Page 94 of Red Retaliation

I look over the railing to the balcony of Room Twelve directly below - the room booked for Tom Slater. Everything is lined up perfectly.

“Now, you cunt!” I bark in Slater’s face. “You’re going on a little trip...”

“No! NOOOOO! You can’t!” Slater screams. “Please don’t do this, I beg you! It wasn’t my fault. What I said about my house was true, but there’s more...”

“Shut it, Slater. You’re giving me a fucking headache.” Liam pulls Slater half over the balcony rails.

“Please!” Slater stares into my eyes, his own streaming with pain and fright. His broken fingers claw at my jacket. He’d best not get blood on my shirt, otherwise I’ll kill him twice.

“Listen, please listen! You’re right that there’s traitors in your firm, but it’s not me. It wasthemforcing me to skim. But I never gave any information to anyone. I-I just needed the money.” Slater’s pain-ridden eyes still beseech me, but I’m not looking. I’ve had enough of lies. Had enough of bullshit. I’m done with it, and I’m done withhim.

It takes little strength to hoist my side of Slater up onto the rails.

“I know you’ll kill me,” Slater blathers. “I understand I let you down, but you need to know who’s behind this... You need to know who’s working against you!” His eyes track to Liam and then back to me. “Even though it won’t save me, it’s the last thing I can do to make amends.”

I falter only for a second. “Forget it! We both know it’s you.”

“No! Those people... they’re close to you. Too close! You...”

“Fuck this for a game of soldiers!” Liam roars, dragging Slater further over the rails. He stares at me in disbelief. “You’re not thinking about listening to this twat, are you?”

“Please!Please...”

My head swims, my anger mixing with distrust. This bastard howling down my ear isn’t helping. Why is Liam so desperate to hurry this along? Prickles of unease about my brothers - Liam especially, prod yet again. But then Slater jolts me from my thoughts by tugging at my arm.

“I’ve got nothing to lose now, Mr Bateman! The man, the men who are working against you, they...”

“COME ON!” Liam screams. “Let’s finish this! We’ve been gone ages!”

I snap back to my senses. Liam’s not hurrying this along for any other reason other than he’s right - wehavebeen gone ages. Slater is the one and only, lying thief of a mole.

I heave the rest of the man over the rail. “Nothing can make amends for what you’ve done, so fuck off!” I let go of Slater’s ankle at the exacttime Liam does. We work well together when singing from the same sheet.

Slater’s piercing scream fades, ending with a dull thunk from below. A couple of seconds pass before shouts rise from pavement level.

“Best get away from this balcony in case we’re spotted.” Hurrying back into the room, making sure Liam is behind me, I glance at the tarpaulin. “Right, get this folded up and let’s...”

“Jesus fucking Christ!”

My head snaps around, my heart lurching at the sight of Arianna in the room. “What the hell are you doing here?” I scream. “Get back to the eventnow!”

Arianna’s expression is not one I want to see. It’s pure horror. And it’s horror atme.

“You... you killed him!” she gasps, her eyes darting between me and Liam. “I saw... you both threw him over... over the...” Leaning forward, she retches.

“For fuck’s sake! Why did you tell her we were here?” Liam bundles up the tarpaulin. “We need to get out of here now!”

“I didn’t tell her anything! I don’t understand how sh...”

“Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” Arianna’s hands twist in her hair, her eyes darting to her weekend case on the luggage stand in the corner. She stares at me like I’m an alien. “This isourroom? You didthisinourroom?”

I move forward to reach for her hand. “You shouldn’t be here. You need to leave.”

“Don’t! Don’t touch me!” She yanks her arm out of my reach. “I don’t want you anywhere near me!”

“For God’s sake!” Liam mutters. “A hysterical woman. Just what we need...”

Grabbing Arianna’s hand, I pull her towards the door, turning back to check there’s nothing out of place in my suite. “I’ll explain later, but please let’s go. We must return to the event.”And I want to know who told her which room. Oscar?