Duke City Split Read Online Free

Another hour here. Three hours until his meet with the robbers. He could barely wait to hear their plans for the bank.
    Johnny knew he’d need to be on guard. There was still the possibility these guys would try to cut him out. Now that they knew about the bank, they didn’t need him. They pick him up tonight, after dark, seen by no one. What’s to keep them from driving him out into the desert, putting a bullet in his head?
    He turned back to the windows, saw his reflection there. He wasn’t grinning anymore.

Chapter 7
    Mick Wyman knocked promptly at eight. Johnny answered the door, black leather jacket in hand, ready to go.
    “Invite me in,” Mick said.
    “Huh? Oh, okay. Come on in.”
    Mick closed the door behind him, then said, “Let me see that jacket.”
    The kid looked puzzled, but he handed over the jacket and Mick went through the pockets, finding nothing but lint. He felt the jacket all over, trying to see if anything was hidden in the lining.
    “What’s this about?” Johnny asked as Mick dropped the jacket onto a gray sofa that stood in the center of the room, facing a flat-screen TV.
    “All right. Now you. Hands in the air.”
    “You’re gonna
frisk
me?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Come on, man. You think I’m carrying a gun? I don’t even own a gun.”
    Mick lifted his faded denim shirt and showed Johnny the .45 stuck in his belt.
    “I’ve got one. Now put your fucking hands in the air.”
    “Jesus, man. Okay.”
    Johnny wore a starched white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, blue jeans, and loafers. Mick went over him carefully, feeling for wires and recording devices. Came up with nothing.
    “Empty your pockets onto that coffee table.”
    Shaking his head and muttering, Johnny did as he was told. Mick looked through the wallet (a hundred bucks in twenties, the usual credit cards and ID), the keys, even opened his little bone-handled penknife.
    “Okay,” Mick said. “You’re clean. Get your stuff and let’s go.”
    Johnny’s face was flushed, and Mick wasn’t surprised when he erupted in indignation. “I’m
clean
? You still think I’m a cop or something? Is this the way you always treat your partners?”
    Mick stepped close to him, so they were practically nose to nose. “We’re notpartners. I don’t know you. We’re about to go down to my car and talk business. I want to be sure no one else is listening.”
    Johnny stuffed his wallet and keys in his pockets, still muttering under his breath.
    “Let’s go,” Mick said.
    “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
    The Charger was around the corner, in the shadow of the apartment building, the parking lot’s darkest spot. This time the kid looked inside before he climbed in. He spoke to Bud in the backseat.
    “No mask this time?”
    “No need,” Bud said. “If our friend here were worried, he wouldn’t have brought you downstairs.”
    As Mick slid in behind the wheel, the .45 jabbed him in the stomach. He pulled it out and passed it back to Bud.
    “Hold on to that for me, will you?” he said casually.
    “Sure.” Bud pointed the gun at the back of the kid’s bucket seat, ready to drill him if he made the wrong move.
    Nobody said anything until the Charger was on the road, headed into town. Then Johnny, still steaming, said, “You guys don’t trust anybody, do you?”
    “Nope,” Mick said.
    “I brought you this job,” he reminded them. “Without me, you wouldn’t even be considering this bank.”
    “That’s right,” Bud said. “So far, all we’ve done is listen to you and look around the bank. We’ve broken no laws.”
    Johnny sighed and shook his head. “Man, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not a cop. I’m not a crook. I’m just a guy who noticed those armored cars.”
    “But you have ambitions,” Mick said. “You want to make something of yourself.”
    “That’s right. I want to start my own business.”
    “I thought you wanted to be a bank robber.”
    “No, man. You’ve got me wrong. I want