The Long Big Kiss Goodbye by Scott Montgomery

Author:Scott Montgomery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Telos Publishing Ltd

CHAPTER EIGHT

Cut to the chase

I was in shock. I stood rooted to the spot, dimly aware of people near me.

Fallon was beside her. He leaned over and put a hand to her chest. It came away stained with crimson. He stared at his red-smeared fingers, and looked up at me with pure, insane hatred in his eyes. ‘Whoever you are, you are a dead man!’ He shook with rage and lunged towards me. ‘You hear me? Dead!’

I was jolted out of my showroom dummy routine. I reacted instinctively, bringing the gun up and firing another shot at the ceiling. As I’d hoped, it caused a scene of pandemonium all around. People started screaming again and tried to escape, bustling for the main doorway.

Fallon tried to follow me but got lost in the throng like a swimmer fighting against the tide. His words rang in my ears as I retreated: ‘I will hunt you down and kill you, if it’s the last thing I do, you slime-ball!’

I stuffed the gun into my coat pocket, vaulted over the counter and headed for the kitchens, where there would hopefully be a back door.

‘Hold it right there!’ said a frail voice behind me.

I whirled round, seeing Pop the decrepit waiter brandishing a ridiculous double-barrelled blunderbuss that was nearly as ancient as him. He must’ve had it stowed under the counter. His liver-spotted hands held the weapon unsteadily.

Marvellous. An octogenarian hero. Maybe he’d been a cowboy in his younger days. I didn’t have time for this. But I didn’t want to harm anyone else. ‘Whoa. Put it down, Pop. Before you hurt someone.’

‘I saw you kill that girl.’ His voice, and his hands, trembled. ‘You goddamn sicko. You’re gonna pay.’

He had two shots in that museum piece.

That meant I had to move fast. I turned and ran for my life.

He pulled the trigger: twice in quick succession.

I fled towards the heavy kitchen door, expecting a barrel load of buckshot to rip through my back at any moment. The shotgun reports were like cannons going off in my mind. I dived, rolled forward and came up running once more. The top half of the door had blown apart, shredded into scorched splinters of wood and shards of glass, one of which lodged itself in the back of my leg, just under the knee. A sharp stab of pain surged through me. I could feel warm, sticky blood soaking my trouser leg. But I was still alive. Miraculously, the satchel with the loot was still hanging round my shoulder. Tiny glass fragments crunched underfoot as I bolted through the kitchen as fast as I could. Behind me, I could hear the old man snapping the rifle breech open and the tinkle of ejected shell casings on the floor.

I barged past a young chef who had been lying low, out of the way of the commotion. He recoiled in fear at the sight of me. ‘Out the way!’ I yelled, making for another wooden door that led outside.

I emerged into bright sunlight that momentarily blinded me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.