Pamela had been half-asleep when she heard the loud thump outside the sliding glass door.? Her eyes had popped open, thinking it was something on television.? The TV was showing an infomercial for skin products.? A man was exhorting a young woman to rub some cream on her face in front of a studio audience.
Only as the big man snapped the lock on the door and pushed it open did Pamela realize what was happening.
Moss pulled a gun from inside his jacket.? He raised a finger to his lips.
"Don't you scream or even say a word.? If you do, I'll have to shoot you like I was gonna do yesterday.? Remember?"
She nodded, the scream just behind her lips.
He studied her up and down.? "Now, what has Cruz done to you?? Left you tied to the bedpost?? With the telephone all the way over there?? My word.? And let's get a look at what he left for me."?
Moss pulled the bed sheet down and away from her.? Pamela was conscious of only wearing a T-shirt and a pair of panties.? In front of this monster.? She was also conscious that Cruz had left her the gun and she had slipped it under the pillow earlier in the night.? If she could reach under there and get it out?
Moss cupped his chin in his hand.? And smiled.?
"My, my.? Ain't that pretty?? I think I'll need a beer before I do anything."
He walked across the room to the wet bar.? He opened it and pulled out a bottle of beer.? "One for yourself?" he said.?
She looked at him, shook her head.?
"That's okay, you can go ahead and talk now.? Once you're over that initial fear, that startlement, it's okay to talk.? Just don't scream.? So, can I offer you one?"
She could barely get it out.? "No," she croaked.?
He shrugged and opened his.? "Suit yourself."
He took a long swallow and ambled back over to her.? He pulled up a chair and sat down.? His face was less than two feet from hers.? "You missed a hell of a night, Pamela.? Car chases, kidnappings, shoot 'em ups.? And murder, did I mention that?? Had to kill me two men tonight."? He shook his head sadly.? "Cruz and Dugan.? They left me no choice."
Pamela stared at him.? She felt numb.
Could it be true?? Could they both be dead??
She looked at his gigantic hand.? The beer looked like a toy compared to that hand.
It could be true.
"But let's not dwell on unhappy things," he said now.? "Let's talk about you and me.? And Lola.? She's just outside, waiting for me to bring her on in here.? We're gonna have a big time, just the three of us.? But you know, you're looking good enough right at this moment that maybe she could wait a little longer, eh?? How tempting, that little outfit you got on."
He ran his gun hand along her leg, up to her thigh.
"Mind if I take a look inside these little panties?"
Pamela felt her entire body start to shake.? He put both his beer and his gun on the desk and his big hands touched her.???
"Cruz treat you all right?? Yeah, I bet he did.? But you know what?? I bet I'll treat you better than him."
He stood.?
"Don't you move," he said.? "Don't you move an inch."
He kicked off his boots.? Then he undid his belt and removed his pants, eyes watching her all the time.? He wore tight white BVDs, and he was already bulging under there.? Above his right sock, he had a long handled knife taped to his thick calf.? He peeled off his socks.? "I see you looking at my knife.? Tell you what.? I'm gonna leave it on, make things a little kinkier for us."
He climbed onto the bed with her, and his hands began to roam her body.
If Cruz was dead, and Smoke was dead, and all was lost, there was no reason not to go for the gun.? Just reach back under that pillow slow and calm, pull it out, and shoot this evil bastard dead.? Act like you were into it, this? defilement.
"Yeah baby.? Lean back.? I'm gonna treat you real good."
She leaned back, her free hand sliding under the pillow.? She looked down at Moss's greasy hair as he kissed her stomach.? She looked away.
Okay.? Do it.?
Outside the window, a figure appeared on the balcony.? It vaulted over the railing.? The landing made a solid BANG.
Moss turned to look as Lola rushed into the room.
Her hands were cuffed together.
Moss jumped off the bed.? Lola raised a kick but seemed to lose her balance.? Moss blocked it and slapped her hard across the face.? She flew backward and crashed into the TV, then fell to the floor.? The TV quivered in its moorings.
Moss turned back to Pamela.? "She got here sooner than I thought."
Pamela pulled the gun from under the pillow.
She aimed.?
She squeezed the trigger.
The trigger was jammed.? What the..?
Shit.? The safety was on.? She looked down at the gun, looking for the lever.
Moss slapped the gun and it went flying across the room.?
"Son of a bitch.? Are you girls both crazy?? Is that it?? You know I ought to kill you both right now.? But you got such spunk that I'm having too much fun."
Behind him, Lola climbed to her feet.? She leapt onto his back.?
Moss spun around.? "Whoa! Ride 'em cowgirl."
Lola tried to slip her handcuff chain around Moss's neck.? He grabbed the chain with one meaty hand.? With the other, he reached back and playfully cupped Lola's ass.
"Careful with that chain, Lola."
