finally persuaded Madame Freeta to give up the statue.” The kid laughed like it was nothing. “Even the tough ones don’t last long when you mash their hands on the stove.”

Sabian asked, “Why the dragon?”

“Somebody told Malton this dragon was the key to eternal youth or somethin’ and he believed, I guess. So, anyway, I gave the thing to Malton about a week ago.”

The kid sighed. “That’s when the fuckin’ shit hit the fan.”

The hit man leaned back against the wall of the van. “Hurry up, friend. We don’t have all day.”

He turned his head and looked Sabian dead in the face. “I started being followed. I don’t know who he was, but I’ll tell you one thing; he wasn’t fucking human. I shot him four times with a Mac 10 and the son of a bitch got up like nothing happened.”

“Couple days later I found a note pinned on the front door. It said to take the dragon back to Freeta and everything would be cool. If she didn’t have the dragon in three days, I was dead.”

“I went back to Malton’s boys to see if I could get the dragon; dudes got pissed and you kicked the door in about a half hour later.”

The van stopped.

Despair rang in the kid’s voice. “At least I don’t have to worry about it any more.”

From outside, footsteps were moving around to the back of the van.

“Leave it to me, kid,” the man said, giving him a hard stare.
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