The Messenger Read Online Free PDF Page A

you?”
    â€œOpen, closed, what difference does it make to me? Only reason I lock it is for your protection, you know that, Manny.”
    â€œRight. Then you won’t mind if I just check out back.” Without waiting for a reply, Manny walked over and pushed open the back door hard enough to flatten anyone waiting on the other side. He searched the back hall, found nothing but dust and stale odors.
    â€œYou satisfied now? Can we get down to it?”
    â€œYeah, guess so.” Manny walked back and squinted at the white-faced man with undisguised hostility. “Why are you sweating, Spider?”
    â€œWho wouldn’t be, the way you’re acting.” The shoulderless man raised one limp hand and swiped at the sweat that glistened on his upper lip. “Now c’mon, Manny, let’s see the rest.”
    â€œAn alligator wallet, a dozen credit cards, a pocket watch, that’s the lot,” Manny said, handing over the goods while keeping his attention on the front door. All he wanted was to be away.
    Frantic fingers flipped through the credit cards, opened the wallet, searched all the pockets, then the tightening voice croaked, “It ain’t there!”
    Manny swung back. “What’re you talking about?”
    â€œDidn’t you get something else today, Manny? Think hard, big guy. Anything else you wanna show your old buddy Spider?”
    Manny squinted through the wire cage. The pale-white man was sweating fiercely now. “Like what?”
    â€œAnything, you know, like maybe something you forgot, maybe you slipped into another pocket, you know. Maybe a card or something.”
    â€œGive me the money,” Manny hissed.
    Spider peeled the bills off the roll with hands that moved with the desperate motions of two frightened animals. “Hey, sure, but look, don’t you want to just check, you know, look through your pockets, maybe one more time for old Spider, you know, just to make sure?”
    â€œThat’s all there is,” Manny said, shoveling the money into his pocket without counting.
    â€œLook, hey, you’re my main guy, right? Don’t you just want to—”
    Manny gripped the wire. “Who’s been following me, Spider?”
    â€œNobody, hey, c’mon, what is this—”
    â€œWhat else am I supposed to have, then?”
    â€œLook, hey, it’s no big deal. Just a card, maybe a little different, I dunno, silver kinda.” Both hands wiped down a sweat-drenched face. “I just heard, you know, maybe you’d gotten hold of this card.”
    â€œFrom who?” Manny growled, feeling the walls closing in, wanting to flee, but needing to know who was dogging his steps.
    â€œYou don’t want to know.” The white face turned even paler, the colorless eyes opened wider. “Believe me, big guy, it ain’t in your best interest. You’ll live longer.”
    â€œTell me,” Manny demanded.
    â€œLook, I can’t, really. But if you’ve got anything like what they want, then you’d better let me have it. I mean, it’s just a card, right?”
    â€œSee you, Spider,” Manny said, turning away.
    â€œManny, wait!” Panic raised the man’s voice an octave. “These guys, they ain’t the kind you want to tangle with, you know what I mean? Manny, don’t go, hey, it ain’t smart—”
    Manny hit the sidewalk already powering toward liftoff, his eyes searching every nook and cranny and shadow, seeing nothing, yet feeling eyes follow him everywhere. Evil eyes. Eyes that promised nothing but menace and terror.
    ****
    It was raining hard the next morning. Ariel had never imagined that such rain could exist. All the trees she could see through the little kitchen window were bowed and shaking, their lower limbs so wind-tossed they scraped the ground, back and forth, shivering and heavy and wishing for a way out of the cold storm.
    Which was exactly the way