Red Mountain Read Online Free PDF Page B

condition.”
    “I know. But I’ve got some stuff to take care of.”
    “Couldn’t it wait another day or two?”
    “No. I’ve got to write some checks and get them in the mail, stuff like that.”
    “Oh.”
    “I was also wondering if you could do me a big favor and watch Nugget for me tonight.”
    Ben’s eyes widened a little. “Sure. Are you taking the family somewhere?”
    “Yeah,” Robert lied. “We’re going over to my mother’s tonight for dinner. Her new husband doesn’t like dogs very much.”
    “Well I’d be honored.”
    “Great. I’ve got some canned food for her in the break room.” Robert smiled and turned to let Ben get back to work on the Honda.
    “By the way, what should I tell Will? He’s been looking for you, said he’s been trying to call.”
    Will was Robert’s best friend and had been responsible for introducing Robert to Peggy. They’d lived through a lot of things together, and if you added them all up they could have easily filled several lifetimes. He’d felt guilty for just watching Will’s number come up on the caller i.d. and not picking up. But he couldn’t take the chance of calling him back right now—not until he figured out what the hell was going on. He knew from experience that Will possessed an even superior bullshit meter than Ben’s.
    “Tell him I’ll call him first thing in the morning.”
    “Can do,” Ben said. He wandered back to the crumpled Honda.
    Nugget followed Robert to his office, where she crawled onto an old couch and went to sleep. Robert quietly took care of what things he needed to and later tiptoed out of the office. Nugget had heard him leave the room, but she hadn’t raised her head until he’d started the truck. When she realized what was happening, she flew off the couch and skidded across the polished linoleum to catch him before he drove away. But the back door wasn’t propped open as usual—Robert had shut it on his way out. Nugget stood up on her hind legs and scratched at the door with her front paws and whined as the sound of the truck drifted away.
    Robert felt terrible about ditching her, but what could he do? Bringing her to the park with him tonight was too risky. She was safer with Ben. If he never returned, Ben would certainly take care of her.
    He drove home and spent the next several hours cleaning and straightening the house. At the moment it felt like the only right thing to do. His family would be coming home soon and he didn’t want any horrible reminders of what had happened. It would also give him a chance to take some kind of inventory.
    The inside of the house looked like a tornado had torn through. Robert gathered up the unbroken things and placed them back where they belonged. Next came the many items ruined beyond repair, and he stuffed them inside two plastic garbage bags and set them in the garage.
    Once finished, he discovered that very few items were actually missing. What was missing made no sense. The photo albums and genealogy book he’d kept stored in a glass cabinet were gone. Also, the old family portraits he’d had framed after his father’s death—grainy pictures going as far back as the turn of the last century—had vanished from the walls.
    Why?
    He took a hot shower and tried to loosen the knots in his back and shoulder muscles. In less than three hours he would be in a fight for his life, for his family’s life. If he survived, then maybe the men behind this would start to reveal why they were doing this, why they’d taken such an interest in his family history.
    It’s really about two families, isn’t it? There’s another father out there just like me, right now, with his own family to protect. What gives you the right to survive and not him?

 
     
     
    CHAPTER 9
     
     
    Robert had taken his share of licks from schoolyard bullies, but by the time he went to high school he’d surpassed most of them in size and strength. He lifted weights and ran during lunch breaks. There was