The Mississippi Company

by Mark Kertzman

Chapter 21

synopsis

A tale of two individuals on opposite sides of a fraud stretching from India to the Asteroid Belt.

How their respective shots missed each other will always be a mystery. They were only about three or four metres apart. Perhaps all the cornstalks in the way helped.

The next moment, they had closed. Each of them grabbed the other’s gun arm, wrestling and straining to turn their own pistol on their adversary, while keeping their adversary’s pistol away.

“You keep shooting that thing, and you’ll blow a hole in the station,” Jon growled.

“Not if I shoot a hole through you first,” Ravi threw back in Jon’s face.

Cornstalks were crushed between them, the ears rattling against each other. They gasped and panted, twisting and pushing. Jon found that, despite his more muscular build, Ravi was beginning to get the upper hand. The slim Indian was stronger than he looked.

In desperation, Jon fired. The dart just whined away harmlessly, discharging with a loud faraway crackle a second later.

“You’re dead,” Ravi snarled. The efficient-looking little chrome pistol crept closer and closer to Jon’s head.

Panicking, Jon pulled wildly. Over they went, bringing cornstalks with them in a mad crush. Thick and heavy ears of corn flapped at them as they rolled on the gravelly hydroponics base.

They wrestled, grunting and heaving. Jon’s eyes bulged with effort as, once again, Ravi got the upper hand, forcing the deadly muzzle towards its inevitable resolution.

Just past Ravi’s shoulder, Jon caught sight of a wide, shining metallic pipe standing out of the ground, probably part of the irrigation system.

Ravi’s face split into a grin, his teeth shining whitely. The finger around the trigger of his little gun tightened whitely too, an instant from firing.

With every ounce of energy he had left, Jon heaved with his legs, his hips, his shoulders and arms. He rolled over Ravi and then used his momentum to roll Ravi over him. They stopped suddenly with a muffled ‘thunk’ as Ravi’s back came flush against the pipe.

Ravi looked stunned for a moment; then he smiled.

With his gun arm pinned beneath Ravi’s shoulders, Jon shifted his gun to plant the muzzle securely against the pipe, and pulled the trigger.

Proceed to Chapter 22...