“And finally, of course, the cowboy-hatted spark plug known as Cactus Annie is really dear Riley. Still not on Kuta Beach. And I can tell you, this blasted wasteland is not an adequate substitute despite all the sand.”
“Howdy,” said Riley. “Sorry about all this, but Phil does like his playacting.”
“Now, if you don’t mind,” said the outlaw, “they’ll join us at the table and listen in to your tale of woe. They’re my crew, loyal to a fault—which is the truth of it, since I have no loyalty to them whatsoever—and they’ll be deciding along with me whether to proceed. We’re a democracy, a democracy of hyenas.”
As the three grabbed chairs and took their places around the table, Riley sitting with the chair spun around so her arms rested on the top rail, the outlaw called out, “Ginsberg, you muck, build a mojito for our guest, pronto, tonto. She’s weak with thirst. And a round of lamb eyes for the rest of us. This might be a long slog and we’ll need some sustenance. And if there’s enough fresh mint, maybe I’ll have a mojito, too.”
As Ginsberg went to work behind the bar, the outlaw said, “Believe it or not, against all odds, Ginsberg makes a stellar mojito. He learned from the Cubans in Miami. Yes, that’s right, Bert Ginsberg. Once we were away from the tourist camp, I gave him the option of returning to the Hyena house and facing the purge or staying with the rest of us, and he decided to stay. He is quite handy to have around in so many ways. Be warned, we might need to check the truth of your story when you’re finished. His lie-detector kit is behind the bar.
“Okay, then. Let’s get to it. You have a mission of justice for the new and improved Hyena Squad. Go ahead and tell us your story; all of us, we love a story.”
Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls.
Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devis’d at first to keep the strong in awe.
—Shakespeare, Richard III
CAST
Phil Kubiak - Clayton Rutschow
Magazine Reporter - Stephanie Bates
Linda Pickering - Eryn Joslyn
Cindy Lieu - Hazel Lozano
Caroline Brooks - Margaret Bicknell
CREDITS
Produced by Belief Agency
Director - Jesse Bryan
Producer - Jonathan Dunn
Art Director & Designer - Ryan Clark
Director of Photography - Ryan Ford
Editor/Visual Effects Supervisor - Andy Maier
Assistant Producer - Michelle Henley
Camera Operator - David Faddis
Script Supervisor - Rachelle Cummings
Grip - Travis Becker
Special Effects Make Up - Rei Cusimano
Make Up - Kenzie Olds
For Chase, who is everything that Phil is not.
About the Author
Photo © Sigrid Estrada
William Lashner is the New York Times bestselling author of Guaranteed Heroes, The Barkeep, and The Accounting, as well as the Victor Carl legal thrillers, which have been translated into more than a dozen languages and sold across the globe. The Barkeep, nominated for an Edgar Award, was an Amazon and Digital Book World #1 bestseller. Before retiring from law to write full-time, Lashner was a prosecutor with the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of the New York University School of Law as well as the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He lives outside Philadelphia with his wife and three children.
Other Titles by William Lashner
The Four-Night Run
The Barkeep
The Accounting
Blood and Bone
The Victor Carl Novels
Bagmen
A Killer’s Kiss
Marked Man
Falls the Shadow
Past Due
Fatal Flaw
Bitter Truth
Hostile Witness
Writing as Tyler Knox
Kockroach
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2017 by William Lashner
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Thomas & Mercer, Seattle
www.apub.com
Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Thomas & Mercer are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.
ISBN-13: 9781477817858
ISBN-10: 1477817859
Cover design by Faceout Studio
Photos and video by Belief Agency
Image Credits
Chapter 4
Jantze Studios
Chapter 39
Tilzit/Shutterstock.com