Fallen: The Demontouched Saga (Book 2) by Douglas Wayne Read Free Book Online Page A

figure out what the hell we have. Roman Nalar. I guess I should make it clear that he is probably about as clueless as I am about the cases, but he has the advantage of a large crew to help him out.
    Nal is one of those guys who keeps his nose stuck in a self help book of some sort. He had a hard on for the life of Henry Ford, specifically how he knew he didn’t know everything but instead made sure he had people around that could provide any answers he needed. If Nal had applied all that knowledge to something more productive, he could have made something with his life. Instead he finds himself running a couple hundred thugs scattered across the city, not that I’m complaining.
    We made a pit stop to get Sara to look at the flash drive while we take the cases to Nal. I didn’t really want to bring my work home with me, but I figured she could get a jump on that while I figure out what I’m hauling around.
    The parking lot of the Holiday Inn was empty. Unless Nal was expecting guests, it usually was. I pull up to the front and get out of the car.
    “I know these guys are pieces of shit, but do you think you can play nice?”
    “I’ll try.”
    That was as good as I could expect. These guys are the exact type that normally find themselves hunted by Az. Part of me feels bad knowing that I just led him here, but something tells me he knew this place already.
    Walking in the front door we are greeted by Nal’s muscle. I’ve been working for him long enough that they don’t bat an eye at me walking in, but they must know something is off if I brought a friend. Especially a friend they don’t know.
    “Who’s the new guy?” Joe asks, cracking his knuckles.
    “Someone you don’t want to test.” I hand him one of the cases.
    “What is that?” He asks, looking it over.
    “That’s what I need to find out. Nal around?” I knew he would be, he never leaves this place without these three.
    “Yeah, he is in his office.” He hands me back the case.
    “Keep an eye on the Expedition. There are about forty more of those cases where that one came from.”
    “Don’t tell me to go take a smoke break.” He snorts and walks outside.
    We work our way up the stairs towards Nal’s office. I open up the door to the top floor to find a pistol pointed right at my pretty mug. Part of me wants to play around with him before he recognizes me, but I need to get the show moving.
    “Shit, Mitch, sorry about that. Boss gets mad if I don’t try to scare everyone off.” Jason lowers the gun and puts it back in the holster.
    “It’s all good man. I have to see the boss.”
    He points to the door and takes his position at the staircase. Jason and Aaron aren’t generally the type of people you would expect to protect a crime boss. The real bodyguards rarely leave the hotel lobby. If I had to guess, these two are just around to hold people off long enough to allow Nal to escape.
    I knock on the door and let myself in.
    “Mitch, why are you here?” He looks at me over the laptop on his desk. “And who is your friend?”
    “This is Az, an old friend. Have a favor to ask.” I put the case on his desk. “I need to know what this is.”
    He picks up the case and starts to examine it. “Think it’s trapped?”
    “I’m not sure. I figured you had some ex-bomb squad cop on the books.” I figured it was worth a shot anyways. He had a few dozen normal cops on the payroll over the years. One of them had to have been on the bomb squad.
    Nal presses a button on his desk. “Aaron, in here.”
    Aaron walks in the door. “Yes, boss?”
    “Take this case to the station. I’ll make sure Ed meets you at the door.”
    Aaron grabs the case and leaves the room.
    “How long do you think it will take?” I ask him.
    “Hard to say. They don’t like to rush things.” He throws me a master key to the hotel. “Go and take a load off for a while. Ill call the station and make sure Ed speeds things up.”
    I nod and we make our way back down a