Dying For LA by Ian Jones (top fiction books of all time .txt) 📕

up in this shitty tiny apartment for months, and now here. But I got no idea what is going on.’

Leo turned to Yann.

‘So, is you, which I knew anyway.’

‘Leo, I just follow orders, I don’t get to make the decisions. Yeah, ok, so things don’t go to plan. But I was told to wait and I waited,’ Yann spoke fast, bright eyes staring out.

‘Bullshit. I said from the start the fat man is useless.’

‘Leo, I’ve been doing this a long time, and I …’

Leo stepped forward and shot Yann in the head. The big man jerked back in the chair, and then seemed to hang, motionless, before sliding slowly backward making the office chair squeak on its wheels, the front set up into the air. The men all stood watching. Eventually it stopped and then toppled backwards, sending Yann slumping to the floor with a loud thud.

Leo tore down the temporary curtain and tossed it over the dead body.

‘Right. Now we do it right. Let’s go, we eat breakfast and then we go to work.’

***

John woke up, wondering where he was. Then he remembered and turned over quickly.

Sammy was asleep next to him.

This was not supposed to happen.

He’d had a few beers last night, normally he wasn’t much of a drinker. But that was no excuse, he knew what he was doing and he liked her. He thought hard about what had been said and was confident he hadn’t told her anything that he shouldn’t.

But this was still dangerous. They didn’t fully understand what they were up against yet and they had no idea who or how many were out there looking for them. Bringing Sammy into it should never have happened. Innocent people had been hurt before down to him.

It was nearly half-past seven. He climbed out of bed and took a shower then got dressed.

‘Morning,’ Sammy said sleepily looking at him with one eye open.

She was gorgeous. No other word for it.

‘Morning,’ he replied.

‘I need to get my stuff, it’s in my car,’ she said.

‘Ok.’

She pulled on her clothes quickly and together they walked down to where her car was parked and collected her bag, then returned to the hotel where she showered and got herself ready for the day.

John walked over and tapped on Reed’s door. The big man was already up and dressed, ready for action. John glanced around the room.

‘No Cindy?’ he asked.

‘She went about ten minutes ago. Got to get changed for work. Listen John, I made the call, Keane had a difficult night, which we both kinda suspected I guess. He wants to see us. Major Turner refused to speak to him, and he made sure nobody else has either.’

John nodded.

‘Ok, good, see you downstairs in five.’

The three of them sat at a table near the window for breakfast. All very friendly but Reed was agitated, keen to get moving and desperately trying to talk about anything other than what they were doing. John could see that Sammy was wise to that and asked her what she was going to do.

‘Look, it’s ok. Seriously. I’m just gonna write that I met you, and you’re just a guy. No names. I’m not even gonna try and explain how the hell you managed to blow those guys away.’

John considered. He liked Sammy and could appreciate the difficult position she was in. He decided to at least try and help.

‘Ok. Look, this is all I’m going to say. And this is it. Nothing else. Yeah, I was there. I managed to turn one of their guns on them. I’m no hero, I just did what I could. I’d never seen them before, and I couldn’t understand what they were saying. The police got there really quick. Tom is not involved at all. And please keep my name out of it. Please. But you can print that right?’

Sammy smiled.

‘It’s not printed, but thank you. Yes, I can say that. And yeah ok, I don’t have to mention your name, although of course I want to.’

‘Thank you.’

‘But look, what can you tell me about yourself?’

John looked steadily at her. She had spoken openly about her life but as usual he had given away very little. This was nothing new, it was how he always was. He ate some food, drunk some coffee and thought about it.

‘Ok. I was in the army. But a long time ago. I don’t need to say anything else.’

Sammy pouted.

‘Can I at least take your picture?’

John sighed.

‘Fine. But not here. Somewhere anonymous ok?’

‘Ok.’

They finished up, then collected their stuff and checked out, Cindy appeared and didn’t want to let Reed go but after some carefully selected words they managed to leave eventually. Sammy took hold of John’s hand as they walked down the street. They got to her car and John allowed her to take a picture on her mobile phone, the background was just the side of a red brick building. Then they said goodbye, Sammy pushing another card with several phone numbers on it into John’s hand.

They watched her drive off, then Reed set off back down the street moving fast.

‘Let’s go talk to Keane.’

Chapter Thirty-Three

General Morgan was sitting very still in his office in the Pentagon.

He was supposed to be preparing documentation for a forthcoming budget meeting regarding a large-scale training exercise that was planned for later in the year but he had not even started it. He was permanently distracted and worried, and it was getting worse.

He knew things had gone wrong, but he wasn’t able to fathom how badly.

There had been a text message late the previous night. Very simple, but very clear.

He had to make a call. Another number he had never seen before.

Which he really didn’t want to, but he had, and it was spelled out for him.

The overall target was now likely to be missed, but worse than that would be the fallout. Unless he could pull the mythical rabbit from the hat, which he knew all too well he couldn’t.

He was supposed to be the