The Armstrong Assignment (A Janet Markham Bennett Cozy Thriller Book 1) by Diana Xarissa (books for 10th graders TXT) 📕

“I was just making a suggestion. France has quite strict gun control laws,” she replied.

“I’m not worried about breaking a few laws,” he told her.

As the lift doors opened on the ground floor, Tony muttered a curse word and then slipped the gun back into his pocket. That gave him two hands to push Janet in front of him, using her as a shield as they left the building. Theodore did the same with Bobby.

As they walked outside, Janet looked around. There were a handful of people standing behind a police barricade. Mr. Jones and two other men in black suits were in front of it. A black limousine was parked at the kerb, with a uniformed chauffeur holding open the back door.

“Into the car,” Tony told Janet.

She took a step forwards and then smiled as she recognized the chauffeur. Christopher looked concerned as Tony gave her another shove. Janet winked at him.

Chapter 15

As Tony gave Janet another shove, she suddenly fell forwards. Balancing on one foot, she used her other foot to kick one of Tony’s knees as hard as she could, wincing at the sound that the contact made.

Tony’s high-pitched scream cut through the air as he fell to the ground, one hand in his pocket, trying to fish out the gun. Janet rolled away from him as quickly as she could and found herself completely surrounded by men and women in black suits within seconds. When the gun went off, she had no idea who, if anyone, had been shot.

It took her a moment to struggle to her feet. The people surrounding her gave her a small gap to peer through. Tony was lying on the ground and Janet could see blood pouring out of a hole in his trouser leg.

“He shot himself in the leg,” one of the men next to her told her.

Mr. Jones walked over to Tony. “He’s lost consciousness,” he said. “He needs an ambulance.”

“Tony? Wake up,” Theodore shouted. “He’ll be okay, won’t he?” he asked.

Mr. Jones was busy retrieving the gun that was still in Tony’s pocket. With that in hand, he turned to Theodore.

“You may want to release your hostage,” he said tightly.

Theodore looked surprised and then shook his head. “I need to go,” he said. “Bobby is my ticket out of here.” He pushed Bobby towards the limousine and then looked over at Tony.

“You can’t leave Tony behind,” Janet said softly.

“I don’t have a choice,” Theodore said.

Janet could see tears streaming down the man’s face.

“This was all his doing, wasn’t it?” she asked. “He wanted to kill Bobby. You were content with simply stealing some of his money.”

“He thought we could get it all,” Theodore told her. “Once Bobby was out of the way, he was going to marry Lucy, and then he was going to get rid of her, too. We’d have been rich beyond our wildest dreams.”

“And now he’s going to prison,” Mr. Jones said. “If you’re willing to testify against him, you may get a lighter sentence.”

“I can’t testify against my own brother,” Theodore replied. “I’m getting into that car and I’m disappearing.”

He shoved Bobby forwards again. Bobby took a step and then stopped. He blinked several times and then seemed to become more alert.

“I don’t feel so good,” he said before he suddenly fell over backwards.

One of the women near Janet managed to break his fall before Bobby’s head hit the ground. Theodore dived head first into the waiting car.

“Go, go, go,” he shouted at Christopher.

Christopher pushed the door shut and then looked at Janet. “Is he armed?” he asked her.

“I don’t think so, but I don’t know for certain,” she replied.

“You know where to take him,” Mr. Jones said.

Christopher nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said smartly. He glanced at Mr. Jones and then crossed to Janet.

“Edward is in hospital. He has a concussion but is expected to make a full recovery,” he told her before he pulled her into a tight hug. “You were amazing,” he added as he released her.

Janet stood and watched as Christopher drove away with Theodore. When would Theodore realise that he wasn’t going to the airport, she wondered. A few minutes later, Tony was loaded into an ambulance and driven away.

“What about the nurse and Mr. Daniels?” Janet asked.

“As soon as you left the room, we sent in an ambulance crew,” Mr. Jones told her. “They were taken out through the back of the hotel and are already on their way to hospital.”

Janet exhaled and felt several hours’ worth of tension slowly leave her body. “I need to see Edward,” she said.

“We need to debrief you,” Mr. Jones countered.

“After I’ve seen Edward,” she replied. Decades of teaching primary school had given her a stern, taking-no-nonsense face. Mr. Jones looked as if he wanted to argue, but, after a moment, he nodded.

“Jacobs, take Mrs. Bennett to her husband,” he said, before spinning on his heel and heading into the hotel.

An hour later, Janet had learned all about Howard Jacobs and how he’d come to work for the agency. She’d also learned that injured agents didn’t get taken to regular hospitals. Instead, she’d been driven into the French countryside and taken to what looked to be a large stately home.

A nurse in a white uniform greeted her as Howard escorted her into the building.

“Ah, Mrs. Bennett, your husband has been asking for you. He seemed to think that you were in great danger,” the nurse said.

“She was,” Howard told her. “But she’s a lot tougher than she looks.”

Janet flushed. “I just did what I thought I had to do in order to survive.”

The nurse raised an eyebrow. “I want to hear the whole story. You may not