Levon's Trade (Levon Cade Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

gusher of piss exploded from him, creating a fountain sound that bounced off the tiles all around.
    “So, you tell me who the girl was with that night. Tell me their names. What car they drove. Anything you know. Anything you can remember. Tell me everything I need to know. And everything you think doesn’t matter. Everything. And tell me who told you to lie. Names. Where they’re from.”
    “Then what?” Johnny said with a croak.
    “Tell me something good first. Then we see what happens next.”

 
    11
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    What happened next after Johnny told all he knew was the guy cut the tape holding him down to the bowl. Not even a ripping sound as the blade sliced through the tape holding his wrists behind the pipe that went into the wall. The man leaned close to cut the bands over his legs and gut. No fear of Johnny moving on him. Johnny’s arms were locked up with cold and his hands were dead numb.
    A sharp snick told him the guy had retracted the blade of a carpet knife back into the handle. Johnny was free to move except for the strip over his eyes. He heard the work boots crunch away over the gritty tile floor. A squeal of rusting hinges. A gust of cold air.
    He was alone. The guy was gone. He could hear a car start and pull away, crushing gravel.
    Jonny tried to rise off the bowl. His legs felt like they belonged to someone else. They gave under him and he fell against a steel partition wall before crashing to the floor. He lay on the icy tiles and howled as the circulation returned to his hands and legs and ass like liquid fire.
    It was a long time before he could make his fingers work to tear the tape off his face. It was gray duct tape. It took off one whole eyebrow. He blinked blood from that eye.
    Just as he thought. He was in a public restroom. A long row of stalls with a bank of sinks across from them. The place was familiar. Johnny braced himself on a sink stand and stood up with an effort to look around for his shoes and clothes. The shoes were okay but the clothes were slashed in strips where the guy had cut them off.
    Naked and shivering he stepped outside into cold dawn light. He was facing a broad parking lot with trees beyond. Walking further out on the wooden deck he could see the waters of the Gulf. Gentle rollers crept up on a stony beach.
    Johnny had been here once before. It was Honeymoon Island, a state park north of Tampa. People would surf cast off the rocks and there was a beach where you could bring your dog. It was closed at night. The guy at the bar knew that. Maybe he was a local. It didn’t matter now.
    What did matter was for Johnny to get his naked self back to his car and then his apartment in Temple Terrace, grab his stash, pack the car and get as far as fuck away from Florida as he could before whatever shit the stranger had planned started raining down. This bully knew when to get off the ice.
    Those plans struck a hitch when the park rangers found Johnny tramping for the exit wearing only his loafers and a plastic trash bag cinched around his waist to cover his ass.

 
    Gunny Leffertz said:
    “Always be moving. When you’re not moving stay hidden. When you’re hiding, will yourself to be invisible.”

12
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    The roof of the derelict Winn-Dixie gave Levon a clear vantage point.
    He could see the front and rear of Skip’s. Johnny’s Audi was still parked in the fenced courtyard from the night before. A van was parked by it now. The van had Eezy Breezy Cleaning printed on a magnetic sign on the side. A fat guy sat sipping convenience store coffee and chain smoking at the wheel.
    Around nine a new BMW purred to the spot next to the Audi. Two men exited. The driver was a stocky guy who wore the last Member’s Only jacket on Earth. The passenger was taller and younger and moved with a gym rat swagger. He wore a Bolts jersey with the tail out. The men could have been brothers or father and son. Both had dark wavy hair worn long on top. The older held a leather bag under his arm. It