Too Wylde Read Free Page A

of the Divine.
    After the class, good byes, and she was off
in her black BMW, home to a shower and to bed. Lizzy was a
day-sleeper, unless she had company. Her job kept her up late most
nights. It was worth it. Between what Lance T paid her and what she
earned in tips, she banked mid six-figures yearly for three years
now. Debt free and able to do whatever she chose to do.
    She smiled, murmured "Thank you," to the
Divine and parked her car in her private slot behind the co-op
building she owned a big piece of.
    Stood and let the rising sun fall over
her.
    Life was good, in the Light.
     
    Reni Taylor Meets Mr. Smith
    Reni Taylor liked, as much as you can like a
shit job, her early morning shift at the Cheap Cars rental kiosk at
Lake City International Airport. She could stay up all night and
party, drink some coffee, pop a little meth and a breath mint, show
up at 4 a.m. all chipper and happy, which made the poor sad fat
fuck who called himself her boss happy, stand around, take long
smoke breaks and every once in awhile go through the canned speech
written down and taped on the counter:
    Hi, welcome to Cheap Cars, do you have a
reservation? If Yes, go to A; if No, go to B.
    Fucking easy, which she liked. She was out of
there by noon, home to eat and crash, maybe let Joey fuck her if he
was up, then get up and do it all over again.
    She got to see everybody that was too poor to
afford an Enterprise, Avis, Hertz, or whatever; Cheap Cars got
cheap-ass beat-to-shit cars and didn't give a fuck if you paid for
cash, so of course the local narcs and vice and the fucking feds
would hang around, try to chat her up, lean on her a little, but
she had the "I don't know nothing" hang dog rap down cold, which
served her good.
    Reni was working her gum good when this guy
stepped up the counter, and when she looked up, she couldn't help
herself:
    "Fuck! What happened to you?"
    The man, and she could only tell he was
dressed like a man and built like one, had a nearly smooth face,
with two eyes peering out of them, a double hole for his nostrils,
and a tiny hole where his mouth should have been. His eyes were
muddy brown, with a yellow glaze.
    His voice was frighteningly normal.
"Afghanistan, baby. Fighting for your right to be a crack whore. I
used to be pretty, just like you used to be."
    "Hey, I...."
    "Car."
    "Okay, I'm sorry, sorry...do you have a
reservation?"
    "Yep. Smith, right under the part that says
read your fucking time line, bitch."
    Reni's heart was pounding. She met a lot of
hard guys muling shit for Joey, bikers, gangsters of all types;
this fucking guy radiated the kind of vibe that said "I'll cut you
up for fun and hang your parts from a Christmas tree."
    Scary fucking bad.
    Her hand was shaking when she handed him the
keys. "You're prepaid, Mr...."
    "I know I'm pre-paid. Where is it?"
    "Slot A-49, it's a...."
    "Jeep Cherokee, unlimited mileage, no more
than three years old, or else I'll come back here, and you don't
want that."
    She swallowed, on the verge of tears. "Yes,
sir. That's what it is."
    He reached across the counter, tugged her
badge off, held it close to the scar that was his face. "Reni
Taylor," he said. He threw it on the counter, then reached over and
pinched her nipple through her blouse. "Lousy tits. You better
knock off the meth before your teeth fall out. Oh, and Reni?"
    She stood there, her hands at her side,
trembling.
    "I was never here, anybody comes asking. I
know your name and where you work. Got it?"
    "Yes, sir."
    "That's better. Go smoke some crack, you look
like hell."
    She stared straight ahead as he walked past
her, out into the early morning light breaking over Lake City.
     
    Deon Oosthuizen
    "Didn't see a thing, oke. We worked it hard,"
Deon said. He sipped his coffee, grimaced, held it up and called to
Thieu, the tiny Vietnamese bartender cleaning up behind the bar.
"Another cup, please, beauty?"
    "I make fresh," Thieu said. "Wait."
    Deon set his cup down. "Thank you, beauty."
He studied