Майкл Ридпат: The Predator

‘Don’t, Duncan. It’s wrong. And anyway, you’ll get caught. You’ll go to jail for a long time.’

‘It’ll be worth it.’

‘No, it won’t. Wait. I’ll call the police.’

‘No,’ said Duncan grimly.

Chris glanced at Duncan’s face. He knew there was no point in arguing further. And he couldn’t try to restrain Duncan physically without letting Eric go. So he released Eric’s arm and stood back. Megan was watching, horror-stricken. ‘Stop him, Chris.’

At that moment, Chris heard a click behind him. They all turned towards the sound. There was Marcus in his long coat, unshaven and out of breath. He was holding a gun, and pointing it directly at them.

‘Well, well, well. What do you call a group of investment bankers? A gaggle? A herd? Whatever. It looks like you all just can’t get along with each other.’

They were silent, staring at the gun.

‘Who are you?’ Megan asked at last.

‘Marcus Lubron. Alex was my brother. Until he killed him.’ Marcus nodded towards Duncan.

‘What do you mean?’ Duncan objected.

‘Put down the knife,’ Marcus said, jerking the gun at him.

Duncan didn’t move.

‘I said, put it down.’

Duncan slowly laid the knife on the ground.

‘You make me sick,’ Marcus said. ‘Not only do you kill my brother, but you start killing each other as well.’

‘No, you don’t understand,’ said Duncan, moving towards Marcus.

‘Stand still,’ snapped Marcus. ‘I know how to use this thing. It looks like I got here just in time to stop you killing another one.’

‘But it’s Eric who killed your brother!’ Duncan protested. ‘And the others.’

‘I’ve had enough of this whining bullshit. Stand over there. And you,’ Marcus waved the gun at Chris. ‘Stand with him.’

Chris and Duncan stood to one side, next to each other, facing Marcus. His face was in shadow, but Chris could just make out the determined set of his mouth. He was serious. Deadly serious. Chris felt fear grab him.

‘Marcus,’ Chris said, in his best attempt at a reasonable voice. ‘I think you’ve got this all wrong.’

‘Shut up, or I’ll blow your head off.’

‘But Chris didn’t do anything,’ Megan protested.

‘He killed your friend in Paris,’ Marcus said.

‘No he didn’t. Tell him, Eric.’

She turned to Eric. He said nothing.

Marcus raised the gun and pointed it directly at Duncan. ‘Alex may have meant nothing to you,’ he said. ‘But he was my kid brother. He would have had a great life ahead of him if you hadn’t finished it. I wasn’t there to protect him then. But I’m here now.’

‘Marcus—’ Duncan said, his voice cracking with panic.

‘I said, be quiet,’ Marcus snapped.

Megan watched all this with mounting horror. She was about to see someone shot in cold blood. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. After the emotional turmoil of the last hour, and the strain of the previous month, she thought she was going to crack. It was all too much for her to take in. She looked at Duncan. Total fear. At Eric, impassive, with the hint of a small satisfied smile. And at Chris, standing straight, tense, but facing his last few seconds with courage.

In those last moments before his death, he turned to her. His eyes met hers. Suddenly something snapped inside her, and she saw everything clearly. People were going to die here. The wrong people. This was so much more important than her stupid infatuation. She also saw that somebody loved her. And it wasn’t Eric.

Slowly and deliberately, she stepped forward and placed herself in front of Duncan.

‘Get out of the way!’ Marcus growled.

‘No,’ Megan said calmly. ‘Put the gun down.’

‘Look, I don’t care how many investment bankers I blow away here. Now, move!’

‘I’m not an investment banker,’ said Megan. ‘And I don’t think these people had anything to do with your brother’s death. Even if they did, there has been too much killing. It must stop.’

A flicker of hesitation appeared in Marcus’s eyes. Megan glanced quickly at Eric. ‘Just tell me, how do you know who killed Alex? And why do you think Chris killed Ian?’

‘He told me,’ Marcus nodded towards Eric.

Then Megan knew. Eric had mentioned nothing to her about talking to Marcus. The attempt to implicate Chris was pure cynicism on his part. Eric had deceived her. About everything.

‘He lied,’ she said.

‘Jesus,’ Marcus said in frustration. ‘OK. Then I’ll shoot the lot of you. You all deserve it.’

‘You won’t shoot any of us,’ Megan said, taking a step forward. ‘You’re not a killer. Alex wouldn’t want you to kill us.’

‘I will,’ Marcus said, but Megan could see the doubt in his eyes.

‘Well, if you do, you’ll have to start with me. And you know I’m innocent.’

She took another step. The barrel of the gun was just inches from her chest. Marcus let it drop to his side.

Then Eric lunged. In one movement, he grabbed Marcus’s arm and twisted it behind his back. Hard. Marcus let out a yelp of pain and dropped the gun. Eric shoved him forward and picked it up. He pointed it at Megan.

‘Don’t try that stunt with me,’ he said coolly. ‘Because I’ll pull the trigger.’

‘You bastard!’ Megan said, her voice laden with contempt. ‘I believed in you, and you lied to me. And you murdered all those people just because they threatened your precious little plans.’

‘If you want something, you have to be prepared to do what it takes to get it.’

‘I thought you were something special,’ Megan said. ‘But I was wrong. You think you’re better than us, don’t you? Better than all of us. You think it’s OK for lesser people to die so that the great Eric Astle can realize his destiny. Well, let me tell you something. You’re small. You’re a nasty, lying, evil little low-life. You amount to nothing, Eric. You never were anything, and you never will be.’

‘Bitch,’ he said and raised the gun to take aim.

A few seconds earlier Chris had faced death and accepted it. He had felt fear and overcome it. Now he couldn’t stand and watch Megan die in front of him. In that moment, the decision seemed easy. If he stood still, Megan would die. If he jumped, perhaps he would get shot, perhaps Duncan would, but perhaps Megan would live. His eyes darted to Duncan, and he saw his fear had gone. He too was ready to act.

They launched themselves at Eric simultaneously. The gun went off, and then they were on him, joined in a moment by Marcus. Chris went for Eric’s right hand, still clasping the gun. He pinned it to the ground as it exploded again, this time the bullet speeding harmlessly off into the darkness. Eric writhed and kicked, but in a matter of seconds they had him pinned to the ground. Marcus prised the gun from his fingers, and held it to his ear. ‘Don’t move, fucker,’ he growled.

Terry watched all this from his vantage point, twenty yards away behind a tree. He knew this would happen sometime, that Eric would get himself in too deep. Well, Terry wasn’t going to go down with him. He had over a million dollars stashed away in a Swiss bank account for just such an eventuality. Not enough to see him out for the rest of his life, perhaps, but enough to support him on an extended vacation somewhere. Time to go. He slipped off and headed quietly back to the Jaguar and Stansted Airport.

Chris got to his feet, and Megan ran to him. He held her tightly.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, looking up at him. ‘Will you forgive me?’

‘Of course,’ Chris stroked her hair. ‘Of course I will.’

She smiled, and buried her head in his chest.

He heard a curse on the ground beside him. Duncan was holding his shoulder.