Part 39 (1/2)

On his knees, across the room, Vass's lieutenant finally found his nerve He rose into a shooter's stance and squeezed off a volley of shots A bullet took Illes's co hih Illes's right ar out a lump of flesh The impact spun him around, but he recovered his balance with barely a missed step Illes raised the pistol in his left hand and returned fire

Crockery and cupboard doors and glass and cera shards and splinters and dust A bullet opened the Eleni lieutenant's throat in a dark rain Twohim on to the floor His back arched as blood fountained froainst the floorboards as if they gloried in the scarlet arden, Illes ejected the spent clip from his pistol He tried to reach inside his coat, but his wounded arm prevented him Instead, he closed his eyes The muscles of his face slackened

Vass peered around the side of the table He saw Illes standinghis revolver, he aiun bucked, and the sound of his shot tore through the kitchen Illes staggered backwards A dark stain appeared in the centre of his crealanced down at it, eyebrows lifting in surprise as it blosso pistol fell from his hand

Hannah's eyes found Sebastien's The old ainst the wall, shi+elded from the french s by the stove-pipe

'Seb Please, Seb, I can't get loose Find Leah Don't let Jakab take her Please don't let him take her fro this Howhad Jakab roamed the upper floor of the house?

'nobody leaves this room,' Vass snapped He broke open the cylinder of his revolver, shook his head at the eets better and better'

Across the kitchen, Sebastien nodded at Hannah, and her heart ached at the co the safety of his alcove, he strode across the room and into the hall Froed when she considered what little protection it offered him He disappeared up the stairs

On hands and knees, slipping and sliding in blood, Vass crawled to where his lieutenant had fallen He snatched up the dead man's pistol Wiped it clean Crabbed back towards the overturned table

Outside, Illes was still down on one knee He opened his eyes, picked his pistol fro his wounded arm, he pulled a spare clip of aht

Halfway across the kitchen floor, Vass paused beneath the counter that held the stainless steel syringe Its glass reservoir was undaed it The liquid rolled ruby reflections across his face

Vass grinned, and then he was snatching at the button on his shi+rt cuff He rolled up his sleeve Revealed a fleshy forearneur rasped

Vass found a blue vein in the crook of his ar, and I proht be the only chance I get'

He depressed the plunger on the syringe Gabriel's blood swelled up through the needle and flooded into his ar, he pulled it free and tossed the eneur twisted in his chair,soundlessly

Hannah heard a loose floorboard creak above them She watched Vass crawl back into cover behind the table, holding his plundered pistol close to his chest He raised his eyes to her, and she saw that his pupils had dilated

'shi+t, this stuff's good,' he said He opened his mouth wide and bit at the air His ararden, Illes pushed the spare clip into his gun He took a step towards the house Then another, raising his weapon

Vass lifted his hand, exah me,' he murmured 'No pain Just a' He clenched his fist, opened his fingers and picked up the pistol

'Benjaun in a fluid neur's head burst like a rotten squash and his wheelchair rocked backwards Sharp pieces of Karoly's skull slid down the wall behind hi,' Vass said He frowned, looking first at the weapon in his hand and then at the signeur's corpse Then, noticing Gabriel, he aiun at the Irishman's face

Hannah closed her eyes She couldn't help Gabriel The rope that bound her was too tight She wondered if she could stop herself fro if she was hit by the spray fro she could do to intervene She wouldn't watch him die in front of her

So you'll keep your eyes closed and abandon hied at that internal voice even as it sha her eyes

Vass's pupils vibrated as if powered by tiny springs 'What's happening?' he asked

'You're dying,' Gabriel replied 'You're a psychotic bastard, you're dying and it's going to hurt You're going to feel ined you could feel And when it's over you're going to wake in hell where it'll start all over again'

Vass shi+vered His cheek began to twitch 'Then I'll take you with er

Gabriel jerked back in his chair as the blast echoed around the room and Hannah opened her mouth wide and screaion, France Now It had only been her bedroos, but it was clean and brightly painted and it had felt snug

She tried to tug her wrist away from the headboard The plastic cuff that bound her to its slats cut into her skin and she screwed up her eyes with the pain She had thought about chewing through it, but she couldn't get her teeth into the loop

If only she could reach so metal a screwdriver would be perfect then perhaps she could twist the plastic with it, tightening it until it snapped The pain would be awful, but at least she would be free At least she would be able to creep downstairs and help Muht the Bad Man

She didn't want to think about Hiht have to meet Him But she didn't want Mummy to die And she didn't want to die either, mainly because it scared her but also because she didn't want Muh There was no screwdriver in sight She could see a pair of pyjamas and a paperback book and a Bratz doll and that was it None of those things offered her anyherself, unless there was a chapter on how to escape from handcuffs in the book, and she knew there wasn't because she had read it before and it was mainly about horses in love

The man who had tied her to the bed had done so in silence, refusing to look at her First he had bound eva in the larger bedrooe and injected the wo eva's eyelids had drooped and she'd fallen asleep Then he had led Leah into her bedroom, where he used two of the plastic strips to truss her up

She heard sounds fro open, voices, a whispered conversation Moments later the door of her bedroom opened and Sebastien peered inside His face was paler than she had ever seen it and he carried a stubby blade When he saw her, he sagged with relief and moved to the bed

'Are you hurt?'

She shook her head 'Where's Mummy?'

'Downstairs'

'Is she-'

'At the et you out of these cuffs and away from the house'

'I tried to bite them off But I couldn't reach'

Sebastien nodded,her to lower her voice He slipped his blade inside the loops of plastic and sliced the away the soreness from her wrist She heard a soft thuo,' he whispered

Leah nodded and when he offered her his hand, she was grateful It felt good to be that close to someone Sebastien moved to the bedrooap Satisfied, he opened it fully and moved into the hall Leah followed, but when Sebastien headed towards the ed his hand and shook her head He frowned at her In response, she pointed along the corridor past her own room Balcony, she mouthed Steps

The master bedroom lay at the end of the hall It contained a set of doors that opened on to the roof of a single-storey annexe A balustrade ran around it, except for a gap where a set of metal steps descended down one side of the house It was the better option They had no chance ofa silent escape via the roaned under pressure

Leah led Sebastien into theone of the balcony doors, she walked out on to the roof The sun was a white coin in the sky above thes with air, relieved to be outside where no one could creep up on her, plunge a knife into her, or press a hand to her ht about her mother downstairs About how scared she o,' Sebastien said