The Harder They Fall Read Online Free PDF

realisation of how useful it could sometimes be that he and Andy looked so alike, although it wasn’t the easiest thing to explain to those who didn’t know them well.
    “Hello,” the man said materialising in front of him, hand outstretched in friendship.
    “Hi,” Dan smiled and shook the hand.
    “You are not Andrew, I see, but you must surely be his brother Daniel,” the man smiled back.
    “I am, though I prefer Dan.”
    “Of course. I am Bhagwan,” he said, unhooking Dan’s holdall from his shoulder without waiting for confirmation that this was acceptable. Dan was glad to be rid of the weight and followed him through the rapidly diminishing horde, to the rusty old pickup truck parked at an angle of almost forty-five degrees to the kerb. The man chucked the bag in the back and Dan winced, hoping the thud as it landed was his water bottle rather than his tablet, not that it would matter by the time they reached the hotel, judging by the inch or so of rainwater it was now swimming in. He climbed into the front and fastened his seatbelt, noting that his companion had not fastened his own.
    “So,” Bhagwan said, steering hard out onto the road. “You have not visited Nepal before?”
    “No,” Dan replied, grasping for the handle on the inside of the door in an attempt to stay absolutely upright, so sure he was going to throw up at any second.
    “And what do you think of it so far? Wet, huh?”
    “You could say that,” Dan replied, although in all honesty it was no worse than September in England.
    “Most people come when it is not monsoon season,” Bhagwan explained, throwing the truck around a corner and accelerating sharply up a steep slope. Dan lurched forward and pressed his lips together. He was starting to sweat with the effort of keeping his stomach contents where they were.
    For this reason, he didn’t reply to the man’s observation and felt terribly rude, but he really didn’t want to risk opening his mouth, so he nodded and hummed, whilst Bhagwan narrated their journey through the current downpour, regaling him with tales of monsoon seasons past, where the roads were a foot deep in water, with graphic descriptions of floating excrement and other such unpleasantries, pinching his nose or adding sound effects for authenticity. None of this was helping at all.
    By the time they pulled up outside the hotel, the urge to expel was so great that the best Dan could offer was a vague utterance of thanks and an apology before he bolted inside, on the lookout for anything that looked remotely like a toilet. To his delight, the symbols on the doors made for an easy mission. The man standing in the foyer watched on in bewilderment as his newest arrival sprinted straight for the restroom without a word.
    Meanwhile, Bhagwan returned to the airport, where he parked almost identically to his prior visit and waited for Andy, who was in turn still waiting for the hold to be unloaded so that he could check their shipment had arrived in one piece. It wasn’t an especially precious cargo—not to him or Dan—but when they had been charged with the task of coordinating the ordering and delivery, it was made apparent that the equipment was vital to the survival of an entire village. With this in mind, and the desire for a new adventure lurking just below the surface, Andy suggested they fly out and oversee the delivery in person. Dan had immediately agreed, although he hadn’t seemed quite so enthusiastic since they left. He was very quiet, with none of his usual resistance to anything and everything Andy suggested.
    After a wait of only half an hour, which seemed a lot longer in the absence of anything to do to pass it, a customs official confirmed that the equipment had been successfully unloaded and provided Andy with the number for the storage container, where it would remain until the following morning, ready to be transferred onto their transport to the village. Andy had readily entrusted Bhagwan with the