Anhur

by Wayne Marinovich

  Twenty minutes later, Gibbs watched two red streams twist up into the sky from beyond the apartment blocks at the end of the main streets. They reached their zenith and curved around one another before their fiery tails turned towards the ground like falling comets.

  Someone walked up behind Gibbs and pressed a weapon to the base of his skull. The hammer clicked back.

  Chapter 41

  Gatlinburg Inn, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA – 2043

  ‘I mistook you for a businessman,’ Gibbs said, shifting his position on the wooden bench. It was placed along the front wall of the inn and faced the main road. Roadsters walked around in groups of twos and threes, staring at him. Enyo was leaning against a decaying wooden column that kept the overhang up, the scent of lavender drifting over to Gibbs. To his left sat Rebus, smoking a pipe of some white power mixed in with tobacco.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Rebus said, exhaling the smoke. ‘I’ve led the Roadsters with many great business decisions.’

  ‘Oh, really? Then how come you are still dealing with the Bounty Hunter and aren’t going directly to the man who pays the bills?’

  Rebus flicked a glance over to Enyo, a smile on his face. ‘I have no intention of poking Chancellor Byrdich any more than I have to. His gaze is best left focused on other things.’

  ‘The bounty was not requested by Byrdich. He may be helping with this, but it comes from a wealthy man in New Europe who hates me even more. And he has a lot more money.’

  Rebus sat upright, placing the pipe on his knee.

  ‘Just how much have they promised you to hand me over?’ Gibbs asked.

  ‘I’m not going to tell you that,’ Rebus said.

  ‘I bet you Chancellor Rolin would pay you double if you deal with him directly. He doesn’t care who brings me in. Call and negotiate. That’s what a real businessman would do. Sell his product to the highest bidder. The person who needs it the most.’

  ‘Look, I know that you haven’t been in this country long.’

  ‘Only ten years,’ Gibbs said, watching Enyo who was looking at Rebus. She sported a swollen upper lip. ‘What do you think, Enyo?’

  She shrugged and fidgeted with her leather forearm straps, not looking away from her boss. ‘Let Rebus finish.’

  ‘Thank you, lover,’ Rebus said. ‘I was going to say that you haven’t been here long enough to understand that nobody doublecrosses this Bounty Hunter.’

  ‘Not even the great Rebus Maze?’

  A smile broke out on the man’s face. ‘I love how you feel you can talk to me that way. It’s nice to deal with a leader of men for once and not one of these ignorant followers. I could still kill, though, so do keep it civil.’

  ‘I have the number of a man who is close to Chancellor Rolin. It’s worth enquiring.’

  ‘Skink will get it from you later.’

  ‘Rebus?’ Enyo said, rubbing her fingers along her beaten lip.

  ‘What is it, dear?’

  ‘The Bounty Hunter will send the NAG troops packing once he has Gibbs here. That is what he does. He will want to walk his bounty into Manhattan by himself. I‘ve heard he has a big ego.’

  ‘What does that mean to us?

  ‘We can ambush him when he’s alone, recapture Gibbs, and then contact this Rolin person for more money. That way the Bounty Hunter won’t know that we’ve doublecrossed him.’

  Rebus stared at her, scratching his nose, his legs starting to bounce as he took her words in. ‘See, Gibbs. It’s good business to surround yourself with people who are as sharp as hell.’

  ‘You’ll have to kill the Bounty Hunter. If he’s as badass as they say, he’ll hunt you to the ends of the Earth,’ Gibbs said, looking across at the two roadsters walking past the front of the inn. Four minutes since the last time they walked by.

  ‘We could dress up like Bisons,’ Enyo said.

  ‘That’s good, my love. Then we can kill Gibbs here and sell the body to the European leader.’

  Skink stepped out from behind Rebus. ’There is something fishy about all of this. Why is the Hooded Man suggesting plans that include his own demise? It must be a trick. I bet he has men waiting in the hills to kill us all.’

  ‘More rubbish from the Skink,’ Rebus said. ‘I know people and this man is tired. A beaten warrior. A hasbeen. Look at him. Nothing left. I bet five years ago he would’ve escaped by now. He might have been killed trying to escape, but that would have suited him. Now he’s content to wait for his fate.’

