Veteran Read Online Free PDF Page B

up his chances and not really liking them.
    ‘I’m sorry sir,’ Larry wheezed, trying to recover his breath from the run to the apartment, ‘but we are contractually obligated to protect the inhabitants. I’m going to have to ask you—’ Then I was holding Larry’s shotgun.
    ‘You did the best you could, Larry, now fuck off,’ I said, beginning to lose patience. Larry turned and left with one final apologetic look at Rayment and Sverdlof. I turned to the pair of them.
    ‘Where is it?’ I asked, my eyes drifting to the large bundles of cash on the table.
    ‘Where’s what?’ Sverdlof replied. I sighed.
    ‘Look, I am going to find out what I want to know anyway. The only real question for you guys is how hurt or dead you get in the process.’
    ‘Maybe, but what if whoever took it from us is a bigger bastard than you?’ she asked.
    ‘Is he a more immediate problem?’ I said. ‘Look, you’ve got your money; you can do a bunk. Though chances are whoever has the thing is not going to be a problem for much longer.’
    ‘For fuck’s sake tell him,’ Rayment whimpered.
    ‘Why don’t you tell me, Morton?’ I asked.
    ‘What’s it worth?’ Sverdlof asked.
    ‘Why don’t I beat it out of your boyfriend?’ I said.
    ‘Ex-boyfriend.’
    ‘You’re leaving me!’ Rayment said and burst into tears.
    ‘Hard to see why,’ I said, looking at the park ranger with mild bemusement. Sverdlof nodded. She seemed to be weighing up her options, and like Larry she did not like the conclusions she was coming to.
    ‘We sold it to Cassidy MacFarlane,’ she finally said. This confused me.
    ‘The pimp? Why?’ Sverdlof shrugged. ‘What sort of state was it in?’ I demanded.
    ‘Pretty messed up, leaking, not moving much, not making any noise. Difficult to tell with those things. It didn’t seem very threatening.’
    ‘How long ago?’
    Sverdlof shrugged again. ‘Maybe an hour.’
    ‘Know where he was taking it?’
    ‘No,’ she said. I was pretty sure she’d told me as much as she could. So I nipped back into their bedroom and came back with a small sports holdall and began filling it with their black money, the Mastodon still levelled at Sverdlof.
    ‘What are you doing?’ Sverdlof shouted.
    ‘Taking your money,’ I told her, feeling like a total bastard. I was secure in the knowledge that official business or not there was nothing they could really do. Reporting it meant incriminating themselves. Not that I really cared one way or another. Let the Major sort it out.
    ‘What am I going to use if I have to run from MacFarlane?’ Sverdlof demanded. I ignored the question. Finally with all the money packed I backed out of the tiny apartment, Sverdlof glaring after me.
    ‘Come after me and I will have to kill you, you know that,’ I told her. Sverdlof just continued to glare at me with undiluted hatred in her eyes.
    I left the apartment, closing the door behind me. As the door clicked shut Sverdlof started screaming, berating Rayment for cowardice. Not that there was much he could have done, except maybe not wet himself or burst into tears. I smiled and then spun round bringing the revolver up.
    Leaning against the wall a few feet away from me was Josephine. She looked as drab and nondescript as normal. Rumour was that she had had herself surgically altered to look as uninteresting as possible. She was difficult to describe because nothing stuck out about her appearance. Even her clothes were drab.
    ‘Losing your touch?’ she asked, not looking me in the eyes. She always avoided eye contact. I lowered the gun and then holstered it.
    ‘Oh, hi, Josey,’ I said sarcastically, trying to mask my fear. The Grey Lady had always unnerved me. She was right though. Josephine was good but she should not have snuck up on me that easily. She shook her head.
    ‘The Major wants you to do it,’ she said. I knew exactly what she meant.
    ‘And if I don’t?’ I asked.
    ‘Oh, you know,’ she said awkwardly, examining