Read Online Hunt at the Well of Eternity by Gabriel Hunt, James Reasoner - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Gabriel Hunt, James Reasoner
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“Wait.”
“Señor Hunt! What are you—”
“Let me take a look.”
Gabriel pulled her behind him and eased forward into the doorway. A glance down the corridor showed him the front desk and the door beyond it. Carlos was slumped on the floor behind the desk, blood slowly pooling around his head. He was lying with his face toward Gabriel and even from this distance Gabriel could make out the neat hole in his forehead.
Gabriel hadn’t heard a shot. That meant whoever had killed Carlos was using a silencer. Not a street thug, then. More professionals.
He stepped back into the Special Collections room, looked around. There were no other doors or windows that he could see. If they got trapped in here, it would be a dead end, in more senses than one.
“What’s happened?” Dr. Almanzar asked in a breathless voice, crowding up behind him.
“I’m afraid your assistant has been killed,” Gabriel told her. “Someone shot him in the head.”
It was a brutal way to break the news, but he wanted Dr. Almanzar to appreciate what they were up against. There were killers loose in the museum, and while Gabriel knew that he was their real target—either that or they were after the second flag—he also knew they wouldn’t shrink from gunning down anyone who got in their way.
Dr. Almanzar had blanched at the news of Carlos’s murder. “What are we going to do?”
“There’s no other way out of this room?”
Mutely, she shook her head.
“Do you have any sort of security system here?”
“Not really,” Dr. Almanzar said. “The collections all have historical value, of course, but none of them are worth enough to tempt thieves. At least, not that we knew of.”
“So if I broke some of these display cases, it wouldn’t set off an alarm?”
“No. Only the front door. If someone broke the glass there, then an alarm would sound and the police would be alerted.”
A grim smile tugged at Gabriel’s mouth. “Good enough,” he said.
He knew they didn’t have much time. The men who had killed Carlos might be coming down the hallway even now. He was carrying the Colt in a shoulder holster tonight and reached under his coat to draw it. He didn’t want to get involved in another shootout if he could avoid it, not with Dr. Almanzar there, but it wasn’t always possible to avoid such things. Switching the gun to his left hand, he lifted a stone axe from a pair of hooks on the wall with his right.
“What are you doing?” the doctor said. “You can’t—”
“Get behind something solid,” Gabriel said.
He saw Dr. Almanzar gape at him for a second, then abruptly decide to follow his advice. She scrambled behind a big open cabinet full of what looked like maps.
Gabriel hefted the axe in his hand, judging its weight and balance. He could put a round from the Colt through the museum’s front door, but a bullet hole might not be enough to trigger the alarm. And anyway, he didn’t know how many adversaries he was facing—he might need all the bullets he had just to deal with them.
He took a deep breath and then stepped through the doorway, raising the axe behind his head as he did so. His arm flashed forward and sent the axe spinning through the air, over the desk, and into the glass of the door. The glass shattered, splintering outward, and instantly an alarm began to blare.
As he’d thrown the axe, Gabriel had seen three figures clad in black creeping along the walls of the corridor toward the room he was in. Even before his arm descended and the alarm went off, the silenced pistols the men held came up and began to spit death at him. He leaped back through the doorway, narrowly missed by a couple of shots as he did so. The sounds of ricochets echoed from the walls of the corridor.
As he landed, he rolled behind a display case and came to a stop on his stomach. Thrusting the Colt’s barrel around the end of the case, he fired as one of the assassins tried to rush into the room. The man cried out as the
“Señor Hunt! What are you—”
“Let me take a look.”
Gabriel pulled her behind him and eased forward into the doorway. A glance down the corridor showed him the front desk and the door beyond it. Carlos was slumped on the floor behind the desk, blood slowly pooling around his head. He was lying with his face toward Gabriel and even from this distance Gabriel could make out the neat hole in his forehead.
Gabriel hadn’t heard a shot. That meant whoever had killed Carlos was using a silencer. Not a street thug, then. More professionals.
He stepped back into the Special Collections room, looked around. There were no other doors or windows that he could see. If they got trapped in here, it would be a dead end, in more senses than one.
“What’s happened?” Dr. Almanzar asked in a breathless voice, crowding up behind him.
“I’m afraid your assistant has been killed,” Gabriel told her. “Someone shot him in the head.”
It was a brutal way to break the news, but he wanted Dr. Almanzar to appreciate what they were up against. There were killers loose in the museum, and while Gabriel knew that he was their real target—either that or they were after the second flag—he also knew they wouldn’t shrink from gunning down anyone who got in their way.
Dr. Almanzar had blanched at the news of Carlos’s murder. “What are we going to do?”
“There’s no other way out of this room?”
Mutely, she shook her head.
“Do you have any sort of security system here?”
“Not really,” Dr. Almanzar said. “The collections all have historical value, of course, but none of them are worth enough to tempt thieves. At least, not that we knew of.”
“So if I broke some of these display cases, it wouldn’t set off an alarm?”
“No. Only the front door. If someone broke the glass there, then an alarm would sound and the police would be alerted.”
A grim smile tugged at Gabriel’s mouth. “Good enough,” he said.
He knew they didn’t have much time. The men who had killed Carlos might be coming down the hallway even now. He was carrying the Colt in a shoulder holster tonight and reached under his coat to draw it. He didn’t want to get involved in another shootout if he could avoid it, not with Dr. Almanzar there, but it wasn’t always possible to avoid such things. Switching the gun to his left hand, he lifted a stone axe from a pair of hooks on the wall with his right.
“What are you doing?” the doctor said. “You can’t—”
“Get behind something solid,” Gabriel said.
He saw Dr. Almanzar gape at him for a second, then abruptly decide to follow his advice. She scrambled behind a big open cabinet full of what looked like maps.
Gabriel hefted the axe in his hand, judging its weight and balance. He could put a round from the Colt through the museum’s front door, but a bullet hole might not be enough to trigger the alarm. And anyway, he didn’t know how many adversaries he was facing—he might need all the bullets he had just to deal with them.
He took a deep breath and then stepped through the doorway, raising the axe behind his head as he did so. His arm flashed forward and sent the axe spinning through the air, over the desk, and into the glass of the door. The glass shattered, splintering outward, and instantly an alarm began to blare.
As he’d thrown the axe, Gabriel had seen three figures clad in black creeping along the walls of the corridor toward the room he was in. Even before his arm descended and the alarm went off, the silenced pistols the men held came up and began to spit death at him. He leaped back through the doorway, narrowly missed by a couple of shots as he did so. The sounds of ricochets echoed from the walls of the corridor.
As he landed, he rolled behind a display case and came to a stop on his stomach. Thrusting the Colt’s barrel around the end of the case, he fired as one of the assassins tried to rush into the room. The man cried out as the
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