The God Complex: A Thriller by Murray McDonald Read Free Book Online Page A

one.
    Bullets pinged against the metal door. The officer watched the door intently, as though it were going to burst open any moment.
    “It’s fine,” Cash assured him. “Only a direct missile strike is taking this baby down.” He patted the cold walls that encased them.
    “ Fancy a hunt?” asked Cash with a grin.
    Rigs nodded , as did Kyle.
    “Not you ,” said Cash firmly, throwing a scoped M16 to Rigs.
    He rubbed down a scoped M4 for himself and directed Rigs towards the far wall of the small shelter, where he pulled aside a pile of provisions to reveal a small hatch at the bottom of the wall.
    “Once we’re out, close this behind us and only open it if you get the signal,” Cash said to Sophie.
    Sophie blushed, memories of the “signal” flooding back to her.
    “What’s the signal ?” asked Kyle, having missed his mother’s blushes, resulting in even greater embarrassment.
    “ Let’s go,” said Cash.  He spun the wheel lock and pulled the hatch open.
    “Where does it bring us out?” asked Rigs as they crawled along the tunnel. He and Cash were alone now, so his voice found a more normal level.
    “Twenty yards behind the treeline, at the front of the house . It took us a whole summer to build it. I always thought he was crazy but here we are, and it just saved our lives.”
    “We’re not saved yet,” cautioned Rigs.
    Cash reached the end of the tunnel and ascended the small ladder, then spun another wheel to open the hatch to the outside. He peered out carefully, checking that the opening still lay within the woods before motioning to Rigs to follow him out.
    All shooting had stopped by the time they exited . Only the loud and mingled voices of men congratulating themselves on a job well done drifted into the darkness of thick woods.
    “Too many,” Rigs commented. A significant force had attacked them.
    Cash reluctantly agreed. He had dearly wanted to avenge the Chief and his father.
    “I’m sure we could manage a few pot shots though?” suggested Rigs.
    Cash smiled in agreement and signaled for Rigs to head twenty yards one way and he would go twenty yards the other. It would offer them a much wider field and hopefully trick the attackers into thinking there were far more than two shooters. Cash and Rigs would move back towards each other between shots, and then make it back to the tunnel and hopefully disappear safely back to the shelter.
    Cash took up his position and surveyed the scene as the first wisps of daylight lit up the Chief’s front lawn. The attackers were almost all in gang dress apart from three men in suits, one of whom was addressing the gang members with an authority that few suit wearing men would conceive of. The gang members were the heavies, the suits were the money men and no doubt the men who had paid the gang to attack the Chief’s car. Cash lined up a shot. A gang member had his back to Cash and covered most of the suit apart from his head, Cash was more than happy to take him out with a headshot. The suit was going down.
    He pulled the trigger right as the gang member’s head moved across the sight. The back of the gang member’s head split like a watermelon.
    The suit was already off and running for cover by the time the body dropped out of the way.

***
    Green was not about to find out what had happened. He didn’t care. The scene was dangerous and he had orders. Whatever happened, they could not be linked with the operation. Green ran for cover, signaled to his two men to join him and under the cover of the confusion he caused when he started shooting gang members himself, they jumped in a car and made off at speed.
    “ Gray, last resort!” he said, hitting the transmit button as they sped out of the driveway and onto the highway.
    Gray said nothing. Their last resort plan left doubt where he would rather none existed. However, he was out of options. He clicked the link in Mike’s message and his tablet screen showed a black and white view from over