The Stein & Candle Detective Agency, Vol. 2: Cold Wars (The Stein & Candle Detective Agency #2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Fancy Freddy Flynn a welcoming he wouldn’t soon forget. Or at least, I was until Selena grabbed my hand.
    “Please,” she said. “Do you have to kill anybody?”
    I glowered at her. Taking these punks alive meant more risk. But Selena Stein was my partner’s sister. I didn’t want to let her down. With a grumble, I holstered my automatics. The elevator was two floors away. I thought fast, and spotted the fire extinguisher on the wall. I wrenched it off, and pulled it back. The elevator rang. The doors rolled open.
    Fancy Freddy Flynn didn’t look as handsome with a bandage on his nose and a black eye. Four of his men stood with him, two armed with shotguns, the other packing Thompsons. Fancy Freddy had a second to look at me before I swung the fire extinguisher straight into his face. I knocked him against the back of the elevator, and then stepped inside. I swung the fire extinguisher around, cracking it against skulls and chests until the red metal was full of dents. That’s when I dropped it.
    One of the thugs raised his shotgun, and I grabbed the barrel and pulled it away. I racked it, slammed it under Freddy’s chin and rested a finger on the trigger.
    “A secretary by the name of Tanya has your pay-off,” I explained. “She’s heading for the docks. We’re going after her.” I pressed the shotgun’s muzzle closer. “Selena, get in and press the button for the ground floor. We’re going all the way down.” I smiled at Fancy Freddy. “That jake with you, Flynn?”
    “Y-you got it,” he whispered.
    Selena stepped gingerly into the elevator and hit the button for the bottom floor. The doors slammed shut and we headed down. Flynn’s other thugs came weakly to their feet. They clutched their heaters, but as long as I had a twelve-gauge against their boss’s head, they couldn’t do a damn thing. Everybody stayed silent. It was a relief when the bell rang and the door opened.
    All of us dashed through the lobby, heading outside. The tropical moon hung full and bright over Oahu. We stepped through the sands, running for the thin strip of a wharf leading away from the beach and into the ocean. Several speedboats were stationed there, ready for rental and all unattended. Selena and I took the lead. Getting the tar beat out of them slowed Flynn’s boys down.
    “No!” Selena pointed at the end of the dock. A motorboat was leaving the docks, zooming away into the dark water and leading a swirling arc behind it. “Morton, she’s taking him away! He’s my baby brother, my family, and she’s taking him away.”
    I grabbed her shoulder and faced her. “We’ll catch her,” I said. “I used to run booze into Manhattan in a craft like this when I was in short pants. We’ll take after her and get your brother back. But you can’t panic. Your parents didn’t – not even at the end. And Weatherby never did either. We can’t let him down.”
    Selena straightened up. Her sobs ended. I felt a spark of admiration for her. She was an ordinary American student – worried about grades, and boys and clothes and all the mundane things that a college girl should be worried about. She hadn’t been through any war, hadn’t seen the scum that clings to the underside of the country. But here she was, ready to face it all for her baby brother.
    “Let’s go,” she said, and we ran to the docks. I picked out a snow white motorboat and stepped inside. The octopus’s tentacle had been rough on my skin, and I felt trickles of blood on my collar. My vision was still blurry, and I wanted to close my eyes and pass out. But I gunned the engine instead, while Selena sat in the prow, and set off after Tanya and Weatherby.
    The engine rumbled and started speeding forward. The water went white behind us as we shot out over the moonlit bay. I kept my eyes forward, on the cherry red speedboat Tanya had taken. Like I expected, she wasn’t good at managing the boat. I gained distance quickly. The shotgun rested in the middle