Kim Oh 2: Real Dangerous Job (The Kim Oh Thrillers) by K. W. Jeter Read Free Book Online Page A

“That was days ago. When I was talking to you before. Things change, honey. You don’t have those options now. You got rid of them. I mean . . . just look at you.”
     
    “What’s wrong with me?”
     
    “Nothing,” she said. “Everything. What were you before? Before all of this happened?”
     
    “A mouse. That’s all.” I could taste the bitterness of the words on my tongue. “Just scurrying from one corner to another, trying not to get stepped on. A mouse who dreamed about not being a mouse.”
     
    “I know. Cole told me all about you. He’d come home after a job – those jobs that he did then – and we’d lie there and he’d say something about you. Because you would’ve just cut a check for him. Services rendered, for Mr. McIntyre. And he’d laugh – but not really. Because he liked you. And he felt sorry for you. Can you believe that? Somebody like him, feeling sorry for anybody? But he did.”
     
    I wasn’t sure whether she was telling the truth about that. It didn’t seem to fit into my mental picture of him. But who knew? Unlike Monica, I was still capable of being surprised.
     
    “That doesn’t do me any good now,” I said. “Or him.”
     
    “Yeah, well,” said Monica, “it might not have done you any good – but it did something. Like I said, look at you. You’re not a mouse now. You’re not scurrying around.” She reached over and brushed her fingertips along my hair. “You’re actually looking pretty good. Where I work, there are a lot of customers who have a thing for the petites. Like you. When this is all over, I could give you some tips. Help you work up a routine. And help you get in – maybe not at the club I’m at, but somewhere nice. You could do pretty well.”
     
    Great , I thought. Another fabulous career opportunity. I knew I should’ve gone to college.
     
    “I’ll think about it,” I said. “But you have to be nice to the customers, don’t you? Right now, I’m kind of on the shelf.”
     
    “Yeah, you’re not going to be getting any for a while – at least not if you want to get this job done – but you could. That’s how much you’ve changed. You even talk different now. All lippy and stuff. Before, you wouldn’t have said boo to a goose.”
     
    “I’ve never understood that expression.” I talked, even though I was thinking about other things. “It’s just stupid. Are there people who go around saying boo to geese? And how smart is that? There are geese that can kick the crap out of you. Believe me – I’ve lived on a farm. I know.”
     
    “Forget the geese. We’ve got to deal with our own problems. And we don’t have a lot of time.”
     
    “People are always saying that to me now.” I shook my head. “And I thought I was overworked before.”
     
    “Part of what we don’t have time for now, is you feeling sorry for yourself.”
     
    “All right, all right.” I picked up the .357 from the table. “Tell me who I’m supposed to kill, I’ll go do it. You’ll have to excuse me, but I’ve kind of lost track.”
     
    “You don’t have to kill anybody.”
     
    “Really?” I felt a little deflated. “I was already getting my head wrapped around the idea.”
     
    “Well, get it unwrapped.” Monica pulled the gun out of my hand and set it back down on the table. “This Braemer kid – we don’t have to kill him, in order to take care of him. We just need him to shut up. Whatever information he’s been passing on to Michael, about the equipment that Cole’s been buying, plus whatever else he’s been able to snoop – that’s gotta come to an end.”
     
    “How do we do that?”
     
    “Braemer’s a smartass,” said Monica. “But he’s also a chickenshit. The only reason he’s talking to Michael is because he doesn’t think anybody knows he’s doing it. If he found out that people were on to him, he’d fold.”
     
    “Huh. You slept with a guy like that?” I’d thought she had higher