The Indestructible Man Read Online Free PDF Page B

night.”
     
    “Good,” Brooks said.
     
    “I can’t hold his family hostage. His old man’s a monster.”
     
    Brooks shook his head. “Think, kid. Thanksgiving’s coming in another month or so. They’ll probably go home, at least meet up somewhere. Hell, they might even make a big deal of it in town—a big homecoming or something. If you’re lucky you can nail him right in front of the hometown crowd. The story’ll get around, believe me.”
     
    “And if he doesn’t come home?”
     
    “Then you waste a couple of days and try again at Christmas. Look, I told you what to do. It’s easy. All you have to do is go to the house and wait for him to show.”
     
    Bobby nodded grimly. Brooks’ plan made perfect sense. “You planning to help me?”
     
    “Sure,” Brooks said, sucking down the foam from the bottom of the pitcher. “Got nothing else to do.”
     

     
    In the weeks before Thanksgiving Bobby scoured the television and newspapers for news of Romulus Wayne. With revenge so close, he forgave himself the obsession, failing to return Cindy’s calls for days at a time and phoning his mother to let her know he would not be home for the holiday. Something had come up at the shop, he said, and he couldn’t get out of it no matter how much he begged. He would try to stop by later, if he could.
     
    Brooks would supply the weapon: a double-barreled twelve-gauge, conveniently sawed-off, normally kept under his bed in case federal agents came in the night. Bobby took extra time off to plan and prepare; rather than firing him, his bosses kept asking if everything was all right. With a pang of guilt he told them everything was fine.
     
    A week before he and Brooks were to make their move, Cindy came to his flat with a canister of margarita mix. “I’ve been trying to get hold of you for days. Something going on I should know about?”
     
    “Oh, nothing,” he said. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now.”
     
    “ Wanna talk about it?”
     
    “I can’t,” he said. “Not right now.”
     
    “You can tell me when you’re ready,” she said. “Hey, got a blender? The mix was on sale.”
     
    Cindy mixed the margaritas far too strong and they were both drunk after one helping, but they finished the pitcher and laughed like idiots for hours, slowly peeling off their clothes until they ended up in his bed, the window half-open. He was too drunk to function properly, so he held her instead, her head resting on his chest.
     
    “I’m really glad you’re here right now,” he said, gently squeezing her.
     
    She reached up and tweaked his nose, laughing. “Me too. Where’d that come from?”
     
    “Oh, nowhere,” he said. “I might not get to see you again for a while.”
     
    “Why not? Work? You’ll still get days off, won’t you?”
     
    “It’s not that,” Bobby said. A sad, heavy feeling came over him; he was sure to be locked away after his business with Romulus was over, and he wondered if she would wait for him.
     
    “Then what is it?” She rested her chin on his breastbone and looked into his eyes.
     
    Though at first he thought it was the tequila and triple sec, Bobby felt as whole as he had ten years before, in those few seconds with Abigail Wheat. He told Cindy about the fall, Brooks’ plan, what would probably happen to him afterwards. When he was finished, she laughed so hard she snorted. “Hey, no fair,” she said. “You’re having fun with me. You’re more sober than I am.”
     
    “It’s the truth,” Bobby said.
     
    “Oh.” Her eyes widened. “But you could go to jail.”
     
    “Probably.”
     
    “Then why do it? Why not just let it go?”
     
    Bobby shrugged. “I can’t.”
     
    Cindy curled up beside him and yawned. “Doesn’t seem worth it.”
     
    Bobby held her until she fell asleep, hoping she was too drunk to remember any of it. He wished he could call it off, forget his revenge, and be with her. Happiness was sleeping next to him, its