Four seconds passed without the Red Cobra or anyone else saying a word. She was trying to figure out what to do next. In the end, she only saw one option.
The Red Cobra leaped up and snaked around the back of Butcher who was standing just two yards from her. In an instant, she’d grabbed him round the neck with one arm. With her free hand, she took his gun from the holster and placed the barrel against his temple. Logan and Mackie didn’t make a move. She was quick, but still, their lack of reaction confused her. Worried her a little too.
‘And now what?’ Mackie asked.
The Red Cobra said nothing.
‘When did you do it?’ Logan asked, with what seemed like genuine interest rather than surprise or anger. ‘And how?’
‘What did I say?’ Mackie said to Logan, the hostility in his voice still clear. ‘I was fifty-fifty.’
‘I was sixty-forty,’ Logan said. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have been so confident.’
‘We all make mistakes.’
‘I let her go to the ladies. Before we went down to the car. That’s when she did it, I’m guessing.’
‘Yeah.’ Mackie nodded. ‘That’s probably when she confirmed the hit. A simple text message most likely. But how did they find us here?’
‘A tracking chip. Must be.’ Logan turned to the Red Cobra. ‘Where is it?’
Logan’s carefree tone made her uneasy. Her finger was on the trigger of the handgun. She knew if she pulled it and blew out Butcher’s brains that she’d probably have a second or two to dive for cover back into the hallway. Could she make it? Probably. But what then?
‘I didn’t set you up,’ she said.
‘Bullshit.’
‘I didn’t! If it’s me they’ve followed I don’t know how. It’s the truth. I didn’t make a call, or send a text or anything like that. I really didn’t.’
‘Then why are you holding a gun to my man’s head,’ Mackie said.
‘Security,’ she said.
‘Really?’ Mackie said. ‘What the hell do you think you’re going to do next? Potanin’s men will kill you too when they arrive. Logan explained that to you already. Potanin was never going to let you live. Do you not get that?’
‘I’ll take my chances.’
‘Then go ahead and pull the trigger. All these men are trained for this. You won’t get past us all.’
‘Maybe. Maybe not.’
‘They’re trained to give their lives for me. If I give the say-so,’ Mackie clicked his fingers, ‘Butcher will spin around and do his best to kill you.’
‘He wouldn’t stand a chance,’ she said. Butcher remained still; she couldn’t even sense or hear him breathing.
‘No, probably not,’ Mackie said. ‘Butcher knows that. But he’d be prepared to try anyway, to sacrifice himself for me, and for the others. And his fight, whatever he can give, would be enough to allow Logan to take you down. You’re a dead woman, Anna, unless you lower that gun.’
There was noise – footsteps – off to the left, down the hallway. Probably Martin, though the Red Cobra didn’t dare take her eyes off Logan and Mackie to confirm. She heard his voice a second later.
‘They’re thirty seconds out,’ Martin said, without a hint of angst.
‘And now you’ve got a gun pointed at your head, Anna, by a target you can’t even see,’ Mackie said. ‘It’s your call.’
A few more seconds passed. They felt like a lifetime.
‘Martin, Butcher, get Mackie out of here,’ Logan said. ‘You know the drill, where to go. Anna and I’ll take care of the guests.’ Nobody said a word. ‘Right?’
‘Right,’ Martin and Butcher chorused.
The Red Cobra was left with no other choice. She didn’t want to die. She dropped the gun to the ground, fully expecting Martin to either shoot her or knock her out right there.
But a second later, Martin came into view and passed by her. Then Butcher moved off too. Together with Mackie they headed out the back door of the sitting room, into the woods, without saying another word.
The Red Cobra looked over at Logan.
‘Come on then,’ he said. ‘Show me what you’ve got.’
She turned round and headed to the front door where her backpack lay on the ground. She grabbed her pocket knife and put it back in her ankle holster. The hunting blade she grasped in her hand. She slowly opened the front door. No sign of anyone yet. She rushed back into the sitting room.
‘You go out the rear,’ she said to Logan. ‘Work your way around the house to the front. I’ll lure them into here.’
They heard a gunshot outside, then several more in quick succession. They sounded distant. The men were coming at them from all angles it seemed.
‘That’s good,’ Logan said, as though noticing the unease the Red Cobra was feeling. ‘Butcher and Martin will take care of anyone coming in their direction. Less for us to worry about.’
‘Go,’ she said to him. He turned and moved over to the door, then stepped out into the woods.
‘Help!’ the Red Cobra screamed at the top of her voice. ‘Help. In here! I’m hurt.’
She had to assume Potanin’s men had been given orders to kill her. But that didn’t mean they knew that she knew. She would pretend to be with them for as long as necessary.
She moved up against the wall next to the doorway to the sitting room and listened. Nothing. She shouted again, trying to sound as desperate as she could. Still nothing.
A second later, a small object came clattering into the sitting room from the hallway. It came to a stop, by the sofa she’d been sitting on moments earlier. She knew what it was immediately – a smoke grenade. The thick white plume spread out rapidly and within seconds she couldn’t see a thing.
But she could still hear.
Soft footsteps were audible, approaching down the hallway. Just one set, she thought. She let out one last shout for help. The footsteps stopped, then a second later, started up again.
Through the fog, she spotted an inch of a rifle barrel poking through the open doorway, within touching distance. The Red Cobra sprang into action. She leaped across the doorway and slashed twice with her blade, aiming for the torso and neck of the figure she couldn’t fully see. She heard a pained gargle and there was a heavy thud when a figure, dressed from head to toe in black, fell through the smoke into a heap on the floor.
After a few seconds, the hissing of blood pulsing through the wound in the man’s neck died down and all went silent again.
The Red Cobra took a peek down the hallway. It was filled with smoke; she couldn’t see a thing. That was good. She rushed towards the front door, pulling up next to the doorframe. She heard another series of gunshots outside. Closer than before. Logan?