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.She finally grabbed his arm and hit a nerve point that made his hand weaken.He let go and she gasped and fell back.She planted a hand against a wall and righted herself, her gaze holding on him.He said, "Impressive.But if you couldn't endure such a small measure of pain I suppose you would not be in this line of work." He looked at Dominic."You mentioned a butcher: You think I'm dangerous? The second coming of the Holodomor? I actually like that description."He placed the muzzle of his pistol against Dominic's forehead and pulled the trigger.Reggie screamed and Dominic flinched but then opened his eyes.There was no entry wound.The front and back of his head were still intact.No blood.No death.He looked bewildered by his survival.Kuchin looked furious."Never hand me a pistol, Pascal, without a round in the chamber."Kuchin corrected the omission and started to line up his shot again, taking his time, completely in control.This turned out to be a very significant miscalculation.The blur of motion to his right made Kuchin look away for a vital second from Dominic.Shaw catapulted out of hiding, both elbows raised horizontally to the top of his delts.An arced jab of hard bone against soft face threw one of the guards with such force against the stone wall that he crumpled to the floor, the fight and his senses driven completely from him.The element of surprise distinctly his, Shaw kept moving forward and caught Pascal in the throat with a strike that left the smaller man flat on his face gasping and gagging for air, his gun bouncing across the floor.He stopped gagging when Shaw slammed his foot on the back of Pascal's head, ricocheting it off the stone and knocking him out.Alan Rice made the mistake of following the effect of the attack rather than the source.He screamed and fired his weapon; his wild round barely missed Kuchin's head and unfortunately embedded itself in Dominic's forearm, shattering bone and burning tissue.Dominic grunted and fell to the floor.Whit launched and caught Kuchin in the sternum, sending him heels over ass, the Ukrainian's weapon sailing away.Shaw pounced on Rice, swung him around, and slammed him against a crypt.He slid to the floor unconscious as blood streamed out of his smashed nose.Kuchin got to his feet as everyone scrambled for weapons or cover in the ongoing shimmer of the images on the wall.With the added human movement the entire spectacle took on the aspect of some bizarre performance art.Reggie lunged for her pistol but Kuchin kicked her in the face, slashing her cheek with the heel of his shoe.When Whit hurled himself at the man a second time, Kuchin was prepared.He deftly sidestepped the thrust and, taking a page from Shaw's attack method, slammed a bony elbow into Whit's face, dropping the Irishman in his tracks.Kuchin snatched up Reggie's Beretta, turned, aimed, and would have fired a bullet into the fallen woman's brain from inches away if Shaw hadn't connected with such a massive uppercut to the chin that it lifted the two-hundred-and-thirty-pound Ukrainian completely off his feet.He crumbled backward and hit the floor, spit out a tooth and tried to rise, but he was too dazed by the terrific shot he'd taken.Shaw jammed one gun in his belt and grabbed another pistol off the floor and tossed it to Whit, who'd staggered to his feet holding his face.Shaw stooped, snagged Reggie's arm, and pulled her up.With his other hand he hauled Dom to his feet."We have to get out of here.Now!""Not before we kill that bastard!" screamed Whit.At that instant Kuchin managed to get to his feet, and he ran out of the catacombs."Hey!" yelled Whit.He ran after Kuchin, followed by the others."Stop!" barked Shaw, and he grabbed Whit, who was lining up a shot."He's got other muscle, and they're probably on their way right now."As soon as Shaw had finished speaking, three more armed men clattered down the stairs and saw them.They opened fire.The sleepy hamlet of Gordes probably hadn't seen such aggression since the Romans had been in town two millennia before."This way," yelled Reggie.She led them to the passage that would carry them to the doorway near the villa.Kuchin ran toward his men and screamed, "Get them, but don't kill the woman!"Shaw turned and fired at the men.As the bullets ricocheted off the stone walls Kuchin's guards scrambled for cover.Whit pulled a slender canister from his pocket, popped a tab, and tossed it into the room.Dense smoke formed a wall between them and their pursuers.They turned and fled down the passage, steel-jacketed rounds chasing them every step of the way.Fittingly for a church, they all mouthed silent prayers as they fled.CHAPTER59DOWN THIS WAY," Reggie told Shaw."There's another exit.""The one that lets out down by the villas?" said Shaw.Reggie stared at him as they rushed along."How did you know?""I can recon.But that door opens onto a public street.""And Kuchin knows about it," said Reggie."I had to show him that route earlier to convince him to go to the church today.Then I led him to the catacombs instead."Shaw said, "Then it's no good for two reasons." He looked over at Dominic, who ran bent over, clutching his injured arm."Are you going to make it?"Reggie took off her bandanna and wrapped it around the wound."I can make it," Dominic said, grimacing.Whit eyed Shaw."What then? We can't go back unless we want to shoot our way out, and those guys have a lot more bullets than we do."Shaw pointed to his left."That way."Whit grabbed his arm."There's nothing down there.I checked.""At the end of the hall is a hidden door built into the stone.The passage there leads to the old fort.""How do you know that?" demanded Whit."Through a little history reading.""What?""Catholic priests often had to run for their lives.Just like we are.Now let's go!"They reached the end of the hall, Shaw pulled on a stone set in the lower half of the wall, and a slight gap appeared.He tugged on the section and old hinges creaked as the door swung open.They fled through and Shaw clicked the door shut behind them.As he led them down a dark, musty passageway Shaw hit some keys on his cell phone and the electronic message flew off.They passed through another door and reached a hall through which sunlight eased in via slits in the stone block far above their heads.They were now in the old fort.He reached one more door, tugged it open, and they entered a courtyard.The car screeched to a stop in front of them and Whit aimed his gun at the driver."He's with me," said Shaw, putting a hand on Whit's arm.Frank rolled down the passenger-side window and said, "The whole town is going nuts."Shaw and Reggie helped Dominic into the backseat and then slid in next to him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]