Free Wolf's Deal: A Nick Lupo Novella (The Nick Lupo Series) by W.D. Gagliani

the
bolt to fly off harmlessly.
    But no, the croupier gave a tiny, almost girlish scream and clapped his
hands to his neck and went down in a floppy mess, seemingly all at once, legs
twitching so hard the Archer could hear his heels rapping the sidewalk like a
snare drum.
    The Archer could swear he saw blood squirting from the wound, but it
might have been a trick of the lighting above. He really was too far away. He
had the flash of a thought that it might be swell to try killing the next one
from up close, just walk up to whoever it would be and see if the bolt would
drill right through the body. Then he could watch the life leaving the dumb-shit’s
eyes, just like he had watched Randy’s eyes as he had snapped the boy’s neck.
Why was he so interested to watch someone’s life drain away like that? He
wasn’t sure he understood, but why question his own needs?
    The croupier might have made one last, loud gargle, or it was a sound the
Archer imagined – and then the man’s legs finally stopped their manic
tap-tapping on the cement, and the Archer imagined the red stain spreading
below him. Must’ve winged the guy right
in the jugular, or something.
    He nudged the van’s gas pedal and sped gradually away, leaving behind a
new sacrifice to – to what? All
he knew was that he was starting to feel really alive. The wrongs done to him
were now being righted, which was making him feel better. Better about himself
and about everything else.
    The Archer smiled as he drove away.
    His trigger finger was itchy again. Already .
    Not long after, he made a cautious u-turn.

 
 
    JESSIE

 
    Showered and
rested…
    And righteously well-fucked! The wicked little voice added, interjecting itself directly into the
midst of her thoughts . It was a
parody of her own voice, given some kind of witch-like quality enhanced by
imaginary cackling.
    She smiled
as she drove, realizing that this was why she’d made the trip down to the city.
If it was true that great sex prolongs life, then she thought she’d live to a
hundred fifty or more. No, she had no complaints where the sex was concerned.
    She piloted
the Pathfinder around the east side, exploring. It had been years since she’d
spent time in Milwaukee, and now that she was here while Nick was at work she
was free to do some bumming, as they’d called it when she was in school. She
expanded her circling, reaching the edge of the mostly revitalized downtown
area, then slipping a ways south to the trendy Third Ward with its bistros,
cafés, bars and osterie .
    Reclaimed, remodeled
warehouses were now filled with lofts that towered over busy streets no longer
filled with lined-up produce trucks but instead overflowing with crawling
upscale cars and stylish walkers. The “cream city” brick buildings jostled
against newer condo blocks designed to look as old as the real antiques, their
lower levels given over to trendy eating and drinking establishments, high-end
salons, boutiques, fitness centers, and the odd theatrical costume shop or
dance academy.
    She gawked
like a tourist at the scenery, thumped over one of the bridges that spanned the
Milwaukee River (at Water Street, of course), then found herself heading west,
toward the city's old industrial valley.
    She didn't
really know where she was heading until, after bypassing the three
blister-shaped characteristic horticultural glass domes, she caught sight of
the massive casino building rising out of the formerly unused industrial sprawl
of the so-called Valley. Evenly-spaced blue-violet colored spots illuminated
the structure's exterior walls, making it resemble an alien mother-ship
squatting on the flat ground.
    Not sure why
the casino seemed to be summoning her, she pulled into one of its exterior
parking lots and sat, just soaking in the high walls of the main building. On
closer inspection, it was more like a squared-off Aztec or Mayan pyramid, a
temple to the goddess Fortuna. Or whatever the goddess of the stupid loser