Midnight Hero - By Diana Duncan Page 0,89

was someone to listen. Sometimes, they killed the hostages and/or themselves without anyone learning their motives. DiMarco would never surrender, but he obviously had things he wanted Con to know. All Con had to do was rein in his temper long enough to win the game. He could do that. “What the hell are you insinuating?”

“The truth hurts, kid.”

“Yeah?” Con mentally counted minutes. DiMarco was a wild card. If the “chopper” didn’t arrive soon, he could blow a gasket and decide to shoot him here and now. Every minute Con kept him talking was another minute he stayed alive. “What’s your warped version of the truth?”

“Your dad, mom and I were best friends. Until Maureen chose Brian over me.”

“Mom’s always been a supremely good judge of character.” DiMarco clubbed him again. Con shook off the blow. “So, what happened?”

“I’ll tell you. But only because I want you to die with the truth about your ‘perfect’ parents gnawing at your guts.” DiMarco’s eyes blazed with righteous indignation, and cold chills shivered up Con’s spine. Wild card? The guy was a buttload of fries short of a Happy Meal. A certifiable lunatic. Which made him totally unpredictable. But crazy like a fox. DiMarco had ripped off banks and evaded the cops for nearly a decade—in two different cities. Nuts, but not stupid…a highly lethal combination. Thank God Con had bargained Bailey out of his clutches.

“I can live with that.” When all you have is a pair of deuces, bluff like hell.

“Not for long.” DiMarco’s smile was slow…and nasty. “Maureen and I were an item. I wanted to marry her before I went to war, but didn’t figure she would have me without any money. Broads love their diamonds. When we were out on the town, she mentioned a load of medical supplies the hospital had received by accident. That stuff brought big bucks on the black market. Brian borrowed a truck from the motor pool, and loaded up the swag.”

“Mom and Pop wouldn’t have gone along with that scheme.”

“Maureen didn’t realize she’d passed on valuable intel. I told Brian that she had arranged for us to deliver the supplies to the airfield for transport to another hospital. I knew he was hot after my girl. He would have done anything for her. To make a long story short…and your life as well…” DiMarco’s smiled widened into a chilling grin. “The MPs caught up with us, and I rolled the truck. I told Brian to run, and took off on foot, assuming he would do the same. Only he couldn’t, on account of a broken leg.”

Con nodded. He knew Pop had broken his leg once upon a time, but had never heard the details. “He got caught.”

“Yeah. And didn’t rat me out. Big of him, huh? When confronted, he took responsibility rather than implicate Maureen or me.”

“You’ve carried a grudge against Pop for over twenty years for not squealing on you? Color me confused.”

Tony hit him again, and Con swore. “I am not your personal punching bag, maggot.”

“Just having a little fun before the main event.” Tony wiped his knuckles on his shirt. “Nothing happened to Private Goody Two-shoes. The CO was a broad.” Tony sneered.

Ah, DiMarco, your cards are marked, and I just figured out how to read ’em. “You have a problem with women in authority?”

“Yeah, Nancy boy, I do. Broads don’t know squat about leadership. Even when lives are on the line, they’re too friggin’ softhearted to do what needs to be done.”

“Is that right?” Too bad he hadn’t seen Bailey flattening his crew member with the Nutcracker.

“Maureen didn’t hesitate to bring my name up and proclaim her beloved friend Brian’s innocence, but I kept my mouth shut. So Maureen insisted it was a mix-up with the paperwork, and tried to take the blame. The CO knew something was fishy, but couldn’t prove a thing. She didn’t want to lose a top-notch nurse like Maureen, and she went easy on Brian because she liked him. He’d always been a good little soldier. No black marks on his record. Not to mention that Irish charm. They got the loot back, no harm, no foul.” He raised his cigarette, inhaled, and again parked it in the dish. “No laws had actually been broken, so they couldn’t press charges. Brian went into the hospital, where Maureen nursed him through recovery and rehab.” Tony sneered. “While I went to ’Nam and came back a walking cliché.”

Con scowled. DiMarco was bent long before he marched

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