The Wrong Man Read Online Free Page B

blue-eyes here.’
    In response,Bishop crouched with his empty right hand raised towardsAlvin and mirrored the man’s movements so only his right side was exposed at any time. Alvin suddenly ducked forward and gave
     a playful jab to test his reactions and Bishop jerked back with a look of fake surprise on his face.
    The Aryan’s smile became broader as he continued to circle, pleased with his own swiftness.That was fine. Bishop had been
     in enough knife fights to know that overconfidence in an enemy should always be encouraged.
    As they shuffled around each other, Bishop studied Alvin’s right shoulder muscle. He took three or four steps to match his
     opponent’s and saw the deltoid tense. He jerked back at the exact instant Alvin’s arm shot out and almost smiled.Then he
     saw the shoulder begin to twitch again and took another step back as Alvin lunged forward and missed his face again by inches.
    The Aryan’s grin faltered. ‘Bad baby,’ he said. ‘No dessert for you.’
    Bishop remained silent as he awaited his cue. This was already taking too long.
    Ten more seconds passed as they circled, each waitingfor the other to make his play. With every movement their rubber soles
     squeaked on the polished tile. Twenty seconds.
Come on
, urged Bishop.
Come on
. Thirty seconds. Then he saw the deltoid tighten for the third and last time.
    A millisecond before Alvin thrust his arm forward Bishop dropped his left shoulder, moving his head out of the danger area.
     He aimeda side kick straight at Alvin’s armpit. Alvin saw it coming and began to swerve his body and Bishop’s right foot
     struck the edge of his ribcage instead. The Aryan staggered back two steps and Bishop immediately darted forward. He dodged
     the outstretched arm and gripped Alvin’s shirt, using his right foot to connect with Alvin’s left ankle and sweep his leg
     out from underhim. As Alvin lost his balance, Bishop used the power in his hips and threw the bigger man to the floor in
     one fluid movement.
    Bishop came down with him, used his right hand to grab hold of the man’s throat and crunched his knee painfully into Alvin’s
     knife arm, trapping it. Tightening his grip on the pencil in his left, Bishop was about to thrust it towardsAlvin’s shoulder
     when Alvin’s free hand slammed into his throat with the force of a sledgehammer. As Bishop gagged, he felt Alvin’s fingers
     clasp the wrist and start to turn it inwards.
    Instead of increasing the pressure, Bishop let the arm go slack. When the pencil tip was pointing towards his face, he relaxed
     his grip slightly and the shaftcame out the other end instead, the blunt end now protruding from his clenched fist like a
     dagger. He then ground his knee further into Alvin’s wounded arm until he heard something snap and the man’s grip on him eased.
     Bishop shook his hand free and immediately plunged the blunt end of the pencil down into Alvin’s face. Towards the area where
     Alvin’s cheek would havebeen if he hadn’t turned his head towards the snapping sound.
    It pierced Alvin’s left eye instead.
    The eyeball immediately collapsed in on itself and blood and dark tissue spurted from the wound. Bishop clamped his other
     hand over Alvin’s mouth to stifle the man’s animal cries and adjusted his position to avoid the blood. Alvin’s movements becamefrenzied and Bishop took his hands away, grabbed the man’s head by the ears and slammed it against the floor. The struggling
     immediately stopped as the Aryan lost consciousness, blood pooling around his head like a red halo.
    Bishop placed his fingers against Alvin’s artery to check for a pulse. Still alive. He was trying to decide whether that was
     goodor bad when a shaky voice from behind him said, ‘Whoa.’
    Bishop got to his feet and looked down at Alvin, frowning as he thought through the pros and cons of leaving him and the one
     outside alive. After a moment, he decided to go with the lesser of two evils.
    ‘What