Free Paradise Burns by J. P. Sumner Page B

black
leather, almost certainly a woman. Blue and white motorcycle, black helmet.’
    Clara thought for a moment. I could tell
by the look on her face she’d figured something out and wasn’t happy about it.
    ‘What?’ I asked.
    ‘Natalia Salikov,’ she said.
    ‘Gesundheit,’ I said.
    ‘This isn’t a joke!’ replied Clara. ‘She’s
one of the Colonel’s top assassins. If she’s onto you, you need to leave town
right now. Forget everything you’ve seen or done and just go.’
    I raised an eyebrow. This Natalia
Salikov seemed to concern Clara. And Clara didn’t strike me as the kind of
woman who scared easy.
    I tucked my gun at my back, happy that
any threat was now over, and extended my hand.
    ‘Hi,’ I said, causing her concern to give
way to confusion. ‘We’ve not been formally introduced. I’m Adrian Hell.’
    She went quiet for a moment, then burst
out laughing.
    ‘You know, a guy could develop a complex
if you keep laughing like that.’
    ‘ You’re Adrian Hell? The Adrian Hell?’
    I smiled, sheepishly.
    ‘You’ve heard of me?’
    ‘Yeah, I’ve heard of you. You’re a
legend in the killing business. I just didn’t expect you to look like, well,
like you do.’
    I stood there for a moment, processing
the nose-dive my self-confidence just took.
    ‘I’m just gonna go right ahead and
assume that’s a compliment.’
    Clara rolled her eyes, which I ignored.
    ‘The point of me introducing myself and
unknowingly leaving myself open to a verbal bitch-slapping, was to point out
that I’m not fazed by a woman on a motorcycle who’s meant to be a good
assassin. I’m going to see this thing through and fix it. I’m not sure how, but
I will.’
    She smiled, softer this time, more
genuine and less insulting.
    ‘I believe you. I do. But don’t
underestimate what you’re up against.’
    ‘I never do. For a start, I need to know
how they knew about me before I’d even heard of them.’
    ‘How are you going to do that?’
    ‘I have my ways. But seriously, Clara,
get the hell out of here, okay?’
    Before she could say anything else, I
picked up the keycard to the suite off the desk and put it in my pocket. I took
out a handkerchief and wiped down the briefcase. I hadn’t touched anything
else, so was happy I wasn’t leaving anything incriminating in there. I then
headed for the door.
    Clara watched me cleanse the room of any
evidence I was ever there.
    ‘Erm, Adrian?’
    ‘Yeah?’
    ‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’ She nodded
to Jackson’s corpse tied to a chair.
    ‘Oh, don’t worry, I’ll sort that later.’
    I opened the door, taking the Do Not
Disturb sign off the inside handle and placing it on the outside one. I stepped
out, went to close the door and looked back at her one last time.
    ‘Trust me, I’m a professional.’
    I winked at her and closed the door.

 
    SIXTEEN
     
     ‘Uranium! Are
you kidding me?!’ shouted Josh down the phone.
    After I left The Four Seasons, I’d made
my way back to my hotel, taking a very roundabout route back in case I was
being followed. Once I got there, I had a proper read through all the documents
I’d lifted from Jackson’s briefcase. They were definitely the deeds to the land
that Pellaggio wants. All sorts of legal crap I didn’t understand over the
dozen or so pages, and on the last page, a space for a signature. Which Jackson
hadn’t got round to doing.
    I then grabbed a shower and thought
about how I’m going to handle this with Jimmy Manhattan. I was quite open with
him before, but I know a lot more than I did this morning, and there’s no way I
can give the mob access to that land. As it stands, I’ve only got to deal with
one crazy group of extremists. If the mob got a hold of their own uranium
deposit, they’d sell it to all the other crazy groups of extremists, which
would be a devastating turn of events.
    I came to the conclusion this wasn’t an
easy fix, and I gave up trying to find a solution for now. So I rang