How To Steal a Car Read Online Free Page A

sure to do that.”
    The service guy laughed. “Alton Wright. I remember that kid now,” he said. “I don’t blame you.” He picked up the key. “I’ll have Johnny cut you a new one. Take about twenty minutes. He’s a little backed up this morning. Make yourself comfortable.” He pointed me toward the customer lounge.
    I texted Will.
    getting key. 20 min.
    A few seconds later Will texted me back.
    hurry!
    When I got to Ducky’s, Alton Wright was in the lobby, yelling at the manager. I stopped outside the open door to listen.
    “Sir, I’m sure your vehicle will be ready any moment now—”
    “Since when does it take an hour for a Speedy Detail?” He pointed at the sign behind the counter. “‘In and out in thirty minutes!’ That’s what the sign says. ‘Speedy Detail—Fastest Auto Detail in the Metro.’ That’s false advertising!”
    “If you’ll just wait here, sir, I’ll go back and find out what’s taking them so long—”
    “Damn right you will.” He looked at his watch. “See if I ever come back here!”
    The manager disappeared, and so did I. I didn’t think Alton Wright would recognize me—he probably didn’t even know who I was in the first place—but why take chances? I ran around the building to the back entrance of the detailing shop. Will was waiting hard.
    “What took you?” he said, not very nicely. He grabbed Alton’s keys from me and ran back into the shop, yelling, “I found them!”
    “You’re welcome,” I said to the air.
    Later that same day I called Jen to vent.
    “Your boyfriend was rude to me,” I said.
    “Your boyfriend’s rude all the time. Maybe we should order a new one.”
    “From Boyfriends ‘R’ Us?”
    “Or eBay. What did he do?”
    I told her about the key thing.
    “Why did he want a copy of Alton’s key?”
    “Don’t you remember? He wants to put a dead rat in Alton’s Hummer.”
    “Oh.” Even over the phone I could tell she was making a face. “That doesn’t sound like something Will would really do.”
    “Remember last May? Will was walking by the curb and there was this puddle and Alton came driving by and, like, soaked him on purpose. Will was pissed for days.”
    “Sounds like he’s still pissed. You think he’ll really do it?”
    “No. But just knowing he can if he wants to is probably enough. Anyway, I still have the copy of the key.”
    Which is why I wasn’t completely surprised when Will texted me a couple of hours later.
    I walked over to Charlie Bean’s and found Will at the back table, sipping on an iced coffee. I tossed the duplicate Hummer key on the table in front of him.
    “Cool,” he said.
    “You owe me twenty bucks and a Phrap-o-chino.” That was Charlie Bean’s quadruple-shot blended espresso drink, the best legal alternative to mainlining crystal meth.
    “Cool. Only I’ll have to owe you. I’m tapped.”
    Tapped is normal for Will Ford. He spends all his money on music and games. I bought myself a Phrap-o-chino.When I got back to the table Will was still staring down at the key.
    “Did you find a dead rat yet?” I asked.
    “Why would I want a dead rat?”
    “I thought you were going to put a dead rat in his car.”
    “Where would I get a dead rat?”
    I shrugged. I was not about to advise him on dead rat procurement.
    Will took the straw out of his iced coffee and twisted it into some weird shape—a rattrap, maybe. It took him about a minute of intense twisting and folding, and when he was done, he straightened it, blew through it to puff it out, and put it back in his drink.
    “No rat. I need you to help me steal his Hummer.”
    See what I mean? You steal one car and all of a sudden all your friends decide that’s what you are.
    “Look,” I said, “just because I stole one car—and I didn’t really steal it; it’s more like I borrowed it—that doesn’t mean I’m your designated car thief. I got the key for you. Steal it yourself.”
    “I don’t know how to drive,” he said.
    “I