  ‘Sorry, boss,’ Skink said. ‘I just wondered why after running and fighting for so long he’s suddenly surrendering.’

  ‘Because all great warriors have to face their sins at some point. They will always come back to haunt him. Sooner or later we all have to pay the price,’ Enyo said, looking at Gibbs.

  Rebus extended his hand, and she walked over to him. Putting his arm around her waist, he grabbed her buttock and kissed her belly. ‘That is why I value this woman so much.’

  ‘I can see why,’ Gibbs said.

  ‘But before anything happens, the bomb vest needs to be handed over.’

  ‘And have Skink slit my throat while I sleep? No thanks. I’ll hand it over when the Bounty Hunter gets here.’

  Gibbs looked at them both and then back across the road in front of the inn. Two men with M4s were standing on an abandoned shop’s roof. Two more on top of a petrol station further down.

  ‘Fair enough. I won’t be seeing you again until tomorrow. Enyo will be keeping you company today and this evening if she chooses to. Tomorrow we decide your fate, Hooded Man.’

  Chapter 42

  Gatlinburg Inn, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA – 2043

  The bright moon cast shadows from a dead tree across the concrete in front of her. Walking slowly towards the building that housed the prisoners, she stopped when a coyote ran right by her. Already habituated after only two days of them camping there, it was used to getting scraps from the cook or feasting on the evergrowing pile of bodies behind the inn. The mangy animal stopped and turned its head. Enyo could see teats dangling from its abdomen. A mother. It stared at her, licking its lips, then looked back towards the building; it loped on its route, quickening across open sections, but slowing down when it could hug close to a wall or culvert, sniffing at the ground the entire time.

  Enyo breathed in the cold night air and flung the cloth shawl across her shoulder. She’d felt safe in the darkness ever since she was a child. Now, safety was the staff in her hand and the long dagger on her hip. Excitement washed through her, and she felt like a younger woman. Gibbs was the warrior she had come to expect and deserved the name that shrouded around the myth. He was tough yet fair, quick to act yet clearly calculating. His large brown eyes were forever scouting and absorbing the environment.

  She approached the corner of the old building where a shop used to sell clothing twenty years before. She stopped to peer around. Twenty yards along the pavement were two 38s, smoking as they guarded Rebus’s prize.

  Walking slowly along the front of the old shops, she knew she had the advantage. Most of the men knew she was Rebus’s girl and so could go wherever she chose. Another five steps and she had crept up behind them. They spoke of food and not having enough ammunition if the prisoner had men hiding in the hills.

  Her left hand reached up to the dagger and slipped it out of the handmade leather sheath. Twirling the thick wooden staff once overhead, she targeted the guard on the right and swung it up between his legs, feeling a pop of a testicle as he bent over, the air sucked out of him. The man on the left swung around as her left hand jabbed upwards, sending the blade up through his throat, destroying his windpipe. He clawed at her arm as she pulled the dagger out and stabbed him again in the chest. Stepping back, he gargled and gasped, falling back onto the dusty pavement.

  The other man was still kneeling, a long groaning sound breaking the night air. Stepping forward, she pulled back his dreadlocked and feather-adorned head and stabbed him in the throat. S
ilence.

  Throwing him forward, she checked up and down the street. Another two men moved around the empty pool at the side of the inn, blissfully unaware. Grabbing the man’s boot, she dragged the dead weight back towards the shop front. The second man was lighter, so took less effort. She didn’t have much time now.

  • • •

  The creaky wooden army cot kept waking Gibbs from the light sleep he’d grown used to living with. The single lightbulb was permanently on which didn’t help. By force of habit, he slept fully clothed, ready for any attack, although he didn’t think it would come tonight. Rebus still had too much to lose and was clearly too stoned to formulate a plan. Gibbs had allowed Enyo to take the grenade-vest off and place it next to the cot, but he’d kept hold of the detonator.

  Gibbs looked at the large tarpaulin that had been stretched across the open front of the concrete room he was in. It must have been an old butchery or delicatessen once judging by the big counter fridges that were pushed to the side of the rectangular room. Three other empty cots were placed around the room, and Gibbs guessed it was used by the guards themselves.

