"Best, Mark - Comeback" - читать интересную книгу автора (Best Mark)

"I took a chance. I saw you as more reasonable than Slattery." My tone was slighly less hostile than a lynch mob.

Ettleman looked at me curiously. "Moral outrage? From a thief and a murderer? I am surprised. Conscience is something I don't usually associate with killers. It is a pity that you're so soft-hearted. You see, I have other work of this nature that needs to be done from time to time. You'll have an easier time if you think less about it."

"No way. This was a one-time job."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Jacko. A business arrangement would have been much easier," he said as he pulled a small automatic from his coat. "It's too bad Slattery shot you before he got in his booby-trapped car. We'll never know why."

The report of the pistol and Ettleman crumpling to the ground occurred almost simultaneiously. Iron Mike stepped from behind the van he'd been hiding in, took the gun he had used to shoot the DA, and tossed it in the burning wreckage of Slattery's Caddy. He took Ettleman's pistol, leaving the detonator in his hand, and we both ran quickly until more than five blocks separated us from the kill site. Thanks to the healthy jog and nearly being killed moments earlier, I was breathing heavily, but Mike was hardly winded.

Eventually we slowed up. The night smelled of smoke and a faint orange glow lit the sky.

"The fix will stand," Mike said. "Slattery killed Ettleman, Ettleman killed Slattery. No one knows Jacko Rollins." Mike dropped Ettleman's pistol through a sewer grating. "No evidence. By the way, you never asked me why I helped you."

"You've got your reasons. They may be none of my business. Whatever they were, thanks."

Mike laughed. "Just remember to pay your tab."

I took Slattery's envelope from my pocket, the one with ten grand in it, and gave it to Mike. Without counting it, he said, "It's only twenty bucks."

I smiled. "The rest is a tip."

Mike nodded and put the envelope in his breast pocket.

We began walking. By now, we could hear sirens. I was just starting to catch my breath.

"You should lam for a while. No one but the papers will care much that Slattery and Ettleman got burned, but you never know. Take a vacation. Got anywhere in mind?"

I fingered Ettleman's hefty envelope in my pocket. "I've always wanted to see Bermuda," I said.

"Yeah, nice place. Lots of rich tourists. I hear all the best suites have safes in the rooms."

I thought of the resort. Then I thought of my uncle's fix-it shop. I had an honest job fixing toasters, if I wanted it. "Bermuda sounds nice," I said. " I might even make it a working holiday."