Hidden River (Five Star Paperback) Read Online Free Page B

Derry, but me asking about your health and well-being is somehow contributing to the collapse of Western civilization? An interesting thesis, Alexander Lawson, and yet it reeks of utter shite.”
    “You break this social norm here, that rule of etiquette there and next thing you know you’re kneecapping your neighbor and throwing Molotovs at the peelers,” I said.
    “And you think both of us are susceptible to this?”
    “Chaos theory, John. Butterfly… tornado; urinal… the Dark Ages,” I said.
    “And yet if I had kept my mouth shut we would have just pissed and left and yet here we are debating philosophies,” John replied.
    He had me there, the bastard, but I wasn’t going to admit it. I’d finished. I grunted, washed my hands, left. A mistake, for right there was my dealer: Spider McKeenan. Even his ma admitted that Spider was a nasty piece of work. Rangy, powerful arms, orange hair, from a distance a bit like a clothed orangutan. A good way of getting a kicking was to mention this to him.
    “You owe me—” Spider began.
    I stopped him with a hand.
    “Spider, my simian pal, let’s go outside.”
    “It’s raining,” Spider said.
    “Takes you back, does it, the tropical rain forests of Sumatra?”
    “What are you talking about?” Spider asked.
    “Spider, seriously, let’s leave the pub,” I said. “John Campbell is about to come out of the bog, and you know he’s in the peelers.”
    I had to go outside with Spider. I had to buy ketch and keep those track marks fresh. Being a user kept the police off my back, but getting caught buying drugs could get me arrested by the cops. Delicate balance, Catch-22, call it what you like, bloody tight spot was what it was. I followed Spider out of the pub and under the overhang.
    “Alex, before you speak just shut the fuck up and listen to me, you owe me fifty quid and my patience is at an end.”
    “Pub quiz tonight,” I said. “Forty quid each.”
    “I am none the wiser, Alex,” Spider said.
    “No, not wiser, but better informed,” I said.
    Spider smiled and nodded. He seemed a little drunk, clumsy, I could have dodged him but what was the point? I’d have to get this sooner or later.
    “You know, Alex, don’t think because you were a peeler and your mates are peelers that you’ll be treated any differently, because you won’t,” he said, and punched me in the stomach. Then he hit me with a combination, left jab to the rib cage, right jab to the gut, hard left to the kidneys, hard right to the gut. If it had been on someone else I’m sure I would have been very impressed at his speed, range, and location but instead I fell to the pavement, gasped, heaved up half a pint of beer, choked, and spat.
    “You bastard, I said I’d get it,” I managed.
    “How?”
    “In the pub quiz, you son of a bitch.”
    “You better. Forty quid before you leave the bar. You know yourself, Alex, I’m the only supplier in town. Piss me off and I’ll cut you off. Where will you be then? Eh? You’d rather have me use you as a punching bag. Wouldn’t ya? Course I’d do that too.”
    He went back inside. I lay there. He’d been bloody right. It ate up all my dole money and I had the indignity of scrounging off my broke da. And again I thought back to that night in my apartment half a year ago. The right decision? Not brave. But at least I was alive. At least Da was alive. And ketch itself. Not the bogeyman of the government ads. Life. I could thank it for that. I dusted myself off, went back inside. John gave me a look. Facey was raging at me as usual.
    “The rapid fire is just about to start, Alexander,” he complained.
    “Keep your hair on, Facey, just getting a breath of air, so much bloody smoke in here, hard to breathe,” I said.
    Marty started the rapid fire. I was anxious now, normally I didn’t give a damn about the pub quiz but we had to win tonight. I had to get Spider that fifty quid. I really couldn’t afford to piss Spider off. Where would I