Deep Water by Mark Ayre (best big ereader TXT) 📕

of it in her hands gave her great comfort. It was nice not to have to worry about aiming.

In the hall, there was a creak as feet seemed to turn, then another shout. It was hard to tell in a foreign language, but the voice's pitch and tone suggested Mr Curious was no longer calling for his dead friend in the bath but for someone downstairs. Perhaps backup. What had he heard of Abbie and the scumbag’s fight? Not enough to bring back up in the first instance, enough to make him reticent to enter the bedroom alone.

Clearly, he was a believer in better safe than sorry. That was annoying.

Had Tony stopped babbling after Abbie hung up and rushed to find Louis? That would be ideal. Abbie could use the distraction.

Another Spanish shout. This one from the foot of the stairs. Mr Curious responded; a couple of seconds later, someone made their way up.

Earlier, Pedro and his team had hit Louis hard and fast and had killed Jacob almost immediately. After that, Louis had lost interest. He hadn't counted assailants but guessed a dozen men, Pedro included, had attacked his home. If that was the case, there were nine left, with two having departed with Louis and one dead in the bath.

The new climber reached the top of the stairs and joined Mr Curious. There was a whispered conversation, then another call. Abbie's arms were beginning to ache. She didn't lower her gun or take her eyes from the door. If the men in the hallway tried to enter, Abbie needed to be ready.

There was another creak, then someone took a couple of steps towards Louis' bedroom.

At the same time, there was a knock at the front door.

Hidden near the back entrance, Alice wouldn't have heard. According to the plan, Louis wasn't due to knock for another seven minutes. By then, Tony would be armed with the pistol now in Abbie's waistband. As one, they would have attacked from three fronts, taking Pedro by surprise and securing Alex and Kyle before the criminal knew what was happening.

Clearly, it wasn't going to work quite like that now. The plan needed to adapt. Luckily, Abbie was used to that.

Downstairs, someone opened the front door. There was a pause, presumably as Pedro's man tried to process what he saw, then a yell.

The moment the door had opened, Abbie had started forward. When Pedro's man shouted, she burst from the bedroom.

The duo in the hall spun her way.

Downstairs, a shot preceded the door answerer's dying yell by a split second.

Abbie pulled the shotgun's trigger.

The buckshot tore one man in half and sliced the other's left side, spinning him. As he dropped, Abbie was pulling the handgun from her waistband. As he rolled onto his back, raising his hands, she shot him twice in the head.

At the bottom of the stairs, she saw Louis stepping into his home, firing two more shots, sending someone scurrying into the kitchen. A second later, another gun fired and the backdoor burst inwards. There was a cry as Alice poked her head into the kitchen and gunned someone down.

Louis had his shoulder pressed to the wall and was nearing the living room door. More shots were fired in the kitchen. Someone in the living room approached the hallway, preparing to pop out and shoot Louis.

They didn't notice Abbie coming down the stairs. Switching from pistol to shotgun, Abbie blew away both a chunk of wall and the sneaking man. Continuing down the stairs, Abbie tried to count kills: one at Alice's house (plus one unconscious, locked in a car boot), three upstairs, one in the downstairs hall, one in the living room and possibly one more in the kitchen. Eight from a possible twelve.

They heard three more shots in the kitchen. A short silence preceded the appearance of Alice into the hall. When Louis and Abbie looked her way, the determined mother held aloft two fingers, indicating how many men she'd killed. That brought their total to nine.

Now for the tricky bit.

"Hello," someone called from the living room. "Hello, are you finished out there? You make such a lot of noise; it's giving me a headache."

The voice was heavily accented, but the English was perfect.

"Can I assume," the man continued, "as it is quiet, but my boys don't rejoin me, that my people lost? Are my enemies out there, surrounded by my dead soldiers? That would make me sad."

Alice was edging up the hall towards the living room door. Abbie remained halfway down the stairs.

Pedro, because that was who it had to be, tutted. "The silent treatment? Why must you be childish? Can't you tell me who you are? Don't I deserve to know who defeated me?"

Abbie tried to catch Louis' eye. She knew what was coming next and didn't want any of their cards revealed.

"Okay," said Pedro. "If you must be like this, then maybe I must kill the boy. Kyle, was it?"

"No."

Louis had cried out before Abbie could stop him. From within the living room, Pedro chuckled.

"Oh, Louis. It is you. This is disappointing; I thought we had an understanding. You let me down by failing to give me the guns, so I killed your boy. I thought that made us even. Now you come here, kill my guys, and I find us uneven again. I have your younger boy, so is the solution not obvious? Do I not put a bullet in his head, and we can call it quits once more? What do you think?"

"No," repeated Louis. "Please, you don't have to do this."

Abbie's mind was whirring. Knowing they could waste no time, a new plan was forming.

Yesterday, before breaking in for her first meeting with Louis, Abbie had surveilled the place. She could use what she'd learned to her advantage now.

Moving without a sound, she made her way to the bottom of the stairs. Gaining Alice's attention, she mouthed Alex, then formed a circle with her Index finger and thumb and pointed upstairs. Signalling that