Dead Man's Gift 03 - Today Read Online Free PDF

his arm managing to knock the gun aside so that the bullet flew wildly.
    The momentum of Scope’s attack sent both men crashing to the floor. Bale gasped, winded by the fall, but desperation drove him on, and as Scope grabbed the wrist of his gun hand, trying to make him let go, Bale made a last ditch to throw him off. Scope hung on, but Bale managed to force his gun arm from the floor, the end of the suppressor swinging perilously close to Scope’s face. The gun went off, and Scope actually felt the heat from the bullet as it passed by, which was when he made a sudden push on Bale’s gun arm with everything he had. Bale was already pulling the trigger a second time as Scope drove his arm down hard so that the end of the suppressor was actually touching the folds of flesh beneath Bale’s chin.
    The bullet ripped through Bale’s head, exiting his skull in a cloud of blood and bone. His body immediately went slack and Scope sat back up, exhaling with relief.
    Which was when he heard Max cry out from behind him.
    Grabbing Bale’s gun from the dead man’s hand, he swung round and saw the woman he’d thought was dead grabbing Max in a chokehold and pressing a knife against his gut. Her face was a mask of sheer venom as she stared down Scope.
    ‘Drop the gun and throw it over here,’ she hissed, crouching down beside Max, using him as cover. ‘Otherwise I kill him. Right here. Right now.’
    Scope could hear the excitement in her voice. She actually wanted to kill Max. She’d almost certainly kill them both if he let her have the gun. She also looked unhurt, which meant she had to be wearing a bulletproof vest to have withstood the earlier gunshot.
    ‘I said, Fucking drop it. Do you want me to start cutting him? Because I will. I’ll tear him into little fucking pieces.’
    Scope aimed the gun just above the arm that held Max in the chokehold, so it was pointed directly at the woman’s right eye. His arm was steady even though the tension was tearing at his insides. ‘If you let Max go, I’ll let you walk out of here. If you hurt him, I’ll kill you. I know you’re wearing a vest, but I’m a good shot, and I can take you in the head. You want to die like Frank here?’
    A flash of doubt crossed her face but disappeared just as quickly. ‘I’m going to give you one last chance. Drop the fucking gun, or I gut the kid right now.’ She crouched down even further behind him, so she was almost out of sight. ‘Right fucking now!’
    He sighed. A head shot was almost impossible. ‘Okay, I’m going to do as you say. Don’t do anything stupid.’
    ‘No fucking tricks.’
    He lowered the gun three inches and pulled the trigger, shooting her in the forearm. She screamed in pain and teetered backwards, letting go of Max, who dived out of the way as Scope took aim a second time, and shot her in the face.
    For a long second she stared at him in shock, still crouched on her haunches, the blood pouring down over her mouth and onto her chin, before finally she fell slowly onto her side and lay there unmoving.
    Scope got to his feet and helped Max up. His nephew was weeping silently and Scope held him close. ‘It’s all right now,’ he whispered. ‘It’s all over.’ He led Max out onto the doorstep and asked him to wait a moment, then went back inside. Crouching down, he placed the pistol in Frank Bale’s hand, before picking up the .22 revolver and putting it beside the woman’s body. When the police arrived, it would look like the two of them had shot at each other, and that Frank had come out on top, killing her, before turning the gun on himself. It wasn’t exactly foolproof but it was going to have to do.
    When he was done, he went back outside and put an arm round Max, who looked up at him with a mixture of shock and relief. He even managed a small smile. ‘Who are you?’ he asked.
    It had been five years since Scope had set eyes on his nephew, so it was no surprise that Max didn’t remember him. In a way