1931 The Grand Punk Railroad: Local Read Online Free PDF

confirmation, he wordlessly set the truck in motion again.
    After another minute had passed, the factory exploded from the inside, shooting ferocious flames and pitch-black smoke into the sky. Seen from a distance, it looked almost like a miniature, but the delayed roar that followed echoed in their stomachs, eloquently telling of the scale of the explosion.
    “‘I might be saved.’ Dying in an instant while harboring that hope is a truly happy thing, wouldn’t you say?”
    “That’s just like you, Goose. How benevolent.”
    At Spike’s ironic comment, Goose smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. Joining in, the terrorists riding in the truck bed burst out laughing.
    All except one: Chané, who was in the passenger seat.
    “All right: Tomorrow evening’s plan must not fail. Once you’ve finished your preparations, make for Chicago Union Station.”
    Goose went over the next day’s plan with his group of more than thirty elites.
    “This country needs a rest. In order for that to happen, Master Huey is indispensible.”
    With the dark light in his eyes at maximum brightness, Goose made a quiet declaration:
    “To that end, let us make the passengers on the
Flying Pussyfoot
the valuable foundation…under our grave marker, the headstone of the Lemures.”



PROLOGUE IV
HOMICIDAL MANIACS
    December 30Afternoon
    Today is the worst day of my life.
    In a certain mansion in Chicago, Placido Russo, the boss of the Russo Family, was sure of this.
    The first trouble to occur had been that the month’s takings—a vast amount—had been stolen down to the last red cent while they were being transported.
    The criminals had been a man and a woman. Apparently, they’d been wearing Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb uniforms. Someone had suddenly yelled, “Keee-
rack
!” at the transporters from behind, and when they turned around, baseball bats had been swung at them. They’d managed to dodge the first attack but had then been hit in their faces with fistfuls of pepper and lime. While they writhed in pain, the bag had been lifted and the getaway made.
    Ridiculous. At first he’d thought it was a joke and had tortured the couriers, but apparently, it had been true.
    If that had been all, it wouldn’t have been so bad. But after that, a rumor had come in that one of his executives and several subordinates had been turned into pulverized cinders outside the city.
    He hadn’t confirmed it yet, but considering that a group had gone out to that district the previous evening to spy on some delinquents and hadn’t yet returned, it was probably safe to assume that it was fact.
    On top of that, the terrorist wannabes who should have joined up with them today hadn’t made contact, either. According to his subordinates’ reports, all that was left of the factory they’d been using as their hideout was a mountain of rubble and corpses.
    It would have been a nuisance to have people making noise about the Russo Family in connection with that conflagration, so he had the majority of his men out dismantling the factory and hiding the bodies.
    “Dammit! That lowlife Nader must’ve messed up. I guess he was just a two-bit punk. Which makes me an idiot to have expected anything from him.”
    However, the problem was serious. If Nader had sung about his relationship with the Russos, they might find themselves the target of unnecessary malice. After all, the other guys were terrorists. Not only that, but he really couldn’t tell what they were thinking.
    The gang of delinquents was a nuisance, too. They should have been able to ice the boss and his lieutenants at a stroke and end the whole thing; he’d never imagined they’d get killed by their targets instead.
    “For now, I’ll start with those weird robbers. Damn them. Starting tomorrow, I’ll throttle every blasted couple in this town…!”
    “Yeaaaah, I wouldn’t, Uncle. Do it, and you’ll have people thinking you’re a jealous old geezer who can’t get a date.”
    Someone