Kim Oh 3: Real Dangerous People (The Kim Oh Thrillers) (24 page)

“That’s cool.”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I’m gonna go out there and raise chickens. Any of ’em give me any crap, his little feathered butt is mine.”

“What about . . .” I didn’t want to come right out and say it. But I was worried about him being on his own. “You know . . .”

“Check it out.” He gave the biggest smile I’d ever seen on his face, as he held his hand straight out and level in front of me. “How do you like that?”

His hand wasn’t trembling. At all.

“Guess it was the job,” he said. “Gets to you after a while. Like a stress thing.”

“Yeah . . .” I nodded, impressed. And a little depressed – one more thing I’d have to watch out for. “Okay, then. You take care of yourself.”

I walked over to my motorcycle. As I was unstrapping my helmet from the seat, I listened to Curt and Foley talking.

“You gonna be all right?”

“Yeah, sure.” Foley shrugged. “Don’t worry about me.” He looked up at the snow falling past the unlit palm tree sign. “Hey – remember when Falcon was working on that time-share condo deal, and we all went to Honolulu with him? You and me and Earl and Heinz – that was gas. We had a lotta fun there.” He glanced over at Curt beside him. “Remember that?”

Curt nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”

After a moment, Foley spoke again. “Doesn’t snow in Hawaii.”

It was Curt’s turn to shrug. “They got their own problems.”

I climbed onto the motorcycle, but waited before hitting its ignition button.

“Sure about those chickens, man?” Foley brushed the white flakes from the front of his jacket. “I been thinking. Forget Honolulu. Plenty other people we could go work for, right around here. They’re not all like that jerk in there.” He pointed with his thumb to the restaurant. “More like family operations.”

“No . . . they’re all going to be that way now.” Curt shook his head. “Just the way it is. Everything’s going to be different. You know – like the New Frontier.”

“Yeah, but . . . I don’t wanna live there. I liked it the old way.”

“You don’t have a choice, man.” Curt gave him a sad smile. “None of us do.”

Foley didn’t say anything. Just turned and walked away, down the sidewalk. Curt watched him go.

I started up the bike, kicked it into gear and pulled out into the empty street. I rolled on the throttle, the snow stinging my face as I leaned down and headed for home.

The Kim Oh Thrillers:

Kim Oh 1: Real Dangerous Girl

Kim Oh 2: Real Dangerous Job

Kim Oh 3: Real Dangerous People

. . . and more to come.

Please visit the author’s website at

Real Dangerous Girl
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