Unleashed by Lois Greiman

Author:Lois Greiman [Greiman, Lois]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Humor & Satire, Humorous, Romantic Comedy, General Humor, Mystery & Suspense, Suspense, Romance, Cozy Mystery, Crime, Romantic Suspense
Amazon: B01DFPXQ6G
Publisher: NYLA
Published: 2016-04-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Build man fire, he be warm for a day. Set man on fire, he be warm for rest of life.

—Confucius…maybe

I jerked to the right. The blade sliced past my nose. I lunged for the door, grappling for the lock, but Hiro was right behind me. There was no hope of escape. I pivoted toward him, trapped. The knife reverberated in the timbers beside my head, but I barely spared it a glance; his eyes, so close, so silvery blue, held me spellbound.

Without glancing away, he tugged the blade from the wall.

Light flashed along the razor-sharp edge.

“Don’t!” I pressed my back against the wall, groveling and sniveling. “Please.”

“Thirty-two seconds,” he said, and touched the tip of the blade to my throat.

I would like to say he looked insane. But bored would be a more accurate description. Did that mean he was especially crazy? I swallowed, closed my eyes for an instant, and attempted to calm my clattering nerves. It was like trying to civilize L.A. “What?” I said.

“Do not play stupid.”

“I’m not…” I managed to shake my head the smallest degree without slicing my own throat. “I’m not playing.”

“Thirty-two seconds. That is how long it takes to bleed out when the saphenous artery is severed.”

“Then I’d like to request…respectfully…that ya refrain from doing that.” My voice was barely a whisper.

He stared at me, an impossible mix of intensity and boredom, then pulled the knife away abruptly and stepped back a pace. “Who are you?”

I swallowed, hoping I wouldn’t throw up. “I’m Scar—”

“Don’t say Scarlet.”

I licked my lips. “Okay.”

“If Cal didn’t send you, who did?”

I searched rather hopelessly for an answer that wouldn’t get me dead. It was impossible to guess what that might be.

“Were you simply sent to find me? Is that it?”

“I—”

“You are not equipped to kill me.”

My fingernails curled against the wall behind me. “You do irritate me,” I admitted. “But most people do, and I’ve never killed any of ’em. I mean, Bomstad’s death was just bad luck. And Peachtree…he was really old. Altove, I’m sorry about that one, but it wasn’t my fault. He had a gun…and a grudge and…and Albertson…you gotta admit, dirty cops…” I stopped myself, breathed, licked my lips. “I don’t wanna kill you,” I said, as if recapping my rambling message. “I don’t want to kill anyone.” Hardly.

His eyes took on a vague what-the-fuck-are-you-talking-about quality. I’m fairly familiar with the expression.

“I don’t even know who you are,” I added.

The world stood absolutely still for what seemed like an eternity, and then he drew back a couple more inches. “Go sit on the couch.”

“If I do, do you promise not to kill me?”

He contemplated that for several seconds. I don’t like to be fussy, but I would have been happier with an immediate response. “I will not kill you today.”

I nodded, cautiously hopeful. “Do you mean…like…until midnight or for a full twenty-four hours?”

“Gott!” He said the word with quiet exasperation. I didn’t know what it meant, but if he was cursing me he had lasted longer than most men in my acquaintance.

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