LITMIR.BIZ

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      “It’s a choice,” Bolan acknowledged. “You’re well educated. You could make your own way in the world.”

      “Blood tells, as the saying goes. Also a song, I believe.”

      Bolan wasn’t a preacher. He dropped it. “So, where should I take you?”

      “I have a friend in Coral Gables, if it’s not too far out of your way.”

      He estimated twenty minutes on South Dixie Highway, give or take.

      “Sounds good,” Bolan replied, and fired up the Marauder’s mill.

      * * *

       Windward Road, Kingston, Jamaica

      JEROME QUARRIE HAD NEVER learned to take bad news in stride. He’d been trying, lately, to control his temper. It was sheer folly, in the midst of war, to kill his men each time they disappointed him.

      The way things had been going lately, he’d have no soldiers left.

      And so he listened, teeth clenched, to the story of pathetic failure Winston Channer told him. Nineteen soldiers dead, seven at Kingston House, and twelve lost in pursuit of the mysterious white man who staged the raid. It was a grave loss, nearly ten percent of Quarrie’s whole Miami garrison, but what infuriated him the most was losing the woman.

      His hostage.

      Channer had stopped talking. Quarrie took a deep breath, tried counting to ten as he’d been advised, but only got to five.

      “All those brothers dead, but you’re still livin’.”

      “I nearly lost my arm.”

      “I find out this is your fault,” Quarrie said, “you’re gonna lose your head.”

      “Boss, I didn’t—”

      “Shut up!” Quarrie said. “Find the woman and the man who snatched her from you. Kill the two of them and bring me proof. You can’t do that, I’ll do the job myself, and then kill you. Understand?”

      “All right, Boss.” Relief was audible in Channer’s voice. “It’s all good. I miss, I’m dead.”

      “Remember that,” Quarrie replied, and cut the link.

      He reached for some rum and ganja, for the maximum effect. One scorched his throat, the other seeped into his lungs and made his troubles seem, if not remote, at least a little more removed from his immediate concern. He had already given orders to be left alone, unless the house burst into flames, and even then he knew his men would hesitate to clamor for attention.

      “I’m gonna drink your blood,” he muttered to the unknown enemy, the man who’d appeared from nowhere, slaughtering his men and foiling Quarrie’s scheme. “Don’t think I’ll forget. I won’t stop until I pay you back for this.”

      Until the job was done.

      * * *

       Coral Gables, Florida

      GARCELLE BROUARD HAD no friends in Coral Gables, but she did have an apartment on Granada Boulevard. The man who called himself Matt Cooper dropped her off, wished her well and drove away in his Mercury Marauder with its motor rumbling.

      The doorman greeted her with all the courtesy her high-priced rent deserved, and he solemnly assured Garcelle that no one had come asking for her in her absence. Neither had there been reports of any lowlife gangster types lurking around the neighborhood. The very notion seemed outrageous and amusing, given the development’s security precautions and its good relationship with the police.

      Despite that reassurance, Garcelle exercised her usual degree of caution as she rode the elevator to her floor, one level underneath the penthouse occupied by the star of a TV show set in Miami. She checked the tiny scrap of paper that she wedged between the door and jamb each time she left, unnoticeable until it had been dislodged, and then impossible to put back in the same place once the door was opened. Only Garcelle knew the combination to the door’s keypad. In the rare event of an emergency, firefighters would be forced to use an axe or pry bar to get in.

      She let herself inside, then instantly secured the two dead bolts before she searched the flat, armed with a pistol she kept in the kitchen. There was another wedged between the cushions of her sofa, and a third in Garcelle’s nightstand. One of many things she’d learned from Papa: always be prepared.

      It was embarrassing that she’d been taken by surprise, out on the street, but she was home now, relatively safe—a concept more or less devoid of meaning in the present circumstance—and it was time to let her father know that she’d escaped. As to how much she’d tell him, Garcelle knew the answer.

      Everything.

      She’d lost her cell phone to the Viper Posse, but it didn’t matter. Garcelle grabbed the cordless from the kitchen, took it with her as she roamed through the apartment, checking every room and closet, stopping down to peer beneath the bed. When she was satisfied at last, she sat down on the bed, two guns beside her now, and dialed her father’s number. Abner Biassou took the call, her father’s second in command.

      “Hello.”

      “Abner, I need to speak with Papa.”

      “Miss, are you—”

      “I’m fine. Just put him on.”

      Another moment passed before her father’s voice came on the line.

      “I’m sorry, my dear, but I cannot—”

      “Negotiate with kidnappers?” She laughed at him. “Of course not, Father.”

      “But—”

      “That’s why I had no choice but to escape.”

      “You’re free? Where are you? How did you—”

      “Not now,” she interrupted. “This line’s not secure.”

      “Of course. But I must still know where you are, to send protection.”

      “I’m at home and safe for now. But if you’d care to send a car…”

      “I’ll send a caravan,” her father said. “A convoy.”

      “Nothing quite so obvious.”

      “Two cars, then. I insist.”

      “That should be more than adequate.”

      “You constantly surprise me, child.”

      “There are more surprises waiting, when I see you.”

      “Oh?”

      “Indeed.”

      “Good news, or bad?” he asked.

      “I’m not sure yet.”

      “I am intrigued.”

      “You must be patient for a little longer.”

      “Lock your doors, and—”

      “I know what I’m doing. Goodbye, Father.”

      She cut the link, cradled the cordless phone and spent the next ten minutes packing what she needed for a stay away from home. Cosmetics were not a priority, but she packed clothes, two extra pairs of shoes and every document she could think of: her driver’s license, passport, birth certificate professionally altered to present her as a native-born American, and so on.

      Garcelle packed her three pistols, as well. There was no point in leaving them behind for an intruder to discover. Two of the guns were Glock 19 Compacts, both perfectly reliable and efficient, but her favorite was the Heckler & Koch P2000 SK, a sub-compact model that weighed only twenty-four ounces while packing ten hollow-point rounds. Garcelle was proficient with all three

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