Edge of Tomorrow by Wolf Wootan Read Free Book Online

thought Hatcher. What
is Gaines doing here? Who killed Kat? And why? This smells of a
very big setup! And Gaines is in on it somehow!
    He pulled Kat’s body closer to him and
rotated slightly toward Gaines, who was walking in the direction of
Hatcher’s position, his silenced gun pointing at the ground.
Hatcher wished he had not acted like such a fool. His gun was in
the middle of his back and he wished it were in his hand where it
should have been.
    “What the fuck is going on, Gaines? What are
you doing here?” spat the Hatchet Man, his hazel eyes flashing like
cold steel.
    “I was just watching your back, Hatchet Man,”
Gaines answered, looking around furtively.
    “That’s bullshit, Gaines! Nobody watches my
back unless I tell them to. Who is the asshole who shot Kat?” he
fumed, still trying to piece things together.
    Trying to ignore the challenge to his story,
Gaines replied, “A Stasi agent. They must have got wind of this
operation. You should be thanking me for being here, not getting on
my case! You would be dead, too, if it wasn’t for me. You acted
like an amateur, Hatcher!” snorted Gaines with a sneer.
    Hatcher looked at him with contempt.
This entire scene smelled of treachery. That Stasi agent had to
have been there in hiding for some time, or Hatcher would have
spotted him arriving. The German knew about the rendezvous and its timing. Gaines
being here meant he was part of the treachery.
    Gaines was enjoying seeing one of the CIA’s
legends reduced to the wreck of a man there on the pavement. He was
not very good at reading people, so he had missed the danger
signals that flashed from Hatcher’s eyes like laser beams.
    “If you hadn’t been fucking the enemy slut,
none of this would have happened,” Gaines went on.
    Hatcher’s stomach knotted, and he gritted his
teeth. He had to figure a way out of this mess, buy some time to
think.
    “Enemy slut? She was my fiancée and the
mother-to-be of my child! She was carrying my child, you sack of
shit! Now they’re both dead!” Hatcher moaned, pulling her body
closer to him, running his right hand under her coat.
    “She was pregnant? They didn’t tell me that!
Jesus, Hatcher, if I had known …” said Gaines, doubt showing in his
voice.
    “You never would have what? Set us up? You
son-of-a-bitch! Who else is in on this? You wouldn’t have the guts
to do this on your own,” Hatcher snarled.
    “I told McGinnis this was a bad idea,”
stammered Gaines. “He’s the one who gave me the order!”
    Hatcher knew he was really in trouble now. Gaines would have to
kill him , too. Gaines had
blurted out too much. Hatcher knew he wouldn’t be able to reach the
gun in the middle of his back in time. Hatcher pushed his hand
further under Kat’s coat as Gaines raised his silenced gun and
pointed it at Hatcher. His eyes revealed his fear, and the decision
he had made.
    “It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this,
Hatcher, but now I have no choice. You’ll kill me if I give you a
chance,” said Gaines, his voice trembling.
    “Before you kill me, tell me why they wanted
her dead, and what happened to her mother and sister?” Hatcher
groaned, trying to delay the moment, as his hand felt the handle of
the gun in Kat’s shoulder holster.
    Good girl, Kat! I hope there is a round in
the chamber. It may save my life so I can square things for you.
But not likely. Can I draw this weapon, pull the slide, and get him
before he gets me? Probably not, but I have to try! Maybe I can
distract him somehow.
    It looked very bad for Hatcher as he
peered into the hole of the silencer on Gaines’ pistol. Hatcher
grasped the butt of Kat’s gun and suddenly his hopes soared. It was
not her Sig Sauer semi-automatic in the holster, but her Colt
.32 revolver !
    Gaines answered his last question. “As for
the mother and sister, I have no idea what happened to them. We
didn’t send anyone there to pick them up. As for this slut, they
thought that once you got her out