story many, many times, because the pauses were in just the right places. '... yep, there he was, the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, and someone had gotten a pen and done that to him!
'Nobody was too sure how he was going to take it. Anyways, he looked down at the shoes, and then Bill started to laugh.
'I'll tell you what, boys, this is just what I need ... they are so darned confusing, not being proper shoes and all.'
' Davy started to laugh. I wasn't sure if the story was funny or not, and nor was Sarah. I just took Davy's lead and joined in. I could hear Sarah, standing slightly behind me, doing the same.
The laughter died down and Davy carried on, pleased with our reaction.
'And that's why it's still there. Apparently Bill says it cuts his prep time by a half, so there's more time to play.'
He was going to put the shoes back. He turned away and took two steps, and there was a thud.
Bill's shoes fell out of Davy's hands. There was no blood until he hit the floor, face forward, and then it started to spurt from his head, dark and thick. I swung around.
Sarah was in a perfect firing position, standing at forty-five degrees to Davy, with her right pistol hand out straight, pushing the suppressed weapon at the target, her left hand cupped around both the pistol grip and the other hand, pulling back. She looked so relaxed she could have been on the range.
'What the fuck are you doing?' I shouted. What a bone question; I could see precisely what she was doing.
I didn't know why, but I was half whispering, half shouting as she lowered the pistol.
'For tuck's sake, we agreed, no killing. What are you doing bringing that thing in? We don't need it.'
She just stood there, in a different world, calmly putting the pistol back into her waistband.
This was out of control. No matter what happened now, we were in a world of shit and I had no idea by whose rules we were playing.
I started to move toward the door.
She looked at me quizzically.
'Where are you going?'
'I'm locking the door what do you think I'm doing, letting everyone in? We're in deep shit, Sarah. Do you have any idea what you've done?
This won't stop anything; it makes it worse.'
I reached the door and turned the lock inside the tumbler. It was pointless going over to Davy. There wasn't a sound from him, and dark, deoxygenated blood seeped from his mouth.
I stayed where I was, shaking my head in disbelief.
'It was under control, Sarah, for flick's sake. Midday the press brief, remember? What the fuck are you doing?'
She started toward the door. I moved across her, putting my arms up to stop her.
'Whoa, this is way out of control. It's time to stop this, now, and get help. Just get thinking of a fucking good story.'
I pointed at Davy as I turned toward the door once more. Why had she done it? It took two seconds before it became obvious to me why. She'd stitched me up.
'You flicking bitch!' I started to turn back toward her.
At the same instant I felt pain explode in my stomach. The wind was knocked out of my lungs as I fell to my knees. I felt a fierce burning sensation on the left side of my gut.
The left side of my forehead hit the floor, then my nose. There were sparks flashing in my head. I tasted blood in my throat. I'd never taken a round before.
I couldn't see Sarah. I was too busy curling into a fetal position as I tried to control the pain.
I started a low moaning noise that I couldn't stop. I slowly, slowly rolled my head to find her. She was crouched over Davy. His ID was now around her neck; at a casual glance she would look part of the environment.
Her loafers tiptoed around him, avoiding the blood, then took the pistol from his belt and the two mags from their carrier.
I didn't want her to know that I was still alive. I lay as motionless as I could, eyes closed, trying to stifle my own moaning. It wasn't working.
I sensed her standing over me. I opened my eyes. She was just too far away for me to reach her, even if I'd been able to.
She looked at her watch and then at me. The weapon came up and stopped in line with her eyes. For the first time in my life I thought of someone I would miss, and I decided that my last thought would be about Kelly. I looked at Sarah and waited. There was a delay, but no emotion, no explanation. Then she said, 'You have a child now. I hope you live long enough to see her.' She lowered the weapon, checking her watch again as she walked away.
The tumbler was turned and the door opened. I tried to shout, but it didn't happen. The only sound that came out was a weak rasp.
'Fuck you!' Blood sprayed out of my mouth. She glanced down at me, no reaction in her eyes.
There was a pause as she checked outside, then the door closed quietly.
She was gone.
The pain was intensifying. I looked around frantically for a panic button or a phone, but I couldn't see too well, things were getting hazy. Two others left to kill Arafat? My ass; it had been her all along. How the fuck did I not see it?
Being curled up in a ball on the floor wasn't going to do me or the VIPs any good. I needed to do something, even if it didn't work. As I died, I would at least know that I'd tried to right my fuckup.
My vision was starting to blur. I was taking short, sharp breaths, and my stomach muscles were tensing of their own accord. I moved my hand over a hole in my belly the size of a five-pence piece and plugged it with my thumb. At least I didn't have to worry about an exit wound; I knew it was subsonic ammunition for the silenced Chinese thing. The round would still be kicking around inside me somewhere.
I dragged myself toward the door, through a pool of Davy's blood, which had started to ooze across the lino, and I was just about to pull myself up to open it when it swung inward and connected with my skull.
Curled up again in pain as more sparks flashed up in my head, I was just about switched on enough to know that I was stopping the door from opening fully.
Encountering resistance, whoever it was got their body weight behind the door and pushed hard. I was shunted along the floor until they could get in.
It was Sarah again. She didn't talk, just closed the door behind her.
Then, grabbing hold of my feet and avoiding the blood, she started to drag me facedown across the room, grunting with the effort.
I felt as if I had a magnesium incendiary burning in my stomach. I tried to keep tensed up, and all I could see was a dark trail of blood where my body had just been.
After four or five paces she dropped my feet on the floor. I moaned as I curled up, trying to reduce the pain as she aimed her pistol at the door.
It opened. Josh had good news.
'Hey, guys, it looks like we're going to ' I tried to shout a warning, but nothing came. The expression on his face was of utter shock and disbelief, his eyes looking even wider behind his lenses. Sarah was in front of him in a perfect firing position, calmly pointing at his center mass. People take a while for this kind of information to sink in, especially if they're not expecting it, but Josh was catching on fast.
Sarah maintained her very cool, controlled voice.
'Close the door, Josh.'
His eyes flicked between the two of us, took in Davy's prostrate body, then mine, and finally settled on the pistol, no doubt trying to work out how the fuck she'd brought it in.
'Close the door, Josh.'
If Josh was scared, he wasn't showing it. He was taking in all the information;
without saying a word, he did as he was told and then stood stock still, showing Sarah his hands.
