Free What Comes Around: An Alex Hawke Novella (Alex Hawke Novels) by Ted Bell

Lifted up the circular rug with a sailboat on it. Beneath it was the round hatch he’d disguised to match the rest of the wooden flooring. Never thinking he’d need an escape hatch but just have it, a secret like a bookcase that swung open to reveal a hidden passage.
    He hooked his finger under an edge and lifted.
    Spider was hammering on the door with his fist, kicking it hard with his heavy boots. Telling Hawke it was over, useless, time to die. It would be the work of a few moments before the powerful brute gained entry.
    Yes! Twenty feet directly below Hawke’s room lay the small enclosed lagoon that opened out to the open sea. He could see the gleaming pole disappearing into the dark waves below, frothing up against the steep rocky walls.
    Angered, Spider was firing his weapon at the door, splintering the timbers. Hawke knew he didn’t have long—
    He jumped, grabbed the pole and slid down, lowering himself just a couple of feet. Then he reached up and pulled the hatch cover with its attached rug back into place. Even if Spider got inside the room now, well, he’d just bought himself a little time . . . a minute, maybe . . .
    Go!
    He let go of the hatch cover and let himself slide. . . .
    The cold dark water shocked him, pumping even more adrenaline into his system. He clawed at the water, kicking his feet as hard as he could, and swam submerged out the inlet and into open sea.
    He gulped air as his head popped up above the surface, expecting to see the cottage up on the rocky promontory. Everything was black! No horizon, no landmarks. He whirled around, disoriented, looking for the shoreline. There! The misty garden lights up on his terrace! He started clawing water, swimming as hard as he could for land.
    A minute later he reached a set of wide stone steps carved into the rock that ascended all the way up to his broad terrace.
    He pulled his weapon from its holster and raced to the top, taking the steps three at a time.
    There he was!
    Through an exterior window, he’d caught a glimpse of Spider Payne. He was still out in the hall, slamming his big shoulder against the splintering bedroom door over and over again, screaming loudly in frustration. Hawke sprinted across the terrace, slid open one of the doors, and stepped inside.
    The hallway leading to his room was to his immediate left. The house was still pitch-black. He could hear the door begin to give way . . . Spider, illuminated only be the light from within the room, was seconds away from entering.
    Moving as quietly as he could, he entered to the darkened hall and paused.
    He knew he’d only get one shot at this.
    He felt along the wall with his left hand, searching for the overhead hall light switch. Spider was almost completely through the bedroom door . . .
    Hawke raised the Colt revolver, sighting on Spider’s broad back as he paused to take a breath.
    Then he flipped the light switch.
    The corridor was instantly flooded with bright incandescent light.
    “Spider!” he cried out, the gun now extended with two hands in front of him, standing braced in a shooter’s stance.
    The big man whirled to face him, his own face a mask of shock and rage. Hawke saw the muzzle of the man’s assault rifle come up, Spider already firing rounds, zinging off the tile floor as he raised the automatic weapon toward his enemy hoping to cut him to ribbons.
    Hawke fired the Python.
    Once into the center of Spider’s chest, hoping to catch the seam and his heart.
    And once into his right eye.
    The man’s skull was slammed back against the door. He was still somehow struggling to lift his weapon as he fired blindly . . . rounds still ricocheting off the tile floor as the life drained out of him.
    And then and there Spider Payne breathed his last, sliding slowly to the floor, leaving a bloody smear on Alex Hawke’s shattered bedroom door, collapsing into a shapeless black heap of useless flesh and bone.
    Hawke went to him, knelt down and pressed two