Read A Good Day To Die for Free Online

slowly took the snub-nosed .38 revolver from thewaistband of my jeans, showing it to him as I did so. I then placed it in the side pocket of the driver's door so that it was out of sight. 'See? I'm now unarmed.' I gave myself a quick pat down and leaned forward in my seat so he could see I wasn't bullshitting.
    His expression relaxed a little. 'All right, all right. Let's get this over with, then.'
    'Bring the bottles with you, can you?'
    He retrieved them from the glove compartment while I pulled a small digital camera out of the storage space between the two front seats, and then we both got out of the car. I clicked on the central locking and waited for him to join me. There was a gentle breeze in the air and it was cooler now that we were over a thousand feet above sea level. The only sound was the incessant chatter of the cicadas in the undergrowth.
    We started walking down the path in single file, with me leading. The route ahead opened up into grassland and a hundred yards to our left a huge ravine appeared, beyond which another forest-covered mountain rose up. In the distance, beyond the mountain, I could see the sea and the red-and-white telephone mast that stood on the hill overlooking White Beach - the only sign of man visible in the whole spectacular vista. Take that away and we might as well have been standing there a thousand years ago.
    The path forked and I took the left-hand route,which followed a gentle gradient through a grove of palm and mango trees in the direction of the ravine.
    'Where the fuck are we going?' I heard Slippery demand behind me.
    'I told you, somewhere quiet.'
    'I don't like this.'
    'Look,' I said, turning round so I was facing him, 'you can see I'm unarmed. What am I going to do? Kung fu you to death? And if you're that worried, look behind you.' I pointed up to a collection of neat two-storey wooden huts with pointed roofs that stood on a hill behind the road we'd been driving up. 'See, we're not that far from civilization.'
    He looked in the direction I was pointing. 'Who lives there, then?'
    'People called Mangyan. They're farmers. They tend to keep themselves to themselves, but I still don't want any of them seeing us.'
    I resumed walking and he followed, his complaints temporarily silenced.
    'I've just thought,' he said after a few seconds. 'Have you brought another shirt with you? 'Cause my one's going to be ruined.'
    'Shockingly enough, no,' I answered. 'But you must have packed a spare. When we're finished I'll drop you back at the hotel, you can have a nice warm shower, and then you'll be as right as rain.' I stopped by a palm tree and turned around. TheMangyan huts were almost out of sight. 'Here'll do,' I said.
    He stopped a yard or so behind me and I pointed to a clump of long grass a few feet away. 'Lie down there on your back, legs together, arms outstretched and head to one side, like dead people do on the telly. And put the bottles down next to you.'
    'Are you sure there are no snakes in there?' he asked, giving the grass a useless kick.
    At the same time, I leaned down and felt round the back of the palm tree, locating the Browning with silencer that I'd taped to the bark the previous day. I pulled it away and peeled off the tape, pleased that I'd planned ahead enough to keep my options open. Then released the safety.
    'Hold on,' he said, turning round, 'we ain't brought anything to put the paint on with . . .' The words died in his throat as he saw the gun, the shock rapidly giving way to resignation as I pointed it at his chest.
    'I can't fucking believe I fell for that. I should have known a bastard like you would have tried something. And you've got the nerve to call me slippery.'
    I had to admire his guts. He knew what was going to happen, that this was the end of the line for him, but he didn't beg and plead. I felt an unwelcome twinge of doubt that I had the strength to pull the trigger. Then I remembered why I was going to.
    'You know that copper you killed?' I