He was just vaguely aware that his heavy front door was hurtling through space directly toward him when it crashed against the wall behind him, a few feet above his head, and splintered into vicious flying spikes.
He got to his feet, shaking his head to clear it. He was shaken, perhaps, but seemingly unscathed. The room was full of smoke and whirling debris; javelin sharp splinters of wood littered the floor.
“Hello, Hawke,” a rumbling voice from within the clouds of smoke said.
The man was suddenly standing in the doorway, filling the frame. Hawke would have known that voice anywhere. Gravelly, edgy, and deep, meant to intimidate. Hawke looked down at his clothes, casually dusting himself off with the back of his hand.
“Next time, try knocking, Spider,” Hawke said with a thin smile.
“Right. I’ll try and remember that.”
All in black, Payne was wearing full night combat fatigues, even a helmet with night vision goggles. He had an M4A1 assault rifle slung from his shoulder and what looked like a Sig Sauer 9mm sidearm on his hip. Someone he knew on this island had access to the good stuff. And had provided the assassin with full-bore weapons and gear. Clearly, this was not a social call.
“But then again,” Spider added, “there won’t be any next time for you and me, old buddy.” He took a few steps forward into the room.
“No, I don’t suppose that there will be,” Hawke said, righting his chair. “I’d invite you in, but you’re already in.”
Hawke realized his voice showed a lot more confidence than he was feeling right now. He was seriously disadvantaged, clearly having made the old mistake of bringing a metaphorical knife to a legitimate gunfight. Definitely outgunned here, the big Python suddenly feeling more like a peashooter. His mind went into overdrive. He needed a new plan. Somehow, he had to remove himself from this confrontation and hit the reset button.
Had to keep him talking. Right now Hawke was in mortal danger, and both men knew it.
“Sorry about your old buddy Hook,” Payne said, “I figured I might hear from you when you heard about the old man’s accident.”
“The accident.”
“Yeah, well.”
“So you came here to kill me, too. You think I threw you under the bus for that fiasco in Paris? Nothing to do with it, Spider. I think you got a raw deal. We all did. Everything you did was by the book. Strictly legal operation. I know a lot of other agents who are still pissed at the way you were treated. I’m on your side.”
“Save it, Alex. I was on North Haven. I went back for the funeral just to see what I could see. What I saw is you and your bosom buddy Brick Kelly huddled up at a back table at the Nebo Lodge. Didn’t take much to figure out what you were talking about. Then I get a phone call from you out of the blue. That’s why I’m here, Lord Hawke. Preemptive strike. You know the drill.”
“Really? Going to be tough to make this one look accidental, Spider, my bloody door blown off the hinges and all…”
Hawke had both hands in his pockets under the cover of his sweater. He surreptitiously moved his right hand to the Colt Python’s grips. He carefully swiveled the holster upward… easing the hammer back to the cocked position… finger applying light pressure to the trigger… all without Spider seeing a thing.
“I don’t give a shit anymore, Alex. Kelly will have the whole goddamn CIA on my ass now. But I plan to stay alive as long as I can. And take as many of those Agency assholes with me as I can. You understand that kind of thinking, right? Hell, I can see you doing the same damn thing if you got screwed by MI6 the way I did by CIA. Tell me you wouldn’t, because I know—”
Hawke fired twice, right through the bulky sweater.
The heavy mag rounds caught Payne high on his right side. He spun around in a mad pirouette and staggered backward through the doorway and into the rain. At the same time, he brought up the muzzle of his automatic weapon and squeezed off a long burst, the staccato rattle deafening inside the small cottage, bullets spraying everywhere.
Hawke dove behind the upended table. The high-powered rounds splintered bits and chunks of wood all around him. Couldn’t remain here a second longer… his cover was disintegrating before his eyes.
He popped up and fired again.
He missed high and left, but caused Spider to duck down, move sideways on the front steps and take cover outside behind the exterior wall.
Hawke turned and bolted down the hallway leading to the seaward part of the house, toward his bedroom. Despite all the warning signs, he’d seriously underestimated his enemy. Cocky, that was the only word for his stupid behavior.. And that’s precisely how you got yourself killed in this business.
He needed a few precious seconds to think his way out of that very likely scenario.
CHAPTER 14
Hawke dashed inside his room.
Spider was right on his heels, pounding down the long hallway after him.
Inside the small bedroom, Hawke whirled around and slammed the heavy wooden door behind him. He double-bolted it and then slid his large mahogany dresser in front of it, thinking about how this could play out, trying to see it in his mind.
Spider had come prepared for all-out war. He was wearing ceramic body armor plates inside his combat jumpsuit. In order to survive, Hawke had to put a round between one of the seams between the armor plates… and hope to hit a vital organ.
And how the hell did you do that staring down the barrel of a roaring machine gun throwing lead at you? He looked around the room, trying to subdue the panic that was creeping around the edges on his conscious mind… A weapon? Some way out of this… had to be!
He spotted one of Pelham’s round needlepoint rugs in the center of the bedroom floor.
There might be a way …
His bedroom was directly above the sea. A long time ago he’d had the crazy notion of installing a fireman’s pole beneath his bedroom floor. His initial idea had been to use it to slide down the twenty or thirty feet to the narrow lagoon that lay just beneath his room. He’d envisioned it as a great way to wake up each morning. Slide naked from his bed, grab the pole, and wake up in the clear cold seawater. The novelty had soon worn off.… but the pole was still there!
He stepped to the center of his small room. Lifted up the circular rug with a sailboat on it. Beneath it was the round hatch he’d disguised to match the rest of the wooden flooring. Never thinking he’d need an escape hatch but just have it, a secret like a bookcase that swung open to reveal a hidden passage.
He hooked his finger under an edge and lifted.
Spider was hammering on the door with his fist, kicking it hard with his heavy boots. Telling Hawke it was over, useless, time to die. It would be the work of a few moments before the powerful brute gained entry.
Yes! Twenty feet directly below Hawke’s room lay the small enclosed lagoon that opened out to the open sea. He could see the gleaming pole disappearing into the dark waves below, frothing up against the steep rocky walls.
Angered, Spider was firing his weapon at the door, splintering the timbers. Hawke knew he didn’t have long—
He jumped, grabbed the pole and slid down, lowering himself just a couple of feet. Then he reached up and pulled the hatch cover with its attached rug back into place. Even if Spider got inside the room now, well, he’d just bought himself a little time… a minute, maybe …
Go!
He let go of the hatch cover and let himself slide….