Blood Of Angels by Michael Marshall Read Free Book Online Page B

then followed up the passage. Oh Christ.
    The only one Brad recognized was Hernandez, their regular contact. He was around thirty and had a face like a second-hand axe. He shook his head at Hudek.
    'We told you to come alone,' he said, again. The inflection was exactly the same the second time.
    'And I heard you,' Hudek said. 'You told me to suck your dick, I wouldn't be doing that either.'
    Hernandez pursed his lips and nodded soberly, as if in appreciation of the response, its genre appropriateness, as if the older man was a digitized bad guy in Grand Theft Auto VII and this was Available Riposte number 3.
    He turned to the guy on his right, and nodded some more. This guy nodded back. They both looked at Hudek and nodded.
    The moment went on a beat too long and the whole thing was beginning to seriously freak Brad the fuck out.
    'You said to meet you inside,' Hudek said. 'What's this crap out here in the lot? What's the creeping up on us about?'
    'To check you'd followed instructions,' Hernandez said.
    'You seriously think I was going to?'
    'We hoped.'
    'Life is full of disappointments, dude. Deal with it. Can we get this done? I've got half the West Valley waiting on a high.'
    'Maybe we find some other rich kid to run our shit. Someone who does what he's told like a good boy.'
    'See, you're getting mixed up about something,' Hudek said, theatrically shaking his head. 'Really just, completely turned around. You seem to think we're going to stand here and take this kind of crap from you guys. That's sort of not going to happen.'
    'Is that right?' Hernandez was smiling again now. Brad didn't like it when he smiled. It was not convincing. He needed lessons. Brad realized one of the other guys was holding a gun, casually, down by his side. Probably always had been, but he'd been too wired to notice. Take their crap, Lee, he thought, urgently. Please, Lee, let's just take their crap and get out of here.
    'Pete,' Hudek said, suddenly, his voice loud. 'Why don't you come join us?'
    There was silence for a long moment. Sleepy Pete did not appear from around the side of the big metal block.
    Brad glanced dismally at Hudek, and saw that for the first time the other boy's eyes looked a little confused.
    Nonetheless Hudek spoke again. 'Steve?'
    More silence, broken only by the sound of a car honking over on the intersection, a world away.
    Hernandez cocked his head. 'Pete? Steve? Who would these people be? More uninvited boys? More Valley rats?'
    Hudek said nothing. Kept looking at the dumpster.
    Hernandez looked at the guy on his right again. 'You guys know any Pete or Steve? You come across anybody like that?'
    'Yeah,' the guy said. 'Think we did.'
    He walked over to where the big square of tarp was lying bunched against the side wall. Lifted one corner.
    Brad stared. Lying under the tarp were Pete and Steve. Their mouths had been secured with silver duct tape. Probably their arms and legs too, because they weren't moving. At least, that might be why they weren't moving.
    The guy let the tarp fall again.
    'Shouldn't have done that,' Hudek said. His voice was low and flat. He slipped his right hand into his jacket and around the back. 'You should not have done that.'
    'You should have come alone.'
    'Untie them.'
    'Fuck you.'
    Hudek pulled his hand out. He was holding the automatic pistol. 'Fucking untie them, man.'
    They went to and fro on it for a while, but Brad barely heard. There was a constant voice in his head now, blotting out almost everything else. I'm twenty years old, it was jabbering. This is too soon. This has not been enough. I thought I was grown, but I was wrong. I do not want to have sex or take drugs or drink beer any more. I do not want to be here. I want to be home, watching X-Files reruns and eating ice cream. I want to be ten years old.
    'You piece of shit,' Hudek said, evidently resting his case.
    Brad tuned back in. The other guys' guns were no longer by their sides. They were pointing at him and Lee. It was all