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Andrews UK - Bernard Veale

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112 pages

English

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Extrait

Description

Dane Martin was dragged up in an orphanage put through an indifferent high-school education which fitted him for very little. He, and his best friend Tommy Garner, steal cars and sell them to oil-rich Arabs. Tommy was skilled with engines and Dane knew how to pick the best opportunities...

Sujets

Adventure (Guyana)

Adventure

Informations

Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	29 mai 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781781661024
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Title Page

ORINOCO

A novel of adventure

By
Bernard Veale

Publisher Information

Orinoco published in 2012 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.

Copyright © Bernard Veale

The right of Bernard Veale to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Chapter 1

Dane Martin’s eye was immediately drawn to the Maserati. He knew that once his best friend Tommy Garner finished working on it, he would get top dollar for it.
He moved confidently to the car as if he already owned it and found that the door was not locked and the alarm-system had not been set, there was even a spare key behind the sun visor.
“Whoa man! This guy’s got more money than sense.” He told himself as he drove the red beauty away. He did not have far to go to the underground parking basement that he had rented and although he regretted not having the chance to drive the Maserati onto the highway, he was pleased to get his prize under cover.
Tommy rushed forward as soon as the automatic garage door had closed.
“Fantastic man! Where did you find this?” He asked with his eyes gleaming in anticipation.
“A couple of blocks away at the Majestic Hotel; this was one careless owner. The car wasn’t locked, it didn’t have the alarm on and there was a spare key behind the visor.”
“The Majestic? But those dudes have got valet parking; why would the car be out on the street?”
“Don’t ask me, man; more money than sense I’d say.”
Tommy slipped behind the wheel and looked at the registration tag.
“Hey Dane! Did you see who the owner is?”
Dane was opening the trunk. Sometimes there was good saleable stuff in the trunk.
He was about to ask about the owner but his attention was caught by a large valise and he pulled it onto the ledge of the trunk. It was heavy, over forty pounds.
“Come have a look at this Tommy!”
Tommy came quickly. “What’s up?”

Dane clicked the latches and the valise sprang open spilling money into the car trunk.
“Hell Tommy! This is totally awesome; must be about a million bucks here.”
“Yeah man, are we in trouble?” Tommy said warningly.
“What’s trouble about finding a million bucks?”
“Trouble is when the million bucks is in a car owned by Emilio Draco.”
“ The Emilio Draco?”
“How many do you know?” Tommy asked.
“Shit! That really is trouble. That guy will kill you as soon as look at you. I heard that he had a guy rubbed out because he leaned on his Cadillac.”
“You’ve done a little bit more than leaned on his Maserati, Dane. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“We can’t leave the Maserati here, Tommy. That would be like handing Draco our business card. As far as I know, Espinoza works for Draco and I rented this place from him.”
“Let me re-spray the damned thing, Dane. You can’t drive it out not even to dump it. I’ll spray it racing green and change the registration plates. Then we drive it out and dump it.”
“How long will that take, Tommy?”
“Twenty four hours. The job doesn’t have to be perfect just so we can get the car away from here.”
“Get started on it, man. I’ll go up to our apartment and pack some of our stuff. I’ll move the Maserati tonight and we’ll hit Mexico tomorrow morning. I’m packing everything into the Ford pickup. It’s the only legitimate wheels we’ve got.”
“What are you going to do about the money?”
“If we get away at all, pal, it will be because we have the money to finance our moves.”
“Okay Dane, I’ll meet you at the pool hall as soon as I’m done with the Maserati.”
“Why meet at the pool hall?”

