Hostage For A Hood by Lionel White Read Free Book Online

and half out of the door.
    Raising his head, he looked out and he saw the pushcart standing there a few yards away. There was a man at the side of the cart and he had his back to Red. He was reaching under a canvas which covered the broken-down old cart. Red reached for his own gun. It was pure instinct.
    At the moment the two vehicles crashed, Santino thought the moving van Luder was driving was going to push the armored car right into him. He leaped aside and rounded the pushcart to get out of the way. Santino was on edge. Even as he moved, he was cursing under his breath. He'd been watching the armored car approach and he had also been looking past it up the road.
    Cribbins and Mitty should have been in sight, but they weren't. It never occurred to Santino that anything could have happened to them; he merely assumed that they were careless and were going to be a few seconds late. But a few seconds could make a lot of difference.
    It was because he was looking for the Caddie that he had almost missed seeing the accident and had to jump. He didn't want to be pinned in the wreckage. It looked for a moment as though the van was going to topple the other car, but at last the two vehicles came to a stop and the truck was still upright. Only the driver wasn't behind the wheel. That's when Santino started to reach for the sub-machine gun. He still had his hands under the canvas when he swung back once more to the wreckage.
    The door of the armored car had sprung open and a man was half lying on the floor. There was a gun in the man's hand and he was so close that Santino could see the color of his eyes. They were blue-green, and they looked almost sightless. There was a nasty bruise on the man's forehead and it was bleeding badly.
    As Santino watched, frozen for a moment, the man shifted his position and lifted the hand which held the gun to wipe the blood from his forehead. In that second Santino jerked the submachine gun from the pushcart.
    Red Kenny was still wiping away the blood, not even seeing Santino at all, when the half-dozen slugs tore open the flesh from his right shoulder to his waist, stitching neat little holes in front and leaving great gaping wounds where they made their exit.
    Luder was half out of the truck as Santino loosed the burst of fire and for a moment he stopped, one foot on the pavement and the other still on the running board. He was looking for the Caddie and just realizing it wasn't there where it should be. He stood, half dazed, trying to adjust himself, and then he heard Santino's voice yelling at him.
    "There's a car coming! Get the bomb!"
    Luder didn't quite understand what was happening but he didn't take time to figure. He followed orders. As he reached the pavement, his hand found the small gas bomb which he carried in the side pocket of his leather jacket. He tossed it through the grille in the back door of the armored car, then turned to see Santino standing next to him with the machine gun raised in his hands.
    Cribbins had the back door of the sedan open as Santino raised the gun. He knew at once what was about to happen. Santino was expecting a two-toned Cadillac. Instead he was watching a small black sedan careening to a stop a few yards away.
    Cribbins leaped to the street before Mitty had a chance to brake the car. He yelled as his feet hit the pavement. The yell wasn't quite in time to arrest Santino's finger on the trigger of the gun, but it did serve to spoil his aim. The muzzle swerved as he fired and the burst went into the pavement in front of the sedan.
    There was no time to explain; no time for anything but action.
    "The crowbar," Cribbins yelled and when Luder just stood there staring at him, he struck the other man a sharp blow on the side of his face and pushed him toward the truck. Luder stumbled and then snapped out of it. Cribbins spoke quickly to Santino as Luder pried open the back door. "Get the money bags into the sedan," he said. "It's our only transportation—no