Lifer Read Online Free PDF Page A

I have no idea why she wanted me, specifically, here. I don’t know what she expects.
    Her jaw wobbles. The slight movement draws my attention to the weak folds of skin at her neck and the heavy layer of cream and powders she’s smoothed on her face. Whatever this ultra-chirpy display is, I’m beginning to suspect it is just another mask.
    She turns. Bright and bubbly like before. She claps her hands together. “Now that he’s gone I have a surprise for you.”

Chapter Four
     
    [Blank]
     
    My hands curl into fists and adrenaline ramps up my heart rate. “I don’t think I can do that, buddy.” I keep my voice low and controlled.
    The green-robed boy steps closer. He’s almost within reach. Now I see his face beneath the hood. His dark eyes are wide and his lips are a pale straight line. “It’s set to bone.”
    That doesn’t sound good. Something like fear licks my insides. Hot and sour. Still, I’m not about to head off with some kid. I don’t want to meet Keane, who’ll make me talk. As far as I know, I don’t have anything to say.
    I close the distance between us in a single step. His arm wobbles. He hesitates. Just like I knew he would. This kid isn’t a killer. If he’s someone’s hired help they’re getting ripped off.
    I knock the weapon aside as he fires. A tickle grazes my side. There’s no pain, only the pounding of my heart and the kid’s sharp intake of breath. Although weaponless now, he’s not hopeless. His fingernails go for my exposed eyes, but I lift my left knee even as I grip his slight shoulders, drawing him toward me in one easy move.
    Incredibly easy move. Like I’ve done it a million times .
    But I don’t have time to think. I act. My knee finds the boy’s groin.
    “Oof.” His warm breath sprays my face. His green eyes bug and his hands go from my face to wrap around his privates. He hits the ground sucking for air. Sweat forms in fine beads across his forehead.
    I step back. My heartbeat slows to normal.
    Logic tells me to run, but now he’s incapacitated I need to make sure I haven’t done real damage. Images of the boy in the water stalk me.
    The kid dropped his weapon and I pick it up while I wait. Recalling the strange tickle in my side moments before I landed the blow, I rub my hand there to make sure I’m not hurt but it’s not even sore. The weapon is as light as it appeared and there are several settings. Skin. Bone. Blood.
    By the time I look up again, the kid seems to be breathing normally. His gaze hasn’t left me, and he scrambles back until he hits the wall.
    “You okay?” I ask.
    He nods slowly, still wide-eyed. I figure from his expression that most people in these parts don’t check on victims after a fight. One hand’s checking the injury. I’m guessing it’s going to hurt for a while. His Adam’s apple bobs.
    “Are you?”
    I wipe my brow and am surprised when it comes away bloody from where he tried to scratch my eyes out. Then the pain follows. Nothing I can’t handle.
    “Fine.”
    He chews his lower lip. “I meant your side.”
    “The tickle?”
    “I must have missed.” He sounds annoyed.
    He didn’t miss. I’m sure of it. I’m tempted to ask more about the weapon, but I don’t want to reveal just how strange a stranger I am. I pass the weapon between my hands, reminding him I have it. “You always treat strangers this way?”
    He doesn’t seem to hear what I say. His focus falls to the weapon and he pales. “Don’t shoot.”
    “I’m not going to—”
    That’s enough for him. He’s up and running down the alleyway in an awkward hobble. His boots slap against the concrete like a round of applause at my mercy. He’s fast and I’m not completely positive I could catch him. And I’ve no idea what I’d do if I did. I can hardly haul him around with me. So I either silence him permanently, or let him go.
    I don’t follow.
    I’ll have to deal with the fallout from his report to the Keane person if it happens. I refuse to