Max stopped, breathing hard, looking at his watch.
‘Minute to go,’ he mouthed at her as she stood there on the top step, heart pounding, breath coming in shallow gasps.
Max kept the penlight trained on his Rolex, and slipped the gun out of his pocket. Annie’s eyes met his.
‘No prisoners,’ he said. ‘You stay here.’
‘No fucking way,’ she said.
‘I said, you stay here,’ he repeated.
‘And I said, forget it.’ She looked at the watch. ‘Three minutes are up,’ she said, and that was when they heard the gunshot.
112
Annie, standing right behind Max, felt him stiffen and then push forward. He shoved the bookcase open and sprang into the room beyond, gun raised, looking down the barrel as he scanned the bedroom.
Over Max’s shoulder Annie saw Alberto and his two men surging into the room through the main door. There was the fireworks smell of cordite in the air and a man was lying on the floor near the bed with most of his chest shot away, a gun near him on the carpet, and blood all over the place. Annie looked in horror at the face of the dead man. But it wasn’t Redmond. It was his sidekick, Mitchell.
Then she looked at the old man sitting up in the bed. Constantine was holding a big smoking Magnum in his shaking, age-spotted hand, and his face was twisted in triumph.
‘Fucker came in here and thought he’d get the draw on me?’ he asked the assembled company. ‘No chance. I always keep this right under my pillow.’ He shook the gun in his hand. Looked around at Alberto, the two men with him. Then he turned his head and saw Max.
‘Nico! You old bastard, I’ve been looking for you,’ he said with a happy grin, looking straight at Max. ‘Where the hell have you been?’
Alberto moved quickly forward and took the gun from his father’s hand. He looked sharply at Max. ‘So Redmond didn’t come alone. He had company.’
Twisted and clever, that was Redmond. Annie knew it. Cold as ice and sick with it. He’d let his accomplice barge in the front door, let him take the hit. And himself…? Suddenly it was all clear.
She started to turn, but it was too late. Annie felt something cold, metallic, press into the skin of her neck. ‘He’s here…’ she managed to get out.
Then from behind her, there came a voice. It whispered in soft southern Irish, very close beside her ear.
‘Yes, Mrs Carter. He certainly is,’ said Redmond.
And then she felt the pressure of the knife harden, nearly cutting off her air, and knew that this time there would be no second chances, no reprieves. She was about to die.
113
She tried to speak and couldn’t. Clever Redmond had laid low and simply followed them on their run up the stairs of the secret passage. She could see Max standing there, all his attention riveted to her and the monster standing behind her. She could see Alberto, raising the gun he’d taken off his father. And the other two – everyone was watching, everyone was still, wondering what to do now.
‘Put the guns down,’ said Redmond.
No one moved.
‘Put them down, or I slit her open right now. It’s messy. And really – do you want to risk that, any of you?’
Annie watched as first Max and then Alberto threw the guns on to the floor. Alberto turned and nodded to the two men behind him, and they too dropped their weapons. Constantine, his expression bewildered now, watched from close by on the bed as Redmond nudged her, straining painfully back against the front of his body, further into the room.
‘Back up, Mr Carter,’ he said, and Max did. ‘You too,’ he said to Alberto, and Alberto instantly did so.
‘Well, this is interesting, wouldn’t you say?’ Redmond looked around the room at them all. ‘Bit of a stalemate, yes? But now listen: all I want is him.’ Redmond nodded to Constantine. ‘The rest of you?’ he shrugged. ‘Not interested.’ The pale grape-green eyes met Max’s. ‘Not even interested where you’re concerned, Max Carter. Old days, we were enemies, weren’t we? Competitors, really.’ He gave a chilly smile. ‘Think you may have accounted for a brother or two of mine, but can I prove it? No, I can’t. And do I give a shit? To be honest, no. I don’t. Now – all that needs to happen is that you all leave the room. That’s all. I’ll keep Mrs Carter here, as insurance. And when I’m done, I’ll let her-’
Out of the corner of her eye Annie saw Constantine move, lunging over the bed toward Redmond. She saw the flash of a blade in his hand as he plunged it into Redmond’s flesh. Redmond buckled to one side and looked down in pained amazement at the knife that was deeply embedded in the side of his thigh.
An agonized high-pitched shriek came out of his mouth, deafening Annie. His hand jerked against her neck and the knife bit hard into her flesh. She felt the stinging pain of it and thought that’s it, I’m dead.
Constantine pulled himself back straight in the bed and as Redmond tottered, off-balance, eyes screwed shut in agony, Max dived flat to the floor, grabbed his fallen gun and fired, shooting low and getting Redmond in the other leg. Redmond shrieked again and went down, dragging Annie with him, choking off her air. The knife grazed her skin deeper, trailing a fiery line of pain behind it.
Max came to his feet in a rush and whacked Redmond on the head with the handgun, hard. Blood flew as the blow opened Redmond’s scalp like a crushed fruit. Finally his grip on the knife at Annie’s throat loosened and he collapsed.
Max hit Redmond again, then grabbed the knife out of his hand as he keeled over, dragging Annie to the floor with him. Max pulled her upright, shoved her roughly away from Redmond and, eyes blazing with hate, he aimed the gun at his old enemy’s head.
Now Redmond was blinking dazedly up at him, blood stinging his eyes from the head wound. He was wincing with the pain of his wounded legs and panting for air.
Alberto came forward and touched Max’s arm. ‘No,’ he said. ‘This one’s ours.’
His two men grabbed Redmond roughly and hauled him up; he couldn’t stand. Dragging his feet behind him, blood cascading down both legs, he was hauled across the room.
‘Do it properly this time,’ said Max.
One of the men was yanking back heavy brocade curtains at the window. He threw the window wide open. A strong gust of salty air swept in and Annie sagged on to a corner of the bed, a hand to her bloodied throat. She watched in horror as she realized what was about to happen.
Below this window there was nothing but a two-hundred-foot drop to the rocks and sea below.
She saw the realization hit Redmond, too.
‘No. No!’ he yelled.
He fought like a mad dog, but he was weak from blood loss and shock. Redmond was lifted off his feet and thrust out to dangle from the window, his hands clawing at the stonework, his bloodied face a rigid mask of terror. His eyes met Annie’s. She thought she would never forget the look on his face. And then the men simply let go, and he vanished, crying out a slowly dwindling yell of despair, until he struck the rocks and was silent at last.
114
‘Maria? Are you all right?’ Constantine asked Annie.
Annie shot Max a look. You see? He thinks you’re Nico, and he thinks I’m Maria.
‘I’m fine,’ she said.
‘Thank God,’ he said, his voice trembling with emotion, and grabbed her hand and kissed it. ‘That bastard, did he hurt you?’
Annie shook her head. She glanced up at Max, standing there in silence, taking this all in.
Constantine looked over at Alberto. ‘Your mother’s OK, son,’ he said.
‘Yeah.’ With a sad sigh Alberto moved closer to the bed while his two henchmen hefted Redmond’s dead minder up on to the window sill, shoving and pulling until he too went spiralling out and down on to the rocks. Then they closed the windows, dragged the brocade curtains closed, and left the room, shutting the door behind them.