Double Cross (Alex Cross 13)

He didn’t bother to taunt or test, just stabbed the knife at me again. I jumped away, and he missed. But not by much. An inch or so.

Anthony’s face was intense, the veins pulsed, but his eyes remained playful. He was toying with me. Was he missing on purpose? Stretching this out?

“The once great Alex Cross,” he said. “Too bad we don’t have an audience.”

“Oh, but you do. I’m your audience this time, DCAK,” said a voice.

We both turned—and there was Kyle Craig.

Chapter 123

KYLE SPOKE, and he sounded exuberant, almost joyful. To see us? To be seen? “What a sight for sore eyes! The great DCAK—the great Alex Cross. Together at last in a duel to the death. With kitchen knives? I’d pay to see that one. But hey, I don’t have to pay. I’m right here, aren’t I?”

DCAK held his knife up and poised, but he kept sneaking glances at Kyle. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Admiring your work, of course,” Kyle said, and seemed sincere enough. “Just like any of your other fans would if they could. They’d be lined up twenty-deep on the street to see this. I’ve been following you. Ever since we met at the Cross house.”

“You think I don’t get your sarcasm,” DCAK snarled.

“Be a waste of breath if you didn’t. Be careful with Dr. Cross, now. Watch him. He’ll slice you up if he can. He’s a cagey one.”

“He can’t,” DCAK stated flatly, “hurt me. He’s ou

t of his league. And so are you.”

“Oh my,” said Kyle. “Now you’ve gone and cut me, so to speak.”

I said nothing to either of them. I was still looking for some kind of an opening. I wasn’t very good with knives, but I was quick on my feet. Maybe that would help me, save me somehow. But now I had Kyle to worry about too. How had he gotten here, and what was his current connection to DCAK? Had it just changed?

“He’s focused on the fight. You’re not,” Kyle coached DCAK from the sidelines. “That’s all I’m trying to point out. Take it for what it’s worth.”

DCAK looked back at me. “All right, then. Let me put Cross down. In your honor.”

In your honor? What was that supposed to mean? Then he thrust his knife again and missed, but this time he meant business. Another fast swipe, and he sliced my arm. Blood streamed onto my shirt and dripped onto the pavement.

“That’s better, DCAK,” Kyle cheered him on, his voice suddenly guttural. “Now go for it! Put him down! Kill the bastard!”

DCAK was starting to breathe harder, through his mouth. Maybe that could be an advantage for me? I circled to the left, then I changed directions. No logic to it, just instinct.

I was moving the other way when he swiped his knife at me again. He missed! I stabbed at him and nicked his arm. Blood spurted from the wound. Nasty game, knives.

Kyle applauded. He slowly, slowly clapped his hands, but he didn’t speak any more encouragement.

I moved in a circle again, but I went faster this time. Abruptly I reversed directions. Then I came back the other way.

Suddenly DCAK roared in a deep voice and charged at me. I pivoted to the left, and for a second my back was exposed. He was still leaning the other way. Which meant . . . what? I continued to pivot—all the way around. Then I set my right leg and drove my knife up and under his arm. The knife found flesh, muscle. It finally sank into his chest.

He moaned almost as loudly as he had roared a second before. “You stupid sonofabitch!” Then he went down and lay there on his back, wide eyes staring at nothing. I spun away from DCAK and looked at Kyle.

I had a knife.

He had a gun.

“He wasn’t much, was he?” Kyle said, and grinned.

Chapter 124

HE KEPT ON TALKING, almost as if he were excited to see me. Maybe I was the one he’d been following. “I was so hurt that you didn’t come out to Florence to visit me more, Alex. You have no idea. They put you in a tiny cell and keep you there twenty-three hours every day. It’s inhumane and does no good at all. I’m serious about that.