Read Online A Mighty Fortress by S.D. Thames - Free Book Online

matter, is that with no real buttons, it doesn’t work well for placing surreptitious calls. And man, did I wish Siri could place a call for me without screaming what she was doing for my passengers. Maybe one day she would just read my mind.
    Kiki leaned forward as if to remind me of the Italian masterpiece in his grip. “Don’t get wise.”
    “Sorry. Some of us are born that way.” These guys were bringing out the worst in me, and I wanted to see the worst of them. Jimmy was quick to return another jab with his gun. “You hit like a grandmother,” I told him, arching an eyebrow.
    “Knock that shit off!” Kiki yelled at Jimmy. Wherever we were going, Kiki wanted me to get there in one piece. This could be fun.
    We stopped for a red light at Kennedy. He told me to turn right, and we were headed back in the direction of Westshore. “Let me guess,” I said. “We’re going back to the restaurant?”
    “I’ll tell you when to turn,” Kiki grumbled.
    I kept driving. The traffic was heavy for a Sunday evening. I guessed Jimmy still didn’t like my driving, as his leg was doing the jitterbug. “You drink a lot of caffeine, or suffer restless leg syndrome?” I asked him.
    He realized I was eyeing his leg. He grabbed it, but that did little to ease the trembling. “This kid’s in over his head,” I told Kiki, glancing in the mirror.
    “He’s fine. We’re just going for a ride to talk.”
    “Where we meeting Mr. Scalzo?” I asked.
    “Who said we’re meeting him?” Kiki asked in return.
    The trident pin stuck to my dashboard caught Jimmy’s attention. He unpinned it and raised it to get a better look in the glow of the streetlights.  
    “Don’t touch that,” I snapped.
    “This what I think it is?”
    “Whatever you think it is, I told you not to touch it.”
    He swallowed. “You a SEAL?”
    “Do I look like a SEAL?”
    “Jesus Christ,” he said, and pinned it back to the dash.
    “’Cause, you know, if I was a SEAL, I could probably drive this car off the bridge up here. A SEAL would know how to brace himself for impact and swim to safety.” I glanced at Jimmy. “You got that kind of confidence?”
    “Screw you,” Jimmy muttered.
    “You asked,” I said. “Do I seem to have that kind of confidence?”
    Jimmy looked back to Kiki. “Can we switch places?”
    Kiki rolled his eyes.
    I waited for him to meet mine in the rearview. “We can all trade whenever you’re ready. You want to drive, Kiki?” I pulled the car to a stop on Kennedy, right there in the middle of the lane. Cars swerved to miss us, and a procession of blaring horns and raised middle fingers passed us by.
    Kiki leaned forward, pressed the gun in a few inches. “I don’t give a flying fuck if you’re a SEAL, a walrus, or a killer whale. Put the damn car in drive, and if you pull another stunt like that, you’ll be shark bait in about an hour. We clear?”
    I waited about ten seconds, just long enough for him to dig the barrel as deep as it could go. As the pain spread through my neck, I remembered I had my regular weekly appointment with Dr. J the next morning. If I made it through the night, we were going to have a lot to talk about.  
    Finally, I put the car back in drive and floored it. Jimmy hit his seat, and Kiki relaxed the gun.
    “Don’t worry, Jimmy. After BUD/S training, I dropped out, took a different route. That’s not my pin.”
    “Whose is it?”
    I shook my head. “It belonged to a kid from Texas. Touch it again, and we’ll have a problem.”
    Kiki barked, “Go south on Westshore.”
    I obeyed. We were passing through a wealthy neighborhood of large waterfront estates to our right. Traditional Edwardian brick palaces on the left. Fortunately, there was less lighting on this residential street, offering a better opportunity to get to my iPhone. I slid it onto my left leg and lit the screen. Jimmy was staring out his window, as tense as he’d been all night. I hit the call button to pull up my call