Gone in a Flash Read Online Free PDF

and, cussing himself – and Mr Jones – Mr Smith saw no alternative but to follow him.
    I was halfway to Codderville when I got a call from Luna. ‘Two guys just tried to break into your house,’ she said.
    ‘Excuse me?’
    ‘I really think you heard me the first time.’
    ‘Did you call the cops?’
    ‘I
am
the cops, Pugh. Remember?’
    ‘I mean the on-duty cops.’
    ‘No, but I got the license number. It’s a rental out of Austin. Rented to a Mr Brown on a Visa card.’
    ‘What’s Mr Brown’s first name?’ I asked her.
    ‘As far as I can tell it’s “mister.” The kid at the car place – first day solo, of course – actually wrote that down. “Mister.” Go figure.’
    ‘Did they break anything? Any windows or anything?’
    ‘No, I nailed them in the driveway. I’d noticed that car parked across the street last night and on and off today.’
    ‘Well, gee, thanks for telling me!’
    ‘You know, Pugh, here’s the thing: why in the hell did I call and even tell you about these assholes if all you’re going to do is give me grief ?’
    ‘You know, Luna, I’m not that sure myself—’ I started, but I was talking to dead air. She’d hung up on me. She is
so
sensitive sometimes.
    I called Willis. ‘Hey, babe,’ I said after he said hello. ‘Luna just called. Two guys tried to break into the house—’
    ‘What the—’
    ‘So I’m turning around. We’ll have to do date night another time. I don’t want the girls coming home alone with these guys on the prowl. Luna said the car has been hanging out across the street last night and on and off today.’
    ‘Why didn’t she—’
    ‘I know! I said the same thing!’
    ‘I’m coming—’
    ‘Home? Good. I’d feel better if we were all there. Should I call Graham?’
    ‘E.J.—’
    I sighed. ‘I know, I know. ’Bye.’
     
    ‘We’re gonna have to change rental cars,’ Mr Smith said into the phone.
    ‘Why?’ Mr Brown asked.
    ‘Because we’ve been spotted in this one.’
    ‘Who saw you?’ Mr Brown asked.
    Mr Brown was a bit of an unknown to Mr Smith. He’d never worked with him before. He was paying big bucks for the job, but Mr Smith hadn’t seen a penny of it yet. The gig had been set up by an older partner of Mr Brown’s, who had also set up the annoying Mr Jones. Mr Smith had still not actually met Mr Brown, only doing business over the phone. But he was aggressive and paying a whole lot more for this gig than it seemed worth – which made Mr Smith think maybe Mr Brown was connected – like with the Mexican cartels, or the Mafia, or even worse, the Russians. Mr Smith had heard some hairy things about those Russians. So he planned on being just as nice to Mr Brown as he could possibly be, and to hedge his bets whenever possible.
    Should Mr Smith tell him the ‘who’ was a cop? Probably not a good idea. ‘The wife,’ he said. ‘I saw her writing down the license plate number.’
    ‘Maybe you were too fucking close?’ Mr Brown said.
    ‘Yes, sir, you’re right. We were too close. We’ll use the binoculars from now on,’ Mr Smith said, thinking it wise to agree.
    ‘Jesus!’ Mr Brown said and hung up.
    He couldn’t really tell how pissed off Mr Brown was, as he didn’t know the man, but if heads were going to roll Mr Smith had big plans that that head would belong to Mr Jones and not to himself.
    I was pacing the family room when I heard Willis’s monstrosity of a pickup pull into the driveway. I ran to the back door and opened it, meeting him as he got out of the driver’s side.
    ‘They’re not home yet!’ I yelled.
    ‘Did you call them?’ he asked, propelling me back into the house.
    ‘Are you an idiot? Of course I called them! I called all three of them and nobody, not one of them picked up!’
    ‘They’re OK. It’s a party, they probably didn’t hear—’
    ‘I told them to come home by seven, and now it’s seven-thirty!’
    ‘E.J., how many times have they, individually and as a group, been