Retribution ("M" Mystery) Read Online Free Page B

no one could miss it, grabbed the trash can and headed for the front door.
    When he rounded the corner into the alley he stopped in his tracks. “Hey, get out of there,” he shouted, then broke into a sprint. The stout figure of a street person dropped over the side of the dumpster and nimbly spun around.
    “Sorry, man.” He spoke in a ragged Asian accent. “I was just looking for lunch.”
    Mark stopped a few feet away. “Yeah, well you won’t find it in this dumpster. Now get outta here before I call the police.” He watched until the figure rounded the corner at the far end of the alley, then dumped the trash and jogged back. He’d already been away from the front desk too long. As he stepped back behind the counter, he removed the sign and wrote himself a note to tell M about the guy in the alley. He couldn’t have anticipated the homeless man’s return to the dumpster.
    Pulling a black plastic bag from beneath his filthy shirt the homeless man stood on one wheel of the dumpster. Bending sharply at the waist he was just able to reach in far enough to retrieve the trash Mark had just tossed in. Like the Grinch that stole Christmas he slung the bag over his shoulder and jogged out to the sidewalk. No one paid attention to the filthy homeless man toting the plastic bag. He shuffle-stepped to the side of an equally filthy, rusted Gremlin where he threw in the bag, climbed in after and drove off.

    Chapter Eight

    M back peddled away from the flurry of punches, waiting for the pause that would occur before the next attack, then snapped off an extended snap-kick to her opponent’s solar plexus.
     Buck doubled up, eyes wide, mouth open. “Braaaaa.” He exhaled a lung full of air, stumbled back in an attempt to maintain his upright position, but failed.
    M waited but he didn’t catch his breath, when his hands went to his throat she approached leaning down. Suddenly his right leg shot into her stomach as his hands grabbed her lapels. Straightening his leg he executed a perfect Tomoe-nage, throwing M head over heals, over his head, and retaining his grip, ended on top, sitting on her stomach.
    “I believe the point is mine,” he said, with a smirk.
    She swung a leg up giving Buck a gentle nudge to the back of the head.
    “Like hell, you cheated.”
    He rolled off holding the back of his head and looking at her with crossed eyes.
    She jumped to her feet.
    “You’re just a sucker, besides I couldn’t let you win. I’ve got a reputation to protect,” Buck said
    He held out a hand for a pull up.
    “I wouldn’t take that hand for all the tea in China,” she said.
    He climbed to his feet and lumbered after her as she crossed the mat.
    “Aw c’mon, don’t be a sore loser. You know the only way I could beat you is with a trick.”
    “I’m not a sore loser!” she snapped, knowing that she had him fooled. She turned around and presented Buck with a big grin. “Gotcha.”
    He stepped up to wrap her in an embrace intending a kiss, but she held a hand between them and cleared her throat. He followed the direction of her eyes and met the stare of a young female green belt.
    The uniform clad student bowed. “Excuse me, Sensei. I lost my schedule. Is the weapons class in the Blossom Room?”
    M returned the bow with a nod of her head. “Yes, the Blossom Room.”
    Buck was surprised at her terse response.
    “I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “But green belts aren’t supposed to lose schedules or anything else for that matter. And definitely not bother Sensei about it. Now let’s get cleaned up.”
    He smiled. “Yes, Sensei.”
    “Knock it off,” M said, bowing off the mat, and heading to the gym area and the stairs that led to her apartment. He returned to his locker to retrieve his street clothes.
    By the time he entered her apartment she was already in the bathroom, and he could hear the shower running. He knocked twice on the solid core door. “It’s open,” she said, over the sound of the