Read Eye of the Burning Man: A Mick Callahan Novel (The Mick Callahan Series) for Free Online Page B

female fantasy. It was entirely harmless, in and of itself, merely an expression of a deep wish to be liberated from inhibitions.
    Janice seemed incapable of accepting that part of her. She experienced the dream as ego-dystonic, found it extremely disturbing. For a moment I wondered why the dream was now coming nightly, and what might have changed in her life, then smiled as gently as possible, and leaned forward to close the distance between us.
    "Janice?"
    "Yes, Mr. Callahan?"
    No eye contact . "We have been working together for several weeks now. Have you come to trust me?"
    "I think so."
    "May I ask you something personal?"
    Her eyelashes fluttered. She examined her lap as if looking for lint.
    "Have you found yourself attracted to anyone in particular, lately?"
    Her face turned bright red. Janice nodded briskly. She began to cry.
    "May I ask the name of that man?"
    But we both already knew the answer.
    * * * * *
    . . . The boy woke up lying on a square of carpeting; the carpet lay on thick strips of metal. He was blind and deaf, his head covered with thick cloth, perhaps a sack of some kind. There was a gag in his mouth that still reeked of the chemical used to subdue him. He knew he was back inside the van.
    He fought back tears and tried to avoid throwing up into the gag. If he did, he knew he would drown in his own vomit.
    Loco had very vague images of what had happened during the last couple of weeks. Whatever the man and woman had used to drug Loco had also stolen large chunks of his memory. He knew that he had been photographed because he remembered the flash of the camera. He knew he had been kidnapped because he remembered the large man with the shaved head and body piercing.
    He heard a rumbling sound, something like the coughing roar of a large beast. He cringed, and then realized it was only an engine starting nearby. The floor below him began to tremble and shake. It slowly came to him that he was lying in a vehicle that had begun to move. Loco wondered how far away he was from his aunt Blanca, his home, and his friends. He told himself to be strong. He told himself someone would come for him. He told himself to be patient.
    And then he cried.
     

THREE
     
    "You can get pissed off at somebody you really love?"
    "Hell, yes." I was pacing the booth with the headset on, feeling claustrophobic and bored, wishing Leyna hadn't dumped me. "I think it might even be easier to get furious with someone you love. That person is more likely than anyone else to ring your chimes, right?"
    "Okay. Thanks. I just wanted to know, because my girlfriend and I fight all the time."
    I stopped walking. "Well, hold on, if you argue once in a while, that's fine, but all the time?"
    A woman's voice, shrill and angry in the background: "Carl, that's just bullshit and you know it!" I grabbed the tape-delay button and cut the offending word. Got to practice that more often . The station, which ran on a three-second time delay, had the beeper and also "caller ID," to avoid scatological pranksters. Half of them had their phone numbers blocked anyway. Sometimes technology sucks.
    "Carl, old buddy? Sounds like you got your hands full there."
    "Yeah," the caller said, dryly. "Now she wants to fight about how often we fight. One more question?"
    "Sure, go ahead."
    "How come every time she reads a self-help book, I'm the one who has to change?"
    That was a good one, and got its due. I laughed heartily. "Put her on for a moment, Carl."
    "Hello?"
    "Hi. This is Mick Callahan, and you are on the air. It sounds like it was frustrating you to listen to Carl talk and not be able to interject."
    "Yes," she said, suddenly shy. "Gee, this is weird."
    "Being on the air?"
    "Yeah."
    "What is your name?"
    "Gina."
    "Well, Gina, what do you two usually fight about?"
    "All kinds of things," she said, now seemingly tongue-tied. Her boyfriend was silent in the background.
    "What were you fighting about tonight?"
    "I don't remember now," she said with a giggle.
    I