Arrow's Rest by Joel Scott (best books to read all time .TXT) 📗

face before he went down and hit the mat. He lay there for long moments, then began to crawl towards the ropes. Albright bent down and raised him up as if he were a child and said something to him, and then went back to the centre of the ring and beckoned him forward once more.

“I had to explain the rules to him there,” Albright said.

Jared couldn’t stop himself. “And what were they?”

“There were none,” Albright said with a smile.

And so it went. Sullivan tried hard and he fought well but you could see the hopelessness creeping in as the fight wore on. It was never an even contest. It was overpowering brute strength against cautious skill, and the final result was never in doubt. As Sullivan tired and slowed, Albright bulled him into a corner and began to punish him. One of his eyes half closed under the onslaught and his nose was clearly broken but he didn’t go down. Finally Albright uppercut him and Sullivan crumpled and remained motionless on the canvas and it was finished. Albright took off his boxing gloves and threw them on the prostrate figure and climbed out of the ring. Clint and Travis stepped onto the canvas and bent down to Sullivan and then the picture faded. Cat had turned away and stared down at the bar after the first moments, refusing to watch any of it.

“Very disappointing,” Albright said. “There are two more videos after this one, but you get the general idea. I thought he was supposed to be good at one time and could show me something — give me a chance to get the feel of the real thing — but it quickly became obvious that was never going to happen. Although he did get me a few good ones at the beginning before he lost heart.” He rubbed his chin and shrugged. “Ah well. Life is filled with small disappointments. Moving on, I understand the two of you do martial arts.”

“I do,” Jared said quickly. “She just plays at it.”

“Still. The two of you up against me? Or Clint and Travis in a tag team match maybe? It’s a thought. Could be fun.”

Jared tried to keep his face expressionless, but he realized the crazy bastard just might do it. One more line had been crossed with Sullivan, and Albright could never go back from any of this now. He and Cat would not leave the Blue Harp alive. Cat was a weapon for Albright to use against him, and Jared knew that was the sole reason she was on board. Because of him. He had to get her away, no matter what. Easy enough to say, but how? Even if by some miracle he managed to take Albright out, there were still the rest of them. Clint and Travis and at least three others that he knew of for starters. The captain and the engineer might be neutral, but he doubted they were going to jump in and give him a hand as long as the others were around.

Albright said, “The owner’s suite for the two of you, then, I’ve had it made up for guests. Some suits hanging up in the closet, one of them should fit you, Jared. On the Blue Harp there is a tradition of dressing up for dinner. The door will be locked with two men standing guard outside with orders to shoot if you attempt to leave.” He winked. “But if you are reasonable and behave yourselves, you’ll always have tonight.”

He turned away, dismissing them, and the brothers stepped forward and escorted Jared and Cat out of the saloon and up to the master cabin. They entered and the door was slammed shut and locked behind them. Jared threw his arms around Cat and hugged her.

“I’m so sorry about all of this,” she whispered into his shoulder. “I should never have had anything to do with that maniac. It’s him, isn’t it? The assaults?”

“Yes. Listen to me. None of this is your fault. This was always about Danny and me. We’ve been circling around him for a while, and then we came too close and he looked for levers to use against us. He went after Annie and Joseph first, and then he collected you. People he knew we cared about. He’ll pay for that, but for now we’ve got to keep our spirits up and watch for an opening. We will get out of this.” Jared tried to sound positive. “There will be a lot of people looking for Arrow by now, Clarke will have organized an all-out search.”

Jared hoped this was true, but was by no means certain. Albright was a powerful man with influential friends, and it was going to take something more than the word of an unruly detective with enemies in the department and some unexplained coincidences to tip the scales against him at this stage. By the time someone did take Clarke’s suspicions seriously, it would be far too late for him and Cat. They would be lying under the deep waters wrapped in a length of rusty chain.

Jared looked around for something he could use as a weapon. But there was no furniture in the room apart from the bed and closet. Like the saloon, the room had been stripped, even the shelves and drawers from the built-in closet were missing. They might be able to barricade themselves in and delay things for a time, but they would inevitably be driven out by smoke or fire or something even worse, Christ only knew what with that lunatic, and end up damaged in the process. Why bother. Better to go out and face things straight on with your head up and in shape to take advantage of any breaks that came your way. Jared had no illusions about what was lying in wait for the two of them. Albright might be crazy, but he wasn’t stupid, and if he did make a mistake, Clint and Travis