Pay Up and Die by Chuck Buda Read Free Book Online

that were starting to stream down his battered face.
    Inside the office, Derrick reached into his pocket for his cell phone. He punched a few numbers and then placed the phone to his ear. A few seconds later, the phone on the other end is answered with silence. “Martin. It’s Graves. I have another job for you to do.”

Chapter 10
     
     
     
     
    “Is this how you treat an old man, Mikey? You let him stand outside in the elements to wait for his ride home?” Murph started into Michael as soon as he arrived at his car.
    “Sorry, Murph. Had to tie up a loose end before I could leave for the day. I should have texted you or something.” Michael apologetically patted Murph on the shoulder and then opened the passenger door for him. He walked around to the driver’s side and plopped down into the small bucket seat. The exhaustion was evident to Murph.
    “You really need to go straight home and go right to bed, young man. You’re stretched too thin, going to work so hard after what happened last night.”
    Michael backed the car out of the space and began the commute home. As he turned back onto the main drag he sighed heavily.
    “All right. Spill it.” Murph entreated him to air his frustration.
    “I don’t want to dump all my problems on you, but thanks for offering to listen. I just want to ignore my problems and maybe they’ll go away.”
    Murph snickered. “That’s what JFK thought and look what happened to him.”
    Michael chuckled. It felt good for just a fleeting moment to have some levity.
    “You know how Steph and I have been trying to get another loan so we can pay for those new treatments for Ally?” He glanced at Murph as he checked his side view mirror. The wind ruffled his hair.
    “Yeah, what about it.”
    Michael stopped at a red light, then answered Murph. “Well, Graves was going to get it “blessed” for us since the bank knows we are already over-extended and late on some other payments. But now I have a feeling he is holding it up to make sure I fall in line with some office politics.”
    “You serious? Want me to fuck him up?” Murph, who was known to be an adept pugilist in his youth, welcomed all opportunities to mix it up some more.
    “That would be great if it would help. But, it’s just, you know we always had a really great working relationship. I did what he needed, when he needed it and always quickly, with quality to back it up. I trusted him all these years and now it feels like he is my enemy.” Michael checked the mirror and began to drive forward as the light changed.
    “Okay. Got it. So you stopped giving him a reach around, he got pissed and now you have to bend over a little harder. You bankers are so, uh, towel-snappy in the locker room.” Murph tilted his head down and raised one eyebrow higher than the other. That got Michael to instantaneously laugh through his nose, causing him to choke on his own mucus.
    “Easy there, tough guy. I’d prefer to make it home alive,” Murph poured it on.
    Michael recovered just in time to turn the wheel and get the car headed down Madison Avenue.
    “I hate to be a bought-and-paid-for man but I don’t have any choice right now but to fall in line. Allison’s life depends on it.”
    “So what was so horrible that got your kiwi’s twisted? Can’t you just suck it up until you get the loan and then flip him the bird later?” Murph eloquently summed up the options.
    “He was putting the screws to Gustafson over his defaulted mortgage while his poor wife is dying from cancer. You know Gustafson, right?” Michael glanced at Murph. “He’s that bald guy from the baseball games?”
    “Bald guy? Is that a shot at me? Way to bite the hand that helps, pal.” Murph looked out the window then turned back to Michael. “Name sounds familiar, but not the offensive description.”
    “Anyway, Graves started threatening him to pay up or there would be some bad things coming and I didn’t like it one bit. These are good people.