by Roger Weston
Mika sat on the floor of the bedroom pondering what to do. He held his rifle in front of him tightly, his palms sweating. Then the glass window to his left shattered. He swung onto his knees and peeked out. He saw Brandt leap from the tree and disappear behind the cover of the stone wall. Mika yelled with rage as he unloaded his gun, but his shots only chipped the stone wall.
Slowly, Mika got onto his feet. His gun leading the way, he walked out into the hall. He went for the front door and stepped outside, but then froze. He was looking straight into the face of a thousand pound bull and the massive animal’s horns were down.
The anger in the bull’s eyes glinted, and Mika knew that the beast’s horns could rip him open like a machete.
Then the bull charged.
Mika cursed. He slammed the front door and ran into the living room.
A moment later, the door exploded inward. It split in half and crashed onto the floor. The bull stopped for a second inside the doorway and swung its head left and right, its huge neck muscles rippling. Floor tiles cracked under its hooves, and thick drool hung two inches down from its mouth. The animal was massive, and there was no pity in its dark eyes.
Mika was looking over his shoulder as he ran down the hall, but his foot slid out from under him on a throw rug. He twisted and fell face first, his nose breaking on the ceramic tiles. While blood poured from his face, he rolled over and looked up at the bull. It stared at him like a demon from hell that had come to take him home. Mika noticed that the beast’s horns were curved forward like the two ends of a massive pitchfork. The bull snorted and took a step towards him.
Mika rolled and scrambled for his gun. He opened fire, putting five shots into the bulls face—right between its eyes.
The beast staggered and collapsed, and the floor shook.
As the bull lay in the hallway with its hooves twitching, Mika leapt up.
“You stupid piece of shit,” he said. Then he spat on the animal.
A quick movement to his left caught his attention.
A vase struck his head and shattered.
Mika hit the ground hard. For a moment he saw static. Then his vision came back.
“Don’t move,” he heard.
Then he saw Chuck Brandt holding a gun at his side. Mika judged he still had time to take him out. He swung his gun into position, but Brandt was faster. Three slugs hit Mika like a strong dose of anesthesia.
***
Brandt left the house and ran towards the barn. As he did, a gunshot cracked the silence. He dove for the barn door, tucking and rolling in the dirt as he did. He stopped just short of the opening of the barn and lost his grip on the Uzi in the process. The gun took a few spins on the ground as it slid out of reach. Chuck edged himself just inside the barn right before the next shot was fired.
Once he was inside the barn, Chuck eased back to the opening and peered out. No movement. He looked at his gun sitting in the open covered with dust. It was just ten feet from the barn door. If he were to survive, he would need to get to it. Then he looked up. He noticed the old man was still tied up in the back of the truck. He was struggling to get loose. The only problem was that he had blood running down his shoulder. The man had taken the bullet that Chuck knew was meant for him.
Chuck looked back into the barn. He needed something to cut the man loose quickly. He had to get him into the cover of the barn. Chuck went into the tack room and grabbed the only sharp tool he could find, a two-foot long black-wrapped banderilla.
Chuck sidled up to the barn door again and peeked out.
The man looked scared and in pain, but he was still alive and straining at the ropes. Chuck wouldn’t let him die. With the banderillo in one hand, he scrambled across the dirt and grabbed his gun. Wrapping his fingers around the steel cylinder of the weapon, he felt relief. He scooted to the cover of the motorcycles that were parked in front of the barn. Once there, he sprinted for the old man in the truck. Just before he got there, a bullet punched through his chest and exited through his back.
Chuck dropped to his knees and fell forward onto the hard-packed dirt.
***
Alexi Khorkov, famous Russian assassin with twenty kills to his name now had twenty-one. He lowered his rifle and inhaled the sweet smell of cordite. He kneeled down and picked up the spent shell cartridge. It was still warm, and he grinned as he admired it. This was the bullet that had just killed Chuck Brandt. Alexi figured that he had just become a legend. He’d just killed the most feared man in the world. He looked out the window. The man’s body lay behind a motorcycle at an angle where he couldn’t see it, but he knew it had been a clean shot. Brandt’s foot was sticking out, and it wasn’t moving. Still, Alexi was a professional, so he took nothing for granted. He would put a bullet in Brandt’s head to ensure that he was dead and then he would head to Peru. Maria was going to be his. Lazar had promised her to the victor of this deadly game.
Alexi walked slowly toward the body of the most dangerous assassin in the world—the infamous Ghost. Two head shots would be sufficient, he decided. He walked up to the body and smiled when he saw the red stain on the back of Brandt’s shirt.
