Tyranny by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2015-05-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 35

The first thing Kyle was aware of as consciousness seeped back into his brain and body was the feel of crisp, cool sheets against his skin. He was lying in a bed somewhere.

Probably in a hospital, he thought as memories of what had happened in the drunk tank came back to him.

He would have a score to settle with Vern Hummel, Gutierrez, and the apelike man whose name he didn’t know.

That would have to wait, though, until he wasn’t filled with aches and pains from head to toe.

His eyes were still closed, but he opened them when someone took hold of his hand. He looked up and saw Miranda smiling down at him.

“I saw you move and knew you were awake,” she said. Her voice sounded even sweeter to him now than it had earlier.

G.W. moved up on the other side of the bed and rested a hand on Kyle’s shoulder.

“How’re you feelin’, son?” he asked.

“Like I got the sh—the heck kicked out of me,” Kyle replied in a raspy whisper. “How bad . . . is it?”

“Bruised ribs, but nothin’ broken. The doctors want to keep you here overnight, just to make sure there aren’t any internal injuries they don’t know about, but mostly you’re just gonna be stiff and sore and hobblin’ around for a few days.”

“Sorry I . . . let you down, G. W.”

“How in the hell do you figure you let me down?” G. W. asked with a puzzled frown.

“There were only . . . three of those guys. I should’ve . . . taken ’em.”

Miranda said, “Don’t be ridiculous. Nobody would have been able to handle all three of those brutes by himself.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” G.W. said. “Kyle might’ve been holdin’ back a little.”

There was some truth to that, Kyle mused. He hadn’t thought about it at the time, but he’d gotten in the habit of not cutting loose with everything he was capable of when he found himself in scrapes like that.

He had come close—too close—to beating a man to death once, and he didn’t want that on his conscience unless there was no other alternative.

He looked around the hospital room and didn’t see anybody except G.W. and Miranda. He said, “I’m not in jail anymore . . . but I’m guessing there’s a deputy outside the door.”

“Nope, the judge set bail,” G.W. said. “He was pretty upset when he heard about what happened. He set bail at four hundred bucks. I was able to come up with that much cash without any problem.”

“So I’m free again.”

“For now,” Miranda said. “And I’m going to be in the district attorney’s face first thing in the morning, letting him know that he needs to decline to prosecute this case. He’s a reasonable man—most of the time—and I think he’ll see that he doesn’t stand much chance of winning, especially if it goes to a jury.”

Kyle muttered, “Grayson got me beaten up anyway. That’s probably all he wanted.”

G.W. said, “Sheriff Jacobs

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