The Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

mouth and he moaned as I worked him.
    I pressed my left hand deep into the bag until I felt the pistol nestled in the centre pocket. I gripped it, curling my finger around the cold trigger.
    "No need to take it out; one swift movement; don't give him time to grab you."
    I pulled my mouth from his and looked into his face. He looked vaguely puzzled as I pushed the cheap plastic handbag under his chin.
    Rick said no talk, but I couldn't resist.
    "This is for Cathy," I said.
    The first shot was so loud that it completely deafened me. I hardly noticed the second.
    Both rounds entered his head from under his jaw and lodged in his brain. He was dead with the first bullet. Blood poured from his nose like an open tap. Pints of it ran over the bag and my wrist as his heart continued to pump after his brain was actually dead. His legs twitched and his bowels released.
    I stared at his bulging eyes and gaping mouth where seconds earlier, my lips had been.
    I felt suddenly sick.
    The shadow at the window stopped any thought of vomiting. It was Rick.
    He beckoned me to switch off the car ignition. I was shaking uncontrollably and struggled finding the electronic key.
    Suddenly the door was open and Rick took charge. He stood me on a plastic sheet and ordered me to strip. Mechanically I removed all my clothing and stood naked next to the Bentley, shivering and disorientated.
    Rick handed me wet wipes to clean the blood from my wrist and some splatters to my face. It seemed to take an age to wipe it off and I didn't think I would ever be clean again.
    "There are clothes on the back seat," he said, pointing at our hire car.
    Rick held an incendiary grenade in his right hand and was about to torch the Bentley together with my whore clothes, the wet wipes and the weapon.
    He suddenly stopped, leaned into the car and examined O'Donnell. He cocked his head to the left to get a better look at the grotesque mess that was his face. I could only dream of what was going through his head after ten years of searching.
    "You okay?" I asked.
    He straightened, nodded and pulled the pin on the grenade.
    "Just a minute," I said. "Get me that mouthwash out of my bag, will you."
    Rick gave me a look that said, 'let's fuck off now', passed me the bottle and I took a big gulp before spitting it out on the floor.
    Rick rolled his eyes.
    "Are you getting dressed now?"
    "I had to kiss him, you know."
    "I know."
    I rinsed again before throwing the empty bottle into the Bentley.
    I grimaced. "Should have sucked his cock instead."

Rick Fuller's Story:
     
    I quite like the Emirates. It has its faults and downsides, but in the main I do like it. I figured it was a good place to debrief and have some R and R.
    The Sheraton in Abu Dhabi is one of the older hotels in the city. It looks like a strange sandcastle, every building in the city seems taller than the eccentric structure, but it has a good beach, a top gym, six great restaurants, wonderful service, even a pub for Des.
    In September the weather is predictably hot and dry, but without the murderous humidity of the summer months and I looked forward to the shopping in nearby Dubai.
    The roads are fabulous and as Cartwright and his team had kindly managed to find some, if not all of my money stolen by Goldsmith and Co; and our fee for O'Donnell had already been processed, I was itching to rent some nice wheels.
    After taking a cab from the airport I'd been shown to my executive suite, which would be my home for the next few weeks, by my personal bellboy, a very helpful Filipino guy by the name of George.
    I immediately found the gym. I should have slept, but there was an itch that needed scratching. Maybe because of the way the job had gone down in Belfast or maybe it was just nervous energy, I don't know, but I beasted myself for over an hour. All the TV's in the gym replayed news footage of the Twin Towers from five years earlier. I had noticed a small anti-American demonstration on the Corniche as I arrived. I