by Bryan Koepke
Julian was mortally wounded and it was starting to sink in. He’d met his match in Reece Culver. Summoning all of his strength, all of his rage, he grabbed the top of Culver’s head in his right hand and squeezed. He was feeling his way to the eye, knowing if he mashed his thumb into this man’s eye socket he’d be let go.
Something slammed hard against his cheek, knocking his teeth together. More pain. All went dark, then stars, then the blurriness of the scene he’d been seeing earlier. The surface of the water was cloudy now with someone’s blood. The inside of his mouth was on fire. His tongue felt so odd.
Choking and gasping for air, Julian struggled to breathe. He was beyond attacking. The downward pressure on the top of his skull was immense, and this man in the mask, Reece Culver, was twisting something back and forth. It was a side-to-side motion and with each movement the pain worsened. Julian’s vision was narrowing. He fought, choking again and tasting the last of his life as it leaked from his dark soul.
*
Reece watched the assassin go limp, and he pulled out the blade, trying to unlodge it from the dead man’s throat. It was stuck somehow in the vocal cords or tendons. The water around him was stained red with blood, and he thought for the first time about sharks.
He heard a noise from above.
“You motherfucker, it’s my turn now,” Alex James yelled as he leaned over the side of the boat, aiming Julian’s 9mm Sig Sauer handgun toward Reece Culver’s skull.
“You killed him, but now it’s my turn. I’m going to take you out,” Alex said, twisting the gun sideways gangster style.
Reece pulled hard, twisting to get the knife out of the dead assassin’s throat. With any luck he could launch it and hit Alex before the dumbass stopped making threats and got the courage to fire.
A rifle shot rang out in the distance. Reece heard a thump, like something metallic hitting the sidewalk.
Alex James wasn’t making threats anymore.
Chapter 92
Marie’s warm hand felt good on top of his forearm as Reece stared out the port window of the Draecon International corporate jet. He spotted another of the runway distance markers, and he guessed they were closing in on the rotation speed of the large airplane. Soon the pilot would ease back on the controls, the nose wheel would lift, and the pilot would take off from Anguilla International Airport.
He thought back to how good it felt a couple of days earlier when he’d watched the authorities lead Alex James down the hallway to his jail cell.
“Reece, I don’t know how I can thank you for saving me from those wretched men. I mean, to think that Alex James would stoop so low. I still don’t know what he hoped to gain by kidnapping me,” Marie said.
“I think he was trying to get back at Karl,” Reece said.
“For what?”
“For his suggestion to the board of directors that they sell off Draecon’s defense sector,” Reece said running his right hand over the top of his head. “That or it could have the assassin’s idea to take you as a way of getting back at me, for getting in the way of his plans.”
“Well, I’m glad it’s over.”
“Me too, I just wish I knew how to make it up to Nate,” Reece said, feeling glum.
“Nate?”
“Yeah, Haisley’s friend. He’s the guy that loaned me his Aero Commander for the trip down to St. Thomas.”
“You mean, the airplane wasn’t insured?” Marie said.
“I’m assuming it was, but that plane was his baby. It had been handed down to him from his grandfather,” Reece said.
*
Marie sat next to Reece, still digesting his last words. Then she thought of her handbag below. She reached down and ran her hands underneath the seat in front of them until she located her bag, unclenched the two sides, and found the black plastic handle of the stainless steel attaché case she’d brought with her from the Brilliant Blue. It had fit perfectly into her big brown leather handbag. Pulling upward, she brought the case out and set it down on her lap.
Reece hadn’t noticed. He was still staring out of the small oval window beside his seat. Past his head she could see the open ocean below the corporate jet. She’d had enough ocean for one lifetime. She was glad to be headed back home.
The steel of the case was cold on the tops of her thighs. She looked over her shoulder, ensuring no one from the back of the plane was up and about. Then she remembered that it only held herself, Reece, and the two pilots in the forward cabin. Marie pushed sideways on each of the silver clasps and enjoyed the twin pop, pop the case made as she opened the locks. It got his attention and he’d looked back from the window. She stared into his deep blue eyes, and for the first time realized that they were an exact match to the ocean outside the window.
“Is there any chance this could help?” she said as she lifted up the top and exposed the interior of the briefcase.
“No way,” Reece said as he looked down at the hundreds of loose diamonds in all shapes and sizes twinkling up at them.
*
As the sun sank toward the horizon outside the jet, Reece stretched his arms above his head and felt the smooth leather headboard as he relaxed in the large bed a few feet forward of the airplane’s tail spar. The ceiling was covered in a thick weave of beige carpet-like material, and one of the air vents was shooting cold air toward his face.
This large bedroom with its queen-sized bed was used by executives traveling across the globe to meetings in faraway lands. Marie’s side was pressed firmly against his. Her skin was soft and warm. He caught a whiff of that French perfume he’d become so familiar with over the past several weeks.
She let out a sigh and as he glanced over at Marie he could see her beautiful chest rising up and down with each breath. For once he’d found a spot in an airplane much better than his usual pilot’s seat.
“So I guess that means we’re officially members of the mile-high club. What would you say to a second go around?” she said, raising her right hand and swirling it.
“Sounds good to me. We’ve got nothing but time.”
The End
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events herein are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SABOTAGE
A Reece Culver Novel
Copyright © 2015 by Bryan Koepke
Paperback 978-0-9915824-3-3
Ebook 978-0-9915824-4-0
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
Published in the United States by Writers Cabin Press, Ltd. Denver, Colorado.
www.writerscabinpress.com
For more information about the author, please visit:
www.bryankoepke.com
Edited by John Paine
Cover Design by Grady at DAMONZA
Formatting by DAMONZA
