Desperate Times Three - Revolution by Nicholas Antinozzi Read Free Book Online Page A

covered from head to toe in bright red blood. Doc looked up at Ken like a guilty child. “I’m sorry, Ken,” he whispered. “She was going to tell Julie everything... She was a bad person, but I loved her.”
    Jimmy was fairly certain what Paula was planning to tell Julie. They had been kidding themselves to think that the others wouldn’t figure out that she was pregnant. Jimmy could see the syringe and the empty vial on the concrete floor, and he knew that Doc wasn’t long for this world. He stifled his tears as he watched Ken set his gun on the workbench and embrace his old friend. Doc wrapped his arms around Ken and wept bitterly. This was the first time that Jimmy had seen Ken hug any man, and the significance of that hit him hard. He turned away and lit up a cigarette.
    By the time he had finished smoking, Doc was dead.
    Ken, his bare arms smeared with blood, picked up his gun and wiped the tears from his eyes as he brushed past Jimmy. “Come on,” he said. “We’ve got to go tell Dundlemore about this.” He picked up a flashlight and flicked it on. Yellow light shone up into the cobwebs covering the twisted tangle of ductwork.
    “Yeah,” Jimmy replied, hating the thought of it.
    Jimmy groaned as Ken opened the garage door and shone the beam of light inside. Ken’s head suddenly rocked back as if he’d been punched. He quickly closed the door. “Follow me,” he said. “We’ll take the stairs.”
    Julie was waiting for them at the kitchen door as they hit the landing. “How bad is it?” she asked.
    “Don’t go down there,” Ken ordered. “Doc and Paula are dead. Don’t let anyone down there. Do you hear me?”
    Julie put her hand over her mouth and nodded. “Oh, Ken,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
    “Yeah,” he said. “Me too.”
    Julie gave Jimmy a sorrowful look as she closed the back door to the kitchen. This was no time for them to discuss what had happened. Paula’s days of getting under their skin were over, and Jimmy was still adjusting to that reality. Despite everything, he found that he was terribly saddened by what had happened. He needed to come to terms with it, and soon.
    Ken stuffed his handgun, a snub-nosed .38, into the back pocket of his jeans and pointed to Jimmy’s holstered gun. “Conceal that and leave the holster here. I don’t think you’ll need it, but we sure as hell aren’t taking any chances.” Ken spat bitterly into the grass and began to walk, training the flashlight beam in front of them.
    The bonfire next door was bright orange and lit up the night sky. Ted Nugent’s guitar echoed in the trees, and alcohol-fueled voices laughed cheerily from the other side of the wall. The party would soon be over, thought Jimmy.
    He would remember this moment for a long time as the calm before the storm.

Chapter 6
    "Years ago, it meant something to be crazy. Now everyone's crazy." ~ Charles Manson
     
    They were twenty feet from the gate when Ken’s flashlight beam fell upon a dark form lying on the grass. A second passed before Jimmy recognized the form as belonging to Nate Vetter’s tattooed friend. Kyle was flat on his back and didn’t move as they approached. Ken shone the beam into the young man’s face and Jimmy grimaced. Kyle’s vacant eyes were open wide, and white foam bubbled from his yawning mouth.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” mumbled Ken, leaning over and pressing two fingers against the young man’s carotid artery. He pulled his fingers away and shook his head before wiping his hand on the grass. “This is just great,” he growled. “Like I don’t have enough shit to deal with right now. God damn it!”
    Jimmy looked away from the body and followed Ken as he led the way over to the raucous party next door. Ken strode straight over to the source of the music, a battered Dodge Neon and pointed at a young man who was thumbing through a stack of CDs.
    “Shut that off,” Ken said, pointing to the glowing stereo mounted into the