Read Online Girl Takes Up Her Sword by Jacques Antoine - Free Book Online Page A

shattered, just as Sensei said it would, and fell to the floor in pieces. George turned to see his cousin swinging a knife at his face. He blocked and punched him in the center of the chest just as Danko struck him with a rifle butt on the back of the head. David fell to the floor, unconscious. Their eyes met in a moment of mutual understanding.
    “It’s too bad we can’t just finish him,” Danko said. “Our lives would be so much simpler.”
    “Yeah, well, he’s Meacham’s little project. He cares more about him than about the money.”
    “I guess so. He’d probably have us all shot.”
    Danko went down to help with the safe while George reconned the rest of the upstairs rooms. The sound of small children whimpering led him to a hinged panel hidden behind a curtain. A study, perhaps, or a safe room? He paused at the door. Would there be any guards inside? Probably not. And if there were, he guessed they wouldn’t risk a fire fight around the children. And whose children were these, anyway? If they were Khun Sa’s, or his Lieutenants’, and the women were their wives, then this operation just got a whole lot more dangerous. Taking his money was one thing, but harming his family... he’d want to settle that score.
    He pushed the door open and stuck his head inside. In the light that followed him in, he could see several little faces cowering in a corner. Three more young women tried to shield them, weeping and clearly terrified. George put one finger to his lips and held out the other hand in a gesture he hoped would calm them down. It didn’t have the desired effect.
    In the corridor, the last woman was now crouching next to the dead, stroking the hair of the infant and sobbing heavily. George went back out to her, raised her up and tried to communicate with her. Somehow he made her understand that she would be safe. Together, they carried the bodies over to a nearby couch. She pulled a sheet over them. He led the woman back to the room with the children and gestured to her.
    “Keep them inside. You’ll be safe here.”
    She nodded. Perhaps she understood. She seemed to find something reassuring in his eyes. The panel clicked shut and he went back downstairs.
    Javier and Cantorini had managed to find shells for the little field piece. It was much too heavy to lift up the steps. They used a jeep to position it on a little rise and aim it through a window. Three shots and the vault door fell off its hinges.
    “Holy crap!” Javier said, once the smoke and dust cleared. “That’s way more then fifty million.”
    “I think our shares just went up,” Danko mused.
    “Must be why they left so many men behind,” George said.
    “What the hell are we gonna do with the gold? It’s too heavy to carry on foot. Cantorini, what are these things worth?”
    “I don’t know. Let’s see. Feels like a kilo or so, with a Chinese government stamp. I’d guess around fifty thousand, maybe more. We’re not gonna be able to carry more than a hundred of these.”
    “Shit, there must be ten times that in here. What about the jeep? We could take ‘em all in that”
    “We can’t drive it over the mountain,” George said. “And the only road takes us further into Burma.”
    “What about the horses out back? There must be a dozen of ‘em. Maybe we can rig up packs.”
    Getting the horses over the mountain was slow, but much easier than George expected. They were placid and accustomed to carrying heavy loads. David remained unconscious the whole way, strapped to the back of a horse like a rolled up carpet.
    Down in the plain, they decided to ride the extra horses even though Daniels hadn’t been able to find any saddles.
    “I can’t ride this thing bareback,” Cantorini moaned.
    “Shut up and get your fat ass up there,” Daniels snorted.
    “Fine. Give me a leg up, asshole.”
    “Stop wanking. It’ll be a hoot,” Danko said. “And we’ll make much better time.”
    As it turned out, the ride was diverting, even