Roy's Independence Day Read online

  She slid the gun under the flap of her leather vest so that it was out of sight, but still aimed at him across her body. She ran the windshield wiper and together they watched the blue-and-white roll up fast. The cops pulled up driver to driver, facing the wrong way on the street to do so.

  “Everything okay, ma’am?”

  Frank had the distinct impression that even though the woman was reassuring the cop, if Frank so much as flinched, there’d be a big, bad hole in his chest and that the thing that would really tick her off was the damage to her German-engineered car door where the bullet would punch a good-sized hole after making a real mess of his body on its way through. It took her long enough to talk the cop down that Frank had time to register how the car’s seat fit to his body. It was way more comfortable than any chair or sofa he’d ever slouched in. Damn seat alone probably cost more than everything he owned.

  Finally satisfied, only after blinding Frank with a big flashlight a couple of times, the cops rolled away real slow. He’d purposely dressed okay in his best jeans and a loose button-down shirt he’d worn to Levon’s courtroom wedding. That way he wasn’t too scary for the windshield-washing scam to work. It paid off now, he didn’t look too out of place in this classy car. He eyed the woman carefully, as classy looking as her vehicle. Or even more.

  She pulled her hand out from under her vest of dark leather even finer than the seat upholstery, leaving the gun behind, and rolled up the window. Shoulder holster. He’d tried to carjack a woman who wore a .357 in a shoulder holster. What were the chances of that kind of bad luck? Well, one in three. Third carjacking ever, woman with large gun. Not exactly high-level math.

  Though he’d never heard of anything like it on the street. He’d been told to watch for crazies, diving for glove compartments and purses, so full of nerves that they were more danger to themselves than anyone else. Best advice on those had been to run. Toward the back of the car. Make yourself a hard shot when they’re all buckled in and facing forward. They’d be undertrained, have lousy aim, and probably wouldn’t shoot if they thought they’d won. That’s if they could find the damn safety.

  Not this lady. Cool and calm.

  He’d bet she could execute his ass without havin’ a bad night’s sleep.

  “Let’s go somewhere and talk.” With the window up, the air-con dropped the temperature about twenty degrees from the July heat blast going on out in the real world which was sweet, but left a chill up his spine that started right where his butt was planted in the fine leather seat.

  She punched the gas and popped the clutch, in seconds they were hurtling downtown on Amsterdam and Frank knew he better hang on for dear life.

  Available at fine retailers everywhere

  Copyright 2016 Matthew Lieber Buchman

  Published by Buchman Bookworks, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  This book, or parts thereof,

  may not be reproduced in any form

  without permission from the author.

  Discover more by this author at:

  www.mlbuchman.com

  Cover images:

  Paris Fireworks At Eiffel Tower © Dudau | Dreamstime.com

  Helicopter over Baghdad © U.S. Army | Flickr

  Sparkler © Denys Prokofyev | Dreamstime.com

  Beautiful Couple In Each Other's Arms © Teksomolika | Dreamstime.com

  Other works by M. L. Buchman:

  The Night Stalkers

  The Night Is Mine

  I Own the Dawn

  Daniel’s Christmas

  Wait Until Dark

  Frank’s Independence Day

  Peter’s Christmas

  Take Over at Midnight

  Light Up the Night

  Christmas at Steel Beach

  Bring On the Dusk

  Target of the Heart

  Target Lock on Love

  Christmas at Peleliu Cove

  Zachary’s Christmas

  By Break of Day

  Firehawks

  Pure Heat

  Wildfire at Dawn

  Full Blaze

  Wildfire at Larch Creek

  Wildfire on the Skagit

  Hot Point

  Flash of Fire

  Delta Force

  Target Engaged

  Heart Strike

  Thrillers

  Swap Out!

  One Chef!

  Two Chef!

  Deities Anonymous

  Cookbook from Hell: Reheated

  Saviors 101

  Angelo’s Hearth

  Where Dreams are Born

  Where Dreams Reside

  Maria’s Christmas Table

  Where Dreams Unfold

  Where Dreams Are Written

  Eagle Cove

  Return to Eagle Cove

  Recipe for Eagle Cove

  Longing for Eagle Cove

  Keepsake for Eagle Cove

  SF/F Titles

  Nara

  Monk’s Maze

  Sign up for the newsletter to receive news and free items:

  www.mlbuchman.com