The Game (Tom Wood)

THIRTY-SEVEN





Victor peered out of the restaurant to confirm that both remaining Georgians had gone in the Jeep and one wasn’t waiting behind to catch them as they came out – like he would have done. The street was empty. He saw the Jeep rounding a corner at the end of the block.

‘Drop the shotgun,’ Victor said.

Leeson did.

‘Take off your jacket.’

Leeson did, but his movements were slow and awkward. Victor helped pull it off him and threw it to the floor. Blood stained one sleeve and almost the entire back.

Victor turned him around on the spot to check the blood hadn’t soaked through to the white shirt. It hadn’t. Stains darkened the backs of his trouser legs, but would draw less attention than a man in his underpants.

‘Are those sirens?’ Leeson asked.

‘Yes. Time to move.’

Leeson swallowed. ‘You saved my life, Mr Kooi.’

‘Not yet.’

‘But they’ve gone. You said—’

‘And they know where we’re going.’

Leeson reached for the shotgun.

‘Leave it,’ Victor said.

‘If they’re waiting I’ll need it.’

‘If you take that shotgun out onto the streets you’re asking for the police to spot us. I take it you don’t want to be arrested?’

‘I don’t want to be killed either. I need a gun.’

‘Then you should have selected your sidearm with a little less thought to its appearance and a little more consideration to its usefulness.’

‘But—’

‘Do you want to continue this discussion at the farmhouse or in jail?’

Leeson didn’t answer, but he nodded.

‘It’s a two-minute walk to the right to get to the parking garage, but we can’t go direct. So we go left, and we walk quickly but we don’t run. Soon as we get to an intersection we take it and circle the block, walking like a couple of regular guys. No looking over your shoulder. No watching the road for the Jeep. We just walk.’

‘But the Georgians went left.’

‘And by now they’ll have already circled the same block and will be waiting for us in the parking garage. Until we get there our priority is not getting picked up by the police. No more questions. I’ve got you this far. Do as I say when I say it and I’ll get you the rest of the way. If you don’t like my methods you can try making your own way back.’

‘No, no. I’ll do what you say. I will. Sorry. Let’s go. Don’t leave me. Please.’

They went, turning left, hurrying along the pavement as the sound of sirens grew louder behind them.

‘Don’t look back,’ Victor said.

Leeson nodded.

They walked past the scatter of glass pebbles on the road surface where Victor had shot out the Jeep’s rear windscreen. Expended brass shell cases from the AK-74SU glinted. The wail of sirens intensified and Victor was aware of Leeson tensing next to him, but after Victor’s brief he managed to resist the compulsion to look back. Then tyres screeched and the sirens grew no louder.

Victor took the first turning that presented itself – a side street that cut through the block. Closed boutiques lined both sides of the twisting throughway. A young couple were making out in an alcove, oblivious of the shootout that had occurred less than one hundred metres away, or unconcerned by it. Maybe it helped the mood.

Walking quickly by with Leeson had no effect on the lustful moans and gasps. They reached the end of the cobbled street and turned left.

‘Act normally,’ Victor said as he slowed the pace.

They reached the intersection and waited for a moment to cross the flow of traffic. A police cruiser sped towards them. Leeson tensed.

‘Relax,’ Victor assured him, ‘it’s not slowing.’

The cop car shot past and Leeson exhaled.

‘Containing the scene is the first priority. The emergency call won’t have provided enough intel to act upon. They don’t know who they’re looking for yet.’

Leeson gulped and nodded.

‘Unless we do something to draw their attention,’ Victor added.

‘Okay,’ Leeson said. ‘Okay. I understand.’

‘Understanding and doing are two separate concepts.’

Anger was in Leeson’s gaze. ‘I’m not in the business of f*cking up, Mr Kooi.’

‘That’s the spirit.’

A gap in the traffic appeared and they hurried across. The signage for the multi-storey parking garage glowed up ahead.

‘Do you have a plan?’ Leeson asked as they neared.

‘I always have a plan.’

‘We’re going to the limousine?’

‘Yes.’

‘Won’t they be waiting for us there?’

Victor nodded. ‘Of course.’

‘Then all they have to do is wait on the top level until we’re out in the open and then we’re dead.’

‘Is that what you expect?’

‘Of course.’

‘Is that what you would do?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then why would they do it?’

‘Because it will work.’

‘There’s two ways onto the roof – the ramp and the door to the elevator and stairwell.’

‘There’s two of them. One can cover each.’

‘What happens if one of us appears at the door?’

‘The one covering it will shoot.’

‘What about the other one: will he join the gunfight or stay covering the ramp in case we’ve split up?’

‘That depends if we split up.’

‘But they don’t know what we’ll do. If one is engaged in a gunfight and the other can’t assist then it’s riskier for them than it is for us, because maybe we’re both shooting back. Then it’s two on one in our favour. If the other does assist and we have split up then their flank is exposed and they get shot in the back.’

‘My weapon is empty.’

‘They don’t know that.’

‘I don’t know how to do this kind of thing. I’m not trained in combat. I don’t know how to—’

‘They don’t know that either.’

‘What does it matter? It doesn’t change the fact that they have more guns than us because you made me leave the shotgun.’

‘They don’t know that,’ Victor said again, ‘so they’ll act as if we’re both armed. They won’t be on the roof, for the reasons I just explained.’

‘Then where will they be?’

‘On a level below with the Jeep parked on the roof so we don’t see it. They’ll ambush us as we make our way up, knowing we’ll expect them to be on the roof.’

‘Unless they can think like you can.’

‘In which case why are four of them already dead, yet we’re still alive?’

Leeson didn’t answer.