Angel Stations Read Free Page A

can’t, I can’t—’
    Her back arched again, and blood sprayed out of her open mouth.
    ‘Stop it,’ said Josh. ‘Stop it now. You’re hurting her.’
    ‘I can’t help that, Josh. She says Macey did it. What else do you need to know?’
    ‘I – nothing. Tell her I love her, Murray. Just tell her I love her.’
    Elias stared at him for a moment, unable to imagine Josh capable of ever expressing any emotion remotely like love. But maybe he was wrong. Maybe people really were that unpredictable. He turned back to Mia, grateful now to let the life within her slip away, her body slumping down as that brief spark of light left her eyes for the last time.
    ‘Did you tell her?’ asked Josh, his mouth twisted in distaste.
    ‘Sure, Josh, I told her. I can’t guarantee she heard me, though.’
    ‘You tell me how to do that,’ spoke Mik from the corner in a low, awed whisper, ‘I make you a fucking king.’ Elias ignored him, kept his attention focused on Josh. ‘Macey? The name means something to you?’
    ‘Does, yeah,’ said Josh. ‘You done good, Elias. You deserve reward. Mik, take him next door. Make sure he gets his reward. Okay?’
    ‘Sure,’ said Mik with a wide smile like a shark’s. Mik beckoned to Elias, heading back through the door they’d come through, and back into the large room where the two men had been bagging drugs on a long table. Elias stood studying Josh’s features for a few moments, before turning and walking slowly after Mik. Something felt badly, badly wrong here. It wasn’t so much what Josh had said . . . it was the way he had said it.
    Back in the larger room, the two men were still there. Elias cleared his throat, and watched as Mik walked over to the table and picked up a tiny diskette. He swaggered back over to Elias, a wide grin on his face.
    ‘Here,’ said Mik. ‘That what you wanted?’
    Elias took the diskette, and looked down at it cradled in the palm of his hand. So tiny, but it held the secret to a man’s life.
    Elias nodded, and pocketed it.
    The attaché case Hollis had told him to watch out for still sat unattended to one side of the table. Like it signified nothing, nothing at all. It seemed strange they would leave it just sitting in open view like that—
    Unless they knew?
    Elias looked casually towards Mik, but the kid, damn him, just grinned like he was playing some game. Then Mik walked over, picked up the case, and hugged it to his chest.
    He stood in front of Elias. ‘So. You lookin’ for this, maybe, Elias?’
    Elias heard the gentlest movement behind him, then the unmistakable chill of a steel gun barrel being laid against the nape of his neck.
    ‘Elias,’ – he didn’t need to turn around to know it was Josh speaking, Josh holding the gun to the back of his head – ‘you did me a great service tonight, a very great service. Macey will not live out the night. His death will be protracted, painful. Thank you.’
    Elias cleared his throat, preparing to speak. Then he stopped in his tracks, the boy Mik still standing in front of him, grinning and clasping the attaché case to his chest. Elias didn’t turn, didn’t want to stare straight into the barrel of a gun. ‘You’re welcome. But you’ve – got an odd way of thanking me, if you don’t mind me saying so.’
    ‘You been lyin’ to Mala, Murray, set us up good. That bad. Mala good to its people, but very bad, though, when you fuck ’em. Don’t want fuck with Mala, no,’ said Josh, and it seemed to Elias that the other man’s voice was filled with genuine sorrow. Like the pity a man might feel for some injured animal found by the roadside, right before he breaks its neck.
    ‘I haven’t been lying to you, Josh. I’m your friend. The Mala Pata have been very good to me.’
    The blow came suddenly, unexpectedly. Elias found himself slumping to the ground, lying directly between Mik and Josh. Pain filled his head, and at first he thought Josh might have shot him. Then he realized Josh