Read Online The Dead Won't Die by Joe McKinney - Free Book Online

three, its engines roaring, touched down near the entrance to the alley. A door opened on one side of the aircraft and a dozen men climbed out. Jacob had seen their like before, all of them tall and lean, highly focused, like soldiers. They disembarked, scanned the surrounding street, then began to fan out in groups of twos. Jacob didn’t see any weapons on the men, but he knew they were there.
    He reached around and adjusted the pair of pistols he’d secreted away into the waistband of his pants. If he had to take the fight to them, he probably wouldn’t last long. After seeing what these strange pistols could do, he had no doubt that a group of well-trained men could make short work of him. And those wasp-like aircraft, whatever they were, looked like military hardware. If the soldiers didn’t get him, the aircraft certainly would.
    He had to find another way.
    He went to the back of the restaurant and found the door the hostess had pointed out to Kelly a few minutes earlier. He knocked on the door.
    â€œKelly,” he whispered.
    Kelly opened the door. Behind her, Jacob saw Chelsea drying her face over the sink. “What is it?” she asked.
    â€œWe’ve got trouble,” he said. “A lot of it.”
    â€œThey’re here already.”
    â€œYeah. We can’t go out the front. They’re all over the street. We need another way out.”
    â€œI saw the back door was open,” Kelly said, and nodded toward another hallway.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Chelsea said from behind Kelly.
    â€œWe need to get moving,” Jacob said. “We’re going out the back.”
    He held the door open and waved them out. As he let it close, he happened to glance toward the front of the restaurant. Two of the soldiers were coming in through the doors.
    He watched one of the men signal for the hostess. The woman in the green apron nodded at whatever the man said and pointed toward the corner, where she’d seated Jacob.
    â€œCrap,” Jacob muttered. He ran after Kelly and Chelsea, catching up with them right as they reached the back door. “We have to clear out,” he said. “They’re gonna be coming back here any second.”
    â€œWhere do we go?”
    The alley behind the restaurant was wide. Every building, every fence, every balcony, was festooned in vines thick with red and yellow flowers. The only thing out of place was a big, square-shaped truck. An employee of the restaurant was hauling a basket of towels and linens to the open back end of the truck. He hadn’t noticed them.
    â€œJacob?” Kelly said.
    There was enough cover, Jacob thought, that he might be able to get the jump on the two soldiers about to rush through the restaurant. But that was no good. As soon as he took them out, provided he could even do that, he’d have to deal with the aircraft circling overhead. The pilots would see them for sure, and they’d be done with moments later.
    He wouldn’t even be able to set up a diversion that would allow the girls to escape.
    â€œThat’s an Oppe Linens truck,” Chelsea said. “They converted the old Oppe Elementary School into a laundry. They’re right next to Scholes.”
    â€œWould the driver give us a ride?” Kelly asked.
    â€œThere is no driver. All work trucks are automated. They do their rounds and eventually end up back at the laundry.” She pointed to the employee who was dumping linens into the back end of the truck. “All we have to do is wait for him to finish and then go up front and pay the drop fee.”
    Jacob glanced back toward the front of the restaurant. “Let’s hope he hurries.”
    â€œHe’s done now,” Chelsea said. “See, he’s going up front.”
    Jacob turned back to the alley just as the man was disappearing around the far side of the truck. “Okay,” he said. “Go!”
    The three of them ran for the back of the