Where the Shadows Lie (Fire and Ice)

round and crashed backwards into the wall, crushing Magnus. Magnus let go. The big guy turned and struck Magnus twice, once in the head and once in the stomach, but Magnus dodged the third blow and hit him with an uppercut.
    The big guy reeled. Another crunching punch from Magnus and he went down.
    Magnus stared at the pusher who was pulling himself to his feet. ‘You’re under arrest too.’
    But then the alley started to sway and spin. The blow to his stomach did its stuff, and Magnus doubled up to retch. He tried to stand up straight, but he couldn’t. He swayed. Staggered.
    The little guy was about to run, when he saw the state that Magnus was in. He laughed and head-butted him in the face.
    Magnus dropped.
    He lay on the cold tarmac for a while. Seconds? Minutes? He didn’t know.
    He heard sirens. Good. Help.
    Rough hands picked him up. He tried to focus on the face in front of him. It was a cop wearing the uniform of the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police.
    ‘They went that way,’ said Magnus, in English. Waving indeterminately.
    ‘Come with us,’ said the cop and pulled Magnus over to the waiting car, with its lights flashing.
    ‘I’m a police officer,’ said Magnus. ‘Look, let me show you my badge.’ All this still in English.
    The patrolman waited while Magnus pulled out his Commonwealth of Massachusetts driver’s licence from his wallet.
    ‘Come on,’ said the cop.
    Then Magnus threw up all over the patrolman’s shoes.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    D IEGO TURNED ON the light. The two naked bodies entwined on top of the bed froze, but only for an instant.
    Then the man leaped off the woman, twisted and sat up, all in one athletic movement. The woman opened her mouth to scream, but stopped when she saw the gun.
    Fortunately, there was no way that either of them could know that there was only one bullet in the cylinder of the revolver.
    Diego chuckled.
    It was pretty funny. He had positioned himself in an armchair in the living room, gun drawn, out of line of sight of the door. He’d waited there happily all evening. Then two people had come in.
    Diego decided to wait. Surprise them when they turned around. But he’d never got the chance!
    The guy jumped the girl right away. And she seemed happy with that. For a moment it looked as if Diego was going to get a show right there on the living room floor, but then the woman led the guy into the bedroom. And neither of them even saw him!
    He decided to wait until they had taken off whatever clothes they were going to take off. Naked was good, as far as he was concerned. Then he slipped through the open door into the bedroom, and watched the action in the dim glow of the streetlights outside for a few seconds.
    Now they were both blinking in the glare of the electric light.
    ‘You!’ Diego jabbed the revolver at the man. ‘In the bathroom! Now! And if I hear a sound I’ll come right in there and pump your skinny ass full of bullets.’
    The guy needed no more prompting. He was out of the bed and in the bathroom with the door shut in an instant.
    He moved over towards the woman. Colby.
    Nice body. A bit thin, but nice firm tits.
    She saw where he was looking. ‘Do what you want,’ she said. ‘Just do it.’
    ‘Hey, all I want is a little talk,’ said Diego. ‘I ain’t gonna touch you, as long as you talk to me.’
    Colby swallowed, her eyes wide.
    In a swift movement, Diego grabbed her hair with one hand and jammed the revolver in her mouth with the other. ‘Where’s Magnus?’
    ‘Who?’ The woman was barely audible.
    ‘Magnus Jonson. Your boyfriend.’ He smiled and glanced at the bathroom. ‘Or one of your boyfriends. Looks like you’re the kind of girl that needs several men to keep you happy.’
    ‘I … I don’t know.’
    Diego pulled the trigger. Click.
    A strangled sob from Colby.
    Diego explained the rules of his version of the Russian roulette game. He just loved that bit, loved watching the eyes of his victims. The fear. The uncertainty. Perfect.
    ‘OK. I’ll ask you again. Where is Magnus?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Colby. ‘I swear it. He said he was going away somewhere and he couldn’t tell me where.’
    ‘Did you guess?’
    Colby shook her head.
    Diego spotted weakness. ‘You guessed, didn’t you?’
    ‘N-no. No, I swear I didn’t.’
    ‘Thing is, I ain’t believing you.’
    He pulled the trigger again.
    Click.
    ‘Oh, God.’ Colby slumped backwards, trying to sob with the barrel of a gun crammed into her