by K. W. Jeter
“What do you want, dental? I don’t even know what health insurance I’ll be getting –”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
All of a sudden, I did. He really was younger than the others.
“Okay,” I said. “Just put a leash on it right now. My tail doesn’t come with the job.”
“Why not?”
“Oh, yeah. Thank you so much. That’s very romantic.” I shook my head. “It’s not going to happen.” There were all the usual issues about sleeping around on the job, especially if you’re supposed to be the boss. Plus, there was still the bit that Cole had told me a long time ago. About keeping it on the shelf, as long as I was going to be in this line of work. That hadn’t changed.
“Sure?”
“Absolutely.” Something else had just struck me. What if I did start up with Elton, then things didn’t work out? Given the kind of girl that I was rapidly becoming, I’d probably just kill him as well. One little spat, and he’d be a dead man. Which would’ve been a shame, since he wasn’t really that bad a guy.
That thought led to bleaker ones. Realistically speaking, the only people I should hook up with would be the ones I didn’t mind seeing dead. What kind of guys would those be? Cole had been right in more ways than one. I really was better off putting a padlock on it.
“Well . . . thanks for the offer, then.” Elton gave me a little disappointed smile. “The job, I mean. But I think I’ll just go back down to Mobile. There’s a couple of trucking companies I used to ride shotgun for, on long-haul pharmaceutical deliveries. I can set myself up with them again. Plus, my little boy’s down there – haven’t seen him in a while.”
Uh-oh. Baggage. Maybe not a real bullet, but I’d just dodged one.
“Move.” He got to his feet and waved me away from the restroom door. I stood on the other side of the hallway and watched as he took his gun out of his jacket and pumped a few rounds right under the chrome handle. He put his gun away and pulled the door open. “There you go.”
I should’ve thought of that. It went to show how tired I was.
Worse, it didn’t do any good. I looked through all the stalls in the ladies room, but couldn’t find the bag with my stuff. One of the other guests must’ve taken it. Or maybe the janitor.
“Let’s go.” I came back out of the restroom. “I’ve had enough fun for tonight.”
* * *
The crew stood outside on the sidewalk. All the bright, happy lights had been switched off. A cold front had come in along the river. The first dirty gray flakes of a city snow were beginning to drift down on our heads.
“Are you going home like that?” Curt nodded toward my outfit.
“Don’t have much of a choice about it.”
“Here.” He pulled off his overcoat and handed it to me.
“Thanks.” The bottom of it practically came down to my ankles. I supposed it was a good thing, not just for me. If your average American guy had looked out his window in the middle of the night and had seen some Asian-looking chick zooming by on a sportsbike, with her slit skirt riding up to the top of her thighs, he probably would’ve figured he’d died and woken up in a Quentin Tarantino movie. “So –” I tightened the overcoat’s belt around my waist. “What’re you going to do now?”
“I told you. I’m retired.” Curt gave me a thin smile. “You know that beat-up place out in the country, where I ran you through that little training exercise, out in the barn? That’s mine. I’ve been making payments on it for a while now. Couple more and it’s free and clear.”
“That’s cool.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I’m gonna go out there and raise chickens. Any of ’em give me any crap, his little feathered butt is mine.”
“What about . . .” I didn’t want to come right out and say it. But I was worried about him being on his own. “You know . . .”
“Check it out.” He gave the biggest smile I’d ever seen on his face, as he held his hand straight out and level in front of me. “How do you like that?”
His hand wasn’t trembling. At all.
“Guess it was the job,” he said. “Gets to you after a while. Like a stress thing.”
“Yeah . . .” I nodded, impressed. And a little depressed – one more thing I’d have to watch out for. “Okay, then. You take care of yourself.”
I walked over to my motorcycle. As I was unstrapping my helmet from the seat, I listened to Curt and Foley talking.
“You gonna be all right?”
“Yeah, sure.” Foley shrugged. “Don’t worry about me.” He looked up at the snow falling past the unlit palm tree sign. “Hey – remember when Falcon was working on that time-share condo deal, and we all went to Honolulu with him? You and me and Earl and Heinz – that was gas. We had a lotta fun there.” He glanced over at Curt beside him. “Remember that?”
Curt nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”
After a moment, Foley spoke again. “Doesn’t snow in Hawaii.”
It was Curt’s turn to shrug. “They got their own problems.”
I climbed onto the motorcycle, but waited before hitting its ignition button.
“Sure about those chickens, man?” Foley brushed the white flakes from the front of his jacket. “I been thinking. Forget Honolulu. Plenty other people we could go work for, right around here. They’re not all like that jerk in there.” He pointed with his thumb to the restaurant. “More like family operations.”
“No . . . they’re all going to be that way now.” Curt shook his head. “Just the way it is. Everything’s going to be different. You know – like the New Frontier.”
“Yeah, but . . . I don’t wanna live there. I liked it the old way.”
“You don’t have a choice, man.” Curt gave him a sad smile. “None of us do.”
Foley didn’t say anything. Just turned and walked away, down the sidewalk. Curt watched him go.
I started up the bike, kicked it into gear and pulled out into the empty street. I rolled on the throttle, the snow stinging my face as I leaned down and headed for home.
A special message from Kim Oh –
Hope you enjoyed the book! I’m trying to get to the point where I’m making a living at writing them, so I’ll be able to cut back on the killing people thing and just do that as a hobby.
If you did enjoy it, you’d be doing me a real favor by writing a quick review on Amazon.com. Thanks!
If you’ve missed any, you can get all my thrillers right here!
Plus, I’m hard at work on the next Kim Oh thriller and hope to have it to you soon. If you’d like to receive an announcement when it’s ready, sign up for my newsletter.
Or if you’d just like to chat, feel free to email me!
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And don’t worry – I’m not that dangerous.
Best,
Kim
The Kim Oh Thrillers:
Kim Oh 1: Real Dangerous Girl
Kim Oh 2: Real Dangerous Job
Kim Oh 3: Real Dangerous People
. . . and more to come.
Please visit the author’s website at
Real Dangerous Girl.
