A PIECE OF CAKE

P res cried out as the snarling dog attacked. He thrust up both arms to shield himself.

The weight of the big Doberman forced Pres to stagger back into the hedge. The dog’s mouth closed around the sleeve of Pres’s leather bomber jacket and held on.

Pres frantically reached with his free hand into his jacket pocket. Struggling to shake his jacket sleeve free from the dog’s grasp, he pulled out a chloroform-soaked handkerchief.

Wrenching his arm free, he grabbed the dog’s snout.

“Yaaaii!” Pres cried out as the dog nipped his hand.

The Doberman snapped its jaws, pulled back its head, then let out a snarl of rage as it struggled to squirm free.

But Pres held on to the dog, wrapping his hand around its snout, holding its mouth shut as he pressed the chloroformed handkerchief over the dog’s nostrils.

The dog’s chest heaved. Its head snapped back as it struggled to breathe.

Got to hold on! Got to hold on! Pres told himself.

The animal’s eyes glared angrily at Pres. Its head twisted one way, then the other.

Then the eyes closed. The struggle ended. The dog slumped heavily to the ground with a long groan.

Pres stepped back. Swallowing hard, he stared down at the dog. It lay stretched out on its side, its jaws open wide, breathing steadily, quietly.

Pres stuffed the chloroformed cloth back into his pocket and zipped the pocket shut. Always be prepared, he thought. That’s my motto.

He stood in the shade of the hedge for a moment, observing the unconscious dog, waiting for his own breathing to return to normal.

He touched the back pocket of his jeans, made sure the small pistol was still there. He could have used it on the dog, he knew. It would have been quicker, easier.

But noisy.

A pistol shot might have awakened Princess Reva, sleeping upstairs. And Pres didn’t want that. He wanted to save that pleasure for himself.

Feeling a little better, his blood still pumping at his temples, Pres examined the sleeve of his bomber jacket. Just a slight scratch. No big deal.

With a last glance at the defeated guard dog, he quickly made his way around the side of the house to the back door. Two of the three garage doors were open. He could see Reva’s red Miata parked inside.

Nice car, he thought, stopping at the back stoop to admire it for a moment. Maybe I’ll get one of those with the ransom money.

He snickered to himself. Maybe I’ll get two!

“First things first,” he muttered to himself. He pulled the small silver pistol from his back pocket. Stepping up to the back door, he tapped the gun grip a few times against the pane of glass closest to the doorknob.

The rising sun reflected in the window glass. The kitchen on the other side of the door lay mostly hidden in long shadows.

“Easy does it,” Pres murmured. He tapped the gun handle a few times more, testing the glass, testing his touch.

He tapped harder. Harder.

He gave the windowpane a hard hit. The glass cracked, then shattered, dropping onto the kitchen floor.

Pres reached in the window, fumbled around till he found the lock, and turned it. A second later he was standing in the kitchen.

“Wow,” he whispered to himself, glancing quickly around. The kitchen was bigger than his entire apartment. Bigger than some houses he’d been in.

Look at that, he marveled. Two refrigerators! How much can people eat?

He forced himself to stop sight-seeing. Taking a deep breath, the pistol still clenched in his hand, he made his way to the front hall.

The dark carpet was thick and plush. His sneakers sank into it. His footsteps were silent.

The hall stretched on endlessly. Big oil paintings covered the walls on both sides. Pres glanced into the living room. Still filled with the same delicate antique furniture.

He paused at the bottom of the carpeted stairway, leaning against the smooth polished-wood banister. He listened.

Silence. Beautiful silence.

He was all alone. All alone in Dalbyland.

Just me and Reva, he thought, gazing up the steep stairway.

This is going to be a piece of cake. Piece of cake.

Holding the pistol at his waist, he started up the stairs to Reva’s room.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20