The Ends of the Earth Read Online Free PDF Page B

this with you?’
    ‘Al and Howie. Ward and Djabsu are on your side, for all the good it’ll do you. We never foresaw the Chicago diversion, I’ll give you that.’
    ‘And Farngold? What’s been done to him?’
    ‘How the hell should I know? He looks drugged to me. They’ve had him over a year. Forced him to sign a confession to God knows what crimes. Crimes they’re going to lay at your door as well. Along with one other. Stand away from him.’
    Morahan took a single long stride away from Farngold – and closer to Everett. Sam edged back.
    ‘It’s time to put the old salt out of his misery.’
    Everett aimed the gun and fired. Sam flung himself in shock against the wall. Two more shots followed. A smell of cordite filled the air. And blood oozed from the wounds in Farngold’s chest. A sound came from his throat, choking and guttural. Then his head lolled to one side and he was silent.
    Morahan made a move towards Everett, but stopped short when the gun swung back in his direction. ‘Don’t do it, Schools. I don’t want to kill you. They mean to take you alive. And while there’s life, etcetera.’
    ‘I’ll make you pay for this, Lew.’
    ‘I’ve already been paid. And you and I are never going to meet again. The police will be here any minute. They’ll only have been waiting to hear the shots. You and Sam are going to be arrested for the murder of Jack Farngold – among other things.’
    ‘They’ll never believe we killed him when you’re holding the only gun that’s been fired.’
    ‘Yes they will. They have their instructions too. This is a Kempeitai operation. Know who they are? Japanese Secret Police. Not nice people. Not nice people at all.’
    There was a sound from the window of cars drawing up outside, followed by a slamming of doors and a jabber of voices.
    ‘Here they come. Nearly time for our goodbyes.’
    It was only a fleeting glance Everett cast towards the window, but it was enough for Morahan. He lunged forward and felled Everett with the force of his attack. The gun went off, the bullet splintering the bamboo on the wall behind Sam. The two men crashed to the floor. In a second, Morahan had a grip on Everett’s gun-arm and they were wrestling for control.
    In the same second, there came the sound of heavily shod men running up the stairs. Sam took a step towards Morahan and Everett, intending to intervene in the struggle, but Morahan caught his eye as Everett pushed his head back with the heel of his hand and the gun waggled dangerously between them.
    ‘Get out, Sam,’ Morahan shouted. ‘Save Malory.’
    But there seemed nowhere for Sam to go. The shadow of the first man up the stairs loomed into view ahead of him. Then Sam noticed the bullet hole in the bamboo. He could recall no sound of impact with the wall behind it. He tore the bamboo aside. It screened a paper-panel gable window. The bullet had gone straight through.
    Sam glanced round at a shout from the head of the stairs. ‘ Tomare! ’ Two burly policemen were in the room. Morahan and Everett were still grappling on the floor. There was no time to wonder or calculate. There was time only to act.
    Sam flung himself at the window. The paper panels and flimsy wooden bars gave way. He was through it and falling.
    Then he struck the roof of a lower building next door. His momentum carried him in a crazy slide down the roof and over the eave. His flailing hand caught a chain suspended from the corner of the eave that arrested his fall, aided by the lid of a water-butt into which the chain fed.
    There were shouts from behind and above him. He knew it could not be long before he was pursued. He also knew Morahan was right: Malory was in as much danger as they were. He had to get to Yokohama.
    He was in a courtyard to the rear of the building next to Sakashita’s shop. There were ramshackle structures visible in the gloom, a pond and a low-growing tree. More buildings lay beyond, with lights showing. He headed towards them,