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.He drew Rhonda close, and he closed his eyes.Silentlyhe begged her forgiveness, and then he thought of Shoe’s strawberry ice-cream mouth and thefirst time he tasted it.“Ooooooooh!” went the onlookers.Eben drew back, a little breathless, to find Rhonda flushed and Nicky beaming.“Verynice,” he said.“Okay.Let’s get out of here.We’ve got work to do.”Eben turned toward the door, and there was Jimmy and next to him, Shoe, staring at himwith wide eyes.* * *Eben, Nicky, Rhonda, Jimmy, and Shoe all went in Nicky’s Range Rover.Bill William,Paul, and Big Pete followed in Pete’s Mercedes.Nicky’s Range Rover was black.It had tinted windows, so you couldn’t see inside exceptfor through the windshield.Nicky drove, and he made Eben sit up front with him.Rain spattered against the windshield.The hiss of the car’s wheels against the wet roadwas the only sound.All Eben wanted to do was turn around and look at Shoe.Just look at him.But he couldn’t do that.When they arrived at the docks, there was no one in sight.Nicky took a briefcase out of theback.The other guys pulled up and got out of Pete’s car.At the far end of the dock, a couple of black sedans pulled up.Several men got out, two ofthem carrying suitcases.“All right.Jimmy, you stay in the Rover with Rhonda.Pete, you wait behind the wheel ofyour car in case something goes wrong and we need to get out in a hurry.Bill, Paul, you cover usfrom about twenty yards back.Eben will make the exchange.Everybody got it?”Agreement all around.Only Eben, Shoe, and Rhonda remained silent.Nicky turned toEben.“Got it?”“Yes.”“Then let’s go.”142Jessica FreelyNicky carried the money, and Shoe walked beside him, flanked by Eben.Eben knew itmust be his imagination, what with the rain and all, but he could have sworn he felt the heat ofShoe’s body, warming him like the sun.He risked a glance at Shoe.Shoe looked straight ahead, his face as calm and perfect as a doll’s.All traces of the painhe’d shown when he saw Eben kiss Rhonda were gone now.It was as if he felt nothing at all.Eben turned his gaze toward the men approaching them.One was older and shorter thanthe others.He was balding, and he walked like he owned the whole harbor.He was flanked bytwo guys about Eben’s size.Behind them were four more men, all Chinese.The three in the frontmust be Uncle Lao and the Kuo brothers, then.Eben’s heart rate picked up as he remembered Shoe’s story.The gun under his arm seemedheavier than usual.He glanced at Nicky.How could he ask Eben to turn Shoe over tothose…those…?Well, he didn’t ask.He told, and Rhonda was back there in the Range Rover with Jimmy,and she’d done nothing, absolutely nothing, to deserve any of this.About twenty yards away, Uncle Lao and Nicky both stopped.Nicky handed Eben thebriefcase with the money.“Go on now.”The handle was slick with rain, and Eben had to grip it hard.With his other hand he tookShoe by the elbow, too weak to resist an excuse to touch him.They walked forward, toward thetwo big guys with the suitcases.“Those are the Kuo Brothers?” he said under his breath.“Yes.”“Shoe, I’m so sorry.This is—I don’t want to—Jimmy’s gonna kill Rhonda if I don’t dothis.”“I know.Don’t worry about it.I’ll be fine.”The distance stretched out, and it seemed like every step they took landed them fartherfrom their destination.Eben was suddenly very aware of the position of every person on the dockand of the open harbor to their left.If he threw the case at the Kuo brothers at just the rightmoment and Shoe dived into the water at the same time…could he get back to the Range Roverin time to stop Jimmy from killing Rhonda and then drive to Pier 7 and fish Shoe out of thewater? “Shoe, can you swim? If we—”Broken143Shoe grabbed Eben’s hand and dug his fingernails in.“Don’t you dare.You’ll get us allkilled.” He looked up at Eben, his eyes as dark as Nicky’s, his nails still digging into Eben’spalm, biting in, breaking the skin.Despite the pain, Eben gripped Shoe’s hand.He wanted to hold on forever, but Shoewrenched free.“You think I want to stay with you, stupid? You disgust me.I was playing youthe entire time.”Blood trickled down Eben’s fingers and dripped onto the ground, lost in the rain.Suddenly Shoe lurched forward as if Eben had shoved him.He trotted past the Kuobrothers, to Lao.He knelt on the wet pavement and prostrated himself before the triad boss.The sight made Eben want to throw up.He looked away to find the Kuo brothers ready tomake the exchange
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