[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
. Ames.Please, trustme, and please stay put. She clutched his armhard enough to hurt for amoment longer, thenreluctantly released him. Okay, but I have nine-one-one on speed dial.Ifanything starts to happen,I m calling. Nick doubted there d betime.If something wentdown here, it might very well be him, with a bullet inhis head, hitting theground.He grasped the back ofAmes s head, leaned inand gave her a hard kiss;then he scrambled up fromthe ground.Keeping hersafe had become morethan a desire.It was adriving need wedged deep,unmovable.He wanted to put some distance between the carand Ames, so he made hisway through the woods,then approached the menjust beyond the curve ofthe long driveway.Heshouted, hands raised, Hey.I m here. His heart raced as themen turned to face him.Looking down the barrelsof a couple of Berettascould do that. The big guy got into theSUV and started it.Theshorter one jogged towardNick, gun raised. I ve got the package, Nick said, hoping thatwould convince the skinnyguy to aim the gun awayfrom him.It didn t. Nick Rossi? The skinnyguy stopped more than anarm s length away.Theother guy had driven the sixty feet and got out againin an almost lazy manner.His gun dangled from hisbig hand as he joined hispartner. Yes.You re with Bert? Nick said again. I ll onlydeal with him.We have anagreement. He prayedBert thought the samething.The big guy scowled,then went around the side of the vehicle and turnedon the headlights so theyshone in Nick s face. Staythere, he commanded.His partner approachedNick.As he patted himdown, all Nick could thinkwas what a stupid choice awindbreaker was for aperson who was supposedto be silent and deadly.The slippery noise thenylon material made suddenly seemedincredibly hilarious.Nickwas on the verge ofbursting out laughing, hisanxiety exhibiting asinconvenient hilarity.He swallowed theimpulse and held perfectlystill as the man with thepitted face and thinmoustache frisked him,then announced to hispartner, He s clean. Nick had left the gunwith Ames, even thoughshe d made it clear shedidn t want to use it.Hewas going to let them pathim down, and there wasno point in getting it takenaway from him. Where s Bert? heasked, increasingly certainthese two had nothing todo with his one-time pal. Don t know.We re here for Mr.Esposito. The bigguy stressed the word mister as if Bert hadn tearned the right to the title.The man s tone suggestedBert wasn t part of thesenior Esposito s innercircle.Nick s stomachchurned.If Bert had noauthority to deal with Nick,then all bets were off. What does Mr.Espositowant? Nick played for time as he pictured Cesar, thehead of the clan.He hadn tseen the guy in the fleshfor years, but his photohad been featured in anews story when he d beenarraigned for aracketeering charge, whichwas later dropped.CesarEsposito was a veryaverage-looking man.Noexpensive clothes or goldchains.In fact, in the photo taken as he was usheredinto the courthouse, helooked more like agardener than a crimeboss. You, Windbreakeranswered. And ElliotJensen. I don t have any ideawhere Jensen is.Like I toldBert and he d tried to tellthe other guy he dencountered at Elliot s house.Nick swallowed,and went on I m notElliot Jensen s accomplice,just collateral damage.Histrail led Bert to me, andBert gave me the go-ahead to track Elliot andrecover what he took.I mtrying to do that. Nick felt like he wasthrowing stones into apond that refused to ripple.These guys stared at him blank-faced, as if theycouldn t care less about hisstory.They had a job todo.He was it.Refrigerator waved hispistol. Get in the car.Youcan explain all this to Mr.Esposito back in NewYork. You re not hearing me.I have some of the stuffthe accounting informationand part of the money.I found it, but I ve hidden it.I ve got to have some kindof leverage.Besides, I mnegotiating with Bert onthis issue. In this matter, BertEsposito is irrelevant, Windbreaker said. Give usthe packet all of it andmaybe Mr.Esposito will belenient. The Fridge screwed uphis face as if he smelled something off. He still hasto come