Read Online Mad Dog Justice by Mark Rubinstein - Free Book Online

the way down his gullet. Shivering, he reaches into the glass-enclosed shower, turns on the hot water, and adjusts the temperature. Soon the room is filled with steam vapor.
    As Roddy stands beneath the near-scalding stream of water, his thoughts continue on a fast track to nowhere. As water sloshes over his head, he’s reminded of the night he and Danny drove back from Snapper Pond. After getting home, he’d showered that night, too, knowing he’d crossed a line—he’d murdered two men, one in cold blood and the other in self-defense. Unable to sleep afterward, he’d nearly jumped out of his skin with every sound he heard—a car passing by or the normal sounds of a house at night. He knows those same sick feelings will return now.
    It’s ten months later, and an ominous black cloud has rolled into their lives. He can’t tell Tracy a thing, and he can’t be truthful with Morgan—unless he wants to be indicted for double murder. Premeditated, with malice aforethought. Along with Danny. And then they’ll rot forever in some prison hellhole. It all goes back to that snake Kenny Egan, that obese loan shark Grange, and the whole McLaughlin’s debacle.
    And then there’s Danny.
    Since Snapper Pond, he’s been distant. It’s as though the guy’s built some invisible barrier between himself and Roddy. Yeah, they’d agreed to keep low profiles, but there’s something cool, even snarky in Dan’s voice when they’re on the telephone, which hasn’t been often.
    And they’ve seen very little of each other since it all went down. It’s amazing; Roddy calls the entire scenario that night
Snapper Pond
. It’s become a code phrase for everything that happened: from the McLaughlin’s escapade to that night in the woods and everything since then. And he and Tracy have been together with Danny and Angela maybe two times over the last ten months and only when Tracy invited them to their home for dinner.
    Jesus, they used to see each other at least twice a month. And he and Dan were on the phone every week. But it’s all changed. Roddy has this strange feeling that a layer of ice has formed on the deep lake of their friendship. Something erosive has crept into their lives.
    It’s amazing how one mistake can mushroom into something you could never anticipate—like poison seeping into every part of your life. If only Roddy’d stuck with his instincts; he’d never have gone into business with Kenny. But Danny crunched the numbers and said it would all work out. The numbers … Danny’s always trusted the numbers. But this time they were all bogus.
    It’s useless to ponder the past and what he should or shouldn’t have done. There are no do-overs. That only happens when you’re a kid. In this world, you live with your mistakes; you keep moving ahead to stay in front of the steamroller called life.
    Soaping his arms and shoulders, Roddy thinks back to his time in the Rangers. Sergeant Dawson would have plenty to say about this situation: “
Once you know the enemy’s position, you figure out a plan. You go on the offense. Don’t ever play defense.”
    And Doc Schechter—his old boxing trainer—would add: “
Don’t be a wild beast, Roddy. Tame the animal inside. Execute a strategy. Stick to it and then take your opponent out.”
    But you can’t execute a strategy if you don’t even know who the enemy is. Where does that leave him? He’ll try to learn as much as he can. How can he do that? From what Morgan saidabout the Russians—if they’re the ones after him and Danny—they’ll strike their families. Roddy shudders at the thought of something happening to Tracy and the kids. He and Danny will have to get their wives and kids out of Bronxville and Tuckahoe pronto.
    A vision of Walt McKay intrudes as Roddy shampoos his hair. Walt lying there like a dead animal—limp and lifeless—on the damp, cold garage floor. Roddy knows it’s his fault Walt’s dead. Jesus, his wife’s a widow, and his kids are