernaturally fast. He turned to deal with the arms dealer, and I had my opening.
I didn’t have time to toss the chair so I moved to the center of the room and ran at the window. I leapt onto the desk and off again, barreling at the glass and preparing for the pain of the landing.
I bounced off the glass, smacking my head and rebounding into the desk. I fell to the floor, my legs tangled in the chair.
“Window isn’t an option,” I said softly as I scrambled to my feet. My front teeth felt loose and my head had started thumping, but otherwise I was fine.
Zubin was waiting for me in the middle of the room. He held Morgan in place with his hands behind his back in an arm lock.
“Did this man pick a fight with you, Merikh?”
“I wouldn’t,” Morgan began, looking at me with terror in his eyes. “I’m no prime disciple. I’m not stupid.”
“He’s heard of your antics,” Zubin said, annoyed and letting the mask slip a little. “This is why DeLacy wants you back. We don’t get involved in their business because then they’ll want to get involved in ours. Do you understand?”
“He didn’t pick a fight with me. I’m just here to take his stuff.”
“Step a little to your right, please,” Mouse said.
I rolled my shoulders, getting the kinks out, and stepped to the right. Mouse fired immediately, the bullet coming close enough to my face that I could feel it.
It entered Morgan’s shoulder and continued on to Zubin’s chest. Both men fell back, but Zubin was the first to try and rise again.
I grabbed one of the automatic rifles from the secret room, checked it was loaded, and fired everything at the window. I checked on Zubin – he was hurt and bleeding, but getting up, anyway – before launching myself at the window again. I came at it from a bad angle and clipped the frame, sending myself into a mad spin that ended in a bush and a sickening thud.
“I’m out and coming to you,” I yelled against the pain from my newly dislocated shoulder. “I’ll need you as close to the gate as you can get.”
I was up and running into the darkness before the guard on the door fired and missed. I was halfway to the gate before he tried again, hitting the ground near my foot. Too near. Another shot and he’d have had me.
Our van smashed through the grand gates of Morgan’s estate and skidded to a halt in the gravel of his driveway. Mouse didn’t waste time waiting for me, spinning the wheels and making the van donut in the gravel until it was facing the right way. I got to the door and pulled it open a half second before she put her foot flat and made our escape.
I risked a look back, wondering how close Zubin had come. He was standing in the office watching me, unconcerned by the men he’d left dead and dying behind him.
One day. It was the only thought in my head, louder than the pain and the fear. One day, and I was going back.
Copyright © C.L. Walker 2016
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by any process without written permission from the copyright holder.
Published by C.L. Walker
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
The Knight: Two Old Enemies
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
The Knight: A Thousand Year Deal
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
The Knight: Divine Detectives
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
The Knight: Interrogation
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
The Knight: Heavenly Interference
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
The Knight: Intervention
Chapter 23
The Knight: Alain
Epilogue
Sample from Targeted: Merikh Book 2
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
The Knight: Two Old Enemies
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
The Knight: A Thousand Year Deal
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
The Knight: Divine Detectives
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
The Knight: Interrogation
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
The Knight: Heavenly Interference
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
The Knight: Intervention
Chapter 23
The Knight: Alain
Epilogue
Sample from Targeted: Merikh Book 2
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
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