“Damn fine shot,” he said.
Then he realized that the red stain was still growing.
At that moment Chuck rolled over and winged the black-wrapped banderilla towards Alexi. The barbed point impaled his chest and pierced his heart. Both of Alexi’s hands flew to the banderilla and he clutched it in a death grip. When he pulled on it, the barb caught and tore into his heart muscle. He screamed in agony.
Then he collapsed.
Three feet away, Chuck Brandt lay on the ground, eyes closed, motionless.
A cool wind lifted over the crags of the Pyrenees Mountains and the steeples of Andorra. Dark clouds stacked up around the high peaks and buried the mountains. Thunder cracked and lightening flashed among the dense vapors of the smoky crags. A cool air mass dropped down into the Pyrenees foothills and swept over the verdant ranch lands.
Wind shook the tree branches violently and rain began to fall in horizontal sheets.
Chuck Brandt’s body lay in the funeral gloom as rain drenched his clothes.
A puddle formed around his body, and water dripped off his nose. The puddle grew around his arm. Rain splashed in the puddle stirring up mud, and the puddle grew and spread around his hand.
“Senor, Senor.” The old man in white linen pants called out as he walked towards Chuck. “They’re dead. You killed them all. You did it. You…”
The old man realized that the American wasn’t moving. He wasn’t even breathing. This had been a good man, and now the man was dead. The old man dropped to his knees and looked at the dead American.
And the rain fell… And the puddle grew...
And then the old man saw a finger move in the crimson puddle.
Chuck took in a raspy breath. He winced in pain and opened his eyes when the old man rolled him over.
“Senor, it is finished. They are no more.”
Chuck was relieved that the men who wanted him dead were no longer a threat, but he had failed to do what he had come to do. He hadn’t saved Maria. He took a deep breath. Then he closed his eyes and said a prayer for the girl that he knew such a long time ago.
And then he knew that this was not the ending. It was only the beginning.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading The Handler. I am honored that you not only began the book but read it straight through to the end.
Continue reading the Brandt Series here: Rogue Op: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 3)
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Books by Roger Weston
The Brandt Series
Rogue Op: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 3)
BRANDT IS BACK!
Chuck Brandt is determined to save America from a dangerous plot. And he's dead set on saving Maria from her psychotic father--General Ivan Lazar. Chuck is chasing a legend deep into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, but his impossible quest leads him straight into a green hell. There he faces diverse evils, from the jungle itself to General Lazar's Black Cobra guerrillas--the sadistic monsters tasked with the slow death of Chuck Brandt. He uncovers a horrible secret, but will he be able to stop a madman?
From a monastery in Spain to deep in the Amazon jungle, Chuck Brandt hunts down the man who started it all, and gets more than he bargained for. Don't miss the explosive climax on the upper reaches of the mighty river.
VENGEANCE: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 0)
The Recruiter: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 1)
The Handler: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 2)
Rogue Op: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 3)
Rogue Op II: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 4)
American Op: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 5)
Global Tilt: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 6)
Vulcan Eye: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 7)
Shadow Lawyer: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 8)
Shadow Court: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 9)
The Doorman: A Chuck Brandt Thriller (The Brandt Series Book 10)
Coming soon: Book 11 in The Brandt Series
***
The Sands Series
GHOST SHIP: A Jake Sands Thriller (Book 1)
RELIC: A Jake Sands Thriller (Book 2)
THE TARGET: A Jake Sands Thriller (Book 3)
***
More action-filled adventures by Roger Weston:
The Golden Catch: A Frank Murdock Action-Adventure
Frank Murdoch lives on a remote private island in Alaska, drawn there by its peace and isolation. There he finds a secret, unearthed from a cave sealed for seven decades. His historical research attracts Abby Sinclair, a lovely archaeologist. But it also catches the attention of Mok Don, chaebol leader and Korean Mafia kingpin. Frank Murdoch-crab fisherman and ex-CIA assassin-is back on his island with Abby, but Mok Don is closing in. Now the island's peace and quiet is threatened by the clash of one man's greed and another's love.
The Assassin's Wife: A Meg Coles Thriller
Drama Professor Meg Coles is in a state of shock after her husband is terminated and she barely escapes the killers. Now she is on the run, on the F.B.I.'s most wanted list, and a fugitive of the law and of government assassins. She learns that she knows very little about the man she's been married to for ten years. She must become a criminal to survive and to find out the truth, and she must get answers before the death teams silence her permanently
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