The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

contents down his throat straight away. He paused for a
moment, deep in thought. Did he really want to go down this road again? He
thought about making an apology for what he was about to do. The thought passed
all too quickly and he smiled to himself. Then, like a man who hadn’t had a
drink for a week, he downed the entire contents of the glass in one mouthful,
before slamming the glass back down on the bar.
    And it was definitely real
bourbon.

 

 
    Thirty-One

 
    Outrunning a mob of angry girl
scouts wasn’t as easy as it sounded. With the rather hefty Book of Death tucked
under one arm, Sanchez was carrying even more weight than usual. And having
just been in a fight with a vampire dressed as Santa Claus he was already
feeling pretty tired. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him going. Panting
heavily as he rushed along the icy sidewalk, he took a look back over his
shoulder to see if the Sunflower Girls were as close as their screams
suggested. It came as no surprise to him to see that they were closing in on
him. One of them (a dark haired girl who looked like she’d be a future gold
medallist in the shot put) was out front and she was gaining fast. In fact she
was close enough that Sanchez was able to get a look at the early stages of a
moustache she appeared to be cultivating above her top lip.
    He needed to think of a plan
quickly. How the hell was he going to ditch this angry mob? He sure as hell
wasn’t going to outrun them. What he needed was an escape route. He hoped to
spot a cab, preferably a passing one that he could flag down and jump into
before the girls caught up with him. The streets of Santa Mondega were usually
rife with taxicabs, so taking his gaze off the moustached girl at the front of
the pack he began scouring the roads for one as he ran. There was no traffic
about at all. Not one single car. The snow had kept virtually everyone indoors.
    As he raced perilously along the
icy street he made a snap decision. There was a left turn up ahead that led
into a busier part of town. Unable to slow himself down as he approached the
corner, he attempted to turn but instead slipped on a patch of black ice. His
feet took off, leaving the ground completely. As his head fell backwards and
his feet carried on upwards he instinctively dropped his arms to try and soften
the fall by landing on his hands. The Book of Death came loose from his grip
and bounced onto the icy ground at the same time as his ass landed on a
particularly cold slab of ice. And this ice was slippery. Before he knew what
was happening he was sliding along the sidewalk in some kind of high-speed race
with The Book of Death. His fat ass trailed just a few feet behind it. The only
good thing about his predicament was that he was now moving slightly faster
than when he had been running. His major problem was that he had no control
over what direction he slid in. He skidded ass first off the end of the kerb
and out into the middle of the road. And he finally heard the sound of a car
approaching.
    The ice on the road wasn’t as
bad as it had been on the sidewalk, so his momentum slowed significantly. He
eventually came to a stop slap bang in the middle of the road and watched in
horror as The Book of Death bounced up into the air and into the path of the
oncoming vehicle. There was an almighty bang as the fender of the car smashed
into the book, sending it flying back up in the air and down the road. Sanchez
looked on in dismay as the pages of the book blew open and it landed face down
in a puddle of snow and ice in the road. The driver of the car slammed on the
brakes and it came to a screeching stop in the middle of the street.
    Sanchez hauled himself up into a
seated position in the road. Tempting though it was to lie there and collect
his thoughts as he processed just how badly bruised his ass would be, he knew
that the first of the angry girls would soon be upon him (if of course she was
allowed to cross the road without an adult). As he attempted to climb to his
feet, only too aware that the back of his pants was soaking wet, he heard a car
door open. A voice called out to him.
    ‘Sanchez, quick, get in!’ It was
Flake. The car that had hit the book was her Volkswagen Beetle. It was now in
front of him with the passenger side door open and Flake beckoning him to climb
in. He didn’t need a second invitation. He rushed over and jumped in, pulling
the door shut behind him just as the biggest Sunflower Girl slammed into