Brown Girl In the Ring Read Online Free PDF Page A

in a leather executive’s chair behind his huge, highly polished oak desk. With a manicured hand, he indicated that Tony should sit in the chair on the other side. Tony sat, tried out a smile on Rudy. The posse boss’s thick, blocky body nearly obscured the plush padded leather of the chair. The man’s neck was almost as big around as his head. Tony suspected that Rudy augmented his strength with steroids. He’d once seen him wrap one hand around a man’s neck and lift him right off the ground. Crack Monkey, a whippet-thin man with cords for muscles, stationed himself in front of the door, feet apart, hands held loosely behind his back, exposing the gun at his belt.
    Poor Melba was there, standing beside Rudy’s desk, a dustcloth tucked into the waistband of her thin cotton skirt. She was holding a glass jug filled with water and ice cubes, ready to refill the goblet of water that Rudy kept on his desk. She was deathly still. Condensation ran off the jug. It glistened on her hands and tracked runnels down her forearms to drip onto the grey plush carpet. Tony had the impression she’d been standing in just that position for a long time. Her fingernails were edged blue from the jug’s cold. It must have been heavy. Her thin, wasted arms were trembling with the weight of it, but she didn’t move, said nothing, just gazed absently ahead, looking at nothing. Rudy noticed Tony staring at her and smiled. Tony shuddered. Whatever hold Rudy had on the woman had to be more than just buff addiction. Her will, her volition, seemed to be gone. Tony knew that she would do whatever Rudy told her, and only that, until he gave her a new order or her body collapsed from exhaustion. She even had to be told when to relieve herself. She was only in her mid-twenties, but in the past few months her face had become lined and worn, and her hair was whitening rapidly. She wasn’t the first that Rudy had used like this, either. It was one of the reasons Tony had come to feel he needed to get away from the posse’s influence.
    Trying to look calm, Tony turned to Rudy. “Afternoon, Mr. Sheldon,” he said quietly.
    “Afternoon, brother. How you keeping? Crack treating you all right?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Good. Now Tony, you been with we for a few months now, right? Crack tell me you doing a good job.”
    “Thank you, Mr. Sheldon.”
    “Don’t thank me yet, me brother.” Rudy settled back farther into the chair, linking his hands behind his head. Every movement he made sent a thrill of fear up Tony’s spine. Why had the posse boss sent for him? Rudy continued:
    “Crack say you have one little problem, though. You does dip into the deliveries every so often.”
    Behind him, Tony heard Crack Monkey’s insane little giggle. They knew! He’d thought they wouldn’t miss a few pinches of buff here and there. The fine hairs on Tony’s arms raised in terror. “I, I,” he jabbered.
    “Nah, nah, is all right, brother. Me understand.” Rudy held up one hand in a calming gesture. “Life hard. Sometimes a man does get, ah, dependent on he pleasures, you understand me?”
    “Mr. Sheldon, I can pay it back, I can—”
    “Yes, that is exactly what you go do. Pay me back.” Rudy’s face was serious for a moment. Then he skinned his lips back from his teeth in an oily grin. A snake probably looked like it was smiling, too, when it opened its jaws to strike. “You go pay me back by doing this one little job for me, just the way I tell you. But don’t feel no way. If you pass this test, I go know I could trust you. I go know say you is a true member of the posse. Is that you want, right?” Rudy’s meaningful stare made the only correct answer obvious. Tony nodded quickly. Rudy smiled again.
    “Seen. I did take you for a man with brains.”
    Tony could feel his heart thumping in his chest. “What do you need me to do, Mr. Sheldon?”
    “Mercy Hospital need a fresh human heart for a transplant.”
    “What!?”
    “You hear me. You