Go Kill Crazy! by Bryan Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

smiled. “My apologies for the rough handling, Mr. Miller. However, I find myself in the position of having to manage a crisis situation. And that’s fine. It’s part of the job description.”
    Casey frowned. “What is your job?”
    Another smile from Jones. “I’m a problem solver, Casey.”
    Casey sighed. “Let me guess. You’re here to solve a problem named Casey Miller.”
    Jones nodded. “Correct. You’re a man with a flair for the dramatic, Casey. Your actions have made things temporarily uncomfortable for my employer.”
    Casey smirked. “Good.”
    Jones’ expression turned grim as he shook his head. “No, Casey. It’s not good. Not for me, not for my boss, and most definitely not for you. My boss does not enjoy the close scrutiny of law enforcement officials.”
    Casey nodded. “Yeah. Okay. So you’re here to warn me off again. Maybe rough me up a little and scare me. That about the shape of it?”
    “That is the general gist of the situation, yes,” Jones said. He took a cell phone from an inner pocket of his blazer and set it on the table. “But what we’re doing today is a little more complicated than that. A man like you, an impetuous man prone to committing very brazen, foolhardy acts, requires a deeper level of motivation.” He tapped the phone’s screen with a forefinger and a frozen image of Keely Miller’s face appeared. “I have something to show you, Casey.”
    Casey stared at the image of his sister for a long moment, then forced out a breath. “If you’ve hurt her—”
    “Your sister has not been harmed.” Jones turned the phone toward Casey and tapped the screen again. “Watch.”
    A video message began to play. It showed Keely smiling in a strangely vacant way as she stared at the person making the video. She had braids in her long hair and was wearing a pretty yellow sundress. She was in a room in which the dated décor screamed mid-twentieth century. Casey figured this was a room somewhere inside the big house at the ranch owned by de Rais.
    An off-camera female voice broke the silence. “All right, we’re ready. You know what you want to say, right?”
    Keely glanced to her right, smiling but looking a little unsure of herself. “Yes.”
    “Good. Start now.”
    Keely looked into the camera lens. “Hi, Casey. Today is Friday. It’s been two days since you tried to grab me off the street and got a bunch of innocent people shot. You’ve caused us a lot of trouble, but we’ve decided to leave you out of it. The police don’t know I was the target of the kidnapping attempt. You’re probably wondering how that’s possible. What you don’t understand is there’s no limit to what a dedicated group of people working toward a common goal can accomplish.”
    She glanced to her right again, an eyebrow raised.
    The unseen female spoke again. “You’re doing great so far. Go on.”
    When Keely resumed speaking, her expression was grim. “For the first time in my life, I’m in a place where I feel like I belong. I’m surrounded by caring, nurturing people who only want the best for me. They are my soul mates, my real sisters and brothers, and together we have embarked on a path of spiritual awakening and enlightenment. My eyes are finally open and at last I see the world as it really is. I see the reality behind the lies society has taught us to accept as truth. And I won’t allow you or anyone else to take that from me.”
    A sense of dread crept through Casey as he listened to his sister’s recorded voice. There was a harsh edge to it he didn’t recognize, a wisp of wrongness that saddened him even as it made his skin crawl. Not helping at all was the way Boyd and Marzetti continued to creep closer to him from either side. Though he knew the effort would almost certainly prove futile, the time had clearly come to make a break for it. Maybe take a roundhouse swing at the goons with a chair, then dash for the door and hope for the best. He would likely be shot down