Jack Taggart Mysteries 9-Book Bundle. Don Easton

smiled at the man facing him from the front seat and gave a nod of his head toward the villa just as the lights went on in the house. The distraction didn’t work. Jack saw the man’s eyes flicker toward the villa, but he remained focused on Carlos’s face, waiting for his boss to give the order.

      Instantly, automatic weapons erupted inside the villa as men’s screams echoed their terror. At the same time, men rushed out of the shed beside the villa while their weapons burped fire and death.

      Carlos looked at Jack. His eyes burned with hatred and his mouth opened to shout a command.

      Jack gripped the pencil. The eraser butted against the palm of his hand while the pencil protruded from between the middle of his fingers.

      Carlos reeled back in horror as Jack slammed the point of the pencil upwards through his neck under his jaw. His intent was to penetrate the brain but Carlos twisted his head. Instead, the pencil skewered his esophagus and snapped in half, leaving the jagged end protruding from his throat. He tried to scream but instead his voice became an ugly wheezing sound as his body demanded air.

      Jack was barely conscious of the man in the front seat raising his gun toward his head while he grasped Carlos with both hands around the back of his neck, pulling him down on top of him.

      Carlos gurgled and tried to push himself upright, but Jack had partially wriggled down between the seats and held on tight. Carlos grabbed at his own throat, trying to remove the pencil.

      Jack twisted and turned. For a few brief seconds, he felt fingers trying to pry his arm free from the back of Carlos’s neck while the two men screamed at each other in the front seat.

      Laura waited for the sound of gunfire before leaving the shelter of her doorway and running toward the Mercedes. She was thankful that Ramirez had given her a Glock 9mm for protection and reached for it in her purse as she raced forward. She knew it wouldn’t penetrate the car, but if a door opened she might have a chance.

      A few scatterings of citizens on the street ran past her, going in the opposite direction to escape the din of terror that unleashed itself at the far end. One man appeared in front of her and she gasped as she recognized his face. The stringy red hair ... chipped front tooth. Her brain tried to react to what she thought was impossible. Rellik raised his hand and she saw the gun pointed at her face — point blank range!

      Her training took over as she instinctively crouched and started to raise her own weapon. Over the noise of a multitude of automatic weapons firing and people screaming, her brain heard him yell, “Fuckin’ bitch!” and she saw the muzzle flash from his pistol.

      Rellik grinned. Good shot. Right through the centre of the forehead!

      Jack hung onto Carlos’s neck with one arm while his other hand reached around Carlos’s waistband. His fingers touched the leather holster and he frantically grabbed for the weapon and felt his fingers wrap around it. Got it! ... Wait ... No! It’s a cellphone! He was just packing a second cellphone!

      Jack was conscious of the man in the front seat opening his door. A second later, the door by Jack’s head opened. He tilted his head and looked up just as the man took aim at the top of his skull. In a futile effort, Jack released Carlos and tried to grab at the gun. The man stepped back slightly, and it gave Carlos the opportunity to push himself upright, exposing Jack from the chest up as he lay pinned between the seats.

      Jack had heard that you never hear the sound of the shot that takes out your brain. It’s not true. I hear it ... sticky pieces of skull and brain splattering down my chest ... Carlos pushing himself backwards to safety ... blackness...

      He heard the sound of a second shot, then stared numbly upwards as the light returned.

      “Jesus fuck!” yelled Damien. “Don’t just lie there!” he screamed, while dragging the corpse off Jack’s face with one hand, holding the pistol in his other hand.

      Jack wriggled out of the car backwards onto the ground. He saw the driver slumped over in the front seat and the car window awash in blood behind him. In the back seat, Carlos stared at him in terror with the broken pencil protruding from his neck. He took his hand from his throat and made a gesture to reach for the door handle. He knew it was hopeless. He was right.

      Damien’s third shot sent another wave of blood over the rear passenger window.

      Laura saw the smile on Rellik’s face when he fired. Her ears were ringing as the pistol exploded a round just above her head. She immediately fired two bullets from her own gun into his chest cavity.

      Rellik’s mouth gaped open in surprise and he fell backwards. Laura heard the sound of another body fall behind her and she turned to look.

       Oh man! He missed me and took out a citizen!

      Then she saw the gun in the man’s hand, and the realization of what had happened took over. She looked back at Rellik, then quickly knelt down beside him.

      He looked at her and his voice gurgled as he spoke.

      “Why’d you fuckin’ shoot me, bitch?”

      “I thought you called me a fuckin’ bitch and shot at me!” cried Laura.

      “I said Duck, bitch! You ducked and...” Rellik’s body convulsed and spewed blood from his lungs. Seconds later, he died without speaking another word.

      Jack, followed by Damien, ran up the street and found Laura counting aloud while pumping a man’s chest with her hands and then pausing to blow air into his lungs.

      “This is Rellik!” Jack exclaimed. “What is he doing here?”

      “You’re alive!” said Laura, returning to pump on Rellik’s chest.

      “Yeah, still above ground,” replied Jack, looking at Damien for an answer.

      “Carlos ... you kill ’im?” asked Laura. She glanced at Jack, while still pumping on Rellik’s chest.

      “Pencil snapped in his throat. Damien finished him off,” said Jack, while placing two fingers over the carotid artery in Rellik’s neck. “He’s dead, Laura. What the hell are you doing?” He looked at Damien and asked, “What is he doing here?”

      “You didn’t really think I would trust the Feds to protect me down here, did you? I had Rellik and two of his crew tag along for protection.”

      Laura continued to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation until Jack said, “Laura! Will you cut this out! He’s dead! We will be too if we stay out here in the middle of the street!”

      Laura looked dazed as she slowly sat upright before picking the 9mm up from where she had dropped it in the dirt.

      “I sent Rellik to protect you,” said Damien. “Didn’t know you had a piece. This other guy, he kill Rellik and then you shoot him?”

      Laura shook her head. “I thought Rellik was shooting at me. I didn’t know this other guy was behind me. I ... I didn’t know....” Her voice trailed off and she stared down at Rellik.

      “Yeah?” replied Damien. “Well, shit happens. Honest mistake. Rellik wasn’t exactly one of my favourites, anyway. Guess we don’t have to worry about him climbing any more trees.”

      “Where are your other two guys?” demanded Jack, looking around.

      “They helped me take out the four guys outside of Carlos’s Mercedes. I told them to take off after I waxed Carlos.”

      “You shouldn’t have brought them here! Damn it, Damien!”

      “Yeah, right. And if they weren’t here, you both would be dead!”

      Jack, Laura, and Damien hardly spoke as Ramirez gave them a ride back to his place. Once there, he gave them jogging suits to wear and took their bloodied clothes to be burned.

      Ramirez told them that nine men who worked for Carlos managed to escape Palmira in a van. He said they did not arrive