Kim Oh 3: Real Dangerous People (The Kim Oh Thrillers) Read Online Free PDF Page B

somebody killed? It’s like that panel van you used to see driving around, with the sign that said Cheapest Botox in Town . Sure, like what could go wrong? Stuff’s only frickin’ poison.”
     
    “You’ll never need that.” He gave me a little smile. “You’re so pretty.”
     
    “Glad you think so.” I had my hair loose rather than tied back, but it was kind of flat from my motorcycle helmet. Plus, with my jeans and leather jacket, I figured I probably looked a little hard right now. Some guys like that, though.
     
    “Anyway,” said Curt, “Chinese girls tend to age well.”
     
    I wasn’t going to bother pointing out – again – the difference between Chinese and Korean. What was the point of becoming an old fart like him, if you couldn’t get things like that wrong? As long as you got the important stuff right.
     
    “Super,” I said. “Something to look forward to.”
     
    “Sorry the gig didn’t work out. Maybe I could ask Mr. Falcon to give you another chance. Maybe at one of his other branch operations.”
     
    “That won’t be necessary.”
     
    My smile puzzled him.
     
    “Why not?”
     
    “Don’t you know why I came here?”
     
    “I don’t know,” said Curt. “Maybe you wanted to ask me to give you another chance.”
     
    There was a little history between him and me. Not all of it good. That was mainly my fault. Hooking up with his operations – not with him and the others around Falcon, but just as extra security out of town – that had been one of my first gigs after Cole had gotten killed. I might have screwed things up, at least a little bit, there at Moretti’s place. My beginner’s luck must’ve run out when Cole and I had been working at killing McIntyre.
     
    “Like I said before. That’ll be the day.” I shook my head. “That’s not it. You’re way off.”
     
    “Okay. So what is it?”
     
    “Mr. Falcon didn’t tell you?” I leaned across the table toward him. “I’m the new guy. On your crew.”
     
    Curt didn’t say anything. He just gazed back at me in silence.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    FOUR
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    “A woman on the crew? No frickin’ way. No way am I working with some skanky bitch.”
     
    “Jesus, pal.” I looked over at this Foley guy. “I’m sitting here, right in front of you. And that’s the way you talk?”
     
    “I don’t care,” said Foley. “You shouldn’t even be here. That’s what I’m saying. Not at all. No way. No how.”
     
    “Simmer down.” Curt had barely touched the beer sitting in front of him. “We’ve got a lady here with us. So you should watch your language.”
     
    The owner of the bar set a garish cocktail down in front of me. The kind with a little paper parasol.
     
    “On the house,” said Mae. “You’re gonna need it, dealing with these morons.”
     
    “You got that right.” I leaned back in the booth, eyeing the drink with suspicion. “What’s in that thing?”
     
    “Five different types of rum. Mainly.”
     
    “You know what? Maybe you could just bring me a beer instead.” I figured that as long as I was with these guys, in a place like this, I wasn’t going to get carded.
     
    “What kind?”
     
    “Place like this has more than one?” I looked around at the shabby palm fronds and the rest of the aging tropical decor. “Really is upscale around here.”
     
    “Like you wouldn’t believe, honey.” She carried away the weird-ass drink.
     
    “So.” I looked around at the guys in the booth. “Can we talk business now, or is Charm Boy here not yet finished with his tantrum?”
     
    “What’s the point of talking?” Foley apparently wasn’t done. “I’m telling you, it’s not gonna happen.”
     
    “Actually, it is.” Curt leaned across the table toward him. “She’s here because Mr. Falcone wants –”
     
    “Fal- kun .” My turn.
     
    Curt shot me an irritated look, then continued. “Because Mr. Falcon wants it like that. So you need to