Pamela saw her chance.? The one chance left.? She dove to the floor.? Her arm extended painfully behind her, still cuffed to the bed.? With her free arm she reached for Moss's leg.? She stretched, she reached.?
He spun Lola around again.
Pamela grabbed the knife.? She yanked it away, the tape making a ripping sound.? Then, with all her might, she plunged it into his thigh.
He groaned and kicked her.
She fell back, stunned.? The knife stuck from his leg.?
He stood, eyes gone wide, staring down at the handle of the knife.? He looked at Pamela in disbelief, then back at the knife again.? He reached down, and ever so slowly, began to pull it out.? The blade showed red as it came out an inch.
Lola slipped the chain around his neck and fell backward.?
Moss slipped to his knees, one hand still on the knife.?
Now Lola was behind him, her face a mask of concentration and effort, hovering above his face, choking, choking.? His face slowly went white.? His hands came to his neck as his eyes bugged out of his head.? The knife was still deep in his leg.?
He sank face first to the floor, Lola riding him down.?
"Keep killing him," Pamela said.? "Make sure the bastard's dead."
?
* * *
?
At 3 a.m., Cruz turned the key in the lock and entered his suite.?
Dugan was just offshore with the boat, waiting.? They had to hurry.? They had more than two million in cash, but Dugan wanted to go back to the city and find Lola before he did anything.?
Cruz didn't think anybody had seen him come in the hotel, but he couldn't be sure.?
He turned the corner into the bedroom.
Everyone was on the floor.?
Lola was here.? Her face was a bloody mess.? Pamela had that deer in the headlights look again.? Moss was big and white and dead, with no pants on, his tongue lolling out.
Lola and Pamela both stared up at Cruz.?
Lola smiled, then so did Pamela.
"Holy shit," Cruz said.?
?
* * *
?
Brian Knox stood at the pay phone outside the dairy bar.? The sun had just risen over the cove down the street from here - the cove where Knox had seen the bunch of them set out for open water.??
It took a long time of waiting before the right voice finally came on the line.
"Okay," it said.?
"Okay," Knox echoed.? "I just watched them leave on a medium sized ocean-going powerboat.? It's blue and white with a flying deck, but I couldn't get the name off the back.? G
oing out from here, if they have the gas, and they get good weather, within a day or two they could be up the coast in Canada, they could be down in Cape Cod, Nantucket, maybe Rhode Island.? They could go anywhere, really."
"We got ya, kid.? We're not idiots on this end."
Knox waited.
"And Cruz?"
"That's the funny part," Knox said.? "He got on the same boat.? He had the women with him.? They all left together."
The voice sighed.?
Knox waited some more.
"What about Moss?"
"Moss?" Knox said.
"He's the big guy.? Huge.? Kind of stringy hair."
"I'm not sure who you're talking about."
"You couldn't miss this guy.? If you saw him, you'd know."
What was Knox supposed to say?? That he'd watched the guy climb a ladder to the hotel roof the night before, then cross over to a second floor balcony and break into a room?? That the guy looked like an ape, carrying a girl on his shoulder through the dunes like a twenty-pound sack of potatoes?? That the same girl had followed him up to the roof, and gone into the same room??
That a couple hours later, Cruz and the two girls had shoved the same ape's body off the balcony, then Cruz had come down to the beach, dug a shallow grave and buried the body in the sand?? And Knox himself had witnessed all this and done nothing?
No thanks.
"Big guy?? Doesn't ring a bell."
"Okay kid.? We'll take care of it.? Do me a favor, will ya?? Make a point of going into Boston next weekend.? Get yourself a haircut or something.? A good place would be Sonny's Barber Shop in the North End."
"Okay."
"A man there has an envelope for you."
"Thanks," Knox was about to say, but the line had already gone dead.?
?
The Drop Off
If you enjoyed SMOKED, the whole cast of characters - Smoke, Lola, Cruz and Pamela - are back again in THE DROP OFF. On the run from the mob with $2.5 million in stolen cash, the group find themselves aboard a disabled boat on a Caribbean island. Confronted by psychotic hitmen, a soldier of fortune bent on revenge, and a pimp just out of grade school, they'll be lucky to survive, never mind keep the money. Non-stop action, edge of your seat excitement.
Buy it wherever ebooks are sold.
About the Author
Patrick Quinlan is the critically-acclaimed and bestselling author of many novels, under his own name and several pen names. Some of his novels include Smoked, The Drop Off, The Falling Man, The Hit, and Sexbot. He is also the co-author, with film legend Rutger Hauer, of Rutger's autobiography, All Those Moments.
Patrick's eyes are dark blue, like where the shallow water meets the deep. He divides his time between Maine and Florida. Please check out his website, www.patrickquinlan.com.
Patrick maintains a blog at www.theeoptimist.com.
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