Free Strip by Thomas Perry Page B

driver’s side.
    But she followed him, not satisfied. “Well, what are you, then? I never believed that entrepreneur shit. You can barely say the word, and this car … It’s all just ludicrous. Are you a robber?”
    He was not sure why he was saying it, but he said, “Yes, I am. I was in the restaurant by myself because I like to get focused before I go pick up some money.”
    He watched her face go through a series of expressions, one following rapidly on the other. First was fear, but fear had a way, once the person noticed it, to change to anger. Or maybe her expression was a simple fight-or-flight response, her body reacting with a huge release of adrenaline, and her face showing only that.
    Her next expression was a widening of the eyes as she stared at him. The slight curvature of the upper lip that he had thought was going to be a snarl stretched into a grin. She laughed. “I knew it. I could tell you were, like, this outlaw. That is so cool. You’re a bandito. Armed and dangerous.”
    “I am.”
    She gripped his arm and pulled her body as close as she could to his. “You’ve got to take me with you.”
    As he got into his car and started it, she rushed to get into the passenger seat and slam the door. In the second or two he was allowed to think, he supposed that her reaction to his real profession could only be to say “You’re scum” or “You’re hot.” He was amazed that she had chosen the second. It was even more amazing that it didn’t feel like good news.
    “It’s not a good idea. People don’t want to get robbed. They just don’t like it. You’d think the sight of a gun would make them go all weak in the knees, and it usually does. I’ve robbed a few stores where the clerks were so scared they wet their pants. But that’s not always”
    “God, I’d love to see that.”
    He wondered about her, but only for an instant, because he needed to win this argument quickly before her heart was set on it. “But not always,” he repeated. “Sometimes the sight of a gun makes them so mad they look like they’ll explode, and then they sort of do. They try to kill you first. It’s not a rational thing, because even if they can see there’s no chance that they’ll succeed, they come right after you.”
    “Then you have to kill them, right? Just open up.”
    He wondered about her again, this time more seriously. Her face was so close to his that he couldn’t really see it all at once, so he wasn’t sure if she was just being ironic. Her eyes seemed huge, and he could feel her breath on his cheek. “Well, sometimes. I mean you have to be prepared for something ugly to happen. But you don’t actually want to shoot anybody. If you get caught they put you away forever, and there’s nothing in killing for you. It’s the robbing part that gets you the money.”
    “Just let me go,” she whispered into his cheek. “I want to. I’ll do whatever you tell me. I won’t ruin it, I promise.”
    She was so insistent, and she kept pressing herself closer, across the front console and in his face. It was flattering and erotic and confusing. He couldn’t think of a way to resist, and he wasn’t sure he even wanted to. “Let’s get out of this parking lot,” he said. “It’s a long time before I have to make a decision. I’m not pulling this until two A.M. ”
    “I understand,” she said in a small, earnest voice. “I really do.” She released his arm, sat back in her seat, and let him drive ahead out of the parking space and off the lot. He turned east on Ventura because it was a right turn and a left was more work.
    He drove along past Colfax, then Tujunga, before he felt a sensation that was familiar, yet unexpected. He looked down to confirm that it was her hand on him, and then his eyes moved rapidly up her arm to her shoulder to her face.
    “I don’t want to just drive around” she explained.
    “You’re killing me.”
    “There are two nice hotels right up the hill at Universal