The Lost: Book Two, The Eddie McCloskey Series (The Unearthed 2) by Evan Ronan Read Free Book Online Page A

I wish I was five-nine with double Ds.” She patted her chest.
    “You’ve a lovely girl. Not every guy wants a porn-star looking bimbo.”
    “What about you?” She smiled playfully.
    “So only one camera … how many digital recorders?”
    She frowned at his seriousness. “You mean tape recorders?”
    “Yeah.” Eddie laughed. He was used to having state-of-the-art tech. “How many of those?”
    “Two. But one doesn’t really work.”
    Victor appeared at the end of the aisle, skeletal arms akimbo. “Ed, I need a word with you.”

Seventeen
     
    Victo r shut the door to his office and negotiated his way around his crowded desk to face Eddie. “Something you want to tell me?”
    Eddie put on his Richard Kimball face. “Can’t think of anything, Vic.”
    “Has Marty Kindler roped you into this nonsense, Eddie?” Victor was POW thin and with his arms crossed it accentuated his emaciated appearance. If the man turned sideways and stuck out his tongue, he’d look like a zipper.
    “I’m doing it for Ana.”
    “You’re doing it for the money.” He said money like it was a dirty word.
    Eddie shrugged. “Shoot me, I’m a capitalist.”
    Victor grabbed a half-empty bottle of water from his desk and drank. “Capitalism is a dying system, about to implode. We live in an administrative state. You should learn to evolve.”
    The Karl Marx of grocery store owners , Eddie thought. He liked Victor but the guy’s agitprop was grating.
    “Vic, all due respect, but I don’t tell you how to run your business. And last I checked this store was for-profit and privately owned.”
    Victor smiled. “I’m a slave to the system.”
    “You say so.”
    Victor ignored that. “Just look at the Mill. All those jobs will be totally gone soon. And what did Marty do about it? Nothing. Why? Because he’s alright. Men like him are the burden to society, not the poor. And instead of trying to resurrect the business or start a new one, instead of doing something useful with all that money, he’s paying people to run around in the woods with flashlights to chase ghosts.”
    Eddie fought to keep the weariness out of his voice. He was in no mood to argue politics. “Vic, Ana needs the help and I need the money.”
    “Speaking of Ana. She’s just a kid. It hasn’t occurred to her yet she doesn’t know shit. I’d hate to see her get hurt.”
    Eddie couldn’t argue with that. “I’ll take care of her.”
    “Make sure taking care doesn’t mean taking advantage.”
    “I wouldn’t dream.” Eddie turned and reached for the door knob.
    “And make sure Kindler doesn’t fuck her over.”
    Eddie stopped at the door. “What could he do to Ana?”
    Victor looked down like he was studying something on his desk. “He uses people. He sucks them dry then spits them out. He’s not a nice person.”
    “Do you think what’s going on here is some sort of scam by Kindler?”
    Victor hesitated. “I don’t know. There’s much we don’t understand about the universe … so maybe something’s happening. But that doesn’t make me trust Kindler. That bastard would sell his soul if he could find it. And he loves being the center of attention, the big fish in the little pond here.”
    “What do you think happened on that lake, all those years ago?”
    Victor didn’t waver. “Stupidity and hormones are a volatile mix. ”  

Eighteen
     
    A s Eddie checked out his last customer he couldn’t help but notice she was definitely red-lining on the fun bag meter. She was a mom, early thirties, but she looked great, like someone else had given birth for her. She wore one of those mom sweaters but even that couldn’t hide her bust that well.
    Her towheaded twins were doing their best to drive her homicidal. They sprinted up and down the aisles and screamed at every turn.
    Mom smiled at Eddie as if to say, Would you like to buy the little bastards?
    She barked at them to stop when they popped into view. They slow-timed it around the corner