The Thief by O'Mahoney Peter

Author:O'Mahoney, Peter [O'Mahoney, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller
Amazon: B09MT8JQPB
Goodreads: 59833650
Publisher: Roam Free Publishing
Published: 2021-12-16T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

THE LAST place I expected to find Mindy Fox and Ivan Pushkin was the very bar where I’d met Troy, and yet as I headed for the men’s room, that’s who I spotted, sitting at a table near the back, hunched over their drinks. They weren’t talking. I looked at my watch—five-past-six. Ivan would’ve finished work and met Mindy for a drink afterward, perhaps to discuss my presence near her apartment earlier that day.

If I hadn’t gotten up at that moment, I might’ve missed them completely because as I watched, she rose to her feet, grabbed his hand, and they headed for the door. They hadn’t seen me.

I looked over at Troy, whose attention had been drawn to the ballgame playing out on the television hanging behind the bar. He seemed content and would probably not notice my absence for a while, time which I hoped would be sufficient to get a few questions answered that had been fermenting in my mind. I say fermenting, because they were certainly beginning to feel old. I needed answers.

I followed the couple out the front door to the dim parking lot as the time ticked past 6pm. A light drizzle had begun to blanket the neighborhood, adding to the air of cloak and dagger. I didn’t want to lose them and jogged to one of the exits. The parking lot had two, and I gave myself a 50/50 chance of getting it right.

My hunch paid off. I reached the road and spotted them walking into an alley a little further down the street. I jogged to the end of the alley, eager to keep an eye on them.

I was moving faster than I’d initially planned. It wasn’t a smart move, and I rounded the corner much too fast. Experience should’ve told me to be more aware of my surroundings. But the alcohol had dulled my senses a lot more than I’d realized, and when I rounded the corner, Ivan threw a punch to my stomach, sending me to the ground.

“What do you want?” Ivan screamed down at me as I began to recover, more stunned than anything else. “Stop following us.”

They both stood over me, and for a second, I expected a kick to the face. I wasn’t going to give Ivan that chance. As I went to stand, Ivan swung his foot. I grabbed his ankle, and thrust my shoulder into his stomach. He went down quicker than I expected. He hit his head on the concrete as he went down, and stayed flat on his back.

Now, it was my turn to stand over him.

Fists clenched, ready to brawl, I stared at him. His eyes looked dazed from the fall.

“Stop it.” Mindy stood back from me, arms folded across her chest. “What do you want? Why are you following us?”

“I want to know who asked you to steal the laptop.”

“What laptop?” she snapped back. “From Mark Costa’s place? The cops have already cleared us of any involvement.”

“They already cleared us,” Ivan repeated, beginning to sit up, rubbing the back of his head.

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