“Don’t hurt me, man!” he pleaded.
The teenager was a little slower on the uptake and stayed put until Cho grabbed him by the collar and forcibly yanked him off the watercraft, then took his place at the controls.
Cho had only been on a Jet Ski once, but he hadn’t forgotten how to operate one and within seconds he was speeding away from the docks, cutting a wake as he veered around the water taxi out into the middle of the river. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Bolan had just reached the loading platform. The Korean fired a wild shot Bolan’s way, then tucked the Glock inside the waistband of his boxers so he could have both hands free to maneuver the Jet Ski.
Back on the platform, Bolan pointed out the remaining personal watercraft and asked the worker, “Is one of these faster than the others?”
The worker nodded and pointed to a larger model tethered on the other side of the platform from the others.
“That one’s mine,” he said.
“I need to borrow it,” Bolan said.
“Yeah, I figured,” the worker said. He was already fishing through his pockets for the keys. As he handed them to Bolan, he asked, “What’s going on, anyway?”
“I think you can figure that out, too,” Bolan said.
He quickly mounted the Jet Ski and started it up. He had to back his way out into the water, and as he was looking over his shoulder, he saw that Jayne Bahn had commandeered one of the rental mountain bikes and was bicycling down the Riverwalk, following the same downriver course Cho had taken. There was no way she’d be able to keep up, but Bolan had to give her points for quick thinking.
Once he had the Jet Ski pointed out toward the river, Bolan opened up the throttle and held on tight. The craft lunged forward with a high-pitched whine. The river was calm and he had no problem keeping control as he sped after the fleeing REDI agent. Twice, however, he had to change course sharply to avoid colliding with other skiers. Slowly, he began to close the gap between him and the Korean. He knew there was no way Cho would be able to use his gun, so it was down to a chase, and if the worker was right about the added horsepower Bolan had at his disposal, the Executioner liked his chances.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
There was a bend in the river just past Harrah’s, and as he rounded it, Cho Il-Tok glanced over his shoulder and realized he was losing ground on the man pursuing him. As if that weren’t disconcerting enough, the constant jarring motion of the Jet Ski had finally loosened the Korean’s Glock. When he felt it slipping through his boxers, Cho nearly lost control when he freed one hand in a frantic effort to grab the gun. Forced to reach back for the watercraft’s handle, he had no choice but to let the pistol clatter off the footrest into the river.
Just beyond the bend, the river widened. To Cho’s left, a Bullhead City mobile home park reached out to the river’s edge, and even though the water was a frigid sixty-three degrees, a few brave souls, mostly young children, were out wading and splashing while their parents watched on from a sandy beach that had been carved out of the embankment. Across the way, though, the Laughlin side of the river had been left to nature’s hand, and tall, scattered patches of cattails and broad-leaved reeds extended more than twenty yards out into the water. Apparently the area around the vegetation was good for fishing, because Cho saw two elderly men in a small boat anchored near the reeds, with lines in the water. Realizing he had no chance to outrun his pursuer on the open water, Cho decided his only option was to head past the fishermen into the reeds and hope that he might somehow use the obstacle course to his advantage.
The Korean let up on the throttle and veered sharply to his right. Straight ahead was the small fishing boat. The man seated next to the motor was reeling in a catch when he heard Cho heading their way. Distracted, he failed to play the fish properly and his line suddenly went slack as the fish wriggled free and swam off. Livid, the man waved an angry fist at Cho.
“See what you made me do, you no good…!”
Before the man could finish, Cho raced past, threading the gap between the boat and the nearest patch of reeds. A second later he vanished into the vegetation, leaving behind a wake violent enough to nearly capsize the fishing boat. The men aboard the boat had to grab the sides and shift their weight to stay afloat. They could no longer see Cho, but that didn’t prevent them from cursing him and promising that he would pay for ruining their outing.
When Bolan came upon the scene moments later, he saw that there was no way he could follow the same course as Cho without striking the fishing boat. He had no way of knowing the Korean was no longer armed, either, and as such he was wary of making himself an easy target by slowing down and taking another route into the reeds.