Bad Soldier: Danny Black Thriller 4 by Chris Ryan Read Free Book Online

the isolation area. They were in a shit state. Shivering, emaciated, badly clothed. Half of them didn’t even have shoes, and Danny could see that many of them were limping. As one of the limping kids passed him, Danny grabbed hold of him and checked out his feet. They hardly looked human – swollen in some places, practically rotting away in others. If they weren’t already infected, they would be very soon. Without medicine, the kid would likely be dead in a few weeks. The child looked up at Danny, obviously very frightened. Danny winked at him and tried to look encouraging as he pointed the kid in the direction of the isolation zone.
    As Danny counted more of the kids on to the ship – twenty, twenty-five – his loathing for whoever had crammed them like sardines into that small boat intensified. But then he told himself to stay detached. He was here to do a job, not to right wrongs . . .
    ‘ We’ve got an adult down here. ’ Spud was speaking quietly, and there was an edge of tension to his voice.
    Caitlin was carefully manoeuvring the twenty-sixth kid over. Danny looked down towards the Ocean Star . Spud was helping a hooded figure up from the hull. He had allowed his weapon to fall across his chest, obviously aware that Tony had his rifle engaged and was aiming it towards them, just in case the hooded migrant should get any stupid ideas.
    Everything happened so quickly.
    It was immediately obvious to Danny that Tony was about to fire. In a split second, he recognised the positioning of his body . . . the way he set his frame against the recoil of his weapon . . . the tiny adjustment he made to his aim as he prepared to release a round . . .
    Danny’s eyes flickered towards Spud and the hooded target. The target had his head bowed and was just staggering off the hull ladder on to the deck of Ocean Star . There was no sign of a weapon, or any threatening behaviour.
    Spud was a metre behind him, and fractionally to his left.
    And Danny knew, instinctively, that Tony was aiming not at the hooded migrant, but at Spud.
    ‘ HIT THE FLOOR! HIT THE FLOOR! ’ Danny barked over his radio.
    Spud’s reaction was immediate. He dived heavily towards the wooden deck of the boat at the same instant that a shot rang out. Danny saw a muzzle flash from Tony’s rifle, then a second spark as the round ricocheted off a railing at the stern. It took a full second for the hooded migrant – whose reactions were not so keen as Spud’s – to hit the ground. By which time, Danny was shouting into his mouthpiece. ‘ HOLD YOUR FIRE! HOLD YOUR FIRE! WHAT THE HELL’S GOING ON? ’
    Tony lowered his weapon. He stared towards Spud and the migrant, then glanced up towards Danny. ‘ Thought that cunt was pulling a weapon ,’ he said calmly, as if he’d done nothing more serious than spill someone’s pint. He strode over towards the two prostrate figures. Danny saw Spud jump to his feet. He could tell Spud was shouting something at Tony, but as it wasn’t over the radio he couldn’t hear what. As Tony approached, Spud bore down on him and yanked the heel of his hands against Tony’s chest. Tony’s body language was immediately offensive.
    And they had both taken their eye off the hooded man.
    He had jumped to his feet, and was running to the stern of the ship. Danny didn’t know if he intended to hurl himself overboard, and he didn’t intend to wait to find out. He followed the figure swiftly with his rifle. When the man was five metres from the stern railings, he released a round that exploded on to the deck a metre in front of him. The target hit the ground again, but Danny had already turned his attention to Spud and Tony. The noise of Danny’s round had stopped them fronting up to each other. Tony had moved past Spud and was heading, weapon engaged, towards their target. He reached him in five seconds while Spud remained stationary, clutching his own weapon – and not, Danny surmised, because he was