with us.Him andthe packet both. Windbreaker rolled hiseyes. Yeah, of course. They all froze as, fromaround the bend came thesound of an approachingcar.Then the crunch ofgravel and the growl of theengine abruptly went silent.He wondered if it waspossible Ames had ignored his warning to stay put.Yeah, he just bet she dheard the car and runtoward it for help.And whodrove that car?Speaking of Mr.Irrelevant, here comesBert. Who s that? demandedWindbreaker.Nick shrugged. I haveno idea. Did you call the police? He considered lying butdecided not to bother.These guys seemed to begetting nervous, andkeeping them calm was apriority. Nope. The big guy went to thecar and turned off theheadlights.The gray lightof dawn hadn t changed orbrightened much andprobably wouldn t.It wasgoing to be a cloudy day. Why d you do that? Ican t see a goddamn thing.No goddamn streetlights, Windbreaker grumbled.Nick felt a wave ofsympathetic agreement.The other guy told himto shut up.He looked atNick and tucked the gunaway. We don t want asituation.You got that,Rossi? Whoever this is,we re going to act normal. We re going fishing orsomething, understand? Sure. Nick couldn thelp smiling at the thoughtof these two holding fishingpoles.The Refrigeratorgrabbed Nick s arm andhauled him to stand infront of them. I got a hand on the gun.Whoever this is better notbe too interested,understand? We don t want to clean up a bigmess, but I will if I haveto. Nick wished he d stopending sentences with understand? He nodded.Three figures walkedover the hill as if they weretaking a morning stroll.One was a bald guy whoprobably played highschool football twentyyears ago, a familiar face. Another was Bert, well-dressed and darklyhandsome as ever,although he did seem alittle fatter than the lasttime Nick had seen him.The third person wasAmes.Nick s heartstuttered in fear.He mightbe glad to see the first twobut not Ames.She was notpart of this.He called, Good morning, Ms. and just intime remembered her lastname was the same asElliot s Peterkins [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl odbijak.htw.pl
. Ames.Please, trustme, and please stay put. She clutched his armhard enough to hurt for amoment longer, thenreluctantly released him. Okay, but I have nine-one-one on speed dial.Ifanything starts to happen,I m calling. Nick doubted there d betime.If something wentdown here, it might very well be him, with a bullet inhis head, hitting theground.He grasped the back ofAmes s head, leaned inand gave her a hard kiss;then he scrambled up fromthe ground.Keeping hersafe had become morethan a desire.It was adriving need wedged deep,unmovable.He wanted to put some distance between the carand Ames, so he made hisway through the woods,then approached the menjust beyond the curve ofthe long driveway.Heshouted, hands raised, Hey.I m here. His heart raced as themen turned to face him.Looking down the barrelsof a couple of Berettascould do that. The big guy got into theSUV and started it.Theshorter one jogged towardNick, gun raised. I ve got the package, Nick said, hoping thatwould convince the skinnyguy to aim the gun awayfrom him.It didn t. Nick Rossi? The skinnyguy stopped more than anarm s length away.Theother guy had driven the sixty feet and got out againin an almost lazy manner.His gun dangled from hisbig hand as he joined hispartner. Yes.You re with Bert? Nick said again. I ll onlydeal with him.We have anagreement. He prayedBert thought the samething.The big guy scowled,then went around the side of the vehicle and turnedon the headlights so theyshone in Nick s face. Staythere, he commanded.His partner approachedNick.As he patted himdown, all Nick could thinkwas what a stupid choice awindbreaker was for aperson who was supposedto be silent and deadly.The slippery noise thenylon material made suddenly seemedincredibly hilarious.Nickwas on the verge ofbursting out laughing, hisanxiety exhibiting asinconvenient hilarity.He swallowed theimpulse and held perfectlystill as the man with thepitted face and thinmoustache frisked him,then announced to hispartner, He s clean. Nick had left the gunwith Ames, even