by Rob Sinclair
Nicole just humphed.
‘What I still don’t get though is why?’
Nicole turned to him and glared. ‘People get so hung up on whys. Sometimes things just are.’
Ryker said nothing.
‘So you’re gonna turn me in now?’ she asked.
‘No. That’s not really me. My job here’s finished. What you’ve done will catch up with you eventually.’
The cartels would certainly come looking for her when their goods didn’t show up. And if Powell somehow survived he would be on the case too, continuing his search for the American. Ryker noticed Nicole’s eyes welling up. She wiped at her face and the tears were gone, a steely resolve now plastered in place.
After that they just sat there in silence for what seemed like an age.
Until a horde of police cars came screaming down the street, sirens blaring, that is. Ryker wondered who had called them. Maybe Ashford’s police protection were dead too, and their colleagues had finally figured out what was happening. Or perhaps a questioning nurse or doctor had alerted the police to the suspicious nature of Ashford’s death.
Whatever the answer, he knew the police were there for her, not him, and Ryker took the their arrival as a signal to make himself scarce.
‘Goodbye, Mrs Ashford,’ Ryker said.
The cars screeched to a halt at the opposite side of the clinic to where Ryker had left the Yamaha. He darted away to the side as the strong arm of the law finally closed in on Nicole Ashford. She sat there, barely moving, as policemen and women jumped from their cars, weapons raised.
Ryker wondered whether she would make it easy for them. The shouts and calls he heard from the police, followed soon after by the echoing of two gunshots, told him she probably had.
Ryker didn’t look back again. Just carried on toward his bike.
61
Six hours later, Ryker was just finishing a double espresso at a coffee shop at Louis Armstrong International airport. He was groggy from lack of sleep and all manner of wounds and beatings. The caffeine and painkillers sloshing inside him would take some of the edge away, but the pain in his body was nothing compared to that in his mind.
Ryker looked at his watch. Time to go. He got to his feet and made his way toward the line for security.
‘Ryker,’ a woman’s voice called out.
Ryker stopped and turned. Somehow he managed a smile when he saw who it was, but it didn’t last long, and he felt a gnawing betrayal for the smile having been there at all. ‘You made it.’
‘Sorry, I got here as soon as I could. I know you’re finished here now, but I’ve got a hell of a job debriefing this one still.’
‘I’m just glad you’re okay.’
‘Yeah. I figured things out with Mitchell eventually,’ Willoughby said.
‘I assumed that’s what you were telling me. That you’d figured Mitchell and Ashford weren’t who we were after. I wouldn’t have left you to them otherwise.’
‘Thanks. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they were the good guys, but the questions Mitchell and his men were asking me, the things they were telling me, it didn’t take me long to figure out what Mitchell and Ashford had been up to.’
‘That they weren’t part of the arms dealing, but trying to stop it.’
‘Yeah.’
They went silent and Ryker checked his watch again.
‘You need to go?’ Willoughby asked.
Ryker nodded.
‘So what will you do now?’
‘Nothing,’ Ryker said. It was the only response he could muster.
‘I’ll be heading back to Mexico soon,’ Willoughby said. ‘We’ve done a good job here, but the cartels will barely feel a scratch from all of this. There’s a lot of work still to be done.’
‘I’m sure you’re right about that.’
‘If you’re ever around Mexico City, you should come and say hi.’
‘You never know.’
Willoughby gave a meek but disappointed smile, and Ryker couldn’t help but feel that his standoffish manner had upset her. But he wouldn’t, couldn’t apologise for the way he was feeling.
‘You’re a good person, Willoughby,’ Ryker said. ‘It was a pleasure working with you.’
Ryker went to walk away but Willoughby reached out and grabbed his hand. Ryker turned. She didn’t let go.
‘What you said before, about it being a shame you never got to know Emily Clarke more. Did you mean that? Or did you mean... me?’
‘I meant you. The real you.’
‘Do you think you... I mean... do you think under different circumstances, me and you...’
‘No.’ Ryker shook his head. ‘I know you’re lonely. The JIA is a hard life. You won’t meet many people that understand you. Maybe I’m one of the few people who could have.’
‘Could have?’
Ryker hung his head. ‘You can do way better than me.’
Ryker leaned forward and kissed her gently on the forehead. Willoughby squeezed his hand, and just like a switch had been flicked, all of the emotion Ryker had been expecting to feel when he’d been told Lisa was dead suddenly burst out. His eyes welled up, he felt warmth as happy memories of her scorched in his mind, but also the most intense sorrow, anger, and regret that those memories were confined to the past. That his lips would never touch Lisa again, like his were now touching Willoughby.
Then, as Ryker took his lips away from Willoughby’s soft skin, he was aware of an all-too-familiar state taking over – an unrepentant thirst for revenge. A beast inside rising, one that Ryker wasn’t sure he could, or would, control. His work had only just begun. He would continue his search, and he would find out what had happened to Lisa. However much blood it took.
‘I’m trouble,’ he said. ‘Nothing good could ever come from knowing me.’
Ryker gazed into Willoughby’s eyes, and the look of disquiet he saw wash across her face suggested she knew what he meant, and that she knew who – what – she was now looking at.
Without either of them saying another word, Ryker let go of her hand, turned, and walked away.
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Have you read the first James Ryker thriller? The explosive and best-selling The Red Cobra is available now.
The Red Cobra
About the Author
A note from the author
Thank you for reading The Black Hornet I do hope you enjoyed it and would be very grateful if you could write a review. It needn’t be long, just a few words. Reviews make a huge difference to writers and help other readers discover new books.
If you want to see where it all started for Ryker, then take a look at my bestselling Enemy Series books; Dance with the Enemy, Rise of the Enemy and Hunt for the Enemy.
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