The Contract by David Levien

Author:David Levien
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Transworld

37

AT TEN MINUTES to six in the morning, the air still night crisp, Behr trotted down the street in warm-up mode, toward Saddle Hill. He was thinking about why he had drank so much last night and why Kolodnik had found himself in the casino-building business and why he seemed to have moved back out as quickly as he’d gotten in. That’s when he saw Decker, dressed in shorts and a red T-shirt that read “USMC—American Spartans,” in the middle of the street, doing squat thrusts.

Behr came to a stop. “Surprised to see you here,” he shouted, since Decker’s headphones were on.

“You said oh-six hundred,” Decker said, pulling out an earbud.

“What’s today’s selection?” Behr asked.

“Alt rock playlist. Okkervil River, Black Keys, the Dead Weather. You know, the Jack White spin-off.”

“Terrific,” Behr said. It was too early to inquire further as to who and what any of the bands were.

“So what do we got?” Decker asked.

“Ten up, ten down. Full speed.”

Decker glanced at the upward slope of Saddle Hill, humping away over a rise, a quarter mile into the distance.

“Big hill. I thought this town was flat.”

“Mostly is,” Behr said.

They started out, and things quickly turned from a hard morning run to a full-bore pride competition—the kind Behr knew from his football days and supposed were common in the military, too. Behr led the way and set the pace; but by the fifth trip up, he found he couldn’t stay with Decker, fit and fast as the young prick was. Behr put his head down and pushed and felt the alcohol from the night before sweating out of him. By the eighth go-round, he’d started to make up considerable ground and wondered if Decker might fade. On the tenth trip down the hill, Behr lengthened his stride and got within twenty feet of Decker, in time to see him turn his head and spew vomit. Behr figured he had him, but instead saw there was no fade in the guy. Decker didn’t break stride. If anything, he accelerated and reached the bottom a good ten yards ahead of Behr.

They both grabbed their shorts and sucked air, and then Decker started laughing.

“Guess I shouldn’t have had those nightcaps when I got home,” he said.

“Didn’t slow you down any,” Behr said.

“Pounding ground till you puke’s a way of life in the corps. Especially with a freight train running up my back,” Decker gave Behr a whack on the shoulder. “Thanks, I’ve been going marshmallow since I got out.”

Behr had Decker as a boots-on-the-ground, triggers-up type, but if this was soft, he wondered just how hard-ass the guy must’ve been when he was in. They walked the short distance to Decker’s car, a steel-gray Camaro with meaty-looking black tires that were Armor All-ed to a high sheen.

“So, time to go pretend you’re working?” Decker asked.

“Something like that.”

“Gina heard from Susan that you took some rounds not too long ago,” Decker said, as he opened the car door.

“Been trying to figure out who flung ’em,” Behr said, “but I seem to be the only one around who cares.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.