Bobby Adair [Slow Burn 06] Bleed (epub)

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.Mays?”“It’s a long story.”I put the knife back in its old leather sheath.The girl started the boat’s motor.A thousand white faces turned our way and a tremendous wave of jubilant screams drowned out all other sound.As she pressed the lock button and shifted the throttle into reverse, the engine revved and the boat moved away from the shore.Still in the bow, I looked into the trees to see if any Whites were crazy enough to make the jump out of the shadows.But as soon as I put that thought together, the rope that was attached to the bow and to a tree on the shore lifted up out of the water snapped taut, and jerked the boat to a stop.Having no such rope attached to me, I kept going and fell backwards onto the deck, bouncing my skull on the fiberglass.Through the stars, I heard the engine rev higher.I heard the rope snap and heard it whip through the air in the space where I’d just been standing.“Ouch.”The boat was moving.My feet were still in the bow, and I was on my back on the deck, my head next to the girl where she sat behind the wheel.She looked down at me.“You okay?”“I guess.”“Sorry about that.Can you get up?”“Give me a sec’ for my brains to stop rattling around.”The girl reversed the throttle, he sound of the engine changed, and the boat started to move away from shore.My head rolled to the side as the boat turned and I found myself looking at her feet, and especially at her ankle.She had an owl tattoo.Chapter 3When I started laughing, she probably thought I was nuts.“What are you laughing at?” she asked.I pulled myself up into a sitting position and as I maneuvered myself into the seat opposite her, I asked, “Did you go to Rice?”She looked at me and then down at her feet.“Oh, the tattoo.I’ve never had anybody laugh at it before.”“Is that a popular tattoo for Rice alumni?”“I don’t know.Why?”“Your name wouldn’t be Rachel, would it?”The girl’s mouth dropped open.Then her eyes turned angry.“How do you know that?”We’d covered half the distance to the boat where Murphy was patiently waiting.“You’re never going to believe who I’m with.”Still wary, Rachel asked, “Who?”I thought about making Rachel wait on the answer but figured that her being on the edge of suspicion wasn’t good for either of us.“Murphy.”Tears flowed.“Murphy.”I nodded.“My brother, Murphy Smalls.”“Yep.”She shook her head.“If this is some kind of trick…”“We’ll be there in a second.You’ll see for yourself.”Rachel slowed the boat and cut the engine so that we could drift up to the other boat.It was my turn to worry.Murphy’s head didn’t pop up to see us coming.He didn’t wave.Something was wrong.“Quiet,” I whispered.The girl was immediately tense.“What? What’s wrong?”I shook my head.“I don’t know.”I stood and hurried to the bow of the boat.Out of some innate protective habit, I motioned for Rachel to stay behind.She didn’t.The bow of our boat nudged the other ski boat on the port side and I grabbed a handful of chrome rail to hold the two boats together.I leaned over to get a look inside.Murphy was lying on the deck.His head was on a cushion.He was asleep.“Motherfucker!”“What?”I turned to Rachel.“He’s taking a nap.”Rachel squeezed past me as I sheathed my knife.With all the grace of a gymnast, she hopped into the other boat and landed on the deck beside Murphy.Tears were flowing in earnest.She knelt beside him and shook him until he woke.I don’t know what Murphy was dreaming about, but my bet was that it wasn’t as good as what he saw when he woke up.It took a few moments for him to figure out that he was really awake, but once he did, both he and Rachel hugged and smiled, cried, laughed, and hugged some more.When they settled down, Murphy started to ask questions so fast that Rachel had no chance to answer.But Rachel knew how to get down to business.“Murphy, we’ll talk later.Right now, my people are trapped on a boat over there.You guys came down here to get them out.Do you have any ideas besides that John Wayne silliness your buddy told me about?”“Hey!” I thought it was a reasonable plan, considering the circumstances.Murphy looked at me with a question on his face, but talked to Rachel.“When did you get so bossy?”Rachel looked at me like I’d said something.I pointed back at Murphy.“I thought you said she was nice.”Rachel turned to Murphy.“You and your friends.How can you go through life without ever growing up?”I said, “I’m getting kinda sorry about convincing you to get in the boat.”Rachel shot me a blazing look, then turned to stare for a minute at the infected making a ruckus on the floating docks.She looked back at me, all the hardness gone.“Thank you for being patient enough to convince me to get in the boat with you.”The switch took me aback.“You’re welcome.”Murphy said, “Don’t be hard on him.He’s a good guy.He saved my life.”“Thank you for that, too.” Rachel stuck out a hand.“You know my name…”“I’m Zed.”“Zed? Really?”“Don’t ask [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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