The Rented Mule Read Online Free

me?” a gruff voice responded.
    “That’s why I’m callin’… to let you know… I got a meetin’ with the bank next week, and I should have a firm sale date then.”
    Gates waited for a reply. He heard a cigarette lighter close and Mitchell blowing out a deep breath of smoke.
    “That’s good. I’m gettin’ tired of waitin’. This is draggin’ on way too freakin’ long. You know I got a business to run. I got expenses.”
    “I understand, but I should know exactly what we’ll get and a target date to close, I swear,” explained Gates, trying not to sound terrified.
    Mitchell Holmes ran a multistate booking outfit. To appear legitimate, he controlled several businesses through which he laundered money. On any given weekend during football season, he had hundreds of thousands of dollars crossing his books. Because several high-profile law enforcement officers placed bets with him regularly and watched his back at the local level, he felt very well insulated—nearly bulletproof.
    “We? You’ve never said
we
before. Who exactly is
we
?”
    “My partner, Cooper, gets a cut,” Gates replied, wishing not to explain every detail.
    “You gonna get enough to pay me, Gates? You never said anything before about havin’ to pay out to a partner.”
    “I’ll know soon. It should be enough. It’ll be close.”
    “What’s his name again?”
    “Cooper. Cooper Dixon.”
    “Get rid of him,” Mitchell said as he exhaled a lung full of smoke.
    “I can’t do that… how can I do that?”
    Gates had every intention of cooking up some general administrative expenses to inflate his take of the sale, but never dreamed of killing Cooper, although he had planned to screw him out of a sizable chunk of his share of the sale. Gates nervously rubbed his nostrils.
    “Listen, you little shit, I want all my money, and I don’t care how you get it. You got that? Do I need to help you? Because I think I do. I can make things happen real fast, you know,” Mitchell Holmes said coldly, implying everything that Gates feared.
    “I hear what you’re sayin’. Just give me a few more days. I swear I’ll call as soon as I know the details.”
    “I want all of it. All of it. Ya hear me?” Mitchell instructed and then hung up.
    “I know. I know,” Gates said into dead air; then he returned the handset to the cradle and thought about Mitchell’s comments.
Cooper’s share is the answer to all my problems.
    Wearily, Gates leaned back in his chair and stared out the window at the State Capitol. The giant domed building was built in 1851. Many significant events had occurred there including the formation of the Confederate States of America and the end of Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic Selma to Montgomery march. Gates wondered what gave the building the strength to endure over 150 years.
I know that I don’t have that kinda strength, but maybe if I do somethin’ dramatic, I can turn the tables.

CHAPTER 4
    A fter finishing off a dozen hot chicken wings, the waitress brought a third beer. He ogled her chest and drummed the table with his hands as she cleaned up his mess. She was accustomed to guys staring at her orange shorts and tight white top, but this freak really made her uncomfortable. There was something peculiar and very unnerving about the way he leered.
    “Are those beauties
real
?” he asked, gawking at her chest.
    She didn’t respond.
    “Hey, don’t ignore me! I’m a payin’ customer.”
    “What do you think?” she fired back angrily.
    “Let me feel ’em, so I’ll have a better idea.”
    “Look me in the eye.”
    He did, expectantly.
    She said, “Not in this lifetime, asshole!” and then she turned and quickly walked away to alert the manager.
    He chuckled and took a long pull of the cold beer. Setting the bottle on the table, he glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He had a very important businessappointment at ten o’clock. He checked the tab that the manager brought to the