The Getaway - By Tom Barber Page 0,104

Siletti. ‘He confronted you about it. I’m guessing he demanded to be involved, or else he’d start talking. O’Hara did the same. So you were working together, covering each other’s backs. You thought Parker and Lock might have their suspicions, so you executed them. You know how to trick a crime-scene. You covered all your tracks. It ran like clock-work, right?’

Neither said a word. Katic looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

‘But you screwed up. Because Sanderson is here. He’s seen and knows everything you two are doing. How the hell are you going to explain his disappearance?’

‘By leaving too,’ Siletti said. ‘We’re out of here. We’re never coming back. We’ve got enough money here to live on for three lifetimes.’

Archer saw silent tears streaming down Katic’s face, her hair snatched in Siletti’s grip. Gerrard turned to Siletti.

‘Fire it up,’ he said.

Siletti nodded with a grin. Turning, he dragged Katic with him to the cockpit and flicked some switches. The rotors started to move slowly, as the vessel warmed up. The engine made no sound yet though. Gerrard looked at Archer, who was staring right back at him, into his soul.

‘I didn’t want to kill your father, Sam,’ he said. ‘He brought it on himself.’

Archer stared at him.

‘You?’

Silence.

‘You were the one who killed him?’

‘He shouldn’t have come down here and messed with other people’s affairs. He should have kept his nose out. He wanted to meet me in the parking lot. He wanted to confront me, to find out what the hell was going on, to tell me about Siletti and O’Hara. He figured I was still on the FBI side. But he had proof. And I couldn’t let him do it. So I killed him when he turned his back. Shotgun. Just like Farrell and his team used.’ Pause. 'I didn't want to do it, Sam. But I had to. I made it quick.'

Archer blinked, fighting back emotion.

‘You were his oldest friend,’ he said, his voice shaky.

‘Then what had he done for me lately?’ Gerrard screamed. ‘Did he help me out when I got canned? No. Did he even try? Did he care? No. He didn't give a shit. He abandoned me just like everyone else. He deserved it. He should have stayed in D.C and left me the hell alone. Now he's dead for it.’

There was a pause. Siletti had re-joined Gerrard, grinning wolfishly at Archer, holding Katic by the collar, the silenced pistol to her head. Behind them the rotors to the helicopter were starting to spin, gathering speed, the blades whirring faster and faster.

‘So what now?’ Archer said. 'You two just pack up the money and fly away?'

‘Exactly. But for you, it ends here,’ Siletti said.

Archer saw the other man's eyes glance to Archer’s pistol, on the ground.

He'd won and he knew it.

‘Oh, I’ve been waiting for this,’ Siletti continued. ‘You’ll be seeing your father real soon, you piece of shit. If you’ve got any prayers, say them now.’

He pushed Katic to the ground, throwing his silenced pistol to one side. He scooped up the M16 lying on the ground, and pulled the slide, a bullet flying out the ejection port.

‘I’m going to give you every single bullet in this thing,’ he said, the weapon clutched in his hands. ‘Then the bitch, the kid and Sanderson die too. And there’s nothing you can to stop me.’

Archer looked over at Gerrard. He looked back, his eyes emotionless. Behind them, the helicopter was warmed up, the rotors spinning. The engine was slowly starting to whine.

‘I’m sorry, Sam. I can’t let you walk away,’ Gerrard said. He turned to Siletti. ‘Time to go.’

Gerrard pulled on his helmet, fully protected in the body armour as Siletti grinned at him. Archer didn’t react. He just looked at Katic, who was looking up at him pleadingly, tears in her eyes.

‘Any last words, asshole?’ Siletti called, raising the M16.

Archer looked at him, then at Gerrard. Saw them both standing both there, near the back of the helicopter in the middle of the runway. The rotors whirring.

He nodded, and looked down at Katic.

‘Turtle.’

There was a pause. Siletti and Gerrard looked at him, confused.

Then Katic suddenly reached over and grabbed her daughter with her duct-taped hands, pulling her to the floor from Gerrard’s grip and covering her in a flash. It took Siletti and Gerrard by surprise, and they looked down at her for a split second.

At that same moment, Archer swept aside the right lapel of his coat, and grabbed something hanging from