CHAPTER 1
Bo Short (Bo being short for Bob which was short for Robert) went into the bar. He'd been told to meet Charlie and Eddie Hooker there because a well-paying job was on offer.
The brother's Sergeant at Arms, a beefy guy called Herb, frisked Bo and the guy said through broken teeth, "Go to them. They're behind me."
The bar was half-full of guys who looked like crims and all the women looked like sluts, as women tend to do when they slouch in bars or show their panties sitting on stools, instead of standing back in long skirts and adjusting their hair like ladies.
But two hard-faced guys with stubble sitting at a corner table watching Bo as if suspecting he was a few cents short in the dollar told Bo he'd found The Hooker Boys, confirmed because they were the only guys sitting behind Herb. It paid to be careful.
"Pull up a chair and have a drink Bo. I'm Charlie."
Bo waited for the drink to appear until Eddie asked him didn't he want to buy a drink for himself.
"Huh, my mom doesn't like me drinking before midday."
"Yeah moms are good on things like that," Eddie sniggered.
"Of course you wouldn't know your father so your mother would be important to you."
Eddie looked at Bo suspiciously. "What's that suppose to mean?"
"Shut up Eddie. Let's talk business Bo."
It was simply really. All Bo had to do was to plant a bomb under the fuel tank of a woman's car. That's all. The boys would explode it remotely by radio.
"Who's the broad?"
"Shirley Ashley the heiress but Charlie and I are not allowed to tell anyone."
Charlie sighed. "Go home Bo. You'll find the bomb in your mailbox. Here's the address of the broad. She drives a red sports car and parks it in front of the house where she lives."
"Why?"
"How the fuck would I know? I guess she's lazy. How much do you want for doing this little favor for us?"
"Ten thousand bucks."
"Listen asshole, for that amount it would pay me to shut your mouth permanently and do the job myself."
"Then five thou. I get jail if caught."
"Okay, at least that saves me having to get Herb to dispose of your body. Plant the bomb the night after next."
"Okay," Bo said and left the bar whistling. He cursed and retraced his steps feeling quite a fool. Charlie got a big laugh out of that but paid him $2500 with the remainder to be paid 'post-explosion'.
Bo didn't like this job at all. He'd expected his 'finder' to find him a part-time position counting money at a counterfeiting operation, or doping racehorses or training the outfit's molls how to serve drinks and improve their sex performance. Carrying around a bomb was dangerous stuff.
Then Bo became really grumpy. He was waiting for a bus when a guy came up behind him, stuck a gun in his back and robbed him. Bo was surprised the big guy took only the $2500 from his inside jacket pocket. He became more than suspicious when he heard the guy say into a phone as he was walking off, "Hi Charlie. I hauled your money off the weasel without him knowing what day it is. He's thinking random robbery, heh-heh-heh."
Bo decided those jerks wouldn't get away with this. He went to the gym where he worked part-time as a cleaner and had a talk to the boss who'd been a Navy Seal before being discharged with a bunch of medals.
When Bo apologized for interrupting him Waldo Jones said, "Sit Bo, I always have time to talk to my people."
"Boss this is confidential okay?"
"Yep, shoot Bo. Is someone stealing paper rolls from the toilets?"
"Worse than that boss. It concerns that good looking babe Lindy Ashley who comes here."
"Ah, yum yum. She's here now."
"Could you please get her in here and I'll tell you both at the same time. She's in big trouble."
"You mean grave danger like life threatening danger?"
"You can say that again."
A few minutes later Waldo returned with Miss Ashley. She was just out of the shower, her blonde hair slicked back. She wore a tight-fitting summer dress that sculptured her breasts and thighs. Although thinking such tight clothing shouldn't be permitted, Bo licked his lips.
Her blue eyes bored into him and the look said, 'You slimy weasel'.
Bo told them everything including being robbed.
"This is beyond belief, you're making it up Bo."
"No I'm not," Bo said indignantly, thinking she was a slimy bitch with a big mouth.
Waldo frowned. "Lindy, have you every thought of yourself being in danger?"
"No of course not. Bo is trying something on here. Cleaning the toilets has his mind in the sewer."
"Bo?"
"Of course not boss."
Waldo said there was one way to test what they'd been told. "Come on guys."
They piled into Waldo's old black Mercedes.
"Christ this old Mercedes is a front," Lindy said, as Waldo tickled the gas pedal before pushing the stick into drive, her ear tuned to the very powerful growl of a beast wanting to be unleashed.
"I've upgraded the motor and the running gear and brakes. This baby has 600 hp sitting under the hood. If I bought an eye-catching super car it would only get stolen. This model Merc was always considered under-powered and every auto thief knows that."
"God you're smarter than you look," teased Lindy and she was quite upset when Bo said to his boss to thump her.
"Give me directions to your mom's home Bo."
They arrived ten minutes later. The house was up a long driveway so the mailbox was at the street entrance. Waldo opened the mailbox and gingerly removed a shoebox. He rejoined the other two in the car and lifted the lid.
"It's a fake, Bo is having us on."
"Jesus," Waldo said, having examined the device and noted the explosive pack. "This baby packs enough punch to turn this car into scrap metal. Here Lindy hold it and we'll take it to the cops."
"Eeek no, I can't bear to touch it."
"Hand it to me boss," Bo said from the back seat and took it. "Try not to bang into anything or get shunted from behind."
"Oh Christ," Lindy wailed.
Waldo drove off and said they'd take Lindy back to her car.