The Border Part Eight Read Online Free PDF

as, behind her, Tom started trying to wiggle the crown free from her back. The process took a few minutes, during which he let out a few choice curse words, but finally he stood up straight just as Candy’s corpse slumped to the ground.

III
     
    Without saying a word, Ben opened the passenger-side door and stepped out of the car, immediately feeling a cold night breeze fluttering against his shirt. He slammed the door shut and turned to Jane, and for a moment he simply watched as she looked over at the office building. The same breeze was rippling her hair, but as she slung a rifle over her shoulder it was clear that she barely even noticed the world around her. Only the building held her attention, and the promise of what lay beneath.
    “There’s still time to back out,” Ben told her. “You have two kids at home who -”
    “Don’t keep saying that,” she replied, stepping past the car and making her way up the steps. “My kids need a safe world. They won’t get that if the Border is still here.”
    Taking a deep breath, Ben double-checked that his shot-gun was ready to fire, before following Jane into the building. The door had been left unlocked, so they had no trouble getting to the corridor and then making their way toward the door at the far end. They both knew the way, of course, albeit for very different reasons: Jane, many years ago, had turned up one night for an audition, and then she’d spent several months working at the Border; Ben, on the other hand, had been a hired hand, carting boxes inside and generally working as a dogsbody. Now, as they reached the door, they stopped and glanced at one another.
    “Okay?” Jane mouthed silently.
    Ben nodded.
    They both paused.
    Suddenly Jane turned the handle and pushed the door open, aiming her rifle straight ahead as she saw a startled Simon sitting at his desk, speaking to someone on the phone.
    “Police!” Jane shouted. “Put your hands where I can see them!”
    “Wait!” Simon stammered, with the phone still in one hand. “Sir, can I call you back? There’s a situation.”
    “Who are you talking to?” Jane asked.
    “I’ll be sure to do that, Sir,” Simon continued, before setting the phone back onto its cradle.
    “Who was that?” Jane shouted, stepping toward him.
    “That was my boss,” he replied, watching the barrel of the gun with caution. “I really don’t think he’s going to take too kindly to -”
    “Call him back!” she barked.
    “I can’t possibly do that right now.”
    “Call him,” she said firmly. “I want to know who’s behind this place.”
    Simon shook his head.
    “You know I can find out,” she continued. “I can get hold of your phone records, your emails, everything. I’ll get the information I want. You just need to think very quickly, Simon, about whether you want to annoy me while that happens.”
    “Jane…”
    “Call him back!”
    “No!”
    She took another step forward, with the barrel of her rifle aimed straight at Simon’s face.
    “Easy, tiger,” Ben whispered to her, glancing around and spotting just one camera in the room, high up on the far wall. Raising his shotgun, he fired a single blast and the camera exploded along with a decent chunk of the wall and ceiling.
    “You could have just unplugged it!” Jane hissed, turning to him.
    “I didn’t know it’d cause so much damage,” he replied, staring in shocked amazement at the smoking hole where the camera had been mounted. “I’m not really a gun kinda guy.” He turned to her. “Sorry, I -” Suddenly he froze as he saw what Simon was doing. “No!” he shouted. “Get the -”
    Before he could say another word, Simon smiled and pulled the trigger, shooting himself through the mouth and spraying a mix of blood and brain matter across the white wall as his body slumped down.
    ***
    “Please!” Ruth shouted as the paramedics started working on Alex’s trembling body. “You have to save him!”
    ***
    “Sweet Jesus,” Ben said,