Whose Greater Good Read online

  “Ain’t got no beef with none of y’all,” I shouted. Talking street, sounding tough I hoped. “Just Tyrell here. Don’t give a rat’s ass ‘bout the rest of you.” To me the trash talk sounded foolish, but I kept it up as I pulled Parks along. “Y’all mess with me,” I warned. “Then we throw down. You don’t want that, so y’all just stay fly.”

  They did, and Parks and I made it downstairs and out to the street without incident. The dopers followed at a distance, gathering around the sagging porch. I yanked open the back doors of the van and pushed Parks toward it. “Get in.”

  I’d stripped bare the interior except for a black-iron security fence welded between the cargo space and the front seats. It was covered with a scratched-up, laminated sheet of Plexiglas. I’d been spit on enough times to have learned. Welded to the ribbed floor and along the van walls were several iron tie-down rings.

  At the sight, Parks hesitated. The effect of the stun gun was wearing off. I waved it in his face and squeezed the trigger. White-blue electricity crackled between the metal prongs.

  “I feel you,” he said, climbing in. Knowing the drill, he knelt near the rear doors. “Where’s you taking me?”

  “Jail.” I cuffed him to a short length of chain then to the iron ring welded into the floor.

  “Ya know, bitch…” He rattled the chain for effect. “Da bruthers on them slave ships was treated better than this. Ain’t no way for a sista to treat a bruther, you feel me?”

  “Oh, shut up.” I slammed the back doors shut.

  I took Northwest Boulevard and headed downtown. Driving from the crack house, I tried to relax. But I was sore and cranky, and no amount of rolling my neck and shoulders did anything to relieve my aches or improve my mood. Excess adrenaline surged through my body, making me jittery. Fear made me shake. I tried not to think about what would have happened if I hadn’t reached my stun gun in time—it had taken three zaps to put the huge bastard down. I shuddered, unable to chase the dark thoughts away.

  Neither could I force away the image of those gaunt, washed-out faces I’d left behind. The drug zombies who stared at me from the front porch with their empty expressions: lost, helpless, wasted kids with nothing to live for beyond their next fix…and the sure promise of an early grave.

  As I drove south on Neil, passing Nationwide Arena on my left, my cell phone rang.

  The caller ID read LOUIE. The readout also read 6:53 a.m.

  Large Louie Gravelle is a bail bondsman, one of several I freelance for. For Louie to be calling me at anywhere near this time of the morning could mean only one thing, and that was trouble. I flipped open the cell: “deHaviland.”

  #

  If you enjoyed Whose Greater Good,

  be sure to check out David’s other series

  And for more information about all his books check out his author page:

  David DeLee's Author Page

  ALSO BY DAVID DELEE

  Grace deHaviland Bounty Hunter series

  Too Far

  Stare at the Moon

  Takedown

  With Intent to Deceive

  Pin Money

  Fatal Destiny

  Runners

  Brice Bannon Seacoast Adventures

  Facing the Storm

  The Oceanic Princess

  Strike of the Stingray – Coming Soon

  Nick Lafferty Crime Thrillers

  Out of the Game

  Crystal White

  Flynn & Levy Police Thrillers

  While the City Burns

  Moral Misconduct

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  David DeLee is the author of the Grace deHaviland Bounty Hunter series, including the novels Fatal Destiny, Pin Money, With Intent to Deceive, Takedown. And Too Far. David's also written many short stories featuring Grace, most notably Bling, Bling, which appeared in the anthology The Rich and the Dead edited by Nelson DeMille.

  David’s other work includes the novel Crystal White which SUSPENSE MAGAZINE called “…a dark portrayal of the evil that men—and women—can do.”, the second novel in the Nick Lafferty thriller series, Out of The Game, and Moral Misconduct, his Flynn & Levy police procedurals, and his Brice Bannon Seacoast Adventures.

  A member of the Mystery Writers of America and the International Thriller Writers organization, and a former licensed private investigator, David also holds a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice. He makes his home in New Hampshire.

  For more information, check out David’s website: www.daviddelee-author.com

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