Darwin's Nightmare by Mike Knowles Read Free Book Online

for her life down the hall. I held the Colt down at the side of my leg with my left hand, out of fear that it would pull my pants down if I put it under my belt. I listened as the clock above the door clicked second by second one hundred eighty times. From the halls, I heard doors opening and closing, mumbled voices, and the occasional laugh. I knew the safety of the room would vanish when the voices down the hall called for Ivan again. There were no opportunities coming. I had to move.
    â€œBoth of you, get up and move to the door. Step into the hall facing right.”
    Ivan mechanically stood and moved toward the door, one arm immobile as he walked. Mike shuddered and stayed put in his chair.
    â€œGet up, Mike, or I leave you here.”
    My words broke through whatever mental fog Mike was in, and he got up. He moved in Ivan’s direction, but kept his distance from the big man as though he was afraid that the limp, wounded arm would come to life and strangle him. I moved around the desk until I was behind the two. I got close and pressed a muzzle into each man’s neck while I spoke.
    â€œMike, is there an exit at the left end of the hall?”
    â€œYuh, yuh, yeah. It’s around the corner at the end.”
    â€œHow many steps?” I asked.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIf you walked it, how many steps would it take?”
    â€œI dunno, twenty-five or thirty.”
    â€œOkay, boys, we’re going to back up twenty-five or thirty steps to the exit. Once we’re there, Mike and I are out of here.”
    The giant moved as though he were a robot following a direct command. Mike moved beside him, dragged along by the giant’s gravity. Mike suddenly realized how close he was to the Russian and tried to move back, but he changed his mind when he felt the muzzle of the Python in my hand separate two of his vertebrae. I moved backward, a step behind both men, down the empty hall to the exit. Ivan must have been sent alone to cover this hallway, which meant he was as real as he looked. As we moved, I whispered over Ivan’s bad shoulder: “A bullet will drop you as easy as the girl. Remember that, big guy.”
    There was no response from Ivan — no twitch. He was waiting just like I had been, but I wasn’t going to give him any opportunity to move. Using a low voice, I counted the steps back for each man. No one at the other end of the hall made any noise, and no one yelled down to Ivan. After fifteen paces, my heel touched the receptionist withthe freshly painted nails. She wasn’t breathing. The Colt had put a hole through the centre of her back. The exit wound left the white walls tinged with pink.
    â€œStep lightly over the girl and don’t look down. Mike, I mean it.”
    Both men took a large step backwards over the body. Ivan looked straight ahead; Mike stole a glance at the body. “Oh, God, Martha!” he screamed.
    The sound of Mike’s voice bounced off the walls with a boom like bowling pins falling down. A loud, “What the fuck was that?” came from the end of the hall seventeen paces in front of me. The voice was gravelly, and it sounded Russian — the
w
in “what” sounded like a
v.
    â€œSteady, boys,” I said, before counting steps eighteen and nineteen.
    â€œIvan!” a voice called. It sounded like “Eevan” from twenty paces away. I couldn’t see who was speaking from the other end of the hall; I could only make out bits of images through the spaces between the two men.
    â€œKeep moving. Don’t stop.” I shoved the guns hard into the two men as I said the word
stop.
We moved to the end of the hall as the voice repeated Ivan’s name. After calling a second time, the voice clued in to what was happening and shouted something in a harsh language. We ignored the foreign command and kept walking.
    â€œStop!” The voice coming down the hall was loud and sounded like it was used to being