Whip Hand

  Jesus, I thought.

  ‘I’d forgotten,’ he said, ‘what you’re like. You’ve no bloody nerves. But I’m not going to shoot you. Like I said, it’s not worth it.’

  He turned abruptly, and stooped, putting one hand under the garage door. Heaved; rolled it upwards and open.

  The warm drizzle in the dark outside fell like shoals of silver minnows. The gentle air came softly into the garage.

  He stood there for a moment, brooding, holding his gun: and then he gave me back what in the straw-barn he’d taken away.

  ‘Isn’t there anything,’ he said bitterly, ‘that you’re afraid of?’

  THE END

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  First published 1979 by Michael Joseph Ltd

  © Dick Francis 1979

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  ISBN: 978-0-14-194226-1