  Bound wrists hampered his movement, and he had tried to bite the rope before scouting around the room for something sharp to cut the nylon. Without breaking the display glass, he couldn’t find anything. A scuffle near the tarpaulin made him stop moving. A scrape of a boot, then a groan of a man. A second grunt followed by a death gargle of a knife going through someone’s throat. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he swung his feet down onto the concrete floor. He crept across the floor to the centre vertical slit in the tarp that was used as the entrance. Gibbs stepped back and got ready to kick out at whoever came through. More groaning from outside and then what sounded like a throat being cut. Dragging noises caused him to relax a little. Could Smithy have come into town under cover of darkness? He wouldn’t put it past his old friend. More dragging as the second body was brought closer, out of the sight of wandering eyes.

  ‘Gibbs,’ the voice whispered. ‘Gibbs, it’s Enyo. I’m coming in.’

  Gibbs stood back, his shoulders relaxing. The woman was incorrigible. The last thing he felt like was a romp on a squeaky army cot. A long black leg, with white swirling patterns on it, appeared through the slit of tarpaulin, spreading the opening apart, followed gracefully by the tall woman.

  ‘What are you doing here? What time is it?’

  ‘It’s an hour to dawn, and I wanted to talk to you.’

  ‘I don’t feel like sex right now. You can forgo the last request before death thing,’ Gibbs said.

  She smiled. ‘Sure, another time, maybe. No, I wanted to let you know that Rebus has called Rolin and he’s keen to deal directly with us. He doesn’t want us to deal with the Bounty Hunter because he wants you alive, especially for the amount of money that Rebus asked for.’

  ‘But he arrives later today. What are you going to do when he gets here?’

  ‘It’s been agreed to meet somewhere else. A town down the road. Rebus convinced him that it was not safe here from the Bisons, who he claimed wanted you for themselves.’

  ‘I am in demand, aren’t I?’

  She smiled. ‘We won’t be there as the plan is to pull out at lunchtime and head north.’

  ‘Are you going with the group? Why don’t you just leave?’

  Enyo frowned then looked down at her hand on the staff. ‘He kinda owns me. I’ve had to tolerate a lot from him and his men. But I have a role here which is at least better than being out there alone in the dust.’

  ‘You’re an intelligent woman. I’m guessing any enclave would be glad to have your talents.’

  ‘Flattery will get you freed, Mr Gibbs,’ she said, pulling the dagger from its sheath. ‘Give me your hands.’

  Gibbs looked at her and held out his bound hands. She cut the ropes with three sawing motions. His wrists ached as the pressure was released. ‘I told you that I don’t feel like a romp in the hay.’

  ‘Get your mind out of the toilet for a bloody second. I’m taking you out of here.’ Gibbs looked up at her. She smiled, and her eyes lit up. ‘The Bounty Hunter has given me other instructions.’

  Gibbs tilted his head. She was a difficult person to read. ‘The Bounty Hunter’s giving you instructions? Not Rebus?’

  ‘He doesn’t only deal in money but has a large network of people and influencers that was built on things other than collecting bounties. He deals in favours, you could say.’

  ‘And you owe him such a favour?’

  ‘Yes, I owe him my life. I was in a bad place, doing terrible things when he caught up with me.’

  ‘Terrible things. You mean worse than you are doing here with Rebus?’

  Enyo looked to the ground again and shifted her footing. ‘He could have taken me in for the bounty to the NAG. They wanted me something real bad.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘That’s a story for another day. Do you want to get clear of this place and head to the Bounty Hunter?’

  ‘You are joking. Why wouldn’t I flee and go back to my men?’ Gibbs said, grabbing his jacket that was lying next to the stretcher.

  ‘The Russian, who is with the Bounty Hunter, says that he can get your name cleared. Wouldn’t that be better than running all the time?’

  Gibbs looked her in the eyes. ‘I guess it’s why I came here in the first place.’

  ‘And why I’m happy to risk getting you out of here. You seem like a good, honourable man. And in this world of death and chaos, it’s great to see you willing to give up your life for the prisoners. Few men would have done that.’

  ‘Thanks, but you need to get out more. I have seen the company you keep.’

