Читать книгу Birds of a Feather - Don Easton - Страница 18

The sun was going down and elongated shadows from the trees cast darkened silhouettes over mounds of dirt gouged out of a forest on the side of a mountain. For now, only the pits in the earth marked where the cement would be poured to make basements for a new residential pocket of homes.

It wasn’t the cold that caused Slater to shake as he parked beside the construction trailer.

“Get out,” ordered Jack. “What I got to show you is on the other side of the trailer.”

“I don’t like this,” whined Slater. “I feel really uncomfortable. Can’t we talk in the car?”

“Uncomfortable? See how uncomfortable you feel after a bullet rips through your kidneys!” roared Jack, pulling out his pistol.

Slater automatically lurched back, pressing himself so hard against the driver’s door it looked like he was moulded into it. His eyes closed and his face crinkled, expecting to be shot.

“Jesus, fuck! Stop acting like that,” said Jack. “If I wanted you dead, I’d shoot you now. I only want to talk to you. We’ve got a business proposition for you. Hand me the keys, too. I don’t want you trying to fuck off and leave me here.”

Slater opened his eyes and tried to calm himself as he fumbled the keys out of the ignition. As soon as he did, Jack snatched them out of his hand and said, “Now get out! I’m not tellin’ ya again!”

Slater got out of the car and tried to convince himself Jack only wanted to talk to him, but his fear increased dramatically when, a few minutes later, he found himself with Jack looking down at a dug-out basement.

“Climb down,” ordered Jack. “What I got to show you is alongside those footings on the far side.”

Slater squinted into the darkness, but all he could see were wooden frames filled with rebar left in preparation to pour cement. A nudge from the barrel of a pistol in his back convinced him not to argue. Once they had descended into the pit, Jack prodded Slater over to a waist-deep, grave-sized hole dug in the ground and said, “Get in!”

“You are going to kill me! You said you weren’t!” cried Slater.