The Berets by W.E.B. Griffin

Author:W.E.B. Griffin [Griffin, W.E.B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, United States, Fiction - Men's Adventure, War & Military, Fiction, War stories, Men's Adventure, General, Vietnam War; 1961-1975, Vietnamese Conflict; 1961-1975, Science fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780515090208
Publisher: Jove Books
Published: 2006-06-15T05:00:00+00:00

(Three)

Tom Ellis parked the Jaguar on the Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel and took the bus to the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Forty-first Street. If he took the Jaguar home, he could count on losing the wheels and tires, and possibly the whole car. But it was Christmas Eve, and perhaps he was being too cynical. Perhaps, full of joyous yuletide season spirit and goodwill, the punks would only run a knife blade through the roof and down the fenders.

He had trouble with the cabbie. The cabbie said there was no way he was going “up there.”

“You either take me ‘up there’ or down to the cop on the corner,” Tom said. “The law says you have to take me.”

“It’s Christmas Eve, for Christ’s sake! Give me a break!”

“I don’t want to ride the subway up there on Christmas Eve,” Tom said. “Give me a break. Do we go talk to the cop, or what?”

“Sonofabitch!” the cabbie said. “On Christmas Eve!”

But he put the hack in gear and did a U-turn and headed uptown.

Cars lined both sides of the street in front of the three-story brownstones in Spanish Harlem. The cabbie drove past the number Tom had given him and stopped instead at the far corner, before the plate-glass windows of a bar and grill. The cabbie was afraid that if he stopped where he was supposed to on the dark street, drug-soaked spics with flip-blade knives or guns would appear out of the darkness and relieve him of both his money and his life.

Tom took all the bills out of his wallet, paid the cabbie, and put the rest of the bills in his sock. Then he got out of the cab and started walking down the street to his mother’s apartment. He was carrying a small blue canvas bag, the kind people carry gym clothes in. The cab was gone before he had taken a dozen steps.

He had gone twenty-five yards when he heard the footsteps behind him.

“Excuse me, sir,” a voice asked with exaggerated courtesy.

Tom stopped and turned.

There were three of them. A tall, thin one with sunken eyes, a stocky one who looked nervous, and a little, wiry one, who looked both vaguely familiar and dangerous.

“Merry Christmas, sir,” the tall thin one said. He was wearing a nylon zipper jacket and a too-small hat with the brim turned down all around. He was probably freezing his ass, Tom thought.

When Tom didn’t reply, the tall thin one said, “You got a match, sir?”

Tom’s hand came out of his pocket. There was a click as his switchblade opened.

“No, but if you want that cigarette cut in half, I’ll be happy to do that for you,” he said in Spanish.

Two switchblades and a length of chain were produced.

“You are not very friendly,” the tall thin one said.

“No, I am not,” Tom said.

“What have you got in the bag?”

“Let me tell you something, my friend,” Tom said. “What I have in the bag is none of your business.”

“What

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.