Page 114 of The Final Vow

‘And where will he be?’

‘Let’s go and look, shall we?’

As they walked to the opposite side of the crater, Poe asked Towler how he knew so much about anti-sniper tactics.

‘You know how,’ he said. ‘I was in the Parachute Regiment.’

‘And given who you work for now, were you perhaps in something more specialised than the Paras?’

‘Thereisnothing more specialised than the Parachute Regiment,’ Towler said.

Poe rolled his eyes. He’d never met a Para who didn’t think that way. He was in the Black Watch, a tasty, highly skilledinfantry regiment, but he’d never felt the need to make a song and dance about it. ‘You know what I mean,’ he said.

‘Can you keep a secret?’

‘Of course,’ Poe said.

‘So can I.’

Chapter 99

‘Here,’ Towler said, getting into a rocky, V-shaped wedge 10 metres below the ridgeline. ‘This is where I’d shoot from. It’s perfect. It’s not obvious cover, but there’s protection. The firing platform is lightly covered granite so it’s stable, and it has a great view of your front door.’

Poe thought he was right. This was the fourth potential site Towler had identified but was easily the most promising. And the best thing was, Poe would have to pass the first three en route anyway.

Towler got to his feet. Studied the rest of the area. ‘No, this is it,’ he said. ‘You’ll be in dead ground until the last twenty metres or so, so you can make decent time. No need to crawl.’

‘And the last twenty metres? I’ll be exposed. And he’ll be hyperalert.’

‘He will, but not on what’s behind him. He’ll be in the sniper’s bubble by then. Your light will have come on. He’ll be waiting for your front door to open. One hundred per cent of his brain power will be focused on taking that shot. You could march up to him whacking a great big drum and he wouldn’t hear you.’ Towler shook his head. ‘No, just make sure you’re in position when your lights go on. Do that, and you have him.’

He rubbed his wet hands on his smock.

‘I only know what I’ve been told about you,’ he continued. ‘So, I’ll just say this – when it comes down to it, you don’t muck about reading him his rights; you finish it faster than a knife fight in a phone booth. His instinct will be to hold on to his weapon. It’s a gun. He has one and you don’t. But that’s going to be a mistake. Sniper rifles are Gucci as fuck at distance, butthey’re shit up close. They’re too long, too unwieldy. So, while he’s trying to turn it round and aim it, you kick him in the fucking head. And you keep kicking until his skull is mushy and his brain is coming out of his ears.’

‘I’ll bring my frying pan,’ Poe said.

‘I don’t know you well enough to know if you’re joking,’ Towler said.

‘I was joking.’

‘Pity. Now, I have a gap in my schedule. I assume you want me here with you?’

Poe shook his head. ‘Just me.’

‘You sure?’

‘I know this fell. Puck doesn’t. And with the greatest of respect, neither do you. Also, Puck knows what you look like. He’ll have seen you when he murdered Archie Arreghini’s daughter. You can’t even be in the same postcode.’

‘What supportwillyou have?’

‘Nothing. We can’t tell anyone what we’re doing. Locke says he’ll have eyes and ears inside the investigation tent. He might be right, he might be wrong, but we can’t take the risk. It has to be just me.’

Towler frowned, unhappy. Eventually he said, ‘I can’t see any other way. Just you and him it is then. “Two men enter, one man leaves.”’

‘What’s that?’

‘It’s a line fromMad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Have you seen it?’