“We can’t hang around our apartment just in case there’s a surveillance camera that picked you up while you were lifting the Maserati.”
“Hey man, I’m not an amateur! You know that I always check out surveillance cameras before I do a lift.”
“Yeah Dane, I know that but I also know about Murphy’s Law which says if anything can go wrong, it will.”
“Okay, Okay, I‘ll see you at the pool hall but only after I’ve dumped the Maserati. Give me a call as soon as you have finished spraying. I’m not waiting for it to dry. I’ll drive it out and dump it. It can dry in its own time.”
“What are you going to do with the money?”
“You remember those backpacks we bought for that trip into the woods with Jenny and Annie?”
“Do I remember them? How the hell could I forget them? That is one perfect example of Murphy’s law. Two hot chicks ready to rumble and we’ve got to camp where there is a hungry Grizzly bear anxious to investigate our supplies.”
“He seemed to be even more interested in our two extra large sleeping bags.” Dane pointed out.
“Yeah, okay I admit that was my fault. I just figured that the insulation of the bags would keep the frozen chickens cold until Annie cooked them.” Tommy admitted.
“That Annie! Who could have imagined that she could climb a tree that fast! She didn’t even use her arms. I could swear that she just ran up the tree trunk.”
“We weren’t too far behind her if I recall.” Tommy recollected.
“It was a great way to spend a romantic evening. Shivering up a tree while the bear ate all our supplies; it was small wonder that they never gave us another date.”
“So you were saying about the backpacks?” Tommy asked.
“Yeah, I figure that we pack the money in them; your half-million in your pack and the other in mine.”
“Hey that’s right! I’m a half-millionaire now, ain’t I? Gee, I’ve never had so much money in my life.”
“Yeah man and our lives won’t be too damn long if we don’t get a move on. Get on with the spraying I’m going to do the packing.”
Dane carried the valise down to the subway and took the short trip to their apartment.
The apartment was not anything grand and they had lived in it ever since they had graduated from the local high-school. Both Tommy and Dane were orphans and had been close friends from the moment they met in the Catholic orphanage.
Our Lady of Perpetual Succor Orphanage was in a largely Hispanic neighborhood and as a result the two boys from Anglo-Saxon parentage gravitated to each other. Both spoke a very slangy but fluent Spanish picked up from their peers but apart from that accomplishment which did little to elevate their grade average, they were indifferent students and scraped through to graduation without any distinction whatsoever.
Tommy did well in machine shop and Dane did well with the girls.
Dane was tall dark and sort of handsome but he had a dazzling smile that won him many female adherents. He was known for his lack of commitment to any particular girl but that didn’t keep the others away.
Tommy was shorter with a snub nose and gingery hair. He was known to be a nice guy but his generous supply of facial freckles kept the girls from becoming too serious although some of those that would have liked to get closer to Dane hung around with Tommy in the futile hope that Dane would notice them.
Dane threw the money and their passports into the two backpacks and packed clothing into an old carpet bag that he had used on the only vacation he had ever taken in his life. He had gone with Mary-Jane Cooper to Hawaii leaving an unhappy Tommy behind. Mary-Jane Cooper had been one of those girls that had hung around with Tommy so as to be near Dane. Tommy had become quite infatuated with her but she only had eyes for Dane. Dane had not even known that she was alive until at seventeen her figure had blossomed and suddenly he noticed her. Tommy had always looked up to Dane but something changed inside him when Dane seduced Mary-Jane. When Dane dumped Mary-Jane and moved on, Tommy would have loved to have been there for her but she was so upset that she ran away without even saying a word to Tommy.
Dane was sublimely ignorant that he had done anything to hurt Mary-Jane let alone Tommy.
Dane lugged the three pieces of baggage down to the Ford pickup and stowed the two backpacks behind the seats and left the carpet bag on the passenger seat. He drove to the pool-hall and parked the Ford where he could see it from the bar.
He couldn’t see Tommy anywhere but it did not concern him too much. He got himself a beer and suggested a game of pool to one of the pool-hall regulars.
The regular did a workmanlike job of beating Dane so Dane was not too upset when his cell phone rang and Tommy said. “Hey man, that car is ready; racing green, as ordered.”
“Okay, I’ll come get it. You follow me in the Ford. I’m going to dump the Maserati out at the old quarry.”
He drove back to the garage and found Tommy cleaning up after the job.
“Hey man, you didn’t wear gloves! Your prints are going to be all over that car.” Dane said as he approached. Dane always wore gloves when stealing a car.
“Don’t worry, dude. We’re not sticking around. The cops are much less of a problem than Draco.”
“It’s Draco that I’m worried about Tommy. He’s got so many cops on his payroll that he’ll hear about who ripped off his car before the precinct sergeant does. I’d like to get a head start on him but that won’t happen if he knows