Hostage For A Hood Read Online Free

necessity arose. Cribbins hoped that the necessity wouldn't arise, but he had to be prepared. There was one thing, however; he'd get rid of the little man the very second they made the split. Where he, Cribbins, would go, once he had his share, none of them would know and none would ever find out.
    In a sense it was too bad he couldn't take Luder along with him. Luder was the only one of the whole bunch for whom he had any real affection. They had been friends for a long time, since the days when they had been doing a stretch in the big house together. He liked and trusted Luder. But Luder, like the others, had a flaw in his make-up, and it was a dangerous flaw—controllable ternporarily, but dangerous in the long run. Luder was a drunk. True, only a periodic drunk, but a drunk nevertheless.
    He knew that he could trust Luder to stay sober while they were pulling the job. He knew the old man wouldn't dream of taking a drink then. But later on, when everything was over and done with, and when they had the money and everything would seem safe, that's when he'd crack. That's when he'd let down the bars and take a drink. And one drink would lead to another and another and then another, and Luder would no longer be safe.
    No, much as he liked Luder, he'd have to desert him, along with the others, once the thing was over and done with. Thinking about it, his mind went from Luder to the girl. To Paula. Paula, probably asleep this very moment in the house up in the little town at the other end of the county. Paula, who was holding down the place they'd picked for the temporary hideout while the heat cooled off. Paula, who was supposed to be Santino's girl and who had been shacking up with the little gunman when Cribbins had first found him.
    For several moments then, as he lighted a fresh cigarette and drew long draughts on it, he thought of Paula and of Santino. He still couldn't understand it. They had been living together, but Cribbins knew Santino merely paid the girl's rent and kept a room himself in a cheap downtown hotel. Paula was supposed to have been on the habit but had kicked it, and Cribbins couldn't for the world see what kept them seeing each other. He knew she hated and feared the little junkie. And Santino himself paid almost no attention to her, with the exception of an occasional curse when he didn't like the food she cooked for him or when she was slow in handing him something he wanted.
    There was no doubt about it, Paula held a certain fascination for him. She's like an animal, he thought. Like a beautiful, well-groomed animal. She'd come to him if he wanted her. All she needed was someone who would be kind to her and would give her love. For a long time, when he'd first met her, he'd wondered what went on behind those great dark eyes of hers, what odd and strange thoughts were concealed by the low, smooth forehead under the blue-black hair. But after a while he learned that there were no thoughts, there was nothing at all. Paula merely lived and breathed and felt.
    She was in her early twenties, a slender, rather small girl with a beautiful, rounded figure, thin-waisted and trim, but with a ripe and fully matured body. She was a woman who had been made for one purpose, and on Santino that purpose was utterly wasted.
    Cribbins knew that he'd picked her up some place out in Pennsylvania, where she'd been working as a waitress. He'd brought her to New York and put her on the junk. She was good-looking and young and Santino had no difficulty in getting her work in a nightclub. He probably had other plans, too, but whatever they were, nothing had happened. Even Santino had realized that Paula wasn't to be trusted. She'd talk, sooner or later; she was bound to. Not because she would rebel or fight what he wanted her to do; it was just that she was simple and that some time or other she'd run into someone who would be kind to her and then she'd start talking.
    Cribbins himself had been kind to her and she'd reacted as