Piranha (Oregon Files 10)

“Now we have to figure out what to do with our two buddies behind us. What do you think they’re planning?”

“If I were them, I’d make it clean and simple. They’re probably waiting for us to stop. Double taps with pistols. Those bikes lend themselves to an easy getaway.”

“You think they know we’re unarmed?”

“They’re probably assuming it.”

“True, but uncertainty is our friend.”

“The sniper has to be making the same type of warning call to them that Eric gave us,” Eddie said. “Which means whatever they’re planning is going to happen sooner rather than later.”

“What do you say we make it sooner than they think?”

“It sounds like you have an idea.”

As they passed the airport, Linc outlined his plan to Eddie. They couldn’t simply outrun the gunmen. The Harleys were quick, but the Suzukis were faster and more nimble. Shooting from a moving bike was a challenge, but if their pursuers got close enough, all it would take was a couple of lucky shots to take down Linc and Eddie.

“I give it a fifty-fifty shot at working,” Linc said. Actually fifty-fifty might have been optimistic, but they didn’t have many options.

“I’ll take those odds when we’re not even bringing knives to the gunfight.”

“The map showed a hairpin turn about a mile before the resort,” Linc said. “That’ll be the best place to try this.”

“It’s all in the execution.”

“When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound so good.”

“Let me rephrase. It’s all in the implementation.”

“Better.”

They kept pace behind a produce truck that was puttering along. The Suzukis stayed back a hundred yards, two cars behind them. No doubt the two riders were talking about advancing their timetable.

No matter what they had in mind, it wouldn’t be soon enough. The hairpin was just ahead.

“Ready?” Linc asked.

“Ready.”

“Let’s go.”

Linc gunned his bike and snapped around the produce truck with Eddie hot on his heels. They pulled in front of the truck just in time to avoid getting smashed by another semi heading in the opposite direction. They continued accelerating around the curve until the Suzukis disappeared in his rearview mirror.

With one hand, he flipped open his saddlebag and snatched up two chains that he used to lock up the wheels of his bike when he went riding in more unsavory ports of call.

Eddie nudged close enough to take one of the chains from Linc. Fifty yards from the end of the hairpin, they skidded to a stop and made a U-turn. Since Jamaica’s roads were left-oriented like the British, Linc got into the left lane while Eddie drove along the right shoulder so he could wield the chain while keeping his hand on the bike’s right-hand throttle. Linc would have the tougher task of whipping the chain over his head. He could feel his knuckles crack as his left hand gripped the end of the chain.

As they expected, the Suzukis barreled around the hairpin ready to give chase. The surprise of seeing their targets heading toward them provided enough hesitation. Their hands plunged into the jackets and came out with semiautomatics, but it was too late.

Eddie spun the chain around sideways like a lasso and let it fly right as the Suzuki was passing him. The chain caught on the front fender of the bike and wrapped itself around the spokes. The Suzuki launched its rider over the handlebars into the air, cartwheeling end over end before it landed on the screaming gunman, who went silent.

Linc twirled his chain over his head as he rode at his pursuer. The gunman got off two wild shots that missed their mark before Linc’s chain smashed him in the helmet. The man’s head snapped backward and he somersaulted off the bike, which kept going as if it had a phantom riding it before veering off into the trees.

Linc returned to his assailant. If possible, they needed to find out who was behind these attacks and how they had known exactly where everyone in the Oregon crew would be.

When he got to the gunman, he saw there would be no interrogation. His neck was bent at an impossible angle for a breathing human being. Linc jogged over to Eddie and found him kneeling over the other Suzuki rider. Eddie had removed the rider’s helmet.

“Is he alive?” Linc asked.