Halfway to Hell by Gavin Bell

Author:Gavin Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, action, sex, violence, noir, desert, arizona, femme fatale, car chase, gunfight, neonoir, bad language
Publisher: Gavin Bell

21

10:03pm

WE TALKED OVER our options, such as they were, for another ten minutes.

Once we’d made the decision to stay, the next step was obvious. When you know you’re in trouble, the sensible thing to do is work out exactly how much trouble you’re in. In our situation, that meant trying to get the answers to a few questions; like where exactly were the mob guys – if that was what they were – holed up? How had they tracked us down so quickly? How had they got the drop on Travis? Perhaps most pertinently, how many of them were there? And then there was the small matter of finding out what had happened to Stan. We wouldn’t answer any of those questions by sitting in a hotel room, and when they came, it would be better if we had a more concrete idea of what we were up against.

Popular opinion gravitated towards me as the best choice to do some digging. Although we had to assume that the guys who were after us knew us by sight (which raised a whole different set of questions), it would still be easier for a guy my size and appearance to blend in. Added to that, it would help to send the best people-person, although admittedly the field was hardly crowded.

We agreed that I’d ask around the places in town that were still open and try and work out where the two men in the sedan were now. I was fairly confident of getting a result on that: finding two out-of-town heavies in a small town naturally distrustful of strangers didn’t sound like the toughest thing I might have to do tonight.

There were still too many unknowns for my liking, but I didn’t think our adversaries would make another move until after everything closed for the night. When they did move, their hands would be somewhat tied by the police presence outside the barber’s. I knew what I had to do over the next couple of hours. There was just one more matter up for debate.

“Midnight’s coming with me,” I said.

Frank stared me out for a minute. He was trying to make me back down without having to say anything. I stared back.

Finally he said, “I think she better stay with us.”

There was no way in hell I was leaving her in this room. It would be too easy for Frank to prune the only loose end he could get hold of at the moment. I looked over at Tony’s face. He was looking back at me, impassive, impossible to read. Maybe he would make sure nothing happened to Midnight. Or maybe he would hold her down while Frank cut her throat. The voice at the back of my head kicked in: You’re out of friends, Johnny. You don’t know these people, not really.

“You need me to go with him,” Midnight said abruptly. We all looked at her, taken aback. Her tone of voice made it sound like she was an equal partner. Frank was curious enough to let her continue without interruption.

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.