Page 43 of Near Miss

Stone gave him a pointed look. “Don’t be.”

“Understood,” Dino said, then looked around the table. “A glass of port before we leave?”

“It would be uncivilized not to,” Stone said.

Bozo’s phone rang. “Yes?”

“It’s Candy. They’re heading out.”

“Thanks. Come by the gym tomorrow morning and I’ll pay you.”

“Will do.”

He started the car.

“We’re on?” Trench asked.

“We’re on.”

Trench sneered. “Finally.”

“Fred?” Stone asked.

“Still there. About six car lengths back.”

Bozo had begun following them again as soon as they’d driven off from Patroon.

“Are we far enough away?”

“We should be.”

“I was hoping for something a bit more definitive.”

“Probably?”

“We need to get you a better thesaurus.”

“I’ll pick up one tomorrow.”

“What are you waiting for?” Trench asked.

They’d been following the Bentley for ten minutes, and Trench was running out of patience. Each tick of the clock was an additional second of life neither Barrington nor Matilda deserved.

“For traffic to thin a bit. Unless you don’t care about collateral damage.”

In the grand scheme of things, Trench didn’t, but additional casualties would take away focus from the two he wanted dead. “Fine. But don’t wait too long.”

The opportunity came two minutes later, when traffic spread out enough to create a clear zone between them and the Bentley.

Bozo lifted the remote that would trigger the car bomb. “Ready?”

“Let me do it.”

Bozo had been looking forward to pressing the button, but as Trench had pointed out before, Bozo wasn’t the one paying the bills. He handed it over.

Trench aimed the device toward the Bentley. “Good riddance, assholes.”

He pressed the button.

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