Free The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey Page A

time.
    To hear Evan talk, it was a simple thing, no big deal. Together they snatch Tommy, put him somewhere safe. Dick-twist Richard into paying as much as he could afford – not too much, Evan said, no point making it impossible – in trade for his son’s life. Split the score and consider themselves finished, all accounts balanced.
    ‘Jesus.’ Patrick’s face glowed as he dragged on his cigarette, eyes wide and dodgy. ‘What did you tell him?’
    ‘What do you think? Hell no. You know what his response was? “Think about it.” He’s sitting in my kitchen, boots on the table, telling me to think about it. He rocks back a little, so his shirt pulls up? And he’s got a gun tucked in his belt.’
    ‘He pulled a piece on you?’
    ‘Just let me see it, like it was an accident. Then he asked when Karen would be home.’
    Patrick blew a breath through his lips. ‘So he’s set on it.’
    ‘The way he sees it, either we’re partners or I’m disrespecting what I owe him.’
    ‘You don’t owe him shit.’
    Danny shrugged. ‘Not the way he sees it.’ Which left Danny in a bad spot. The first times they’d met, there had been awkwardness and even a little fear, but also a faint and reserved fondness. They’d grown up together, suffered Sunday school together. Shared swiped menthols to impress fifth-grade girls in leather jackets and too much hair spray. Watched the sunrise from the top of a parking deck, twelve-year-old Evan afraid to go home, his eye blackened from stepping between his parents. They had history.
    But when he’d walked in to find Evan at his kitchen table, fear was all he’d felt, a gnawing in his belly that grew as he listened. His friend had come out of Stateville changed. This man followed him. Spied on him. Broke into his house. And if he’d done all that, what was to stop him from doingworse? Danny shivered. ‘I’ve got to find a way out of this.’
    ‘Why’s he need you at all?’
    ‘I know Richard. I know his routines, I’ve been in the house. I even know his finances. Plus,’ Danny said, ‘figuring out how to do things, that’s what I was good at.’
    ‘Evan always was just muscle.’
    Danny shook his head. ‘He likes you to think so. He’s got a temper, and he doesn’t give a damn for anybody in his way, but he’s…’ He trailed off, searching for the right word. ‘Cunning. Even so, yeah, he knows his odds are better with me planning it.’
    Patrick nodded, lit a cigarette. ‘You could always,’ he paused, ‘I mean, you could always do the job.’
    Danny spun. ‘You’re kidding, right?’
    ‘Well, just for discussion. It would be easy, no one gets hurt, and Evan is off your back.’
    ‘You really don’t get it, do you?’
    ‘I know, you’re out, I’m just saying –’
    ‘‘Just this once,’ right? Only bullshit, it doesn’t work that way. Everybody always goes down on the last job. You know why? Because if they don’t go down, they do another. Besides, we walked into a pawnshop at midnight, nobody even
in
the place, and still, somehow, we end up…’ He paused, collected himself. Sighed. ‘I don’t want to go back to that world.’
    Down on the street, a cab held his horn, the blare lasting five seconds, six, eight. Someone yelled back angrily. Overhead, indigo clouds moved against a dark sky. Patrick turned away from the railing, his boots rattling the metal grille of the fire escape. ‘I’ll talk to him for you.’
    The words yanked Danny from his thoughts. ‘What? No.’ All he needed, Patrick getting wrapped up in this. He already had enough asses in need of covering, enough liabilities.
    ‘Look, this still
is
my world. Let me help.’
    ‘No way,’ Danny said. ‘I’m telling you, this isn’t the Evan we grew up with.’
    ‘Yeah, well, I’m all grown up too.’
    ‘Listen.’ Danny used his most rational voice. ‘I know you’re trying to help, and I appreciate it. But that’s a bad play.’
    Patrick stared back, like he was thinking