Hooded Man Read Online Free PDF

the voice belonged to came forward. He had dark eyes, which bored into Granger, making him feel cold inside. He smoothed down his black and grey combats as if he were wearing a Savile Row suit.
    “Get out,” shouted Granger, his voice wavering. “Get out now or...” But he had nothing to back the threat up with.
    The guy facing him, their leader – he could tell by the way he was carrying himself – smiled chillingly. “Oh, I believe we will stay for a while. Won’t we?” he said to his men, and the closest half dozen – obviously his elite – nodded. “After all, we have a lot to discuss.”
    Discuss? Granger couldn’t see much room for manoeuvre in that department; it was a pretty clear-cut situation. This man had them by the balls. “What... what do you want?”
    “What does any of us want?” answered the man. “Respect, loyalty... Fear.”
    They both knew he had the latter, and probably commanded the others through it. “I’m... I’m listening,” Granger told him.
    “Of course you are. All right. My proposition is simple,” explained the man, taking off a pair of black leather gloves and revealing the rings on his fingers. “It’s one I have put to several little ‘operations’ like yours, on the way to London and through it. Some listened. Some didn’t.”
    Granger raised an eyebrow. “Proposition?”
    “Yes. Un choix . You understand? A choice.” He walked past one of the girls being held captive, who was only wearing a shirt, and ran a finger down her cheek. She flinched and he gave a small laugh, revealing hideously yellow teeth. Looking back over at Granger, he said, “You and your people can either join us or...”
    “Or what?” Granger demanded, albeit half-heartedly, regretting it even as the words were tumbling from his mouth.
    “Tanek?” called the leader to one of his men. The crowds parted and a huge, bulky soldier with olive skin and short hair stepped forward. Granger couldn’t help thinking that he should drop the ‘e’ in his name and just go with ‘Tank.’ He held Ennis by the scruff of the neck, was practically carrying him like that, the boy’s feet barely touching the floor.
    “Granger... I’m sorry, I –” Tanek threw him down on the ground.
    “Now,” began the man wearing the smart combats, “show our friend here what the alternative to joining us would be.”
    Tanek unhooked the crossbow dangling on a strap from his shoulder, and aimed the weapon at Ennis’s head.
    “No!” shouted Granger, raising his pistol.
    There was a nod from their leader, and Tanek turned in Granger’s direction. Quicker than anything he’d ever seen in his life, the larger man had fired, the bolt catching Granger’s gun hand, sending the pistol flying out of his grasp and pinning his hand to the wall. He shrieked in pain as the bolt drove itself through his palm. Tanek then turned the crossbow – so unusual in its design, not needing to be reloaded, it seemed – back on Ennis. He looked up pleadingly at Granger for a moment before the bolt was shot directly into his head.
    Granger howled, the pain in his hand forgotten for a moment. His friend, his ‘second in command’ was dead. The girl in the shirt was shaking and crying, and the other members of The Jackals – how stupid that name sounded now – gawked at Ennis’s body in disbelief.
    “You bastard!” Granger spat.
    The man in combats pointed to his chest with one finger, like it had nothing to do with him. “You asked. We gave a demonstration. As simple as that.” His accent grew thicker with each word. “Now, what you have to ask yourself is, can we get past this and work together?”
    Work together? He had to be joking. After what he’d just done to Ennis... But Granger knew what the option was. When this man had said there was a choice, he’d been lying. Really there was no choice at all.
    “So, your answer, if you please.” The man clasped his hands behind his back, tapping one booted foot. “I am