The Hard Way by Duncan Brockwell (most popular ebook readers txt) 📕

Angry, Vodicka went for her with the knife. Miller managed to grab her wrist, turn into her and launch Vodicka over her shoulder.

The shorter Vodicka crashed into a table made of wood and glass.

“Luke said you were good. Personally, I think he might have overestimated you.”

The knife still in hand, Vodicka stood behind the broken table, her eyes narrow, evil slits of hatred. She flew at Miller.

There was nothing Miller could do against such rage. Vodicka kept swinging and jabbing at her with the knife. Only two made their mark on Miller’s wrist and arm, enough to draw blood. Miller didn’t have time to bleed; she was countering everything Vodicka threw at her.

Sensing Vodicka growing weaker, Miller lunged at her, grabbed her neck and headbutted her on the bridge of her nose again.

The armed cop staggered backwards, her face a crimson mess.

“You fucking bitch!” Miller lunged at her opponent again, managing to get her on the floor.

Picturing Luke’s beautiful face with every punch, she rained down blow after blow on Vodicka’s already-damaged face. Her rage took on momentum.

“I don’t think so, bitch!” Sarge pushed his Glock in the back of Miller’s head.

75

Hayes fired her Glock for the third time, hitting another mercenary in the knee. On the second floor of the hotel, in a bedroom over the bar, she pointed her gun at the intruder, who gripped his leg, blood trickling over his fingers. “Into the bathroom, now,” Hayes ordered, gesturing the en suite with her gun. “Consider yourself lucky you came across me first. My colleagues shoot to kill.”

She’d ordered Charlotte to stay behind her at all times. “That’s it, inside, there’s a good boy. I’ll have a paramedic here ASAP; I only hope it’s in time before you bleed out.” The hotel was old fashioned, with bathrooms coming with keys to the door. She locked him in, took the key and pocketed it for later. “I haven’t heard many shots recently.”

“And your backup’s nearly here.” Charlotte pulled at the arm straps. “Is it over?”

“I don’t know.” Hayes pointed her gun at the door and walked towards it. “Only one way to find out. Stay with me, okay?”

The door creaked as she opened it, peeking out, into the hallway. Clear. She stepped out, beckoning Charlotte to follow her. The mercenary trapped in the bathroom continued screaming in both pain, and frustration. There were two more in other rooms.

Breathing shallow, trying to make as little noise as possible, Hayes descended the stairs one at a time, the Glock out in front of her, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

On the first floor landing she looked in both directions but couldn’t see anything. She could spend hours hunting for Miller in a hotel this big. After she decided to start looking left, she heard a man talking, followed by Miller’s angry reply.

Hayes knew her partner well enough to know when she was upset; her voice had a harsher tone to it, and the way she spoke to the male, whoever it was, she hated him. Aiming her gun at the bottom of the stairs, Hayes took each step with as much stealth as she could. “Shh!” She held a finger up for Charlotte, whispered, “Not a word!”

The closer Hayes came to the bottom of the stairs, the more she could hear. When she was by the door to the bar, Hayes stood with her back against the wall, listening.

“Why did you have to kill Luke? If he was going to grass on you, the IOPC would have you in cuffs already.”

“He told you, that’s enough of a reason. Oh, I’ve heard all about you, Miller. A real stickler for the rules, aren’t you? Well, the rules don’t apply to people like Demirci, or those vile cousins of hers. No one’s going to mourn their deaths. No one’s going to come looking for them, either. It’s like they never existed.”

“Why did you do it? You’re a police officer, for Christ’s sake,” Miller said, her voice bitter, resentful.

“We didn’t, as it happens. Voddy here, myself and Luke, we collared the Inan brothers in a kebab shop, bunged them in the back of a van and drove them to a friend’s farm. Zuccari and the others brought Demirci along. We were only going to scare them, rough them up, but before we knew what was going on, Zuccari pulled a gun out and shot one of the brothers in the face. Our fates were sealed the moment Zuccari pulled the trigger.”

“You could’ve handed Zuccari in.”

“Don’t be so naïve, Miller. That’s what Luke said, but we were all there, all part of it, all prepared to do our bit for the sake of the unit, except Luke. I didn’t want to shoot him; he was the best fucking cop I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.”

“Sarge, it’s time to end this. Enough talking! Let me do it.”

Hayes blew out air, held her breath and breached the bar, kicking the door open, finding her targets. “You’re under arrest, Sarge. Put the gun down; it’s over.”

Miller was on her knees in front of Vodicka, who had a knife under her throat. Hayes wanted to open fire on Vodicka first, but the Sarge had his Glock trained on her. Marlowe stood less than a metre away from Sarge.

“You put yours down, or Voddy opens your partner up.”

Marlowe winked at her, without Sarge seeing. “I mean it. I heard everything. You’re no better than the scumbags we put away, do you know that? In fact, you’re worse. At least the dealers and murderers out there know they’re the bad guys. You, you’re dressing up as cops, but gangsters underneath. You disgust me!”

“Hayes, now!” Marlowe flew at the Sarge.

Hayes turned her gun on Vodicka, who was about to slit Miller’s throat. Squeezing the trigger three times, one bullet hit Vodicka in the chest, another in the neck and the third in the cheek.

Miller grabbed the knife from Vodicka, slicing her hand in the process.

Vodicka