by A K Reynolds
‘Except for the part about loving me. All that talk about falling in love with me was just talk, wasn’t it? All along you were only interested in using me to cosy up to Tara and win her confidence, weren’t you?’
‘There was more to it than that, Jo. I grew to love you and I still do. Passionately. But you can’t come with me and I can’t leave you here. You’re a liability. I feel you don’t trust me and because of that, I don’t trust you. This is going to be like tearing out my own heart but I have to do it.’
I took a step towards her.
‘Stay where you are,’ she said.
With a loaded gun pointing at me I was minded to do as she said, so I stopped and put up my hands in a gesture of compliance.
‘Okay, we can talk from this distance’
I tensed myself, ready to charge at Sarina if the opportunity came my way. It didn’t. I charged anyway. I had nothing to lose. Taken by surprise she didn’t pull the trigger until it was too late. By the time she did I had a hand on the barrel pushing it to one side. There was a deafening noise and a vase disintegrated, showering pieces in all directions. And we were rolling about on the floor, grappling for the gun. Sarina had the better grip on it but I came close to wresting it out of her hand. But she got the gun free and, before I knew it, she’d whacked me over the head with it. Ever been whacked over the head with an automatic pistol? I can assure you, it’s not like they show you in the movies. You don’t fall unconscious and wake up as if nothing had happened. You feel a blinding pain and you can’t move other than for thrashing your limbs to cope with your suffering. So that’s what I did with my eyes screwed shut. When I opened them Sarina was standing over me with the gun aimed at my head.
‘Now I’m going to kill you goodbye,’ she said. ‘Any last words?’
I wasn’t going to beg for my life. I’m not the begging type.
‘Just get on with it.’
I shut my eyes tight again as a deafening explosion rocked my world. Gritty splinters smacked my face. I opened my eyes and saw a hole in the plaster next to my head. Sarina was laughing, a wisp of smoke rising from the muzzle of the gun.
‘I’ve changed my mind about killing you, Jo. This is way too much fun. We could be good together. We always have been.’ She slid the gun into the back of her trousers.
I took my chance and sprung up, wrestling with her. Taken by surprise she fell to the floor with me on top of her, and as she twisted to escape me I snatched the gun from her waistband and got to my feet. She stood up at the same time as me and we faced each other, breathing as heavily as if we’d just had a great time in bed.
‘Sorry Sarina,’ I said, ‘but you have to go.’
‘You can’t kill me, Jo. You should know that. You’ve already tried, remember?’
I did remember. And I remembered the good times we’d had together. And I thought about the fact that she could’ve killed me but she hadn’t. Maybe I’d got addicted to danger. Whatever the reason, her words: ‘we could be good together’ resonated with me.
‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘Right about everything.’
Throwing the gun to one side I embraced her. She held me tight and we kissed. And in that moment I felt something I hadn’t felt for the last few days. That she was The One.
‘We were always meant to be, Jo,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t kill you. I tried but I just couldn’t bring myself to. You mean far too much to me.’ She got me a replacement wine glass from the shelf. ‘Let’s finish the bottle and turn in.’
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
A WEEK LATER
We were enjoying a beer in a bar in Marbella. Sarina opened her new laptop and fiddled with it then shut the lid and took a sip from her glass. ‘How does it feel to be a multi-millionairess?’ she said.
‘You mean it’s gone into your account?’
‘All ten million of it. Von Koss has made us rich. And I like to think of it as our account, Ilse, not mine. When I saw it’d been transferred I emailed Tara’s information about Von Koss to the Greater Manchester Police. He’s going to be put away for a very long time. And while he’s locked up, it’ll be easy to arrange a hit on him.’
‘What?’
‘Wherever he ends up I’ll be able to find a fellow prisoner of his who’ll kill him for buttons. There are people in prisons who want nothing more than the blood of a paedophile on their hands.’
‘Are you serious Sarina?’
She took a sip of her beer and smiled.
‘You think I’m joking?’
There was a look in her eye. It reminded me of someone.
‘No,’ I said. ‘I don’t think you’re joking.’
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Much of my time these days is spent wondering how long we’ll have together. The rest of our lives, I hope, and I hope we’ll both have long and happy lives. But with what we have hanging over us, you never know. The day might yet come when a hitman or hitwoman sent by Devlin’s gang, or Von Koss’s family, will track us down to where we now live in a luxury apartment in the most exclusive part of Panama.
If a hit-person does track us down we’ll both be ready. Sarina’s been an expert with a gun for as long as I’ve known her and I’ve been taking lessons. When we first got together she was crazy and I didn’t know it. Events, or being with Sarina, or both, have made me crazy too. And now that we’re both crazy, there’s no stopping us.
To anyone thinking of coming after me and Sarina, I have this message: we’re two savvy women, our home is like a fortress, we own an arsenal of weaponry, we know how to use it, and we’re always packing wherever we go. So don’t be surprised if, before you even see us, we kill you goodbye.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We owe a big thank you to all our friends who have encouraged our writing.
In no particular order, they are: Melinda, Owen, Julian, Sean, Debbie, Phil, Paul M, Paul D B, Denis, Pearl, and Ted. (We hope we haven’t left anybody out – if we have, we’re very sorry!).
Also, to our editors at Dark Edge Press who have done so much to improve the book: Michael and Heather.
Andy & Kath Reynolds, Huddersfield, 2 November 2021
A. K. Reynolds is the pen name used by husband and wife writing team Andy and Kath Reynolds.
Kath provides the ideas for their stories and writes the thought processes of their fictional characters. Andy does most of the plotting and writes the action scenes.
Kath has worked in a women’s refuge and latterly as a consultant; Andy is a former lawyer.
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