but they knew they didn’t have much time left if they wanted to complete their job and stay free long enough to celebrate a share of the purse gone up three hundred per cent.
‘Be ready,’ Victor said again. ‘Shoot the shadow.’
Three shots fired. Three remaining in the feeder.
Then two.
‘Shoot the shadow,’ Leeson repeated.
Victor squeezed the Mossberg’s trigger a fifth time. Before he’d finished racking another shell into the chamber he heard the roar of Leeson’s weapon and dashed back across the restaurant, vaulted over the counter and pulled Leeson to his feet and into the kitchen. He didn’t need to look down the corridor.
‘I got him,’ the younger man whispered. His eyes were wide. Unsteady legs because there was more adrenaline in his bloodstream than there had ever been before in his life.
‘I know,’ Victor said. ‘You couldn’t miss.’
‘I shot the shadow. Like you said.’
‘You did good.’ Victor used one hand to drag Leeson around the stone counter and onto the restaurant floor.
Leeson’s voice was still little more than a whisper. His face was pale. ‘What now?’
‘We wait,’ Victor said. ‘There’s two left. One with an AK. The other behind the wheel of the Jeep. Neither will try coming in here. They’ve lost two-thirds of their team trying that. No one’s that brave. If they’ve got any sense they’ll get out of here before the cops show.’
‘What if they don’t have any sense?’
‘They’ll try and wait us out.’
‘Will it work?’
‘Yes. We have to be gone before the police arrive and arrest us. But it’s suicide for them to wait until then. They’ll be caught too.’
‘These people are crazy,’ Leeson said.
But they weren’t stupid. Tyres squealed for traction and a big V8 engine sounded. Victor ditched the shotgun and readied the Daewoo.
Leeson was still in shock. ‘I killed a man.’
‘Join the club,’ Victor said and tapped Leeson on an arm with the back of a hand. ‘Let’s go. It’s not over yet.’
THIRTY-SEVEN
Victor peered out of the restaurant to confirm that both remaining Georgians had gone in the Jeep and one wasn’t waiting behind to catch them as they came out – like he would have done. The street was empty. He saw the Jeep rounding a corner at the end of the block.
‘Drop the shotgun,’ Victor said.
Leeson did.
‘Take off your jacket.’
Leeson did, but his movements were slow and awkward. Victor helped pull it off him and threw it to the floor. Blood stained one sleeve and almost the entire back.
Victor turned him around on the spot to check the blood hadn’t soaked through to the white shirt. It hadn’t. Stains darkened the backs of his trouser legs, but would draw less attention than a man in his underpants.
‘Are those sirens?’ Leeson asked.
‘Yes. Time to move.’
Leeson swallowed. ‘You saved my life, Mr Kooi.’
‘Not yet.’
‘But they’ve gone. You said—’
‘And they know where we’re going.’
Leeson reached for the shotgun.
‘Leave it,’ Victor said.
‘If they’re waiting I’ll need it.’
‘If you take that shotgun out onto the streets you’re asking for the police to spot us. I take it you don’t want to be arrested?’
‘I don’t want to be killed either. I need a gun.’
‘Then you should have selected your sidearm with a little less thought to its appearance and a little more consideration to its usefulness.’
‘But—’
‘Do you want to continue this discussion at the farmhouse or in jail?’
Leeson didn’t answer, but he nodded.
‘It’s a two-minute walk to the right to get to the parking garage, but we can’t go direct. So we go left, and we walk quickly but we don’t run. Soon as we get to an intersection we take it and circle the block, walking like a couple of regular guys. No looking over your shoulder. No watching the road for the Jeep. We just walk.’
‘But the Georgians went left.’
‘And by now they’ll have already circled the same block and will be waiting for us in the parking garage. Until we get there our priority is not getting picked up by the police. No more questions. I’ve got you this far. Do as I say when I say it and I’ll get you the rest of the way. If you don’t like my methods you can try making your own way back.’
‘No, no. I’ll do what you say. I will. Sorry. Let’s go. Don’t leave me. Please.’
They went, turning left, hurrying along the pavement as the sound of sirens grew louder behind them.
‘Don’t look back,’ Victor said.
Leeson nodded.
They walked past the scatter of glass pebbles on the road surface where Victor had shot out