Read Online The Black Death by Aric Davis - Free Book Online Page A

don’t know, man.”
    Matt leaned across the center console between the two bucket seats in the front of the van, close enough that he could smell the beer on Danimal’s breath and look dead into his eyes.
    “You don’t smoke the black flake, do you?”
    “Hell yes. I love the shit.”
    “No, you don’t. And you don’t need to lie about it. I know you’re clean. You might like to drink, smoke dope, and maybe even do the regular blue speed, but you don’t dig on the black,never even tried to do it, as a matter of fact. I know that. So level with me, Danimal, and do it quick. Free might need us in there.”
    “Goddamn, Matt. The stuff you’re saying could get me killed. Maybe even get
both
of us killed. You’re not from here. You don’t know how stuff works. Look, Bucky used to be the man around here, but you knew it because he was always around, always partying. Everyone loved that dude, even the people he leaned on a little too hard.”
    “What if Bucky knows the black is bad but doesn’t care?”
    “Man, this has to stop. Let’s go over and see if Henley knows how much longer Free is going to be. I can’t talk about this shit, I told you.”
    “If we go in there, that big asshole at the door is going to shoot us if Free is in even the smallest amount of trouble. We either go in knowing we have to put Henley down or we accept that Free might not be coming out.” Matt gave a look to his arm, where a watch would be if he wore one. “Could already be running a bit late as far as Free is concerned, too.”
    “Look. Free is fine. We’ve been dealing with Sally forever. She knows how things go and how Luther can be when he starts getting really high.”
    “Yeah, and what if Sally is ripping off everybody? You know how I knew you didn’t smoke the black? Sally smokes a ton of it.”
    “No, she doesn’t,” said Danimal. “Sally’s been clean for years. Everyone knows that. She gets drugs and hooch for the girls, but other than cigarettes, she’s clean, never touches a drop.”
    “It’s in her eyes, plain as day,” said Matt as he opened the passenger door to the van, sliding the ax loose from the bag, then pulling the duffel over his shoulder. “I’m going to go get him.”
    “You can’t do that,” hissed Danimal in the front of the van. “If you go in there, they’re going to kill you.”
    “No,” said Matt, “they’re going to try.”
    ***
    Matt crossed the lawn in a fast walk, with Danimal at his heels. The bigger man was having some trouble keeping up, but Matt wasn’t too concerned about Danimal being much help. The man was just too scared, too freaked-out over Free to be in a fight right now. Matt figured there might be some low-level pimp types who doubled as guards in the part of the RV with the girls, but if they went in fast, got Free, and then walked back out to the van, they might be okay.The trick would be to have no shots fired. Gunplay would get everybody going nuts—whores, patrons, and the people he really needed to worry about, the ones with more guns.
    Matt walked between the smoking and waiting men, the ax tucked tight next to his leg so that it would be harder to see in the darkness. He opened the door to the RV and hopped quickly up the steps, moving fluidly, as if he’d been born to be here.
    Henley, the big man with the Stoner rifle, was raising the gun as the door opened, and without thinking, Matt threw his ax. The blade cleaved through Henley’s head, dropping him, and stuck in the “steel” door that he was standing in front of. Danimal shut the door behind them and was staring at the body. Ignoring him, Matt pulled the ax free from the door and gave it a swift kick.
    The door collapsed in on itself—
just cheap aluminum, doesn’t matter how strong the locks are
—and Matt raced through it, ax in hand, with Danimal behind him. He could see Free’s boots on the floor, just the toes, though, and so Matt assumed he was sitting. He still hadn’t made