Read Six Times Deadly: A Lawson Vampire Story Collection (The Lawson Vampire Series) for Free Online Page B

clutched at Frank, but Frank stepped back and watched Hagar slump forward, face hitting the sand.
    “He was always a problem.”
    I nudged Hagar’s body with my foot.   He rolled over and I watched as his teeth shrank now, the secret of our existence still safe even in death.   “Two bodies to dispose of now.   You’re making more work for yourself.”
    He pointed the gun at me.   “Get him into the water.”
    “You might want to revisit your employee retention program, because from my perspective, it really stinks.”   I got my hands under Hagar’s armpits and dragged him into the frothy surf.   Blood ran out of Hagar’s body and I heaved him out into a receding wave.
    It didn’t take long.
    Amid the crashing waves, I could hear the anxious tearing of clothes and flesh as Hagar’s body was devoured.   Great whites might have preferred seal blubber, but a body tossed into the chummed water was as good as gone.   The waves soaking the cuffs of my jeans were pinkish now.
    “Your turn.”
    The thought of being devoured among the rows of serrated hell didn’t score high on my list of Ways I Want to Die.
    Frank thumbed the hammer back again.   “Out you go.”
    I shook my head.   “You’re going to have to kill me here first.   There’s no way I’m swimming out there.”
    “Suit yourself.”
    But I was already moving, kicking up my left foot, flinging sand at his face as the first shot exploded and singed the hair along one side of my head.   I cut inside to his left, using my left hand to deflect his right arm so he couldn’t get a bead on me.   I shot my right hand into his throat, crushing his trachea.   He started to gag and I drove my fingers into his eyes, raking back down.   I brought my knee into his groin and he sank forward, allowing me to get the shoulder lock on his right arm.   I cranked and heard the bones separate.   He screamed, somehow forcing the air out through his badly-damaged throat.
    Too late, I pivoted and ripped the gun free of his hand.   He started to claw at me but I stepped back, aimed center mass and double-tapped the trigger.   The rounds tore into his chest, blossoming red in the night air.’
    He died on his knees and then sank into the knee-high water.   The tide surged in and out now, dragging his body a little further out each time.   I saw a dorsal fin slice the water no more than eight feet from me and I jumped back out of the surf.
    Frank’s body drifted out, at first seeming to float.   Then a violent explosion of red sprayed the water and the body vanished.  
    I watched for another minute, but there was nothing to see aside from the continuous ebb and flow of the sea.   I made my way back to the rocks overlooking the beach and found where the bass player had staked the chain.   It took me a few minutes to yank it free.   I dragged it down to the beach and then hurled it as far out as I could.   Hopefully, there’d be no reason aside from the seals for great whites to hunt here.
    I made my way back to the car, found a cell phone and called Niles.   He didn’t sound happy.
    “You have any idea what you’re interrupting right now?”
    I squeezed some of the seawater out of my jeans legs.   “An Ethel Merman retrospective?”
    “Gay humor doesn’t work for you.”
    “Neither does getting eaten by a shark.”
    “What did you say?”
    I found the car keys in the visor and gunned the engine.   “Never mind.   It’s finished.”
    “No loose ends?”
    “Loose pieces maybe.   But I think those will be gone soon, too.”
    “I’m not even going to ask what that means.”
    “Good.”
    “You’d better meet me in the morning for the debrief.   Got another one for you.”
    “Already?   I was looking forward to a few days off.”
    Niles sniffed.   “You should be so lucky.   Pack a bag, you’re going north.”
    “How north?”
    “Over the border.”
    “Not really my jurisdiction, Niles.   Don’t we have someone up there who