Knight In Black Leather by Gail Dayton (ebook reader ink .txt) 📕

the yard-long board with the long, bent nails sticking through either end, and shuddered. Could she use it on another human being? But then, did Flash qualify as one? "I'd have to be careful he doesn't take it and use it on me."

"You're right. Dumb idea."

"No, it's not a dumb idea. It's a good idea. I'll just have to--surprise attack. It would work that way." Marilyn set the board aside. She stood and took Slug's hand to pull him up.

She unlatched the window and shoved, praying that they hadn't worked so hard only to find the window had been nailed shut too. It squealed and moved half an inch. Slug came to help, not easy, since the window swung up and out.

"If we can't get it open," she panted. "We can break it and lay the blanket over the frame to protect you from the glass."

Slug gave her a peculiar look. "Broken window'll make it cold as hell in here."

"So?" She shoved on the window again. "You'll be out."

"So I can get help."

"Yes." The window moved three or four inches in a sudden jerk, then stopped again.

"What if I don't? I don't like cops."

Marilyn looked at him, still pushing on the window. "Please, don't do that.  Please, Slug." Her eyes filled with tears and she had to look away, only for a second. She stopped wrestling with the window and turned to face him.

"You have to tell them where Pete is. You have to. Use a payphone. Call 9-1-1. You don't have to have any money to do that. I'd give you money if I had my purse, but Flash took it. If you'll just call and tell them--you don't have to do it in person. Please." She didn't bother trying to wipe the tears away. "Please? You're Pete's only hope."

"Yeah, okay, sure. I'll do it." He looked at his feet. "Stop crying, okay?"

She stretched onto her toes and reached for the window, wiping her face on her sleeve as it passed. "Okay." She sniffled. "You'll do it?"

"I said I would. I promise, okay?"

Marilyn banged at the window, getting it most of the way open, and turned back to the boy. "Don't just disappear afterward, Slug. I need to know you're all right too. I--you said you don't have anywhere to go. Go to Eli. Dicenzo's Cycle and Engine Shop out in Hillside. If Eli's not there, his partner will help you. Frank Dicenzo. I went to school with Frank. He looks a little rough, but he'll help. Promise me that too."

"I--" He licked his lips and cleared his throat. "You don't have to--I'm not--"

"Promise me." Marilyn grabbed his arm, wanting to shake him. "I have to know you're both safe. Who knows what's happening to Pete now?" She swallowed down the sob that wanted out. "But I won't sacrifice you to save him. You both have to be safe. Both of you. You hear me? Now promise. Promise me you'll go to Eli."

"Yeah, okay. Whatever." He seemed uncomfortable with her intensity, but she didn't care.

"Not whatever. Promise me."

"I promise."

"What? What do you promise?"

"I'll call 9-1-1."

"And?"

The boy took a deep breath. "I'll go to Eli."

Marilyn nodded. "Okay, then."

She laced her hands together to give him a leg up, and balked when he put his bare foot in them. "You can't go out like that. It's freezing outside."

"I'll be okay--"

"No." She kicked off her shoes. "Try those."

They didn't fit him, despite the fact that she wore a size nine. Slug had obviously reached the foot-growth stage of adolescent development. She pulled off her socks and put her shoes back on.

"They won't help much, especially if they get wet." She handed the socks over. "But they're better than nothing."

Slug sat on the floor and silently pulled them on.

"Ready?" She pulled him up when he took her hand.

He put his arms around her in a brief, gentle hug, then kissed her cheek as he let go. "Yeah. Let's do it."

Again, Marilyn laced her fingers together and this time boosted him toward the window when he set his foot in the cup they made. He wriggled out through the gap, more quickly once he got his shoulders through, and stopped long enough to shove the window mostly closed again with his foot. "So Flashman won't see it and get suspicious," he whispered through the crack.

"Yes. Now go," Marilyn almost shouted back.

She couldn't see anything out in the darkness, nor could she hear him move in sock feet, but she knew he had gone. Now, alone in her basement prison, she had nothing to distract her from the worries flooding her mind. Now, images of Slug's condition overlaid themselves on Pete.

Marilyn leaned back against the wall and slid down it until she was sitting on the floor. She propped her elbows on her knees, dropped her face in her hands and started to pray.

"You stay here," Eli said to Jackson, when Joey parked the car down the street from Nicky's.

"Like hell I am."

"Yeah, you are." Eli twisted in the seat to look at him. "You'll be made the second you walk through the door. I'm not going in there with a cop."

"What about him?" Jackson gestured at Joey.

"He'll blend. He's my new boyfriend."

"I thought you weren't gay."

"I'm not. But I'm damn good at pretending." Eli opened the door.

"I'll give you five minutes, then I'm coming in."

"Give us ten, and pretend you don't know us."

"Shit." Jackson slumped back against the seat.

Eli tried to loosen up as he walked to the bar beside Marilyn's brother, but he couldn't. He couldn't stop wondering what hell Flash was putting his son through. Marilyn was with Pete. He had to keep telling himself that. Marilyn would protect Pete--which was a whole different kind of agony. He knew she would try. And Flash would retaliate.

A vision of Teresa at the morgue slammed through Eli's mind and he had to stop outside the bar and empty his stomach.

"You okay?" Joey asked. "You got time yet to tell me what the hell