  She punched him on the arm and reached for the tarpaulin. Splitting the entrance, Gibbs saw the legs and feet of his guards. ‘Now, grab that vest and hurry up. I don’t want to have to do all the killing for you.’

  Chapter 43

  Gatlinburg Inn, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA – 2043

  ‘Shit, there are four of them. Should’ve only been two,’ Enyo whispered, dropping to one knee. Gibbs crouched behind her. Leaning up against a Roadsters’ van, they looked ahead to two more vans parked alongside one of the battle truck. Voices came from the other side of them.

  Gibbs placed his hand on her shoulder, waiting for the patrolling men to move off. ‘Do you think they saw you take out those men?’

  She shrugged her shoulders and peered over the bonnet of the van, jerking back down straight away. Gibbs had a Beretta that he’d lifted from the dead guard. He also took a few magazines but could feel that they were not fully loaded. Getting up, Enyo crept forward and ran across the gap towards the two vans. Running low, she disappeared into the dark space between them. Gibbs edged forward and then looked around the front of the van. Four men were approaching, led by Skink, who was waving his arms about as he talked. Gibbs pulled back and looked across the gap. They were all armed. Enyo was watching him from the dark and nodded as he pointed to his right, signalling five men. Shrinking back, Gibbs slipped under the van, dust stinging his nose. The scuffing of boots meant the group had left the tarmac and were now in the dusty parking lot.

  Multiple pairs of boots walked past the front of the van then stopped.

  ‘Give yourself up, Enyo,’ Skink said. ‘Rebus only wants to talk to you.’ He took a step to the right. Gibbs aimed at one of the men’s ankles.

  ‘Come on, you silly bitch. You’ve been acting weird since yesterday so I’ve had men watching you and they saw you kill the guards to free Gibbs. That’s treason in the Roadsters. Rebus wants to talk to you, and I am going to enjoy watching you beg for your pathetic life.’

  One of the guards walked to the left and looked behind the other van.

  ‘We saw you sneak across this gap here. Just come out and drop that dagger of yours. Better hurry, pretty girl, you know he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.’

  A sound of feet crunching on the gravel parking lot. ‘Stop whining l
ike a girl,’ Enyo said, walking out.

  ‘Toss that dagger to the floor, or these men will shoot,’ Skink said. The sound of metal hitting the ground followed. ‘Let’s see if you talk to me that way after Rebus has finished with you.’

  Gibbs rolled to his left and out from under the van and was shielded by the one next to him. The first two shots hit two men in the back of their necks, the next two men were hit in the chest as they turned to fire behind them, the shots going over Gibbs as he rested his gun hand on the other, both raised up on one elbow. In seconds, Skink was standing alone facing Enyo. He spun around, reaching for the holstered Sig226 on his hip but found Gibbs’s pistol pointing up at him from below his eye line. Skink’s eyes widened.

  Yanking twice, he couldn’t get the Sig free, and the panicked look was replaced with a grimace of pain. His body jerked twice as he lifted onto his toes. Enyo’s face appeared over Skink’s shoulder. She looked down at Gibbs and winked. She wrenched free whatever she’d stuck into Skink’s back. He groaned, fear on his face. Reaching around the front of the wincing man, Enyo stabbed his neck in quick succession with a short-bladed knife. Blood spurted out as Skink reached up to try and stop it. He turned and staggered towards the inn before Enyo stepped up and headbutted him. No sound came as he fell forward.

  Gibbs got up to his feet and grabbed the M4 from one of the men. Turning him over, he took three box magazines from a front pouch and pocketed them. All were full.

  ‘About all those terrible things you did in a past life,’ Gibbs said.

  Bullets hit metal near them as shouts emanated from the guardhouse where they’d just come from. More guards had arrived, the firelight blocking their view of the scene.

  ‘Get one of their guns and take cover,’ Gibbs shouted and aimed at a man running to their right as he tried to outflank them. He ran in a crouch from one of the old shops towards a darkened doorway of an old butchery. Two shots went off, and he went down, collapsing onto the concrete steps of the shop. Enyo rattled off a burst at two other men running from their right, dropping them both. She smiled across at Gibbs. ‘Van or truck. Pick quickly, will you?’