the money and beg for forgiveness from an organisation that knew no mercy. So they waited.
The Rolls-Royce limousine was parked on the roof floor of the multi-storey parking garage. Only two ways led to the roof: the stairwell and the ramp. Only two ways Leeson and his bodyguard could come. Only two ways the Georgians needed to cover. And there were two of them.
They were up against two, but it was only the bodyguard who concerned them. They had not been told about him when the job had been explained. They had been told Leeson wouldn’t be alone, but they had not been told the man with him would be death himself. They took some comfort in the fact that their leader, who had failed to supply them with the appropriate information, now lay slumped in the passenger seat of the Jeep Commander, two bullet holes vivid against the white skin of his forehead.
The bodyguard was the threat. Neither man relished the idea of facing him again. They had seen and heard the fates of those who already had. He was a killer of men who was not easily ambushed. He would expect another attack. He would expect his enemies to lie in wait near the limousine. He would be ready for that ambush. He knew they would cover the stairwell and the ramp.
But they were cunning men.
They would cover the stairwell and the ramp, but not from the roof. They would strike on the level below, when Leeson and his bodyguard were making their way to the roof, when they were vulnerable, when they weren’t expecting it.
One was armed with a pistol, the second with a sub-machine gun. The former had driven the Jeep and now had the dried blood of the leader smeared across his face. He’d wiped off the chunks of brain and fragments of skull. The latter had exchanged fire with the bodyguard. He was a former soldier. He knew more about battle than the driver, who he had ordered to cover the ramp. He didn’t believe the bodyguard would come that way, but it couldn’t be left unguarded. The man with the sub-machine gun believed the bodyguard would come up the stairwell. Leeson would follow him because he wouldn’t want to be parted from his only protection.
The gunman crouched in the stairwell on the floor below the roof. He kept the AK-74SU aimed down the stairs. He didn’t move. The only sound he made was that of his quiet, regular breaths. His right index finger maintained gentle pressure on the trigger. All it would take was a single squeeze and the bodyguard – who would be leading – would be blasted by a burst of 5.45 mm rounds before he knew he’d been out-thought. Another five bursts would follow before his corpse rolled down the stairs. The gunman knew himself to be an excellent marksman. At this range, with an automatic weapon, there was no way he could miss.
He could then reload and kill Leeson at his leisure. Maybe even with the knife he had with him. He had never killed a man with a knife before. He wondered what it would be like. He imagined it would be fun to watch the life fade from a man’s eyes. Killing from a distance was so impersonal.
Police would be swarming the restaurant by now. They would find the abandoned Jeep soon enough. But none of the Georgians had carried ID or personal effects. They had no criminal records in Italy. It would take a long time to identify them and trace their movements, leaving more than enough to complete the job. It had gone bad but the gunman had come too far to let a little setback like the deaths of four of his fellow brotherhood members stop him from seeing it through and enjoying the money. And it was a lot of money. It had been a lot of money split six ways. It was a huge amount split two ways. A thought occurred to him.
It would be a monumental amount if it was not split at all.
It wouldn’t be long. Leeson and his bodyguard couldn’t wait as long as the Georgians could. Witnesses had seen them up close. Maybe their names were in the restaurant’s reservations list. They had to escape. They had to come this way. The ramp was too risky. There were too many blind spots and choke points and too much cover to worry about. The bodyguard wouldn’t risk that. They