Page 117 of Nobody's Hero

And then he caught up with Tas’s subtext. A feeling of dread crept up his spine. Because Tas hadn’t just been ahead of them the entire time. He wasstillahead of them. Nothing had been left to chance. He and Margaret had considered everything, and they had planned for everything. Right down to the minutiae. Being observed ditching his cell phone in New Silloth. Choosing a date that coincided with a visiting British aircraft carrier. Leaving dead bodies in downtown San Diego. Giving away his Lincoln Navigator on the shores of the lake. Everything led to Lake Mead with F-35s in the air and a trigger-happy DoD spook.

And the plan had worked flawlessly, like an expensive Swiss watch.

There was one thingoutsideTas’s control, though. Something outside his sphere of influence. But that didn’t matter. Not when you were as skilled at manipulating people as Tas was. He didn’t need to be in control of the final piece of the Acacia Avenue Protocol. He had people for that. People who didn’t even know they were doing exactly as he wanted.

Koenig shuddered. He understood theDie Hardreference now.

Chapter 126

‘Youwantthe F-35s to attack,’ Koenig said. A statement, not a question.

Tas smiled. Then he coughed. Then he smiled again.

‘Because in this real-life remake ofDie Hard, the F-35s are the FBI and the boat is the electromagnetically sealed vault at the Nakatomi Plaza,’ Koenig continued. ‘You can’t blow up the boat yourself, so you need them to do it for you.’

‘Is it not a beautiful way to end this movie?’

‘And I guess right here, right now, I’m John McClane to your Hans Gruber?’ He paused a second. ‘I should have worn a white vest.’

Tas chuckled. Genuine amusement. It reached his eyes. They crinkled. ‘I’ve not thought of it like that,’ he said. ‘But I suppose therewasa sense of inevitability that we would end up together like this. Of course, in this version, there is no Beretta 92 secured to your back with Christmas tape.’ He picked up something. It was long and tapered and deadly. Koenig’s Fairbairn–Sykes. The one Draper had taped to the small of his back. ‘Although I appreciate the effort you went into providing such an authentic experience.’

Koenig didn’t respond.

‘This is elegant,’ Tas said. ‘Original?’

‘Far as I can tell, it saw service in Normandy.’

‘I like knives. Guns are so impersonal. There is something intimate about ending a life with a knife. I think it’s the bodily contact. You’re close enough to watch the light in their eyes dim. To witness the absolute shock when they realise the unthinkable is happening.’

‘Knives are a tool, Jakob,’ Koenig said. ‘A weapon of last resort.’

‘Not for me,’ Tas said. ‘There’s a history to knives you don’t get with other weapons. A shared link with our ancestors. Ever since Palaeolithic man defended what was his with pieces of chipped stone, men have been killing each other with bladed weapons. Knives are perfect in their simplicity. They don’t jam. They don’t run out of ammunition. They don’t stop working because it’s wet. Or too hot. Or too cold.’

‘Palaeolithic man?’ Koenig said.

Tas nodded. ‘It’s the period of human technological development characterised by the use of rudimentary stone tools.’

‘I know what it is,’ Koenig said. ‘I’m just surprised a chump like you knows that too.’

‘I haven’t always been in this profession,’ Tas said, ignoring the insult. ‘I studied ancient history at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. Although even as a child I had a fascination with knives. Read everything I could on the subject. I even studied the convergent evolution of bladed weapons. Do you know what that is, Mr Koenig?’

‘It’s where species occupying similar ecological niches adapt in similar ways.’

Tas nodded. ‘And did you know that no matter where our ancient ancestors lived, the very first tool they developed was a chipped-stone blade?’

Koenig didn’t respond. He couldn’t. A wave of pain was coursing through him. It was travelling up his body, from the tips of his toes to his hair. It felt like he was being lowered feet first into lava. He let out a low growl.

Pain is just weakness leaving the body.He tamped it down. Did his best to ignore it.

‘Has anyone ever told you that you’re a very boring man, Jakob?’

‘Not twice,’ Tas replied.

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes this time. They were crinkle free. Koenig thought that was interesting. Tas was manipulating everyone and everything around him, but he was still vulnerable to manipulation himself. He had an ego and he liked it stroked.

‘Tell me, MrInteresting,’ Tas said, ‘what doyouwant to talk about?’

Koenig shrugged. Wished he hadn’t. ‘We’re at the point in the movie when Gruber shared his plan with John McClane,’ he said. ‘You fished me out of the water so you didn’t have to die alone. I get that. But should we not die like men? And men talk.Realmen.’

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