Read Cult of Crime for Free Online Page A

guns, and the Rajah was grinning mirthlessly and nodding. The chanting went on and on.
    Mouthing a silent prayer, Frank thrust the firebrand at Joe.
    Suddenly he spun, hurling the wood at the bodyguard standing to his left. The man screamed as the flames brushed him, and jumped back. For a moment, everyone watched him, and Frank leaped in the air. He smashed out with his foot at the bodyguard to his right, striking him in the stomach. The guard doubled over.
    Frank caught the man in mid fall and flipped him around. The bodyguard slammed against the ground. In a flash, Frank reached into the man’s tunic. Out came a .357 ‘Magnum, and Frank fired it once in the air. The chanting stopped.
    Frank backed around the pole, keeping the gun trained on the Rajah. “Stay back,” he warned.
    “Anyone so much as breathes hard and your leader gets it.” To Joe, he said, “You okay?”
    “A little bruised, but otherwise pretty good,” Joe replied. “Too good to hang around with these creeps any longer. Ready to go?”
    “As soon as I get you untied,” Frank said. He tried to loosen the knot at Joe’s wrists, but he couldn’t afford to look at the rope. If he took his eyes off the Rajah, even for a second, or if he moved the gun slightly, it would be all over.
    Frank didn’t mind fighting the bodyguards if it came to that, but he couldn’t face the prospect of fighting the cult. Despite what he had seen in their eyes moments before, they were only frightened innocents at heart.
    Keeping his eyes riveted on the Rajah, Frank whispered into Joe’s ear, “As Soon as I shoot, run for the van. Understand?”
    “But I’m still tied,” Joe whispered back. “How-?”
    “Just do it,” Frank murmured. Then, to the Rajah, he shouted, “Come here! Now!”
    The Rajah’ stood still, his mouth dangling slightly open. His lower lip trembled, and there was, at last, fear in his eyes. Are his followers looking at him? Frank wondered, though he dared not turn his head to check. Can they see that he’s only a man, and a rotten excuse for a man at that?
    “Come here,” Frank repeated. “Don’t make me kill you.”
    The Rajah walked forward, through the corridor of bodyguards. His eyes shifted left, then right, then left again, but there was no escape. No way could he push his men aside before Frank fired.
    “Do not - ” the Rajah started to say and then paused. His confident smile locked back into place, and he spoke steadily. “Do what you want with me, devil, but do not harm these holy souls.” He spread his arms out, waving at his followers, and continued walking toward Frank.
    He’s good, Frank thought. He’s really good. A true showman, even in the face of death. Then a terrifying thought hit him. What if he knows? What if he figured out I wouldn’t gun down an unarmed man? That all this is an act?
    No, he assured himself. If he knew that, Joe and I would be prisoners by now. Or worse.
    When they were less than an arm’s length apart, Frank grabbed the Rajah by the shoulder, spun him around, and wrapped an arm around the Rajah’s throat. But as he did so, he lowered his gun. As one, the Rajah’s followers lunged.
    Frank fired his gun once. The Rajah stiffened and his eyes bulged, and Frank pushed the Rajah’s slumping body away as the man fainted at the roar of the shot. The bullet ripped through Joe’s ropes. Joe was free.
    “Go!” Frank screamed and fired a round of shots over the heads of the crowd. The Rajah’s bodyguards scrambled for cover, fumbling for their guns, and the cultists shrieked and scattered among the lodges.
    Joe dashed for the black van. Oddly, no barred his way. I guess they just weren’t expecting us to make a break for it, he thought. The Joe Hardy luck, it seemed, was holding up. He reached for the door handle on the van.
    The door burst open, smashing into Joe and knocking him off his feet. Dazed, he shook his head to clear the aim, and dimly he saw a man stepping out of the