Page 26 of Dangerous Secrets
He slowed his speed and cut theheadlights.
He tapped the answer button on hisphone when it rang and his brother’s name came up on thescreen.
“Where areyou?”
“Almost to the turnoff tohome.So far, they’re not following me.”The moon lit the familiarrow of mailboxes.Another glance in the rearview showed he hadn’tbeen followed, so he made the turn.
“Deputies are at thelocation you described and aren’t seeing anything.”
“Then they cleared out.Probably cut their lights and took a dirt road.”There were plentyof unmarked roads snaking up into the hills.“Look for a truck withdamage to the passenger side door and front fender area.I hit himsolid and pushed the truck back enough so I wasn’t boxed in.Probably have matching paint on my rear bumper and hitch.Gotbullet holes in my windows, and the truck took a slug somewhere inthe back.”
“You hurt?”
“Nothing to worry about.You might be able to dig the slug from the side of mytruck.”
“I’m sending a unit toyour place.I’m already on my way.”
“Tell the respondingofficer to put his lights on when he gets to the cabin so I don’tmistake him for an asshole and shoot him.”
“Will do.”
***
Neil Grafton watched in his rearviewmirror as the beat-up Chevy sedan pulled to a stop behind hispickup.There was a time when he wouldn’t have kept the enginerunning to heat the truck, but getting old meant he felt the chillmore, and mornings in the mountain were still cold enough to freezehis balls off.
He saw Reed emerging from the car andadjusting the sidearm at his waist.He brushed crumbs from hisshirt.Reed didn’t get in the car without something to eat.Mostoften he chewed sunflower seeds, spitting the shells into a cup,but mostly all over the floor of his car.
Reed reached into the car and tossedout a couple empty beer cans onto the dirt road.Wouldn’t want tobe caught with the empties and the smell of alcohol on his breath.He moseyed over to a tree and whipped out his dick to take aleak.
Neil rubbed a hand over his face,jabbing his fingers into his eyes, hoping he could erase what he’dseen.The last thing he wanted stuck in his head was the image ofReed’s limp dick as he took a piss.
The hatred and loathing Neil felt forthis man was matched by little else.He had screwed up his life andexpected Neil to fix it for him.Then he had the audacity to actlike his shit didn’t stink.
In his mid-forties, Reed’s body showedsigns of a man leading a life of self-indulgence.The flabby bellyhanging over his belt and his jowly face were proof of a lack ofself-discipline.Neil knew for a fact Reed’s diet consisted almostentirely of Hot Pockets, Little Debbie’s snack cakes, and Flamin’Hot Cheetos washed down with cold Bud.Plus, the sunflowerseeds.
Reed sauntered to the pickup and Neilsaw with disgust Reed had missed a button on his shirt and it gapedopen at his gut to reveal his pasty skin.Reed was impulsive andnarcissistic and might end up becoming a liability.But for now,Neil had to work with him.
The younger man owed him big time,which made the superior act he put on all the more infuriating.Foran instant the old man imagined putting a bullet through Reed’shead simply for the rush of instant gratification.The assholedrove a fifteen-year-old clunker and was such a lousy driver hiscar had so many dents it didn’t have a single straight body panel.Plus, he lived in a run-down hovel.A hovel Neil was forced to payfor, and Reed never lifted a finger to keep clean.What did he haveto be so superior about?
Neil stared out the window, focusingon the distant mountains, snowy peaks gleaming in the early morningsun as he struggled to curb his resentment.His entire career hadbeen spent dealing with imbeciles, and he could handle onemore.
Reed opened the door to the truck,settling into the passenger seat with a fart and a groan.He drapedan arm across the back of the driver’s seat and spread his legswide in front of him.Another thing the old man found irritating ashell.The fucker couldn’t sit without spreading himself out like hewas at home on the couch getting ready to watch thegame.
Neil hated they had to meet in person,but necessity demanded it and he’d arranged to meet on the dirtroad snaking through a mountain valley where the only witnesseswere the crows circling overhead.No chance there’d be asurveillance camera within ten miles.
Even then, there was still a riskthey’d be seen by hikers or hunters, so he kept an eye out.Reedthought they should set up everything through text messages, butNeil’d be damned if he’d communicate anything importantelectronically.Electronics were only used for mundane things.Anyone with sophisticated equipment could tap into phone calls, andemails and texts were such an obvious record he might as well useneon arrows to point straight at him.
“Next time you have totake a leak, walk far enough away I don’t have to see you swingingyour dick around,” Neil groused.
“It takes me a fuckinghour to get here because you’re stuck in the last century and won’texchange a fucking email.I had to piss.”
“You wouldn’t have to ifyou weren’t drinking beer while driving.You get pulled over andeverything we’ve worked for goes to shit.”
“I won’t get pulled over.I’m too smart for that.”
Neil bit the inside of his mouth tokeep from lashing out and smashing a fist in Reed’s pudgy face.“What the fuck happened with our plan?”
“Whaddaya mean?I dealtwith McGrath.”
