Red Tide (2015) by Jeff Lindsay

Author:Jeff Lindsay [Lindsay, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Private Investigators, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense
ISBN: 9781626817203
Amazon: B013CUQMII
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2015-10-26T11:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

“I’m not going unless I go alone,” I told them both for maybe the sixty-third time. Anna had accepted it. She sat quietly on the bed looking worried. Since she had seen the bar and the River Rats inside she didn’t want to go back.

But Nicky was another story.

“It’s my money,” Nicky said.

“It’s my life. And I’m not tossing it away for your ego.”

“Go piss down your leg. Ego is going into this solo with no back-up. You need me there, mate.”

“Anything I can’t handle is going to be way too much for you.”

“Piss down your leg,” he repeated. “What is there to handle? Go to a bar and talk to a drunk. Think I can’t do that a damn sight better’n you? Eh?”

“There’s more to it than that. I have to be ready for something to go wrong.”

“Exactly my point, mate. And you need me there if it does.”

“Nicky—”

“I can handle this. I’m in touch with my warrior-self. Look at my aura.”

I looked at Nicky, a full five feet of Australian New Age deadliness. I couldn’t actually see his aura but maybe he was surrounded by a bright glowing war-like haze that would terrify and intimidate anybody who tried to hurt him. Anything was possible.

But if I couldn’t see his warrior-self aura it seemed like a safe bet that there were other people who couldn’t see it either. And if one of them decided to stick a knife down Nicky’s throat, just for the hell of it, that would be a big distraction for me.

“You asked me to do this because I know how to do it,” I said. “This is part of what I know.”

“Eyewash,” he said stubbornly.

I reached for the bedside pen and notepad, “I need you here. You’re my last back-up. If something goes bad, if I don’t come back or call you by 2 A.M., that means I’m in trouble and I need help.”

“Pull the other one.”

“I mean it. If it goes wrong I’ll need a hole card. You’re it.”

“Seriously?” He was beginning to doubt a little.

“Seriously. I need you here, out of reach of whatever might happen. Just in case.”

“I’ll come for you, Billy,” he said in a voice I was sure he’d picked up from Australian late night television.

“No, you won’t,” I said, writing out a telephone number and tearing off the page. “What you’ll do is call this number.” I handed him the slip of paper with the number written on it. Nicky raised an eyebrow. “It’s a man named Deacon,” I said. “He’s a very good cop.”

Nicky looked doubtful. “Are you having me on, mate? Make a phone call? That’s it? Besides, ‘the last back-up’ sounds like a Bruce Willis movie.”

“Anything that can take me out can take you out, too.”

“Don’t be so fuckin’ certain.”

“This way, if I’m still alive, I’ve got a chance. The Deacon will know what to do.”

“And I don’t?”

“This is shits,” Anna said. She had been watching us like we were a tennis match. Now she stood up and put a hand on Nicky’s shoulder.

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