Page 5 (1/2)

FIVE

The sun was just percolating through the trees when Benny parked the van in front of the two-story house in Winter Park I made the boys wipe their feet on the way in

"That you, Charlie?"

"It&039;s ot Bob and Benny with me"

"Hi, boys I&039;ll have food for you in a , Mrs Swift" Bob

"Hope we&039;re not disturbing you too early" Benny

Ma made a noise in the kitchen like that was the s: Ma never slept, and there was always so in the kitchen

I stuck s, coffee, Canadian bacon Ma had probably been up an hour, getting grub together for me and Danny Ma was sray in her auburn hair

"Let et a shower, Ma, and I&039;ll coet Danny up too"

"He&039;s up," said Ma "Punching that bag again behind the garage"

Danny had retreated hoain He was supposed to be at Cleht punching the heavy bag and trying to talk Aht was a better use of his time Ma was crazy with the whole situation, and I was supposed to sit down for a brother-to-brother ass-chewing session I hadn&039;t had a chance to get around to it

"It&039;s too early for boxing," I said

"You let hiood boy" Ma said that because Benny and Bob were listening When it was just faet cleaned up"

"Good You look like a mess I&039;ll feed these boys" She led Benny and Bob to the kitchen table

I dragged myself into the upstairs bathroom and slu the briefcase with ht&039;s work had finally seeped intothe van ride, and I ached all over I peeled myself out of the bloodstained shirt and went to work on the wound It was shallow and ugly I fished the first aid kit out from under the sink I wiped the wound clean ater first then gave it a second going over with the hydrogen peroxide

I turned the shower on as hot as I could stand it, bathed, dried, and bandaged the wound I probably could have used a stitch or two I made up for it with a few extra strands of ic T-shirt and packed last night&039;s clothes into the ha for me

He sat in theseat, which overlooked the street, his shorts and tank top soaked through with sweat He&039;d given the bag a good work-over, and he still wore the gloves He was a good-looking kid, taller than me, square shoulders and a flat belly He was a sit-up junky from way back At twenty-four years old, he was sixteen years my junior, and he&039;d been a surprise for ranite for a chin, Danny&039;s features were sharp, angular jawline He got that froloves and pulled the bottom of his tank top up to wipe the sweat off his forehead It didn&039;t help ot breakfast ready"

"Yeah I s left when Benny and Bob are through"

"Ma tell you to tell o back to school yet?"

"About twenty tied "I don&039;t think school&039;s for y "Ain&039;t there like ten tons of gorgeous girls running around caive that up, do you?"

"None of theree

"Actually, I thought I ht e"

I h it wasn&039;t very damn funny "What the hell do you know about that?"

"Couys I knohat goes on I&039;e three times I&039;m not cut out for it"

"So what then?"

He flipped back the spare blanket at the foot of my bed Underneath was my little Mac-10 machine pistol, the spare clips and the flash suppressor The firing pin was busted, and I hadn&039;t gotten around to fixing it yet Also, a 9 autoun

"We&039;ll talk later," I said "I&039;ve got the boys downstairs"

Around the kitchen table three s and bacon I was one of theone about her business Let the boys talk

We were all thinking the sa I didn&039;t need to be a mind-reader Dead cops Nohat?

I had the briefcase down by my ankles We hadn&039;t opened it We didn&039;t knoere supposed to I hadn&039;t told the with Beggar Johnson But we knew our instructions Take the briefcase to Beggar&039;s e wasn&039;t supposed to ask questions

Benny had reached that conclusion ahead of ive me the case, and I&039;ll run it over to this Jeffers character We did ere told Period We can&039;t get in trouble for that, can we?"

Bob watched for ht Scratched ht some more

"Okay," I said "What&039;s our job is the question, right?" I looked at them

They looked back

Yeah, ere supposed to do ere told Sure But ere also supposed to look out for the boss If he went under, ere all sunk "I&039; to call Stan"

I told them to wait and went upstairs to use the phone in the bedroom None of the other boys had Stan&039;s personal home nus Stan always answered his own phone

"I got news"

"Tell me"

I told him

"I see" He didn&039;t really sound too surprised, went quiet for long seconds

"Stan?"

"I&039;lued to the phone When he finally came back on the line, my heart jerked up in my throat Anxious

"Open the case," said Stan

"It&039;s locked"

"Pry it open"