The Directive Read Online Free PDF Page B

them?”
    “Just covering my ass. And it was big. These guys are serious. I got scared, tried to beg off a job. The people behind it, maybe they found out I was digging. Whatever it is, they’re after me now.”
    “So the gun,” I said, nodding. “Any chance these bad guys are due to stop by tonight?”
    “Maybe. They just called. They could come for me any second. They’re saying I owe them. They’re setting me up—”
    “How much?”
    Jack looked up at me, startled. “What?”
    “How much did they say you took?”
    “I didn’t take it, Mike. They’re setting me up.”
    “I know. But how much?”
    “It’s not about the money, Mike, they said I messed up some plan. They said I had to make it right or they’d hurt me.”
    “Get to the point. How much do you need?”
    He took a drink from a bottle of water he’d placed on the shelves.
    “The payment was sixty-five thousand,” he said. “But I gave it back to them. That didn’t settle it. They said it was too late, that I botched everything and I’d have to do the job myself now. But I’m trying to stay straight. I swear I didn’t take anything, Mike. I didn’t want to tell you about it, get you involved. They jumped me yesterday on my way from the Metro. Worked me over in the stomach. It was bad. They said if I didn’t give them what they wanted, they were going to really mess me up, send me to the hospital.”
    “Huh,” I said. “So they beat you in the one spot that doesn’t bruise much.” It’s a handy technique for enforcers who don’t want to leave marks, and for liars who don’t have any. “Go to the cops.”
    “I wanted to. I tried asking around. They must have found out somehow. They said they’d kill me if I did.”
    “Of course,” I said, and had another bite of pad thai.
    “I think they’re just trying to scare me off for what I know, make me disappear.”
    “So why don’t you?”
    “Mike,” he looked hurt. “I don’t want to run anymore. I just want to live my life. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
    “So what, you need to buy your way out? Pay them for the job you messed up?”
    “I’m not asking you for anything, Mike. I just need somebody to talk to. I need a way out of this, and I’m so goddamned scared I can’t think straight. Maybe you could help me expose what they’re up to. Outthink them somehow. I mean maybe I could make up what they lost on the job. I’m not sure if they’d go for that, or how much it’d cost.”
    The soft sell. Jack still had his touch.
    “Who would I make the check out to? Or I guess cash is better with shadowy types like this.” I patted my pockets, looking for a checkbook or wallet.
    “Seriously?” Jack asked.
    “Of course not,” I said, and put my bowl down. “You’re not getting any money out of me, man.”
    I couldn’t believe I’d given him a second chance and he was pulling something like this.
    “You know, Jack—”
    Bright lights shone through the blinds. Then came the chirp of tires. The slamming of doors. Loud voices. All the stage dressing for an old-fashioned shakedown. It sounded like three men. Jack had really gone all out.
    “Right on time,” I said.
    “Mike, you should get out of here. Do you have a gun?”
    “I don’t need a gun, Jack.”
    I stepped toward him so I could get a good look at his eyes, the size of his pupils, to see if he was using.
    “So what’s this massive plot you stumbled across?” I asked.
    A fist pounded on the door.
    “Get away from the window,” Jack said. He retreated to the kitchen and took cover behind the counter that separated it from the living room.
    I watched the doorknob shake, then heard the rattle of metal scraping inside the deadbolt: someone raking the lock. Any self-respecting arm-breaker would have just knocked the door in, but these fellows happened to be interested in preserving property. Interesting.
    I went to open the door.
    “What are you doing, Mike? These guys don’t joke