Read Allegiance (Joe Logan Book 4) for Free Online Page B

plan?”
    “Yeah, I’m going to find out who wanted Arnie killed and deal with the situation.”
    They drank coffee.  Logan had a piece of Key lime pie, and they talked mainly about old times and Arnie in particular.
    “I’m going to talk to someone, if he’s at home,” Logan said, standing up to leave.  “Stay here till I get back, I won’t be long.”
    Margie watched him walk out the door and angle across the lot to vanish into the night.  Wondered what the hell she would do if he didn’t make it back.  He had left her the car keys, but where would she go?  New York City might be a bustling metropolis, but it was also home to a great many lonely people.  Her life had suddenly taken a nosedive.  Logan was now her only hope to get it back on line.
     
    Benny had kept well away from the house since the shooting on the pier.  He had been staying at a friend’s apartment in the Bowery, sleeping on the couch and walking the streets during the day.  Leaving the city was not an option at the moment.  He had no money, and had never lived anywhere else in his life.  As the days passed he felt safer.  Decided that Jack Trask wouldn’t give a shit whether he’d drowned or survived.  Maybe it would now be safe to go back home.  He had a stash of weed and a few hundred dollars.  If he was careful he could sneak in and get it, maybe crash out for a few hours, then find somewhere else to live.  He had an address for his father in Chicago.  They hadn’t spoken in years, but blood was thicker than water, he supposed.  The old man might let him stay in the high-rise apartment ‒ or condo as he preferred to call it ‒ for a while if he paid his way.
    He entered the brownstone by way of the fire escape at the rear.  Shimmied the lock of the entry door to the third floor with an out of date credit card and let himself into his apartment.  It had been searched.  Maybe Trask did want him whacked.  He refrained from switching a light on.  It could feasibly attract more than moths.  He went through to the bedroom, got down on his knees, pulled a section of baseboard away from the wall and grinned.  The space he had created by digging out a brick was still filled by the zip lock bag he had hidden there.  He pocketed the thin wad of bills and then sat on the edge of the bed and rolled himself a joint.  Within a minute of firing it up everything seemed better.  The dope had reached his brain and caused him to feel euphoric and totally relaxed.  Time stuttered and he had no sense of how long he had been there, and didn’t care.  His usual anxiety and fear, due to his lifestyle, was dulled. He began to giggle, but didn’t know why.  He finished the joint and crushed the end of it out on the top of the night table, unmindful of burning the ends of his finger and thumb as he then lay back on the crumpled, dirty comforter and imagined being sixteen again, planning a future that included being a rock star and living in a Hugh Hefner-style mansion full of willing, busty babes.
    Logan checked the street, then walked up the steps to the front door and found it to be closed but not locked.  He entered and went up to the third floor and stopped outside a distressed wood door with flaking paint and a cracked plastic number seven screwed onto it. There was no light shining out onto the dark landing from the gap at the bottom of the door.  He slowly turned the cheap nickel knob, but the door was locked.  He had a choice, knock or break in.  He drew the gun he had taken from Arnie’s from the pocket of his fleece, stood back and kicked out with all the force he could muster.  The door flew back with a cracking, splitting of wood that he thought would wake up everyone in the building.  But in this neighborhood he would be surprised if anyone gave a damn what was happening, as long as they were not in harm’s way.
    Benny was hallucinating; laying naked on a large round, revolving bed with a bevy of equally nude and