Free The Killer by Jack Elgos Page A

deliberately they circled each other until Juan could wait no longer. With the surprising speed and agility of a cat he lunged at Darren, swinging the huge knife as he went. Aiming for the throat, Juan missed, but the blade did connect and dug deep into Darren’s face. The sting of pain blinded him for a split second and a huge spray of blood shot outwards, then slowly trickled onto his neck and down the side of his shirt. The men cheered, baying like animals at the sight of first blood. They were in no doubt that their hero was about to be promoted to the job of head trainer.
    For such a big guy, Juan’s quick and nimble dive had caught Darren off guard. ‘Jesus, that man’s fast,’ he realised. ‘Better pick yer game up son, or you’ll end up a dead ‘un.’ Now fully aware of his opponent’s capabilities and speed Darren took a single step backwards as Juan sprang at him again. Nonchalantly he sidestepped the big man. Missing his target completely, Juan fell flat on his face and rolled around in the dirt, all the time cursing aloud as he struggled to regain his footing. The crowd cheered. With a look of pure fury on his scowling face Juan dived yet again, swinging his knife in a vicious arc as he went. Missing by a good six inches he landed smack in the middle of the crowd of men.
    Darren calmly stood and lifted his knife arm for all to see, making sure everyone was witnessing this. He folded and then retracted the blade. Gasps of shock were heard from the crowd. ‘Juan will surely fillet the boy now,’ one of them whispered as the huge man emerged again form the group to find Darren facing him with a closed knife in his hand. This only served to heighten Juan’s anger, for he took this to be a direct insult, not only to his fighting ability, but even worse, to his very manhood. He could wait no longer. He gave a terrifying and bloodcurdling scream as he ran like a man possessed, swinging the huge knife once more and aiming directly at Darren’s chest. In a flash Darren ducked under the hissing blade as Juan passed and, jumping like a panther, he grabbed him around the neck and clung to him in piggyback fashion. Quickly he raised his hand then delivered a crushing blow to the back of Juan’s head with the heel of The Killer. Juan was instantly stunned as the savage blow matched that of any hammer. Falling first to his knees, then rolling flat on the ground, he promptly passed out.
    A cheer went up from the men. As fickle as any crowd could be, it seemed they now had a brand new champion. Darren stood over his defeated adversary and flicked open the blade once more. He bent and sliced open Juan’s cheek from lip to ear. Nothing life threatening, just a little payback for the slice to his own cheek and one that would serve as a reminder of who the new boss was around here.
    The men were shouting and cheering, screaming for Darren to deliver the deathblow, the coup d’état, and finish poor Juan. This was, after all, a fight to the death. Darren took his time as he looked around, staring into each one of the wicked, expectant, excited faces. Then, very slowly, he shook his head and closed the knife. He abandoned Juan and walked away towards Steve who had been watching every move made with avid interest.
    ‘You know, I think they picked just the right guy for a fighting instructor,’ he smiled. ‘When I saw the size of that Juan feller, and the size of that fucking great sword he had, I thought for sure you were a dead-un.’
    ‘The size of a man don’t mean anyth…’
    Darren was cut off in mid sentence by the sharp crack of a single pistol shot. He and Steve swung round together and stared in surprise. The crowd of men stopped jeering and parted silently as Rosa emerged from the throng, pocketing an old revolver as she walked leaving Juan, now dead, in her wake. Looking at the two shocked men she explained. ‘I had no alternative but to finish him. Juan was a good man, but he was a famed knife-fighter