Silver Linings

railing.
    “Still as fast as ever, aren't you?” Rainbird smiled thinly as he slowly lowered his hand.
    “Not quite,” Hugh said. “But fast enough to do this job.”
    “Do you think so? You were good, Abbott, but I was always a little quicker than you, remember? And unlike you, I've stayed in training for the past six years. Besides,” Rainbird taunted softly, “we both know you aren't hard enough to pull that trigger on an unarmed man. That was always your biggest weakness, Abbott. That and the fact that you didn't take orders very well.”
    “You mean not well enough to walk into that trap you set in Los Rios? Why did you do it, Rainbird? That's the one thing we could never figure out. What was in it for you that made it worth trying to get the rest of us killed?”
    “Money, of course. A great deal of money. And the timing couldn't have been better. You, Cormier, and Silk and the others were getting too difficult to control. You were asking too many questions about the jobs. Men who question their orders are useless to a good commander.”
    “So you decided to get rid of us. I guess that makes sense from your point of view.” Hugh smiled bleakly. “You were smart to fake your own death when you realized that some of us hadn't died in that ambush. You knew we'd come looking if we thought you were still alive.”
    “Cormier thought he'd seen a ghost when I came through the door,” Rainbird said with satisfaction. “You know, the old man was still surprisingly fast, too. He actually had his hands on that old Beretta of his when I shot him.”
    “I know.”
    Rainbird nodded. “So it was you who found him right afterward. I came back to clean up the place later after I'd secured the island. I realized someone else had been here. Footprints in the blood. Two rented vehicles parked nearby and no sign of anyone. And then I got word that you were looking for whoever had killed Cormier. Once you start something, you don't give up until you've finished, I'll say that much for you, Abbott. I knew I had to take you out along with Silk and the woman.”
    “And a poor jerk named Rosey.”
    Rainbird shrugged negligently. “He knew too much, and he was going to sell the info.”
    “You were right about one thing. I wouldn't have stopped looking until I figured out who killed Paul.”
    Rainbird smiled a gentle, vaguely regretful smile. “Yes. I understood that from the beginning.”
    “It was a mistake to kill Cormier. But it was an even bigger mistake to involve Mattie in this.”
    “Ah, yes. The very interesting Miss Sharpe. I congratulate you on her, Abbott. She is a woman after my own heart. She has spirit and intelligence. And a certain style. I like that. You'll forgive me if I say I'm rather surprised you had the brains to appreciate her. You were never the sort to understand or admire subtlety in a woman.”
    “I might be a slow learner, Rainbird, but I do, eventually, catch on.”
    “And have you learned to kill a man in cold blood?”
    “I think that in your case I'll be able to handle it.”
    Rainbird grinned, looking genuinely amused. “No, Abbott, I don't think so. You'll lose your nerve at the last minute. We both know it.”
    In that instant a shot roared out through the jungle night, shattering the glass in the French window behind Hugh. Hugh fired over the edge of the railing and leaped for the cover of the darkened library.
    Rainbird acted instantly, grabbing the knife out of his boot and launching himself after Hugh. Hugh spun around and raised the revolver. But he wasn't fast enough.
    As always, Rainbird's incredible reflexes stood him in good stead. His weight crashed into Hugh, and both men went sprawling on the library floor.
    Something sharp slashed at Hugh's arm. He felt the revolver fall from his hand, and then he was rolling swiftly away from Rainbird's knife.
    Rainbird came after him, kicking out savagely. His boot caught Hugh on the arm. The pain was not the worst of it. The temporary loss of muscle control in his right arm was another problem altogether. It could get him killed.
    Shots crackled from the far end of the house. Silk was returning fire to whoever was shooting from the jungle. Another shot into the library sent a shower of sharp glass hail down on Hugh and Rainbird.
    Hugh saw the knife in Rainbird's hand glint briefly in the shadows. He jerked away again, groping frantically for his own boot knife.
    But there was no time to grasp it. Rainbird was coming at him