Out of Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page A

settled on the oven handle and the area around the burners had a rim of brownish-black burnt oil residue. D had scrubbed the counter, though some dirt remained in the cracks. An eighteen roll pack of toilet paper sat on the edge of it, next to the refrigerator, which hummed and coughed loudly. Above the counter were two cabinets. One was missing a door. Inside, Mike found a half used roll of paper towels and a dust covered spray-bottle of industrial bleach. Now where were the gloves? Mike wiggled the drawer beneath the counter to get it open. Inside were five mismatched gardening gloves with flower patterns. He put on a pair. It was tight on his hands, which immediately began sweating.
    Mike took the other three to D. "Pick your poison," Mike said, handing them over.
    D grimaced. "That's the best you could do?"
    "You go ahead and search if you think you'll do a better job."
    "Uh-uh." D took the bleach and paper towels and started to scrub down visible surfaces. He went at it with gusto.
    "I'm gonna take these beans in for the girl," Mike said. "And the bread." If the cops took too long, and she starved to death, and then they found Mike, that could be a charge of murder on his head too.
    When Mike entered the room, Sofia stood at the far corner in front of the cot, the tray gripped in her hands. "What's going on?" she demanded.
    "Here's your dinner," Mike said, dropping the six cans of beans in a pile on the floor. "Don't eat it all at once."
    Sofia took another step towards him. "My name is Sofia." She was crying now, God help him. Mike preferred it when they bargained, or even better tried to offer him sex. "Please help me. I haven't seen your faces and I won't say anything."
    "Are you going to offer me your rock again?" Mike pitched his voice low.
    "Do you want it?" Sofia asked.
    "Yes." It was the least Mike could get for a job gone so horribly wrong. "And a feel." Because it was important to get a little bit extra. Especially if Carl did blame him for running, which he would, Mike didn't kid himself. He'd have to tell Carl the girl had overpowered him somehow. With the bullet-proof glass of a prisoner's visiting room window between him and his employer, Mike might live long enough to make that explanation.
    "What do you mean, a feel?"
    "You've got a nice rack," Mike said, "Now put the tray down and come here."
    There was a knock at the door.
    Mike shouted, "Not now, D."
    "What's taking you so long?"
    "I'm fine!"
    Blessed silence. "Hurry up," Mike whispered to the girl.
    Sofia stood a moment, grasping the tray and shaking. She was prettier a bit afraid. The shaking made her lady-bits wiggle, and she looked at him with proper respect.
    "Now." Mike ordered.
    Still clutching the tray in the crook of her right arm, Sofia pulled at the ring and once she'd twisted it free, said, "Open the door."
    "What?"
    "I give you the ring, you let me go, that's the deal. So open the door."
    This was getting annoying. Mike said, "You give me a touch, and a taste if I'd like. I take the ring, and I don't shoot you. That's the deal."
    Sofia burst into tears. She clutched the tray to her chest as though she imagined it might stop a bullet. "No."
    "What's going on in there?" D shouted through the door.
    "Nothing!" Mike shouted, and then added in a hissed whisper that he hoped in his annoyance sounded properly threatening. "If you don't I'll take take what I want and strip the rest from your corpse."
    Sofia screamed.
    There was loud click as D unlocked the door and rushed in. He had a bat in both hands, his head craning back and forth around the room like a seagull pecking at the air for food. "What's going on!"
    Before Mike could respond, Sofia threw the ring. It flew in a glittering arc between Mike and D, smacking the far wall with a light tap before falling to the floor. Mike's gaze followed it, his attention in that split second focused on that little bit extra, as Sofia shoved past him a dead run.
    Mike made a grab at Sofia, catching the