Free Green Light (Sam Archer 7) by Tom Barber Page A

friends, both of them losing
their balance on the slippery surface.
    But the
other was moving in fast. He was right-handed and swinging his arm
in an upward arcing motion, but this time Archer had a weapon too.
He desperately tried to block the forearm again but slipped, the
man’s shiv slicing across his arm. Shouting in anger from the hot
pain, Archer buried his own soapy, blood-stained shiv in the guy’s
chest as hard as he could.
    However,
the handle was slippery and he lost his grip. As the man dropped
his shiv and clutched the weapon buried in his pectoral, Archer
grabbed his wet hair and slammed his face into the wall, the man’s
forehead thumping off as it made contact. The impact cracked part
of the old shower wall, small pieces of tile falling to the floor
as the guy crumpled and went down.
    Shouting
with rage, the remaining pair attacked simultaneously, over four
hundred pounds of murderous fury bearing down on him. Unarmed,
cornered and outnumbered, Archer scooped up a shard of broken tile
and rose just as the nearest guy took a swing; he was built like a
barn door but not as fast as Archer, who jerked out of the way as
the shiv in the man’s hand missed his gut by an inch, the blade
continuing on its arc. As momentum caught the guy off-balance
Archer brought his left hand up and sliced the shard across the
man’s face, starting at his lower cheek and continuing across his
nose and forehead, the porcelain cutting him diagonally lip to
brow.
    The man
screamed, dropping his shiv and clutched his face as blood started
to flow into his eyes, blinding him. However, by that point the
other inmate had already moved in. Turning to face him, Archer
twisted at the last second and felt hot pain across his chest as
the shiv sliced him, the guy going for his heart.
    Caught
in the water pumping from the shower, his attacker lost his grip on
the small blade and went to grab Archer but the blond detective was
still lathered up with soap and rolled out of the man’s grip,
hammering an elbow into his face and then pushing him back into the
first man he’d stabbed, who’d just got back to his feet.
    Panting,
soaking wet and with blood leaking down his arm, chest and hand,
Archer kept tight hold of the piece of tile and braced
himself.
    Suddenly
a gunshot echoed around the tiled room, deafeningly loud inside the
stall, the sounds of the fight attracting the attention from the
guards next door. His back against the far wall, Archer
straightened and put his hands up as the officers ran inside, their
boots splashing on the wet tiles.
    Slamming
him into the wall and pulling the piece of ceramic from his hand,
the two men dragged him out. As they did so, Archer looked back at
the aftermath of the fight.
    One of
the gang members was down with a stab wound to the shoulder, the
second had the savage cut across his face and the third had a
broken nose and stab wound to his chest. The white-walled block was
lined with red which flowed and swirled into the water.
    ‘ You’re dead, ese!’ the third guy
screamed as more guards poured into the room, blood flowing from
his broken nose and wounded chest. ‘You
hear me? You’re dead!’
    Archer
didn’t reply as he was hustled around the corner and down the
corridor towards the SHU block, naked and soaking wet. His forearm
felt as if it could be broken and he was in serious pain from the
two cuts to his chest and his arm.
    But
despite all that, he grinned. The Latino was wrong.
    He was
still alive.

TEN
    Pushed
into the single man SHU cell, Archer turned just in time to catch
his orange overalls, t-shirt and boxers as they were thrown at him,
the door slammed and locked behind him.
    Tossing
the clothes onto the bed, he ripped the pillowcase off and wiped
himself down before pulling on his boxers and slacks, his hair wet
and clinging to his head, his body shaking from the cold and
plummeting adrenaline. Picking up the pillowcase again, he rubbed
it through his hair to dry it off as best he