Bendouski Page three

“Inside joke.” Scott tugged lightly at his camera, but it didn’t move in the big guy’s grip. “Sam Spade had a partner named Archer and he . . .”

“Get the hell out of here, you son of a bitch!” The man flipped the card back in Scott’s lap. “Or I’ll get in my Hummer and push your ass right off this road.”

Scott mumbled under his breath, “A Hummer, coulda guessed.” He said, “Take it easy, friend, there’s no need for any ass-pushing.” Scott tried once more, to bring the camera inside his car. “You know, friend, I can’t get the hell out of here if you don’t let go of my lens.”

The man wouldn’t loosen his grip. “Maybe I’ll just keep this to teach you a lesson.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t do that. It’s a felony.”

“A felony? I don’t think so.”

Scott blinked and stared at the man’s sleeve. “Oh Jeez. Is that a spider?”

“What? Ahhh!” The man jerked his hand back and frantically swatted at his sleeve.

Scott quickly retrieved his camera, laid it on the seat, and turned back to the window. “Did you get it? The spider?”

The big guy was gone. Scott searched the street. “Where the hell did he go?”

In the driveway across the road from where Scott was parked, the Hummer’s engine growled to life. Brights, fog lamps, and roof lights all came on at once as it roared down the driveway, directly at his Mustang.