One Last Lesson (36 page)

The gun fired but he felt nothing. No bright lights, no heraldic singing, no visions of a childhood in Fort William, his early police service in Glasgow, Rachel’s face or anything else flashed before his eyes and amazingly he felt no pain.

He looked up.
Cope was on all fours and groaning as he clutched his right hip. Only then did he see the gun in the hand of the injured Portuguese police officer. The shot was fired from a slouched position as he was injured in some way and so it wasn’t such a good shot, evidenced by the fact that Cope wasn’t dead and slowly getting to his feet.

‘You
fucking Portuguese scum,’ Cope said as he turned and pointed an accusing finger at the Portuguese cop, ‘you’re gonna die.’

The officer was still holding the
weapon but with no energy to lift it, aim it or fire it again, it sat uselessly in his hand like a lump of unformed metal.

‘Where’s
my fucking gun?’ Cope said to himself as he scanned the plateau for it.

Henderson spotted it first and
made a move to go there but Cope did the same and in two big strides, he was over it and covered it with his foot. Slowly he reached down to pick it up but winced in pain as the bullet wound reminded him of its menacing presence.

‘Senhor!
’

Henderson turned. The Portuguese cop
, with energy he found from God-knows where, lifted his hand and skidded his gun towards him. In his peripheral vision, Cope was bending down, his fingers almost touching the ground, almost touching the weapon.

Henderson dived
towards the gun, grabbed it, swung round and pointed it at Cope.

‘Stop or I’ll fire!
’ He shouted.

Cope grinned
as he lifted his gun in a slow arc.

Henderson fired two shots in quick succession. A small hole appeared at the top of Cope’s head and another
at his throat and his mouth forming a circle as if in surprise. He staggered backwards, stopped and seemed to regain his balance before lifting the gun and firing a low shot that zinged off a rock and into the dust. He swayed as if drunk and then fell backwards over the cliff.

What the other guests made of the two men sitting on the sun terrace outside the Hotel Vau in Portimão was anyone’s guess. One man’s face was covered with bruises, his nose taped and obviously broken, and his left arm bore a long, red wound while the other was in a cast. The other man looked to be in better shape with only his left leg covered in a thick bandage but his face was an extraordinarily shade of red from a lifetime of alcohol abuse or too much sun.

‘What did Harris say?’ Hobbs said as
he sipped from yet another cup of freshly brewed coffee. It was brought to them by Maria, a waitress at the hotel who was treating them like celebrities with numerous refills and a plate full of biscuits, not because of their injuries or the fact their faces were all over local newspapers, but the girl found in the boot of Cope’s car was one of her former schoolmates.

‘He was
anxious when I first told him that it was me that shot and killed Cope as he probably saw the spectre of a couple of lawsuits for police negligence or the misuse of firearms passing before his eyes but he calmed down and positively cheered up when he heard the whole story.’

‘He’s probably relieved
to discover it was a Portuguese copper that shot him first as he can put a better spin on the story, international cooperation and all that.’

‘You’re such a cynic, Hobbs. I went on to tell him about the extent of our injuries and how it would make travelling difficult
, hence our decision to stay a few days longer. He made a couple of sympathetic noises before resorting to his old Scrooge self and I got another lesson in budgetary control and the misuse of public funds.’

‘
He’s got a bloody cheek. I think we’ve earned some R&R. Don’t you?’

‘We have mate, don’t worry about it and anyway, the Portuguese officer’s funeral is not until the day after tomorrow and there’s no way we’re missing that.’

The local English language newspaper was lying on Hobbs’s leg, a leg that was resting on a spare chair. Henderson nodded towards it. ‘Anything new in there?’

‘No, not really, other than Cope’s body is being flown back to the UK today and the two cops that Cope shot are both up for bravery awards.’

‘Quite right, in my opinion. The one that shot Cope and threw me the gun deserves all the credit in my book, without that, he would have killed us all.’

‘Did you speak to Carol?’

‘Yeah, I told her what happened and asked her to set up a small team to examine if any students from other universities and colleges in the area have gone missing. Cope said there was another two or four but maybe that was all bluster.’

‘
Maybe but the Portuguese are taking it seriously enough.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘It says in there,’ he said nodding at the newspaper, ‘that Inspector Giraldes has set up a task force to investigate the Canyon Killer’s claims.’

‘Is that what they
’re calling him? Good for the Inspector. I don’t think that’s the last we’ll hear of our saviour.’

‘
Me neither. So, that’s it, we can relax now, can we, all the bases are covered?’

‘Not quite.
I spoke to Rachel.’

‘Oh, I forgot about her. How did she take it?’

‘Not well at first but I’m not beating myself up over it as there’s plenty food in the house and she won’t starve.’

‘Even still, if wasn’t for that shot to the hip
by the Portuguese cop and your expertise on the firing range, you wouldn’t be going home at all.’

Iain Cameron
was born in Glasgow and has been a business accountant, nursery goods retailer and a management consultant. He lives in Sussex with his wife, two children and a dog called Lottie and yes, the dog is female too.

The
Dark Side of the Road

Car
thieves with expensive tastes are targeting the Sussex area, bashing in doors and taking away the owner’s pride and joy, usually a Ferrari, Porsche or Aston Martin. They are becoming increasingly violent and DI Angus Henderson is convinced it is only matter of time before they kill someone.

His prediction comes true when Sir Mathew Markham, a well-known Brighton businessman is killed. He is Chairman of one of the UK’s most successful microelectronic design companies but Henderson is convinced his death was connected with the Company’s new invention and not the car thieves.

He’s got a tough job proving it as two killers are trying to stop him.

Available Winter 2014

For more information about this book and the author, take a look at my website:

www.iain-cameron.com