Too Wylde Read Free Page B

his long time friend and occasional business partner.
Jimmy was one of those guys with the gift of appearing normal.
Whatever that meant. Just under six feet, fit without making a big
deal of it, watchful only in a way that another pro would make.
He'd seen Jimmy happy, seen him sad, seen him mad, seen him in
combat, seen him in a fight.
    He'd never seen him the way he saw him right
now.
    Deon drummed his fingers on the table. "All
night. Video and three walkers. Nothing. Nobody since closing that
rings any bells. And here we sit in the early light of day...so
when you going to tell me who we're looking for."
    Jimmy, haggard with no sleep and too much
coffee, stared off into space. "Somebody who's supposed to be
dead."
    "You've said that three times. And nothing
more?"
    "I need to sleep."
    Thieu set a fresh cup of coffee in a clean
mug in front of Deon. "Jimmy? You want?"
    "No," Jimmy said. "Thank you, Thieu."
    She patted him on the shoulder. "I think you
go see Lizzy, Jimmy. You need woman now."
    She walked away, her angular ass writing a
symphony across the seat of her tight designer jeans.
    Deon tasted his coffee and closed his eyes in
appreciation. "Wise woman, that one. I should marry her."
    "Never happen, old man," Thieu said without
looking back.
    He grinned. "See? Wise woman."
    "Yeah," Jimmy said. He pushed back from the
table. "I'm going to go sleep. I'll call you later."
    "I'll send someone to watch your back."
    Jimmy paused, looked down at the skinny as a
rail South African. "Thanks, Deon."
    Deon toasted him with the cup. "It's what
friends do."
    He didn't understand the look on Jimmy's
face. Or why his friend turned away and walked out without another
word.
    It was almost sadness. Or fear, which would
be a first in Deon's experience with Jimmy.
    More than anything else it looked like
self-loathing.
     
    Dee Dee Kozak
    It amused Dee Dee to keep Irina on a short
leash. It was a nice leash, a custom leather braided one originally
manufactured for show dogs. The collar was hand tooled black
leather studded with spikes. Very elegant.
    The two women sat at a hotel room table.
Morning light came through the open shades. On the table was a pile
of neatly banded hundred dollar bills that added up to the tidy sum
of $900,000. It was all that remained of Irina's previous
occupation as a major arms dealer in the Lake City underworld. Dee
had walked Irina out through the epic gun fight that ended her
business; and all she had to show for her curtailed contract (she
was, after all, one of the best hitters in the business) was a new
sub-bitch and a big bag of money.
    After all else was considered, she'd come out
ahead in a way she hadn't anticipated. The fighter's gift was
improvisation in the fight, and she hadn't risen to her standing in
the, well, cut-throat business she was in without the tested
ability to improvise and develop the fight to her advantage.
    A nice advantage.
    "You promised me that you would take care of
them," Irina said.
    "That was then, this is now," Dee Dee said.
"That was before you walked me into a combat zone, and before I
took your helpless ass out. You pissed off some dangerous men.
They'd probably have cut you into small pieces if I hadn't taken
you out of there. You think, sweetheart? I mean, at all? With
anything besides your over rated pussy?"
    "Don't talk to me like that."
    Dee Dee smiled her sunny California girl
smile, tugged the leash, hard, snapped Irina's head almost into the
table. "You don't get to tell me how to talk, Rina."
    Hatred blazed from the Russian woman's
eyes.
    "You know you love it," Dee Dee said.
    Irina looked away. "Like I said."
    Dee tapped the stack of cash. "There's this,
Rina. Walking away money. I can give you a little piece, drop you
at the airport, you want. See how far you can get. Hard for a girl
to start over at your age. Don't think you'd get much traction here
in lil old Lake City. There's no upside to tackling these boys.
Especially just to make you happy, which