Death on the Pont Noir - By Adrian Magson Page 0,112

among Sicilian gangsters. It was a frightening weapon up close and indiscriminate in the wide spread of the shot from its barrels. And he was now holding the gun pointed at Alix’s head.

‘Putain!’ Claude swore, and made to stand up. But Rocco reached out and held him down. A frontal assault was impossible. Tasker had the upper hand. For now.

Tasker looked up the slope, his eyes seeming to drill right into Rocco’s as if he knew the effect the gun was having on him. He shouted something, the sound carrying up the hill, but not clear enough to distinguish the words.

But Rocco didn’t need to hear them to know what the man was after. Tasker wanted him down there. Nothing else mattered. He’d been cut loose by his bosses and his twisted vision of what had happened saw only one ending: revenge. And that revenge was centred solely on Rocco.

He debated the wisdom of going down empty-handed. Whatever course he took, the chances were that Alix was in the greater danger – especially if Claude couldn’t get close enough. If he could appear powerless, however, while having even a slight edge available to him, he might just get away with it.

‘Give me your knife.’

Claude reached back and took out a bone-handled clasp knife he used for everything from skinning rabbits to peeling an apple, and passed it across.

Rocco quickly stripped out one of his shoelaces and cut it in two. He tied the end of one half through the trigger guard of the Walther, and looped the other end around his middle finger. Then he fed the gun down the right-hand sleeve of his coat. It was a close fit, but with enough play to move quite freely. He used the other half of the lace to secure his shoe, then stood up and brushed the layer of damp from the front of his coat.

Claude was staring up at him and hissed. ‘What the hell are you doing? This isn’t the OK Corral!’

‘I know. But I don’t see that we have much choice. He’s right on the edge. If I don’t go down there, he’ll kill Alix.’ He flicked a glance towards the square where Godard and his men were hustling people away. They seemed unaware of Tasker’s appearance and there was no way Rocco could get word to Godard’s sniper without warning the gunman. He would have to do this himself with Claude as a diversion. ‘Can you follow me down and cover me? You’ll have to get close.’

Claude nodded. ‘You won’t even hear me coming.’ He patted the stock of his shotgun. ‘Just give me one chance, that’s all I need.’

Rocco nodded and stepped over the edge of the overlook, and began skidding down the slope so that Tasker could see him coming all the way. It was steep and uneven, with few handholds. If he fell, he wouldn’t stop rolling until he hit the track below, which would be of no use to Alix. That would still put him above Tasker, with another hundred metres to go, but still too far away to do anything useful.

As he reached the track leading down to the square, Tasker’s voice drifted up to him.

‘Stick your hands out and show me they’re empty, Rocco, or I’ll shoot the bitch!’

Rocco did as he was told. As he started across the track, he looked towards the square and caught a glimpse of Godard standing in the open. The sous-brigadier glanced his way and did a double take. But seeing Rocco’s hands out, he caught on immediately that something was wrong. Rocco pretended to lose his balance momentarily and made a flattening gesture with his left hand, hoping Godard got the message to keep back. Having a bunch of gardes mobiles charging down the lane to the house would be disastrous.

He reached the other side of the track and checked for a way down that would bring him out onto the lane across from the house. The slope was less steep here, and littered with trees and bushes. But the absence of foliage meant Tasker would be able to see him coming all the way. If he tried to drop out of sight even for a second, he figured the Englishman was mad enough to take it out on Alix. Yet coming within gunshot range – even the shorter range of the sawn-off weapon – would be crazy and wouldn’t help her at all.

He just hoped Claude was close by. If an opportunity presented