Sharks - Matt Rogers (classic books for 11 year olds txt) 📗

don’t think so.’

‘It’s a nice act,’ King said. ‘He almost sold me. But he’s just good with words, you can tell. It’s how he got where he is. Imagine him using control like that in meetings. I’m sure he has this whole island wrapped around his pinky finger.’

‘He had us wrapped around it, too.’

‘For a couple of minutes. He had us on the back foot. He let us go.’

‘And we let him go.’

King went quiet in the passenger seat, thought it over. Then shook off a shiver. Slater noticed it out of the corner of his eye.

King said, ‘What’s he talking about with Teddy?’

‘Beats me,’ Slater said. ‘Beats me why he loaned the guy money in the first place. This whole thing is a mystery.’

King must have noticed Slater’s knuckles white on the wheel, because he said, ‘What are you thinking?’

‘I don’t like this,’ Slater said. ‘Any of it. We’re still in the dark, we haven’t put anything together, and Walcott’s got our number.’

‘How’s he got our number?’

‘You know how.’

King did, but he didn’t want to say it. ‘He spooked you?’

Slater shrugged.

King said, ‘Why do we need to put the puzzle together?’

‘What?’

‘Why do we need to figure it all out? We know what type of man he is. We know what he did in Vegas. Why do we need to know everything?’

Slater said, ‘Ego.’

‘Right. Ego. I say we dispense with ego, go put a bullet in his head, and then let someone else figure out why we did it.’

‘Not our style.’

‘Are we detectives, or are we enforcers?’

‘We’re vigilantes who have reasons for doing the things we do. Without that, we’re just murderers.’

‘We know what he did,’ King said. ‘He funded everything we destroyed in Vegas. That’s enough for me.’

‘But we got Teddy and Lyla involved,’ Slater said. ‘That was our call. We’re not leaving that a dead end.’

‘We kill Walcott and the debt is forgiven.’

‘Says who?’

‘Says me.’

Slater shook his head. ‘Not good enough. Besides, you heard what he said. Someone’s making a play at his organisation. A “coup d’état”.’

‘So?’

‘So, let them fight it out. What are we here for?’

King said, ‘No. Hell no. That’s not who we are.’

Slater said, ‘Have we switched personalities or something?’

‘Seems that way.’

‘Usually I’m the one wanting to charge in with two guns and my eyes closed.’

‘Well, now it’s me.’

‘Why the attachment?’

‘I don’t like him,’ King said. ‘And the Barrows need our help.’

‘Bullshit the Barrows need your help,’ Slater said. ‘Don’t get all altruistic on me. You want him dead because he got the jump on us back there. He humiliated you. For the first time in a long time you weren’t in control.’

‘You can’t be serious. You’ve been by my side on every op. We’re always holding onto control by a thread. You think we had control in Vegas? Is your memory that short?’

Slater said, ‘You want his scalp. That’s it.’

‘So what if it is? About time I made something personal.’

Slater couldn’t help but smile. ‘Didn’t take long to bring you round, brother.’

‘I like getting angry. I should do it more often.’

‘I can give you tips, if you need. I’m good at it.’

‘Later,’ King said. ‘Right now I have a real bad feeling about Teddy and Lyla.’

Slater said, ‘Me too,’ as they pulled into their street.

Ahead, the bitumen ceased at a sandy ramp with wooden banisters leading down to the beach. It was mid-morning, and the tourists were out in droves. Slater saw them ambling along the shore, kicking water up from the shallows.

He piled out of the driver’s seat and pulled his Glock. King rounded the hood and came out with his set of keys and got the gate open. Slater powered through, clearing the sizeable grounds, then made for the bungalow itself.

King followed, weapon drawn.

They burst in through the front door and swept the interior with twin fields of fire.

All they found was Violetta and Alexis staring at them from the front porch, sunbathing on lounge chairs with their guns by their sides.

Violetta said, ‘Now you’re jumpy.’

King holstered his weapon. ‘We ran into Dylan.’

Violetta levered off the lounge, her eyes wide. ‘You killed him?’

King said, ‘No.’

Slater could see it was eating him up inside.

Violetta looked at him funny as she stepped in through the open sliding doors, her skin already bronzed by the sun. Alexis followed silently behind, her full eyes drinking in every inch of King and Slater’s demeanours. Always cool, always calculating.

Slater said, ‘He got the jump on us.’

Violetta said, ‘So he didn’t kill you?’

Slater held up a flat palm horizontally and tilted it side to side. ‘Hard to say. King’s beating himself up about it, though.’

King shot Slater a dark look.

Violetta looked at her lover. ‘You okay?’

‘Yeah,’ King said. ‘Fine.’

Alexis said, ‘How’d a shady businessman get the jump on both of you?’

‘He didn’t,’ Slater said. ‘His sniper did. He was unarmed. He warned us about chasing this thing. He told us there was a lot we didn’t know. He said we’d feel like idiots if we stuck with it and the truth came out.’

‘Did you believe him?’ Violetta said, but she could see the obvious answer on their faces.

‘Yeah,’ King said. ‘I did. But when has that ever stopped us?’

Violetta studied him. ‘You want him in a bodybag, don’t you?’

‘When don’t I want that?’

‘You look different,’ she said. ‘This seems different.’

‘How?’

Alexis said to King, ‘You look like Will when he’s angry.’

King threw his hands up. ‘Okay. If it’s three on one then I’ll admit it.’

Alexis said, ‘Three on one?’

‘Slater wouldn’t shut up about it on the drive back.’

Violetta said, ‘Why’d you come in here like we were already dead?’

‘He knows about you,’ King said. ‘Both of you. He knows we’re staying in a bungalow, too. I don’t know whether that was a bluff or not.’

Violetta looked uneasy.

Alexis—

Slater hesitated.

He never thought he’d see the day.

Alexis looked readier for a war than Violetta.

He gave her the slightest hint of a reassuring smile, then wiped it off his face before King or Violetta saw. He said to the both of them, ‘Can you