Blood Sunset

32



‘I NEED A GUN,’ I SAID AS we drove out of the hospital. ‘Let’s head back to my place. I’ve got one under my bed.’
My private gun was a Colt .45 that I sometimes used on the firing range. Although it was fully registered, I wasn’t supposed to carry it around with me, but I didn’t care about that.
Cassie turned the car onto Kings Way. She appeared to be considering my request.
‘You don’t want to get one from the watch-house?’ she said.
‘No. Eckles won’t sign one out to me, so I need my own.’
‘You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?’ she said, edgy.
I didn’t answer her.
‘I can’t talk you out of it?’
‘Nope.’
‘Shit.’
When we pulled up outside my building, I unclipped the microphone, earpiece and transponder and packed them into the glove compartment. Cassie waited in the car while I ran up the internal staircase. The sensor light outside my apartment lit up the hallway as I fumbled with the front door key. Inside, I only had time to register that Prince wasn’t there to greet me when a shadow floated in behind me and a blade pressed against my throat.
‘Do not reach for gun,’ Kirzek whispered in my ear. ‘Put hands on chest.’
I gritted my teeth and did as he ordered, kicking myself for not expecting this. After giving the laptop back I’d assumed he’d go on the defence, disappear into the night. In hindsight, I should’ve realised Kirzek was not a man to run and leave unfinished business. Foolishly, I’d let my guard down and fallen into his trap.
‘Filthy pig. Pity you come home so soon, huh?’ said Kirzek. ‘I figure you would eventually, but not so soon. I am still not caught yet. So what is the matter? Are you weak, McCauley?’
I could smell his body odour, feel his breath on the back of my neck.
‘Perhaps if you had listened to me it could be okay,’ he said.
‘Hey, I did listen. I did everything you asked. I played by your rules.’
‘Ah, you think I am stupid immigrant?’
‘I never said that.’
‘You don’t have to. See, you think you are smarter than me. You think I have no brain. Let me tell you, I have been in police too. In Romania, I am police, like you, but we do things differently. Do you know what my expertise was?’
‘No.’
‘Torture,’ he said, patting down my chest and waist, looking for a gun. ‘And counter-surveillance. You didn’t listen to me. I told you: no pigs.’
‘I came alone for the swap. You saw me. I was on my own.’
‘Then why are helicopters and filthy dogs out there looking for me?’
‘That wasn’t my fault. I kept you out of this until after the swap. That was the deal as far as –’
‘Shut up, shut up! Just walk backwards, slowly.’
The blade pressed against my throat as Kirzek led me into the lounge. Glass lay on the floor and the curtain flapped against the balcony door. He must have scaled the outside of the building to break in. Not bad for a man his size. In the reflection of the television screen I saw that he’d changed into a dark T-shirt and pants. I also caught a glimpse of a bruise on his forehead and a tiny silver crucifix hanging from his left ear. As he pushed me into the sofa, I scanned the coffee table, searching for a pair of scissors, a steak knife, anything to defend myself with. But there was nothing.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ I said. ‘You turn me loose, maybe you’ll get some leniency.’
He laughed. ‘I don’t want leniency.’
‘What do you want?’
‘I want you to scream,’ he hissed, pressing the blade harder against my throat.
Instinctively, I spun away from it, scrambled around the coffee table then kicked it over as Kirzek lurched around the sofa. He stumbled at first then charged across the room towards me. I raced to the front door but stopped to avoid having my back to him. Swivelling, I ducked low as he swung the knife in a broad arc. It hit off-centre, slashing the side of my neck, and I was able to sidestep and run down the hall towards my bedroom. My knee crunched against the skirting board as Kirzek brought me down with a crash tackle.
‘Now I will hear it,’ he wheezed in my ear. ‘You will scream like pig.’
My whole body felt like it was squashed in a vice and my knee throbbed in pain. Kirzek twisted my head and forced me to look him in the eye.
‘I gave you plenty chance. Now look what happens,’ he said, a smile spread across his meaty face.
‘You’re a filthy cockroach,’ I snapped back. ‘You won’t be safe anywhere. Even in protective custody they’ll make you eat your own shit.’
He chuckled, wiped at sweat on his forehead.
‘You think I will go to prison? Let me tell you something, I will never go back. Never.’
‘Right.’
‘It is shame about your bitch wife, huh. Pity we not have more time. Pity for her. Maybe I spend some time with her after I finish here.’
‘She’s a grown woman, Kirzek. Don’t you like them younger?’
A look of alarm passed over his face.
‘We know what’s on the laptop. We know about everything. The Holy Brethren’s going down. No one walks away from this.’
Somewhere outside I heard Cassie yelling, but I couldn’t focus on the words. I couldn’t focus on anything any more. All I saw was the knife, smeared with my own blood, striking towards me, then three loud cracks splintered the blackness, jolting Kirzek like a fit. His eyes fixed to mine as the knife fell to the floor. I looked back up the hall and saw Cassie in silhouette, gun trained on Kirzek’s body.