Sitting comfortably, looking as relaxed asthe gentle breeze that kicked up his neatly trimmed hair, Ronanwaited. Studying his adversary.
Sharpe recognized him immediately. Hisunsurprised expression confirmed that Sharpe had been watchingRonan closely these past months. Officially, Sharpe had never seenRonan without long hair and a beard, so Ronan would have expected adouble take.
Stopping a good ten feet away, Sharpe kepthis hands in his pockets. “McAllister, good to see you are lookingwell in your retirement.”
With a sardonic laugh, Ronan retorted, “I wasenjoying my retirement until you decided to ruin it.”
Sneering, Sharpe responded, “I made thatretirement happen. Gave you a break when you wouldn’t die, afterall, you did capture Peter Young for me. Had I known you were theone with the answers I needed, yours and Peter’s roles would havebeen reversed.”
Raising his eyebrow cynically, Ronan scoffed,“You kept me close a long time before you knew the Youngs didn’thave the weapons. How many other agents have you been trackingwithout approval?”
Sharpe smiled as his own cunning. “You knowwhat they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.That’s why you couldn’t handle this job. The line between friendand enemy is hazy at the best of times.”
“Sure. Friends, right. I’d like to know whoyou consider a friend. Was it the money or politics that drove youto sell the weapons to the terrorists?”
Holding his ground, Sharpe shook his head,“That’s not how we’re playing this. I’ve got your girl. Prettything too. Feisty. Not showing yet, but I hear she’s got a bun inthe oven. You sure stayed busy in your retirement. You tell mewhere the weapons are, and I let her go.”
Brow crinkling with regret, Ronan ran a handover his face, letting his fear show. Wasn’t hard; he didn’t evenhave to fake it. Shit, it was scary enough thinking Sharpe couldhave taken her, but if she had been pregnant, Ronan would be thatmuch more desperate. “I need to know that she’s ok.”
Sharpe held up his phone that held a pictureof Payson. Tied up, mouth gagged. Ronan let Sharpe see his reliefon seeing the picture they’d staged. Connor had held up his end ofthe bargain well, texting the staged photographs of Payson tied upand miserable, moments before Sharpe arrived.
“That do it for you? This was two minutesago.” Sharpe showed him the timestamp on the text.
Ronan nodded weakly. “Where is she?”
“Somewhere safe. Not here. As soon as theweapons are back in my possession, I’ll release her.” He locked hisphone and tucked it neatly back in his coat pocket.
“That wasn’t the deal. You give me the girl,and I give you the location of the weapons.” Ronan seethed, butremained steady in his position.
Sharpe sneered, “Nice try, McAllister. I’mnot letting go of my bargaining chip until I have the weapons in myhands.”
“Honestly, there may be a bit of a problemretrieving the weapons. American troops took over the base they’rehidden in; just inside the Syrian border.” Ronan’s face darkenedwith worry.
Sharpe threw his head back in laughter. “Wellthat sure worked out in my favor. I’ll just call the general andlet him know he can start digging; get rid of the middleman. Ourown troops can make the drop. Not that they’ll know what they’retransporting, of course.”
Ronan raised his arms in surrender whenSharpe aimed his concealed sidearm directly at him. “Wait. Just,wait. I did everything you asked.”
Sharpe shook his head. “I can’t leave anywitnesses. Eyes only, as I said.”
A confused, despondent expression overtookRonan’s face, “How high up does this go? Sara? General Linh?”
Laughing self-righteously, Sharpe countered,“Maybe you’re not as bright as she always said. Sara’s toostrait-laced for under the table deals. Keeps her nose awfullyclean for a former spook. I’m here so General Linh can keep hisnose clean, no official military involvement. You don’t think theywould just hand over dangerous biological weaponry, with the powerto wipe out millions, to little old me? My idea, my deal, my fatpromotion on the way, but this is a hell of a lot bigger thanme.”
“Tell me Sharpe, are you planning to shoot mehere? Or, are we going somewhere less public?” Ronan heldhis hands in the air. Sharpe rolled his eyes. “I’m just trying toplan ahead. First tour of the day starts soon, and I’d sure hatefor my bloody corpse to be part of it. Might add a nice new ghoststory to add to the tour though.”
Ronan kept his hands in the air, faceneutral. Distracting his adversary from the stealthy goddesssneaking through the fort, swiftly getting closer and closer. Notpart of the plan, but damn, she was a natural. He should have knownafter the rousing game of laser tag.
Sharpe continued, quite pleased with himself,“Why don’t you just stand up, so you’ll fall backwards. It willtake days, minimum, before anyone notices. It’s a pretty big drop.Silencer might reduce my accuracy a bit, so hold still for me.”Asshole was enjoying himself.
From the grassy rise behind the inner ramparton which Sharpe stood, Ronan saw a wooden hurley swing round andknock Sharpe smack dab in the knee. His howl of painful disbeliefwas rather gratifying.
Ronan didn’t hesitate, he took advantage ofthe distraction and dove the few steps towards Sharpe and nailedhim with a stiff jab to the nose.
Blood pouring from his nostrils, limping onhis injured leg, Sharpe pulled his gun from his large coat pocketand swung around toward the newcomer.
After her brilliant swing of the hurley,Payson had ducked below the rampart, out of sight. Smart.
Kicking Sharpe firmly in the backside, Ronandove after his tumbling form as the asshole crashed the ten or morefeet to the next level down where Payson hid.
