Read Killing The Rat (An Organized Crime Thriller) for Free Online

can’t keep it up, boy,” Dexter told him, gunning his machine. “I’m all over your ass, now.”
    A hairpin corner came up and Liam throttled his Jet Ski back and swung wide, barely making the curve. Dexter leaned into it, his Jet Ski slammed over to the left as far as it would go. Liam saw Dexter’s thick legs clamp onto the ride as it leaned way over. The speaker boomed out the sound of an engine screaming and suddenly, Liam saw Dexter’s cyber twin crash into the wall and fly across the water. Total wipeout.
    “You’re toast!” Liam cackled.
    “Goddamn...” Dexter muttered. “Look at that pathetic white boy,” he said to Liam. Liam watched Dexter’s guy climb back onto the Jet Ski and struggle to get going.
    “That’s the problem,” Dexter said. “My guy is white. Why didn’t they have a black option for this stupid game? A brother would’ve scorched it!”
    Liam sailed through the finish line. On the screen, the crowd chanted, “We will, we will rock you!” Liam clapped his hands on his thighs. “We will, we will rock you!”
    Dexter hopped off the Jet Ski. “I got too comfortable, that’s what happened.”
    Liam slid off the Jet Ski, a sly grin on his face. “I waited and then made my move. Sometimes you just have to go for it.”
    “The only thing I could go for right now is a drink,” Dexter said.
    Liam looked around the room. The arcade was huge. He’d heard someone say that there were over five hundred different kinds of games from basketball hoops to computer blackjack to flight simulators. Supposedly companies had parties here. Right now, Liam could see men and women in business clothes shooting water guns into clown mouths. There were a bunch of men in suits sitting behind the Indy 500 race cars. They were whooping and shouting at each other. Liam had never seen grown-ups having so much fun.
    Liam watched it all in awe. It was huge. It was the biggest video arcade he’d ever seen in his life. He couldn’t wait to tell his buddies at school about it. They’d never believe that he’d spent the better part of a day here with some wild black dude he’d never even met before. A part of him was scared, but a part of him was totally psyched.
    He was digging Dexter.
    “How long before my Mom is coming to pick me up?” Liam said.
    “Should be any minute now,” Dexter said.
    Liam pondered that. Then he raised an eyebrow and looked at Dexter. “Wanna get your butt kicked again?”

8.
     
    Loreli saw Liam by the Jet Skis and walked directly toward him, her heart beating fast and strong. The sights and sounds of the games— the blinking lights, the flashing colors, the startled yelps and cheers of the contestants. None of it registered.
    Her world was still reeling. Literally. The floor seemed out of whack, much like the roads had been on the 90 m.p.h. drive over. She had vague, blurred visions of cars pulling over to let her through. Her headlights flashing on and off, the palm of her hand never far from the horn.
    Now, her vision cleared and narrowed. Like a lens going from wide angle to zoom, she zeroed in on her son. On Liam. Who, incongruously, sat on top of a Jet Ski.
    He seemed to feel her eyes and looked up. She saw the flash of recognition and then he was off the Jet Ski and running to her. He was yelling “Mommy! Mommy!” Even then, through the haze of her near hysteria, she sensed something wasn’t right. She’d imagined her boy crying and cowering in the arms of a madman.
    Liam looked like he was having fun.
    Loreli watched him tear across the game room floor and then he was in front of her, leaping into her arms.
    She hugged him as hard as she could, kissed his cheek and breathed deeply. She squeezed so hard she heard him gasp. Loreli loosened her grip and buried her nose in his hair. The smell of him always calmed her. That little boy smell. Half-pillow, half-shampoo.
    Loreli loosened her arms and he slid down the length of her body. She saw the man approaching. The