by Tim Stevens
No caller ID.
He answered it.
And in the second’s silence, before the caller started speaking, he knew – knew – who it was.
“Hello, Joe,” said Shelly Anderson.
Instinctively he glanced around him. But of course she wasn’t nearby.
“I’ll save you the stress of trying to trace this call,” said Anderson, “because you won’t be able to. But then, you’d know that.”
“How’d you get my number?” said Venn. It was a clichéd question, but right then he couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Let’s just say I have contacts within the NYPD, and leave it at that,” she said. “Give you something else to wonder about.”
“Who was your accomplice?” Venn asked. The man with the bomb hadn’t been identified yet. There hadn’t been much left of him to identify.
“Oh, just a friend,” Anderson said breezily.
He waited, but she didn’t say any more.
“Why are you calling?” he said.
“Just to say, no hard feelings.” Her tone was light. Warm, even. “And that I guess we can call this one a draw, don’t you? You stopped me killing Carl Torvald. But I got away. Even-stevens.”
“No hard feelings,” Venn said wonderingly.
“Uh-huh.”
Venn chose his words, and spoke them, very slowly, very deliberately. “Anderson, I’m going to find you. It might be next week, it might be ten years from now. But I promise you, I am going to find you. And I’m going to take you down. Whether you wind up doing life without parole in Rykers, or six feet under the ground with my bullet in your chest. Same difference to me.”
She actually laughed. “I’m looking forward to meeting you and your big gun again some day, Joe. So long.”
And she was gone.
*
The reunion with Beth was sweet, placid. They clung together wordlessly for ten minutes, standing up in the kitchen.
When Venn realized he was falling asleep on his feet, she said: “Come on. To bed with you. Doctor’s orders.”
She joined him on the bed, fully clothed, and they lay like that for a while.
Just as sleep was dragging him under, he saw her face hovering over his.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Beth said.
Venn felt a clench in his gut. Oh no.
His mind raced back to that terrible day last summer, when she’d told them they needed to be apart. He’d almost lost her then. Almost.
He didn’t think he could bear it again.
Beth’s lips, close to his, curved upward.
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
And Venn’s face broke into a smile.
THE END
FROM THE AUTHOR
Joe Venn will be back in Gamma Blade, which takes our hero to Miami, and which you can order here. If you’d like to hear about it as soon as it’s released, sign up to my mailing list here. You’ll get the second Joe Venn novel, Delta Ghost, completely free, as well as a bonus free 8,000-word short story about British spy hunter John Purkiss, Spiked, which is exclusive to list subscribers. I’ll never give out your email address to anyone else, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
My Amazon author pages are here (US) and here (UK). If you’d like to email me, perhaps with comments about this novel (good or bad!) please do: [email protected].
I’m on Facebook and Twitter.
Finally, I’d be most grateful if you’d consider leaving a review of Epsilon Creed, if you think the book’s worthy of it. Reviews help us authors more than you might imagine.
Thanks.
Tim Stevens
BOOKS BY TIM STEVENS
John Purkiss series
Ratcatcher
Delivering Caliban
Jokerman
Tundra
Haven (short story)
John Purkiss Box Set Volume 1 (Ratcatcher, Delivering Caliban, Jokerman)
Spiked (short story exclusive to mailing list subscribers)
Cronos Rising
Nemesis
Martin Calvary series
Severance Kill
Annihilation Myths
Redemption Road (coming in 2015)
Joe Venn series
Omega Dog
Delta Ghost
Alpha Kill
Sigma Curse
Joe Venn Four Pack (Omega Dog, Delta Ghost, Alpha Kill, Sigma Curse)
Epsilon Creed
Gamma Blade
Shorter stories and novellas
Reunion
Snout