Hunters by Matt Rogers (books for 5 year olds to read themselves .TXT) 📕

at the hips and thundered the toe of the boot into the side of the blue-eyed man’s head.

Nothing personal.

Only business.

Alonzo opened his mouth, as if he were about to say, ‘You made it.’

He didn’t get the opportunity.

Slater grabbed him by the collar and hauled him into an adjacent laneway, because he knew reinforcements would be descending on Bay 2 in moments.

There’s a time and a place for extraneous conversation, and this wasn’t it.

Back in El Salvador, Violetta had hacked into the New York Department of City Planning, pulling up the plans for the buildings directly surrounding the black hole that was the government skyscraper. Everything concerning the skyscraper itself had been redacted, but Slater hadn’t needed those plans. He’d memorised what he needed to do, so now he shouldered a flimsy back door open, snapping its lock.

He shoved Alonzo through into a supply back room for a still-closed department store. He sprinted past metal racks of inventory — fast-fashion clothing in neat plastic packaging — and made it to the alarm panel, where he entered the code Violetta had fed him.

4021.

The blinking warning light went green, and the alarm never went off.

Alonzo had the common sense to shut the door that they’d come through, sealing them off from the adjacent laneway, but he slid down it as soon as it was closed, panting for breath.

Slater said, ‘Pull yourself together.’

Alonzo gulped, his curly brown hair knotted and damp with sweat. He wore a plain grey jumpsuit, and his wrists were cuffed.

He shook himself back to reality, then asked, ‘We’re going out through the front?’

‘This shopfront faces 5th Avenue,’ Slater said. ‘It’ll be bedlam.’

‘Then we’re fucked. They’ll have this building surrounded.’

Slater shook his head. ‘There’s dozens of buildings we could have gone into, and there’s no better place to evade capture than Manhattan. Hard for them to be discreet with thousands of witnesses.’

Alonzo blinked hard, fighting to centre himself. ‘Okay. So we make it out of here. Then what?’

‘Exactly,’ Slater said. ‘Sooner or later they’ll get us, somewhere in the Greater New York region. We need an ace up our sleeve.’

‘Do we have one?’

‘Let’s hope so. That’s King’s job.’

‘Where’s King? And the girls?’

‘Back in El Salvador.’

Alonzo blinked again. ‘You came alone?’

Slater nodded.

‘What are they doing back there?’ Alonzo asked.

‘Gaining leverage.’

Alonzo stared.

Slater said, ‘So we have a whole country on our side.’

Alonzo put his head in his hands. ‘What have you done?’

Slater said, ‘When we get out, we’re going to the Consulate General of El Salvador.’

85

King kept his voice low, making sure it evoked terror. ‘A man with your wealth needs better security.’

Torres registered the American accent, and went paler still. ‘Oh, God. No. Please. Please, sir. I did what your friend asked! I released you! Oh my God, my family. My children. No…’

King had seen the worst the world had to offer, and he’d still never met a man as scared as Torres. Again, he wondered, What did Antônia threaten to do?

‘She’s not my friend,’ King snarled. ‘That’s why I’m here.’

Torres’ lips flapped but no sound followed. He was both battling not to succumb to a panic attack and trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

King said, ‘Don’t think. Don’t talk. Listen.’

Torres appeared almost relieved. He nodded, still physically tense.

King said, ‘You’re going to spend the rest of your life as a slave to America. Everything they want, everything they need, you’re going to give them. You’ll go to the grave as a coward who succumbed to fear, who served your masters until they grew tired of you and dispensed with you. And that might be sooner than you think. Texis will kill you for what you’re going to tell them.’

Torres didn’t respond.

King said, ‘Is that what you want?’

‘I have no choice.’

‘Now you do.’

‘Antônia…’

‘I’ve dealt with Antônia. You help me, and then you go back to serving Texis. You keep your life, your wealth, your freedom.’

Antônia’s still out there, he thought, but you don’t need to know that, Fabio.

Torres’ relief was visible on his face. The very thought that Antônia might no longer be in the picture nearly brought him to his knees. His whole body began to shake. Tears leaked out of their ducts and rolled down his cheeks.

King was flabbergasted. ‘What did she tell you she was going to do?’

Torres shook his head, his teeth rattling, as if even vocalising it would make him violently sick.

King said, ‘I can make you help me. Just like Antônia made you help her. But I want you to want it. That’s the difference between me and her. I want you to help me out of trust, not fear.’

Torres hesitated. Then he bristled, like he was going to do something drastic. Scream for help, or try to run…

King switched gears. ‘Okay. Have it your way.’

He took the gun away from Torres’ head. When Torres went to run, King kicked his legs out, using his shin to knock one knee into the other. Torres went down hard, slamming his face on the carpet. King snatched him up and dragged him to the side of the four-poster bed like he weighed nothing.

There is an unmatched physical intimidation in being dragged around at will.

The helplessness.

You feel like a twig, like you can be snapped at any moment.

King pressed his three free fingers into Torres’ throat, pinned his head back against the bed frame, then let go and took a proper grip on the pistol as he pressed it hard into the man’s forehead.

Torres spluttered, choking.

‘That’s it, then,’ King said. ‘You die right here.’

He abandoned trigger discipline and slipped a finger inside the trigger guard.

Torres squealed like a pig. An inhuman sound.

King stopped his finger millimetres off the trigger.

‘That’s right,’ he said. ‘All those threats Antônia made, those threats Cártel de Texis made, they’re for some future date. This is right here, right now. And you’re going to die. Are you ready for that?’

‘No, sir.’

‘You’re absolutely not. Are you a religious man?’

‘No.’

‘So you’re facing infinite darkness. You’re staring it in the face. You’re so