thoughshe d made it clear shedidn t want to use it.Hewas going to let them pathim down, and there wasno point in getting it takenaway from him. Where s Bert? heasked, increasingly certainthese two had nothing todo with his one-time pal. Don t know.We re here for Mr.Esposito. The bigguy stressed the word mister as if Bert hadn tearned the right to the title.The man s tone suggestedBert wasn t part of thesenior Esposito s innercircle.Nick s stomachchurned.If Bert had noauthority to deal with Nick,then all bets were off. What does Mr.Espositowant? Nick played for time as he pictured Cesar, thehead of the clan.He hadn tseen the guy in the fleshfor years, but his photohad been featured in anews story when he d beenarraigned for aracketeering charge, whichwas later dropped.CesarEsposito was a veryaverage-looking man.Noexpensive clothes or goldchains.In fact, in the photo taken as he was usheredinto the courthouse, helooked more like agardener than a crimeboss. You, Windbreakeranswered. And ElliotJensen. I don t have any ideawhere Jensen is.Like I toldBert and he d tried to tellthe other guy he dencountered at Elliot s house.Nick swallowed,and went on I m notElliot Jensen s accomplice,just collateral damage.Histrail led Bert to me, andBert gave me the go-ahead to track Elliot andrecover what he took.I mtrying to do that. Nick felt like he wasthrowing stones into apond that refused to ripple.These guys stared at him blank-faced, as if theycouldn t care less about hisstory.They had a job todo.He was it.Refrigerator waved hispistol. Get in the car.Youcan explain all this to Mr.Esposito back in NewYork. You re not hearing me.I have some of the stuffthe accounting informationand part of the money.I found it, but I ve hidden it.I ve got to have some kindof leverage.Besides, I mnegotiating with Bert onthis issue. In this matter, BertEsposito is irrelevant, Windbreaker said. Give usthe packet all of it andmaybe Mr.Esposito will belenient. The Fridge screwed uphis face as if he smelled something off. He still hasto come with us.Him andthe packet both. Windbreaker rolled hiseyes. Yeah, of course. They all froze as, fromaround the bend came thesound of an approachingcar.Then the crunch ofgravel and the growl of theengine abruptly went silent.He wondered if it waspossible Ames had ignored his warning to stay put.Yeah, he just bet she dheard the car and runtoward it for help.And whodrove that car?Speaking of Mr.Irrelevant, here comesBert. Who s that? demandedWindbreaker.Nick shrugged. I haveno idea. Did you call the police? He considered lying butdecided not to bother.These guys seemed to begetting nervous, andkeeping them calm was apriority. Nope. The big guy went to thecar and turned off theheadlights.The gray lightof dawn hadn t changed orbrightened much andprobably wouldn t.It wasgoing to be a cloudy day. Why d you do that? Ican t see a goddamn thing.No goddamn streetlights, Windbreaker grumbled.Nick felt a wave ofsympathetic agreement.The other guy told himto shut up.He looked atNick and tucked the gunaway. We don t want asituation.You got that,Rossi? Whoever this is,we re going to act normal. We re going fishing orsomething, understand? Sure. Nick couldn thelp smiling at the thoughtof these two holding fishingpoles.The Refrigeratorgrabbed Nick s arm andhauled him to stand infront of them. I got a hand on the gun.Whoever this is better notbe too interested,understand? We don t want to clean up a bigmess, but I will if I haveto. Nick wished he d stopending sentences with understand? He nodded.Three figures walkedover the hill as if they weretaking a morning stroll.One was a bald guy whoprobably played highschool football twentyyears ago, a familiar face. Another was Bert, well-dressed and darklyhandsome as ever,although he did seem alittle fatter than the lasttime Nick had seen him.The third person wasAmes.Nick s heartstuttered in fear.He mightbe glad to see the first twobut not Ames.She was notpart of this.He called, Good morning, Ms. and just intime remembered her lastname was the same asElliot s Peterkins [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]