Kim Oh 3: Real Dangerous People (The Kim Oh Thrillers) Read Free

at their center, the other men walked through the restaurant lobby. They’d all done this sort of thing so many times before that they took their assigned positions without needing any direction from Curt. Heinz and Earl were in front of Falcon, with Foley and Elton bringing up the rear. From the steps just inside the front door, Curt watched as another figure rushed up to the group.
     
    “Everything’s ready, Mr. Falcone –”
     
    Heinz and Earl had stepped slightly to either side, so the restaurant owner could speak to their boss.
     
    “It’s Falcon.” He spoke with gentle patience. “Remember?”
     
    “Yes, of course –” The other man went all flustered. “My apologies –”
     
    Falcon waved him off. “Has Mr. Karsh arrived already?”
     
    “One of his assistants called. They’re on their way.” The restaurant’s owner looked around at the knot of bodyguards. “Perhaps you gentlemen would care for a cocktail while you wait?”
     
    They all gazed silently back at him, without smiles. Which only made the man more nervous.
     
    “Well, then –”
     
    He turned away from them. The two gunshots that came from the far side of the restaurant struck him in the chest, the force of their impact slamming his shoulders into Falcon behind him. Falcon took an involuntary step backward as the other man’s body collapsed to the floor.
     
    The bodyguards were already in motion.
     
    These guys were professionals. In a job like theirs, you don’t get that old unless you’re good at it. I wish I could’ve seen them at work, instead of just hearing about it afterward.
     
    Earl and Heinz grabbed their boss and dove flat with Falcon between them. Foley and Elton had pulled their guns from inside their jackets and sprinted to either side of the room, as Curt drew back to the side of the doorway, scanning through the sights of his revolver toward the far end of the restaurant.
     
    Earl crawled to the nearest table, toppled it over, and dragged it back toward Heinz and Falcon as a shield. Another shot from the unseen attacker slammed into the tabletop as he got it into position. Above his head, a volley of shots from the other bodyguards rang out.
     
    For a moment, everything was quiet inside the restaurant, as the overlapping echoes of the gunshots died away.
     
    Spine plastered against the side of the doorway, Curt directed the others with hand gestures. Foley and Elton covered each other, each taking a shot toward the attacker so the other could race toward the restaurant bar and dive behind it.
     
    More shots hammered the overturned table, spraying splinters from its underside across Falcon and the other bodyguards. Earl and Heinz leaned out from around its sides and fired back. Curt took advantage of the exchange, ducking down and running until he was behind the tabletop shield as well.
     
    He looked around at Earl and Heinz. “Whoever this sonuvabitch is, he’s got himself dug in over there. Gonna be hard to get a clear shot at him.” He looked over his shoulder at his boss behind him. “We gotta get you out of here.”
     
    Curt could see over to where Elton had taken up a position behind one corner of the bar. He caught Elton’s eye and signaled with a nod toward the attacker. Elton cautiously raised his head and scoped out the angle toward the restaurant kitchen – that was where the shots seemed to have come from. With the kitchen’s overhead lights out, there was no way the attacker could be seen in the darkened area. There were plenty of positions behind the stoves and counters where he could fire from.
     
    A well-aimed shot drove Elton back behind the corner of the bar. With a shake of his head, Elton signaled across to Curt that he didn’t have an angle on the attacker.
     
    Behind the overturned table, Curt turned toward Heinz. “Get the car ready,” instructed Curt. “Soon as we’ve got Mr. Falcon in, hit the gas. Don’t wait for the rest of us.”
     
    “No problem,”