Spider's Web: A Collection of All-Action Short Stories Read Online Free

‘Drop the knife now or we will shoot!’
    ‘I’ll kill you!’ shouted Tankov, and he lunged at Razor. Two of th sar. Two e carbines fired at the same time and the Russian stopped in his tracks. The knife fell from his hand and he slumped to his knees, then pitched forward and slammed into the concrete.
    The three armed cops hurried over to Tankov. One of them kicked away the knife. ‘You OK, Razor?’ he asked.
    ‘All good,’ said Razor, slipping the Glock back into the holster in the small of his back.
    ‘I’m fine, too, thanks for asking,’ said Shepherd. ‘Now will you get me down from here.’
    Razor knelt down next to Tankov and went through his pockets. He pulled out a padlock key and went over to Shepherd. He reached up to unlock the padlock but then stopped and took a step back. ‘You know there was nothing else I could do, right?’
    ‘Get me the hell down, will you?’ said Shepherd.
    ‘I will do, but we need a chat first.’
    ‘A chat?’ He arched his back. ‘My arms are killing me.’
    Razor Sharpe grinned. ‘I just want to make sure that there’s no ill-feeling.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘I just want you to tell me that you’re not bearing any grudges.’
    ‘Are you serious?’
    ‘I was in the car with Tankov when his guys grabbed you. That was the first time I knew you were on the case.’
    ‘I’d been following him for a week, Razor.’
    ‘Yeah, well, you were clearly doing a crap job or you’d have seen me. And why the hell didn’t MI5 tell us that they were after him?’
    ‘“Us” being?’
    ‘Homicide and Serious Crime. I’m on attachment to them, working undercover. My brief was get close to Tankov and identify his target.’
    ‘I guess your bosses should have been talking to Charlotte Button.’
    ‘Or vice versa,’ said Razor. ‘He wasn’t an obvious MI5 target, was he?’
    ‘Just let me down, we can talk it through over a drink.’
    One of the cops patted Sharpe on the shoulder with a gloved hand. ‘You want me to cut him down?’
    Sharpe shook his head and held up the key. ‘Just give us a minute, will you?’ he said.
    The officer nodded and walked away.
    ‘Let me down, Razor, or so help me I’ll knock you into the middle of next week,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘I just want to make sure we’re good.’
    ‘We’re good.’
    ‘You’re just saying that. I can tell. I had to tell him something. I mean, he already had you, right? So I thought the best thing to do was to tell him you were a cop.’
    ‘Razor, so help me …’
    ‘I know, I know. But I couldn’t do anything to tip you off, I had to let it play out. I’d never have let him hurt you, you know that, right?’
    ‘He cut me. You saw him cut me.’
    ‘Och, I’ve done more damage with my Bic razor. I couldn’t stop him, not until we’d got what we wanted. You understand that?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘And with me being wired, it seemed the perfect opportunity to give him enough rope.’
    ‘It worked a treat. I see that. With me strung up, he got overconfident. No need to explain.’
    ‘So we’re good?’
    ‘We’re good.’
    ‘And the ball-grabbing thing. You’re OK about that?’
    ‘I’m fine. As right as rain.’
    Sharpe took a step towards Shepherd but then stopped. ‘You know, I think I’ll head off,’ he said. He tossed the key to one of the armed cops. ‘Do me a favour and let my friend down,’ he said.
    ‘Razor, you stay where you are!’ shouted Shepherd,but Sharpe was already out of the door and running up the stairs.
     

HIATUS
     
    ‘We’re clear on this, right? Nothing physical. No shoving, no pushing, no punching.’ Garry Dobbs looked into the eyes of his protégé. Jack Martin was two years younger than Dobbsy and a hell of a lot less smart but beggars couldn’t be choosers and Dobbsy had to make do with what was available. ‘You understand, Jacko? You absolutely cannot get physical.’
    Jacko sighed. ‘How many times are you going to tell me?’ he said. ‘I get