Black Ghosts Read Online Free Page B

window. Edward could hear him wheezing and gasping for air. It didn’t look good.
    The sight of Larry all bloodied and helpless angered him. He couldn’t tell whether he was angry with whoever had done this or with Larry himself for making him deal with this sort of thing again.
    â€œHow long ago did this happen?” Edward asked.
    â€œA couple of hours.” She put her arms around the unconscious man, gently lifting his head from the cold glass and leaning it on her shoulder. Larry opened his eyes briefly, trying to focus and muttering something. Then his eyes closed again.
    â€œWhat did he say?” Edward asked.
    â€œHe’s delirious.” She lifted the blanket and looked underneath. “He’s losing blood. We need to get him inside, change his dressings.”
    â€œWe’ll get him to a hospital. There’s one down the road in Tooele.” Edward put the van in gear and eased out of the parking spot.
    â€œNo,” she said sharply, tugging on his shoulder. “Drive to your place.”
    â€œHe needs medical attention,” Edward reasoned, looking at her in the rearview mirror.
    â€œThey’ll nail him if we take him to a hospital.”
    â€œWho’s they?”
    â€œFBI, CIA, whoever.”
    â€œOh, great,” muttered Edward. Things were going from bad to worse. “How close are they?”
    â€œWe shot at the ones who came for us.”
    â€œCame for you? What do you mean?”
    â€œLarry called for backup and they came.”
    â€œLarry’s backup did this?” Edward was starting to realize the magnitude of the problem. From what she had told him, it was very possible they had just killed some CIA agents. If that was true, it would not be long before they would have the National Guard on their case, and not just the kids from Tooele.
    â€œDo they know you?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œI mean, do Larry’s so-called friends know you?”
    â€œNo.”
    Edward thought fast. They had to get Larry out of sight as quickly as possible. If, however, he was already being tailed, it was game over.
    â€œWhat about this van?”
    â€œWhat about it?”
    â€œIs it clean?” Edward could see in the rearview mirror that she was staring blankly at him, obviously confused by the situation. “Who rented it?” he pressed.
    â€œShit,” she said in frustration. “He did.”
    Edward had to think fast. He couldn’t dump the van, not with blood all over it. God only knew what the sheriff might do if he found it abandoned in that condition. Edward had no time to clean it up. He decided to park it in the old warehouse. There was a closed-off section he had been planning to turn into another seating area for the bistro. Edward turned down Main Street, back the way they had come.
    â€œWhy are they after him?” Edward asked as he pulled into the alley behind the bistro.
    â€œHe stumbled on something big, and they want him silenced.”
    â€œAnd how do you fit in?”
    â€œIt’s a long story. I’m a friend of a friend.”
    â€œOkay,” Edward said as the van came to a stop. “Let’s get him in.”
    â€œIs there a drugstore around here?”
    â€œThere’s a medical clinic; you were just parked by it.” Edward got out and opened the back door to the kitchen, then returned to get Larry. Together, he and Natalie slid him out of the van, and Edward carried him in his arms.
    Momentarily revived by the cold air, Larry opened his eyes and looked at Edward. He seemed to want to say something, then his head slumped back and he was out again.
    Natalie held the kitchen door open and followed Edward in.
    â€œOpen that green door over there.” Edward nodded to a door leading into a hallway at one end of which was an office area and at the other the staircase to his private apartment.
    Carrying Larry up the stairs took everything Edward had. Larry was not a