Body Guard
Page 26
Vinny envisioned Bunch and didn’t like what he saw. “Unless what?”
“Unless you make a couple people happy.”
“Who?”
“Kiefer and Miller. That’ll make Bunch happy.”
“Hand Miller my ass so he’ll be kissy-face with you again? No fucking way, Jose!”
“Not yours. Arnie Minz. Miller’s been after him for a long time. In a few weeks, you tell Minz you have another shipment—you set him up for a buy and bust.” Devlin added, “Miller will pay a pretty good snitch fee, too.”
Vinny thought it over as hurrying boots thudded across the lawn and up the front steps. “What about Kiefer?”
“Tell him you saw Pierson kill Atencio.”
“Just tell the truth?”
“I know it’ll be hard.”
The clatter at the front door was followed by the bulky shapes of the ambulance attendants. One started asking questions about the still-unconscious Pierson. The other began testing his pulse and blood pressure. Vinny told them the man fell and hit his head while struggling with Kirk. Another car skidded to a halt out front and Sergeant Kiefer, coming in without knocking, stared down at the unconscious man.
“This him? Pierson?”
Devlin shifted so the EMT could get a clearer look at his sliced flesh. “Yeah. And Scotty Martin’ll turn state’s when you tell him Pierson’s caught. He’s a witness to Newman’s killing.”
Kiefer ran a palm down the red sweater that peeked from under his dark sport coat. “State’s or not, he’ll do time.”
Kirk grunted. “Fine with me.” The EMT—a young man with cropped red hair and wire-rim glasses—was saying something about avoiding infection and seeing a doctor first thing in the morning. A pair of uniformed policemen, jingling and creaking with equipment, came from their cruiser and crowded into the room to talk with Kiefer.
“Kirk.” Vinny leaned down as the EMT turned to help load Pierson onto a gurney. “It’s a deal—about Miller and Kiefer, I mean. And you won’t—ah—I mean, you’ll forget all about that little thing with Atencio and me, right?”
“If you get Minz. But if you cross us, Vinny, there’s nowhere on God’s green earth you can hide.”
“Hey, trust me!” Vinny held out a hand. “Shake.”
Mrs. Ottoboni, a tray of hot tea balanced on thin wrists and the evening’s excitement still in the sprigs of wiry gray hair escaping from her kerchief, edged past the standing officers toward Kirk. “My! The victors shake hands!”
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
copyright © 1991 by Rex Raoul Stephen Sehler Burns
cover design by Michel Vrana
978-1-4532-4799-0
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