Page 113 of Nobody's Hero

Then he remembered Tas had shot Carlyle. Shewasn’ton the boat. Seemed Tas had only fished out the living. Koenig screwed his eyes shut. He’d lost men and women before, but this felt worse. Carlyle had sacrificed her freedom when she disappeared, and now she’d sacrificed her life. It didn’t seem fair.Hewas supposed to be the diversion.

Koenig wasn’t restrained. He looked at his legs and understood why. He’d felt a bone snap when he landed in the water, but he had no idea how serious his injuries were. His right fibula, the smaller of the two shinbones, had exploded through his skin. A burst fracture, when bones break in multiple directions. Happens in severe falls. Which sounded about right. It was sticking out of his shin at ninety degrees. Looked like a chopstick in rice. His legs and ankles were swollen and purple. They looked broken. Theyfeltbroken. But bad sprains looked like that too. Hard to tell. Now he could see his injuries, the pain kicked in. Therealpain. It flowed into his legs like electricity. Pulsating. Stabbing. Searing. A marine drill instructor had once told him that pain was weakness leaving the body. Koenig sucked in a mouthful of warm desert air and buttoned it down. Tried to act like a marine.

The next surprise was that Tas had treated the burst fracture. As best he could, given what was to hand. His right leg had a torniquet. Above the knee. It had stemmed the blood loss. Tas had used Koenig’s belt.

The third surprise was that he was naked. Not down-to-his-shorts naked. Butt naked. Splinters-in-his-ass naked. Hope-Draper-wasn’t-watching naked.

Koenig cleared his throat and only half stifled a groan of pain. ‘I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t flattered, Jakob.’

Chapter 122

Jakob Tas turned at the sound of Koenig’s voice. He leaned against the stern.

‘You’re awake?’ he said.

Koenig didn’t answer the question. It seemed rhetorical. Instead, he said, ‘Is Bess dead?’

‘She is. I didn’t want to kill her, but you two left me no choice. I couldn’t leave her where she was.’

‘I’mnot dead, Jakob. Why is that?’

Tas chuckled. ‘I thought youweredead, Koenig. I thought you’d drowned, but it seems some people just don’t know when it’s time to die.’

‘That doesn’t answer my question.’

‘Because we’re the same, you and I.’ He held up his hand before Koenig could protest. ‘Yes, we are. We’re both singularly focused on achieving our goals. I sacrificed my friends in San Diego, you sacrificed Miss Carlyle not twenty minutes ago.’

Koenig didn’t bother correcting him. Instead, he said, ‘Can I have my clothes back, please?’

‘I threw your clothes overboard,’ Tas said.

‘Even my boots?’

‘Especiallyyour boots.’

‘May I ask why?’

Tas picked up something small. He showed Koenig. It was a punch dagger, all shiny and dreadful. ‘This fits neatly into my belt buckle,’ he said. ‘The craftsmanship is so good, not even airport scanners can tell it’s a weapon.’

‘I’m not Rosa Klebb, and this isn’tFrom Russia with Love. I don’t have a boot knife.’

‘But youarea resourceful guy,’ Tas said. ‘You killed my team in Scotland—’

‘They were wearing stupid armour. They had stupid guns.’

‘And New York? Those guys knew what they were doing.’

‘What can I say?’ Koenig said. ‘I like to get my retaliation in early.’

‘They were the best at my disposal,’ Tas continued. ‘Been together for years. They had you outnumbered and they had better weapons. Yet you still beat them. So, forgive me, the only way I could be sure you hadn’t secreted a weapon in your clothing was to throw it overboard.’

‘I liked those boots,’ Koenig said. ‘Bought them in Texas last year. The leather was as soft as silk.’

‘Sorry.’

Koenig looked over Tas’s shoulder. They were still in the Boulder Basin. He recognised the layered rock formation. It was coffee coloured, from the darkest French roast to the milkiest latte. Looked like one of those Bavarian cakes. It was called the law of superposition. Meant that in layers of sedimentary rock, the oldest layer is at the base, with each layer above getting progressively younger. It was all relative, though, Koenig thought. The top layer was still millions of years old.

‘We’re in the Boulder Basin,’ Koenig said. ‘Exactly where you wanted to be found.’