Free Bangkok Burn by Simon Royle Page A

door. Shit! I'd left the guns in the car with Chai. I went quietly into the bedroom. Pim was sleeping. I knelt softly on the bed and covered her mouth with my hand, putting a finger to my lips. She woke, eyes panicked staring at me. I leant in close to her ear.
     
    “Don't say anything, and quietly, very quietly, go and hide in the closet. Someone's trying to break in.”
     
    She nodded, eyes wide, scared, and got out of bed. I turned and went back out to the landing, listening. They hadn't got in yet. I had double bolt locks on all the doors. When they figured that out, they'd come in another way. Maybe through the window. I needed a weapon, fast. My golf clubs were downstairs in the cupboard under the stairs. Can't get at the kitchen knives if they're coming in that way. I edged toward the top step of the landing and heard the creak of the kitchen door. Shit. Shit. They were in already. I knelt down in front of the study door on the landing, the bedroom with Pim in opposite me. The stairs are made of wood and the fifth and sixth stairs creak. They've never been right since I bought the house.
     
    I forced my breathing to slow, my heart hammering away. If there were more than one I was fucked. I waited. Sweat rolled into my eye. I tried to keep my breathing quiet. Quiet and slow. I heard the stair creak and then silence. I waited. Had he skipped the next step? Another creak. I felt a desperate urge to take a leak. Fuck it. I went around the corner of the stairs and dived down. Shit! There’re two of them. Slow motion time or fast brain time kicked in, seeing, as I dived, the first guy lift his gun and fire. I felt the bullet crease my skull as I crashed into his chest. The second guy was very quick. He ducked as we went over him and we crashed to the bottom of the stairs. The guy under me not moving, his gun clattering away towards the front door. I dived for it, looking over my shoulder, sliding on the floor reaching for the spinning gun. The guy on the stairs rose, turning, his gun coming up. I wasn't going to make it.
     
    I saw the bedroom door open. Pim came out with something white and rectangular held above her head. The guy seeing my look, turned, his gun swinging towards her. I got my fingers on the spinning gun, bringing it up and fired three times quickly. He went down, but I kept firing, getting up walking towards him. Seven shots, good grouping.
     
    The guy I’d tackled on the stairs was dead, broken neck. I went through his pockets. Nothing except a few thousand baht, a spare magazine, and a packet of cigarettes. If you couldn't do it with one mag, you wouldn't get a chance for two.
     
    I wiped down the gun and put in in his hand. Holding his hand steady I fired two more bullets aiming at the other guy's chest. The last one missed and hit him in the face. Powder traces on the hand would now confirm this guy fell down the stairs, broke his neck, and then fired multiple shots hitting the first guy. Yup. I could see the words in the very expensive police report to come.
     
    Blood dripped on his face, mine. I reached a hand up to my head. Above my ear, I felt raw flesh where the first bullet carved a groove. It stung and was wet with blood. Another fraction of an inch and I'd have been killed. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket. My feet scrunched on broken pieces of ceramic toilet. Good choice. I went up the stairs to her. She was crouched on the landing, at the same spot from where she had hurled the toilet lid at the guy. She’d saved my life.
     
    “Get dressed. We're out of here.” I said, softly. She stayed where she was. I put my hand on her shoulder giving her a squeeze. She was shaking. “Pim. Move it. Go get dressed.”
     
    She looked at me and nodded, still in shock.
     
    Then the doorbell rang.
     
    I glanced down the stairs at the door. Shit, someone must have reported the shots. I shook Pim by both shoulders and pointed at the bedroom. She nodded and moved. I went downstairs and peeked