Dark Forces Read Online Free Page B

you’d fall on your back,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘I thought forward would be more real,’ said McGovern. He held out his hand. Shepherd grabbed it and pulled him out of the grave.
    ‘Think it’ll convince them?’ asked McGovern.
    Shepherd held out the phone and replayed the video. ‘Looks good to me.’
    McGovern was staring at his mud-soaked knees. ‘Who’s going to pay for the suit?’ he asked.
    ‘Just get it dry-cleaned,’ said Shepherd. ‘It’ll be fine.’
    ‘It’s fucked,’ said McGovern.
    ‘Larry, if anyone else had taken this contract you’d be fucked, never mind your suit.’ He pointed at the gold bracelet on McGovern’s right wrist. ‘I’ll need that. They’ll want proof.’
    McGovern put his hand over the bracelet. ‘My wife gave me this.’
    ‘She divorced you five years ago.’
    ‘Yeah, but it’s worth a couple of grand.’
    ‘They’ll know it’s yours and that you wouldn’t have given it up without a fight.’ Shepherd held out his hand and clicked his fingers. ‘Come on, don’t fuck about.’
    McGovern grimaced but unhooked the bracelet and handed it over.
    ‘The guys will want their equipment back,’ said Shepherd.
    McGovern took off his jacket. Duff’s assistant unbuttoned McGovern’s shirt and helped him take it off, then removed the wiring, battery pack and transmitter that had been taped to his body. He put the shirt in one plastic bag and the equipment in another. Duff handed McGovern a sweatshirt.
    McGovern looked at it contemptuously. ‘Are you serious? What did you do – raid your wardrobe?’
    ‘Play nice, Larry,’ said Shepherd. ‘Everyone here is trying to help you.’
    ‘Because you want to put the O’Neills behind bars,’ said McGovern.
    ‘And keep you alive,’ said Shepherd. ‘Let’s not forget that.’
    McGovern pulled on the sweatshirt. ‘Now what?’
    ‘Now we take you to a safe house,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘Which is where?’
    ‘One of the reasons it’s safe is because you won’t know where it is,’ said Shepherd. ‘No phone, no Wi-Fi, no nothing.’
    ‘I wasn’t planning on tweeting that I was still alive,’ said McGovern.
    ‘We need you out of sight, out of mind,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘For how long?’
    ‘As long as it takes,’ said Shepherd. He gestured at a waiting SUV. ‘Time to go.’
    ‘Days, right?’
    ‘I don’t know, Larry. I can’t be making promises at this stage. The O’Neills wanted you dead and were prepared to pay good money for that. Luckily we got wind of it and I took the contract. We tipped you off, which is why we’re all here now. But how it moves forward …’ He wrinkled his nose. ‘I really don’t know. I hope that after this the O’Neills will trust me and invite me in. If so, all well and good. But it might just be one of a series of tests, in which case it could drag on.’
    ‘That’s not on,’ said McGovern. ‘I can’t stay hidden for months. I’ve got a life.’
    Shepherd’s eyes hardened. ‘Larry, you’ve got a life because I gave you one. If anyone else had taken the contract, you’d be lying in that hole for real.’
    ‘And don’t think I’m not grateful for that. But the world’s going to think I’m dead. It’s going to fuck up my finances for one thing. My lawyer’s going to hear I’m dead, which means my will gets opened. My business is going to fall apart.’
    ‘Larry, you’re a gangster, not a businessman.’
    McGovern pointed a finger at Shepherd’s face. ‘I have legitimate businesses,’ he said. ‘I have two dry-cleaning firms, a pub, a car wash, a florist.’
    ‘Cash businesses to launder money,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘They’re still legit, and if I’m dead they’ll fall apart.’
    ‘I don’t think the O’Neills are going to broadcast the fact that they’ve had you killed,’ said Shepherd. ‘So far as the world’s concerned, you’re missing.’
    McGovern scowled, still not convinced. Shepherd put his arm around his shoulder. ‘Larry, trust me, I