her forehead.
‘Wait,’ she gasped, eyes wide behind black-framed glasses that were skewed from the fall.
Panic warped her features. She looked about thirty. Her face was thin and drawn.
‘Wait,’ she said again, ‘I’m no threat to you.’
‘Your entire team is no threat to me. So now you’re unarmed and prone, what does that make you?’
Her breaths were quick and short. White showed all around her eyes. ‘Put the gun down, please. You don’t need it. Please.’
‘Anyone who has seen my face up close, heard my voice and knows enough about me to lead a surveillance op is a problem I can do without,’ Victor said. ‘So I would recommend thinking very carefully before you speak again, because the next thing out of your mouth will determine whether I walk from this alleyway or run.’
There was no hesitation. She said, ‘My name is Janice Muir. I’m CIA. Roland Procter sent me.’
‘Then,’ Victor said as he heard a horn blare and tyres screech on the road behind him, ‘you had better tell your team to back off, because two of them are about to get killed.’
He pointed the Glock at the mouth of the alleyway.
Muir took a split second to process the situation, then thumbed her throat mike and yelled, ‘STAND DOWN, STAND DOWN.’
TEN
The two watchers from the club – the one in sportswear, the other in a suit – had their guns drawn but lowered as they entered the alleyway. Both had hard stares that told Victor they didn’t much appreciate him pointing a firearm in their direction, but they didn’t comment on it and he didn’t care. They came in slowly and obviously because Muir had told them what to expect, but for the same reason they were deliberate and cautious.
The guy in the sportswear said, ‘Are you all right, Janice?’
Muir was on one knee and bent over because of the fall and the pain in her stomach. ‘I’m fine, guys,’ she assured him, straightening her glasses so they sat properly. ‘Honestly. We’re just talking here.’
‘Doesn’t look like just talking,’ the man in the suit said, his eyes fixed on Victor.
‘We were having a lively discussion,’ Muir joked with a cough, and said to Victor, ‘weren’t we?’
He didn’t look at her. He didn’t answer. He kept her handgun steady and extended at the two watchers. The guy in the suit was younger and probably faster than the older man in the sportswear but his suit jacket was buttoned up, which would add a fraction of a second to the time it would take him to snap his own Glock up to shoot. Victor had the gun’s muzzle pointed at the gap of empty air between their heads. They were equally quick and he couldn’t predict who was likely to make a move first if it came to it.
The one in the sportswear said, ‘He’s got your gun.’
‘He’s just borrowing it,’ Muir replied. ‘He’s going to give it back to me any second now. Aren’t you?’
‘Any second,’ Victor echoed.
‘So give it back to her,’ the one in sportswear said.
Muir struggled to her feet. ‘Come on, Francis. Leave us alone for a minute. I’m giving you an order. Stand down. Please.’
The watcher in the sportswear gestured over his shoulder and said, ‘We’ll be right around the corner if you need us.’ He tapped the man in the suit on the arm.
Who said to Victor, ‘And we can be back in a flash, pal. Don’t you forget that.’
‘He won’t,’ Muir answered for him.
‘In a flash,’ the man in the suit said again.
Both watchers backed out of the alleyway, but didn’t turn around while Victor had the Glock aimed at them.
‘You could have made that a lot easier,’ Muir said and thumbed her throat mike.
Victor lowered the gun and faced her.
There was lots of communication back and forth between Muir and the remaining members of the team as she updated the others on the change in circumstances and assured them everything was fine.
She was half a foot shorter than him and he took a step backwards so he didn’t have look down at her at such an acute angle. She was wiry, but so thin she was almost emaciated. He weighed close to double what she did. When he had grabbed her upper arm to lead her to the alleyway, the tip of his index finger had almost reached his thumb, but the arm was firm with muscle, used to doing a job. She found time in her schedule to work out even if she