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.“There’s a couple of guys in there robbing the store.Call 911!”Up and down the street, people stopped what they were doing and looked her way.None reached for a phone.The door to Cassini’s flew open and out came Thug, six foot four of tattooed attitude.He glared at Brenda, then up and down the street.“Nothing’s happening here,” he shouted.“The woman’s crazy.” He pointed at his temple and did the finger twirl.Brenda didn’t appreciate the finger twirl.“Who you calling crazy, big nose?”Thug didn’t appear to appreciate the allusion to his broken nose.“Shut the fuck up, you crazy bitch.”“Or what, big nose? You gonna come over here and hit me with your trunk?”Thug produced a gun from his waistband and pointed it at Brian.“You’ve five seconds to fuck off or the kid gets it.”Brenda folded her arms, right over left, then – thinking that left over right felt more menacing – switched.“In front of all these witnesses? Are you an idiot? Has that nose sucked all the sense out of you?”She was enjoying this.There was something exhilarating – cathartic even – about hurling insults at a street thug.Never in a million years would she have dared to even look someone like Big Nose in the eye and yet, with Brian’s protective shield, she could do anything she wanted.As long as Brian wasn’t lying about the protective shield.‘It’s operating at maximum power,’ said Brian’s voice in her head.Disconcertingly it had the slippery tone of a used snake oil salesman.“One,” said Thug.A small crowd was beginning to gather, most people stayed well back, those close by stood and stared.Only one man tried to intervene – a short, middle-aged man who’d been standing in the neighboring doorway.He sidled up to Brenda, glancing nervously at Thug with every step, nodding his head to him like a vassal to his master.“Lady,” he said in a heavy Italian accent.“Please come away.This man he dangerous.He will hurt you and your son.”“Two.”Brenda shrugged him off, not taking her eyes off Thug.“Not yet,” she said.“I’m waiting to see if Big Nose can count to five.”Big Nose, aka Thug, almost lost it.He bared gritted teeth and narrowed his eyes in a feral glare.“Three,” he spat.Brenda’s middle-aged Italian grabbed her arm again.“Please, lady! Come with me.”A woman from the crowd joined in.“He’s right.It’s not worth it.Walk away.”Brenda shrugged them all off and pulled Brian towards her, pushing him behind her.Thug’s gun swung to point at Brenda.He was beginning to sweat.He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.“Four,” he said.“Standing in front of your kid won’t help.I’ll shoot you both.”The small crowd, which up to that point, had been growing, split.People nearest turned and ran.People over the road, behind Brenda, dived for cover.Others crouched, or pulled their children close.Only Brenda remained calm.“Hey!” she shouted.“You in the store.Your boyfriend’s out here making a fool of himself.”Time, as it does during moments of extreme stress, slowed to a geriatric crawl.Brenda’s internal voice, which for the past ten minutes had been hiding speechless with her hands welded in front of her eyes, screamed at Brenda in disbelief.What are you doing? Are you insane? You’re staring down a gun barrel thinking that bullets are going to bounce off you! Well, wake up, Brenda! Bullets don’t bounce off human flesh!Brian interceded.‘You’re doing brilliantly and you’re safe.The man’s bluffing.He wants to shoot, but he knows there’s too many witnesses.He wants you to back down.Follow the plan and everyone wins.’The plan.She couldn’t believe Brian’s plan when he’d first told her a couple of minutes earlier.They were in the middle of a case trying to track down the killer of a murdered girl.They had a lead that maybe the girl had been snatched by a gang to put pressure on the father.A sensible plan would have been to phone the police, let them save Frank Cassini, then have Brian follow the two hoods back to their base and.That’s where her sensible plan had petered out.If only Brian had an inner ear he could project to listen to remote conversations.But no, he’d said, we’ve got to visit the gang in person and question them.And just because we’re on a case doesn’t mean we look the other way if we see another crime.We’re crime fighters, Bren, we don’t get to pick and choose.This neighborhood needs our help and my plan achieves that and gets us an invite to see the gang’s boss.As long as Brenda wasn’t dead [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]