Lucky Now and Then (Lucky O'Toole Vegas Adventure) by Coonts Deborah

Author:Coonts, Deborah [Coonts, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance
Publisher: Cool Gus Publishing
Published: 2014-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Las Vegas

1982

STILL several blocks away, Eugenia Campos felt the explosion before she saw it. The reverberations buffeted the car, shaking it as if the earth itself had moved. Then a huge fireball burst skyward, exploding over the buildings in front of her. She eased the car to a stop at the corner and craned to see down the street toward Jimmy’s. Buildings blocked her view, but a few gawkers huddled across the street.

Smoke billowed, darkening the sky. Sirens sounded in the distance.

“Oh my God!” She whispered the words, afraid to say them out loud. Boogie had lied. That wasn’t meant to scare somebody . . . no, he’d meant to kill. How could she have been so stupid? You lie with snakes, you’d better learn to crawl on your belly, she thought to herself. How many times had her grandmother admonished her with those very words? A few thousand, she figured.

With a shaking hand, she patted her hair, pressing the loose tendrils back into place as she tried to think. What was she going to do? What if someone had been killed?

Fear gripped her as she glanced in the rearview, sure someone would be following her, looking for her. Irrational, she knew that. No one could tie her to the bomb. How could they? But what if they did? Sure as shootin’, Boogie would squeal—he was stupid that way. A loose cannon as well as a loose end.

Taking the alleyway that ran behind Jimmy’s, she eased the car as close as she could, then angled it in next to a couple of Dumpsters. She’d go the rest of the way on foot.

Albert Rothstein barreled around the corner, darn near knocking her over and startling both of them. He grabbed her by the shoulders, steadying her. “Eugenia? What the fuck?” Bloodied, breathing hard, with fury in his eyes, he hardened his voice as he glowered at her. “Checking your handiwork?”

Eugenia’s eyes shifted toward the building, now consumed by the inferno, then back. “Me? My handiwork?” Her voice sounded choked. She coughed and her eyes teared when the wind swirled smoke around them.

Albert didn’t give any ground. He reached into his pocket, then extended his open palm. “Looking for this?”

One of her earrings! Surprised, she reached for her earlobe. Her heart stopped. Her ear was bare. “Albert, I swear . . . ”

“Save it.”

“Just tell me, was anybody hurt? Did anybody die?” Eugenia could barely get the words out as fear squeezed her throat.

He glanced back at the building. “We’ve gotta get outta here.” He grabbed her roughly by the arm, then pulled her with him as he put some distance between them and the fire. “My ride is just around the corner.”

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