Rusty Nails (The Dade Gibson Case Files) Read Online Free PDF Page A

as he made out the name. “I believe I’ve met some members of your family.”
    Dade, however, was oblivious to the fact that he was being watched. He was too busy admiring his own reflection in the gleam of his pistol.
    “What’s your role in all of this?” Samael asked.
    This time the wormwood drink showed Dade with someone that Samael recognized all too well. The private investigator was seated at one of the scorpion-filled tables in The Zodiac Club. Also seated at his table was a beautiful woman that didn’t ring any bells for Samael. Yet, it was the third person at the table that made Samael bare his fangs and dream of unleashing another round of Bubonic plague on the world that would make the outbreak in the middle ages look like a mild case of the sniffles.
    “Well, well,” Samael snarled. “It looks like you and Mama have been getting pretty friendly with each other. That’s your first mistake. And just so you know, I realize she’s trying to double-cross me. I would make her bleed from her pores if I wasn’t still using her for my own purposes. Of course, you’ll bleed right along with her when the time’s right.”
    The green liquid sloshed and swirled in the goblet. Samael stared into the drink, hoping for more answers.
    “Is that my only enemy?” he asked. “Or are there more?”
    The image that appeared in the glass this time was instantly confusing. Samael had absolutely no idea what kind of message the vision was trying to convey. A small boy stared back at him, seeming to look right through him with eyes that were too intense for a child.
    “A boy?” Samael asked. “Who is this?”
    Strangely enough, he couldn’t get a read on this kid. There was nothing about the boy to indicate who he was or why he might be a threat.
    Samael wondered if the vision could be wrong about this or if the oracle was simply being cryptic.
    “It doesn’t matter,” he said at last. “If this child is my enemy, he will die like all the rest.”
    In fact, just seeing the two scenes side by side was enough to trigger an idea. On one hand, you had a private investigator with a penchant for guns. On the other, a child who needed to be assassinated. From that point, the answer was simple deduction, really.
     
     

 
    Chapter 6
     
     
    The hotel Dade was living in while he finished moving into his office was a simple little spot in the road that had cable, a coffee maker, and one of those little tables with the complimentary note pad, golf pencil, shower cap, and matchbook. It wasn’t a bad place, despite the call girls that used it for an hour or two and all the drug deals that went down there from time to time. But it wasn’t that great either. Thankfully, this place was about to be little more than a bad memory. His office would be finished soon, and he could live there until he worked out other living arrangements.
    In fact, this was his last night here. Liz had stopped by to pick him up. They were going to celebrate by having dinner at Adam’s Ribs, a local barbecue joint that everybody raved about. On their way out to his car, Dade swung by the front desk just long enough to check his messages at the front desk and was surprised by what he found.
    “You have a package, sir,” the balding desk attendant said as he rummaged underneath the counter.
    “Package?” Dade said, looking at Liz with some confusion.
    “Yes sir, a woman delivered it only a few minutes ago.”
    “What kind of woman? Describe her.”
    “Nice woman. Red hair. Very charming. Southern drawl. Is there some sort of problem here, sir?”
    “Um, no, not at all,” Dade said, his mind spinning possibilities. Reluctantly he accepted the package, holding the wrapped box away from him as if it were full of poisonous spiders or a vial of biological contagion.
    “Stay behind me,” he told Liz as they quickly headed back to his room. “If there’s something dangerous in here, I want you to be safe.”
    “What do you think it is?” she