High-Caliber Concealer Read Online Free PDF Page B

gangs were squaring off when she saw
Z’ev approaching from the opposite direction. Nikki wanted to react
to that, but Donny was already moving. He approached the front man
of the Crazy Town Locos, a tough looking guy with a buzz cut, a
neck tattoo, and a black duffle bag. Donny carried a matching
bag.
    Z’ev caught sight of her and glared. He made
go away gestures and Nikki shook her head. He made more emphatic
gestures and Nikki shook her head again. The silent argument might
have kept going, but they both saw the surreptitious movement at
the back of the pack of Crazy Town Locos. Guns were coming out.
Instinctively Nikki reached for her gun, then realized Z’ev was
going to see whatever she did. Time for the back-up plan.
    Nikki ran out into the circle of men just as
the first gun man stepped forward. Breaking off one of the soda
cans, she hurled it through the air, where it impacted against his
forehead in a spray of dark brown soda. She continued running as
the man talking to Donny reached toward his waistband. Swinging the
remaining five cans on their plastic tether she smashed them into
his face. The gang member crumpled to the ground, as they connected
with his temple before bouncing off in all directions.
    “Move your ass, Donny!” she yelled,
continuing across the clearing toward Z’ev. Donny snatched up the
other man’s duffle bag and ran after her.
    Z’ev had his gun out, covering their exit.
He pointed emphatically toward the right and Nikki did as directed;
taking an erratic course through the underbrush, looping back
toward the play area.
    “Gun! Gun! Gun!” she screamed, running at
the child’s birthday party. There were screams as people took up
her refrain. Parents snatched up children and began to run from the
park. There was a blare of sirens from behind them on Wilshire, but
Nikki kept running. Scooping up the Snow White piñata , she turned to Z’ev who was already taking off
his jacket and wrapping it around the piñata. Nikki huddled closer
to him as they ran; blending in among the other parents hauling
children away from the park. Once they were across the street and
it seemed clear that no one was following them, Nikki dropped the
piñata in the nearest trashcan.
    “I should really –” Donny began looking as
if he would go a different way. Z’ev grabbed him by the elbow and
forced him to keep walking in the direction they were going. Nikki
did the same with the other arm.
    “Nikki, I cannot believe you did that,” Z’ev
snapped.
    “I know, right?” said Donny. “You nailed
that guy smack in the forehead! Last time I saw you, you could not
hit the broad side of a barn. How’d you do that?”
    “I joined the company softball team,” said
Nikki, looking around nervously as they stopped at a crosswalk.
    “That was awe—” He glanced at Z’ev.
“Totally irresponsible.”
    “Shut. Up. Nikki, that was dangerous and
stupid. You should not have been there. And then you should have
left when I told you to.”
    “Oh, come on. No one even shot at us. They
were too stunned to figure out what was happening.”
    Donny snorted. “Jackson and I used to call
it the I Love Lucy effect.”
    “Shut up, Donny,” said Nikki.
    “I had it under control, Nikki,” growled
Z’ev.
    “Well, how was I supposed to know?” Nikki
snapped back, “You didn’t tell me.”
    Donny’s head bounced back and forth between
them like a ping-pong ball.
    “It was a DEA investigation—I couldn’t tell
you. I contacted a friend of mine. He was doing me a favor and no
one was supposed to know.”
    “Well, Donny is my friend. I wasn’t going to
leave him out there with his closest back-up in Tacoma,
Washington.”
    “That isn’t your responsibility. And again,
I had it under control. I talked to my friend, Joe. Joe knew about
Donny. It would have been fine.” Z’ev spoke through clenched
teeth.
    “And again, you could have told me!”
    “I didn’t think Joe would want it blabbed
all over