Page 37 of The Big Fix

“Yes,” Nam agreed, still holding his hand.

“Can we go?” Jing was clearly still annoyed. She hated to be startled or scared. It made her cranky. I’d seen her get up and leave the room when we were watching a horror movie because jump scares pissed her off.

Garland turned to me, his grin never faltering. “I’m meeting Dante and Arden to get this gentleman to his family, and we—shit,” he gasped as a car pulled up in front of the store and six men got out. “I think we’re done here, Colonel.”

Stepping in front of Nam, shoving Garland to the right, behind a pillar, I pulled my gun just as they started shooting.

At that moment, again, I was reminded I was rusty. Every ex-Army man sensed that moment when he’d lost his fighting sharpness, and I hadn’t fired a weapon in months. I was like a pro athlete who’d been out of training for the better part of a year. Darius, as usual, had been right. Dry firing would have been a good idea.

Of course, shooting a gun at people that close didn’t require as much skill as what George was doing on the roof of whatever building he’d moved to. When another car arrived, and the men all died inside the car, not even getting out, George dispatching them in seconds, it was understood that we had help.

The gunfire reverberated loudly. I hit two men point-blank in the chest, but one of their pistols kicked and a round hit the wall inches from my head.

Years ago, I would have seen the first car coming a mile off and dropped them all as they got out. Now, it had taken Garland announcing the threat to get me to see it. I’d lost my edge, and when I got home—not if, but when—I vowed to fix that.

“Okay,” Jing shouted, and I turned to look at her. “Since there’s ten dead men in the street, we need to go.”

Moving through the empty store quickly, the bored clerk now down behind the counter, Jing in front, Garland in back, we made our way to the rear exit and popped out into an alley.

“Hey,” Dante’s voice came over the comms. “We’ve secured the laptop and a duffel of clothes, pictures, and a few more items I thought Nam might want. We just exited the lobby, and there’s a whole legion of guys going up the stairs carrying automatic rifles. We can also hear gunfire from our present position.”

“Oh, the gunfire is us,” Jing told Dante, just as a car blocked the end of the alley we were making our way down. “Fuck, fuck, just meet us at the safe house where Chris is taking the sister and her kid. Don’t go back to the hotel.”

“Sorry,” he told her. “We have to. Can’t leave a trace of anything there. Plus, hello, we need our clothes.”

Leave it to him to be practical in the face of death.

Garland, who I did not realize had a MAC-10 under his arm, stepped in front of us and used the submachine gun to clear the street.

“Impressive,” Jing told him.

“It’s small, easy to conceal.”

She nodded.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Nam informed us, moving over next to a dumpster.

“Just so you know,” Dante came back on, sounding far too cheerful, “we killed two guys in Nam’s apartment, before anyone else showed up, and they were both carrying Glocks.”

Shit.

“So not military,” Dante confirmed. “The Royal Thai Army are carrying the Colt 1911. Means maybe cops or triads.”

“That’s great news,” Hunt announced sarcastically, suddenly on our party line. “Colonel, I’m going to need to cover Mr. Cerreto and Ms. Stewart as they return to the hotel because the street is full. Chris also reported that he’s going to need backup with the sister and niece, so I’ll be on my way there as soon as the personal effects from the hotel are secured.”

“Copy that.”

“I’ll return the second I can, as I think we can all safely say that you’re the real target.”

“Where are you getting that?” I asked as we made our way down the opposite end of the alley once Nam finished puking.

“Everyone had some trouble, yes, but the bulk of this attack is focused on you.”

I was starting to think he was right. We were taking a lot of fire, the others not as much.

“You need to move,” Dante said solemnly.

“Yeah, I know, we’re on our way. We’ll meet you at the safe house.”